KY/Barkley lake 'stake beds'

Just want to know if any of you fish the 'stake beds' put in by our KYDFW for KY or Barkley lakes. I know Blood River and Johnathan Creek have a pile of them. My experience with these is that there 'some' fish around these, and the best time to fish them is about 1st light in the morning for either Crappie or other panfish. But, I seem to do better looking for 'beds' for Bluegill or 'Brush piles' in the Lake for Crappie. Does anyone else have the same results. I may not 'work' all these enough. Most are easy to find unless the water is high. So, what choice would you make if fishing: Work the stake beds or find something else on the lake if you only had one day to fish.

If you know where the KYDFW beds are located then I would by all means sample 3-5 of them but I wouldn't spend more than 5-10 minutes per bed unless you are catching fish. Of course if your catching fish then you've got your game plan for the day. The crappie are very aggressive right now so you shouldn't have to wait on a bite very long. If you're struggling to get bit in them then I would go to your plan B. I would also make a mental note for the beds that produce and be sure to hit them at least 1 to 2 more times before you get off the water because if the bays your fishing have fish running/ spawning then those KYDFW beds should reload fairly quickly.

Just remember though that every person with good set of eyes knows where those KYDFW beds are at also so they get hammered really hard.

I tend to do better around the stake beds in the fall when the big bait schools are easy to see up in those stake beds.

In case you need it, here's the link to the stake bed maps: Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife
Lakes with Fish Attractors

Not many folks know about the map, my favorite feature is where it tells when the bed was last refreshed.

ky, art, thanks for the reply. Yep, I have marked my lake maps for the locations of the stake beds in KY lake, but I agree, most are marked with the white poles and about anyone can find them unless the lake is so high the poles are under water. I plan to give them a try early in the day and see if some fish come in overnight. I will be there in mid-May. So. will try the stake beds EARLY in the morning for Crappie, then try to locate some Bluegill beds after this each day.

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Originally Posted by perchjerker108

ky, art, thanks for the reply. Yep, I have marked my lake maps for the locations of the stake beds in KY lake, but I agree, most are marked with the white poles and about anyone can find them unless the lake is so high the poles are under water. I plan to give them a try early in the day and see if some fish come in overnight. I will be there in mid-May. So. will try the stake beds EARLY in the morning for Crappie, then try to locate some Bluegill beds after this each day.

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Good game plan. I’d rather fish brush. Stakebeds get hammered really hard.