Ky Lake crappie have shoulders

I returned home, Bardstown Ky area, Nov. 18 and have been fishing Tayorsville lake this past week and can,t help but wounder why Ky. Lake crappie are so much thicker and heaver then Green river, Nolin, Taylorsville, lake crappie. I fished Taylorsville lake twice this past week and caught some nice ones, but I caught 1 friday that measured 15 1/2 " ,it was a very nice white and weighed 1lb 9 oz and looked very healthy. I fish Ky lake about 100 or more days every year and if that 151/2 inch fish came from Ky lake it would have weighed 2 lb. The longest crappie I ever caught came from Green river lake, it was 17 1/2" and would have weighed approx. 1 1/4 lb. Nov. 17th I caught a limit from Ky lake with the smallest 12" and the largest 15", and looking at them in the live well they all looked to be 2 to 31/2 inches thick. What is the secret to Ky and Barkley lakes crappie and redear being so healthy.

Good shad population

Ted Tayorsville lake has a very large population of shad,I seem to think that Ky lake is like a river system and the flow of water some how influences the growth factor. I have been able to fish all over the country and I think the two lakes are the best quality fishing available. Dave

And thats why i make the trip down there from way up here in western PA. Never saw a better quality of crappies yet.

Good point, Dave .... but, Ted might be onto something, too.

Taylorsville Lake has a good population of Gizzard Shad .... but, KY/Barkley Lakes have both Gizzard Shad & Threadfin Shad. Threadfins don't grow as big as Gizzard Shad, nor do they grow as fast ... so there's more "eatin size" Threadfins available, year around. Gizzard Shad are more tolerant of cold water, too. Threadfins are likely the ones that constitute the largest portion of any cold water "die off" that may occur ... which is easy pickin's for the Crappie that are putting on the early Winter feedbag.
Then there's the sheer size differences of the lakes .... more space, more spawning grounds/shallows, more weeds, more pea gravel banks, and more food biomass in KY/Barkley Lakes. Lakes like Taylorsville, Green, & Nolin just don't have the ability to produce as much biomass, as do KY & Barkley Lakes ... nor the surviving Crappie population, to replenish the numbers.

Taylorsville also suffers from serious flooding, during the spawning period, more often than not. As seen in this graph - http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/wc/res...plots/tvl.html - right when the spawn should have been in full swing (early May), the floods came. This scenario seems to have played out, over & over again, through the majority of the last 10yrs or more. And, while the other lakes do have their share of flooding at these times, they don't seem to have them in such great percentages.

... cp

Longer growing season. Generally warmer waters through out the winter. The TN flows northward from points down in Alabama.

Ask quackrstackr about how spring comes earlier to the southern and western end of the state.