Just got back from 1 week on Ky Lake

Well the little lady & I went camp'n last week. Rained like heck first few days then got HOT! Fished a total of about 5 days off and on and mama and me managed 104 keepers. Couldn't hardly fish on the weekends unless you got out real early before the lake lice hit the water. Best day we had was 32 of our own & a buddy gave me 11 more. Made for a good fish fry with some buddies. Caught a ton of dinks!

I was really suprised where the Blacks were. :confused: I found them about 10' to 11' deep in 12' to 13' of water. They were up on top of a drop that came to a point out in the mouth of the bay. Caught'um there everyday I fished. Also caught some White Crappie but very few there. Caught some good Whites fish'n 13' to 14' in 18' of water. Best action was the Blacks though. Caught a few cast'n (had 1 black follow the jig all the way to the troll'n motor) but most came vertical jig'n. They were pretty agressive. I believe I coulda caught'um on a crank bait.

I'll try to add a couple of pictures later. Don't have many. I forgot to pack the spare batteries! :(

Congrats on the catches!

The area you mentioned finding the blacks is the kind of area I plan on targeting to try trolling crankbaits. I see videos of guys doing it and have every intention of trying. I need to find a justification for the $200 worth of small crankbaits I've bought the last several months.

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Originally Posted by mrdux

Congrats on the catches!

The area you mentioned finding the blacks is the kind of area I plan on targeting to try trolling crankbaits. I see videos of guys doing it and have every intention of trying. I need to find a justification for the $200 worth of small crankbaits I've bought the last several months.

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I'm really think'n about trying the trolling. I think a guy can catch'um on this hump. I may even give it a try this coming week. I got a lot of honey do's before I go back to the boat though. :(

glad to see somebody catchin em in this heat

Great job. I am looking for something to do over the 4th of July but I believe I will get blown off the water by all the boats. Might just camp and hang out on a beach during the day and hit the water at night if I make it out.

Sounds like a great trip.

I fished a couple hours each day this weekend and had 8 really good fish (12-13") trolling cranks on Eddy Creek. Only had 2 dinks.

The fish were both blacks and whites, on a ledge with brush from the 25' depth Creek Channel back up to 13'. Couldn't hardly keep out of the channel cats and they are real time consumers when you get 2 treble hooks buried on 2 of them trolling through your hot spot. Took my 9 year old boy out and had fish on all 4 poles twice. What fun.

Fried up the fish for father's day with a couple of Mich Ultras. Great Weekend.

Brook

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7021/slabcity.jpg

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Originally Posted by brookpe

Sounds like a great trip.

I fished a couple hours each day this weekend and had 8 really good fish (12-13") trolling cranks on Eddy Creek. Only had 2 dinks.

The fish were both blacks and whites, on a ledge with brush from the 25' depth Creek Channel back up to 13'. Couldn't hardly keep out of the channel cats and they are real time consumers when you get 2 treble hooks buried on 2 of them trolling through your hot spot. Took my 9 year old boy out and had fish on all 4 poles twice. What fun.

Fried up the fish for father's day with a couple of Mich Ultras. Great Weekend.

Brook

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Man that's fun! I went trolling with a buddy of mine several years ago & we caught everthing! We had Large mouth, Small Mouth, Sauger, Crappie, But more Catfish than anything! We filled up a cooler.

I had the same thing for Father's Day including the Ultras! :D

Oh & that SI shot is great I know right where you were. I was up there a couple of weeks ago & fished it a little. Caught most of my fish on the there side of the road Spider Rigg'n in 12' to 13' of water.

Wiskers-

I have been trying to learn how to troll crankbaits and got spoiled on 5/22 when I caught a nice slab after about an hour. Then I got skunked for literally 3 weeks. Now it is beginning to really pick up and get exciting.

I have caught every type of fish in that lake as well with this method. Watching the 997, steering the trolling motor to follow a contour, changing baits and depths, I find it a very interesting way to fish.

I have a house on Eddy Creek and I fish a little, work a little, take the wife shopping a little, dunk and rough house with the boy a little, and then come back to Newburgh, IN and wait for the next weekend.

I would swear I saw a fish jump early Saturday morning that looked like a small swordfish. Do you know what that may have been??

Brook

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Originally Posted by brookpe

I would swear I saw a fish jump early Saturday morning that looked like a small swordfish. Do you know what that may have been??
Brook

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I'd venture to guess that was a Paddlefish ( aka Spoonbill Catfish).

http://www.agfc.com/!userfiles/int_i...lefish_big.jpg

Though they are not even in the "catfish" family .... body shape is similar enough that they get called Spoonbill Catfish. They are actually a prehistoric fish, a family/order of fish of their own, and are close relatives to the Sturgeon.

Other than that ... the only other possibility I can think of, would be a Long Nosed Gar.

... cp :cool:

I believe pappy is right on with his assessment.

Pappy-

That was the fish I saw.

Thanks

Brook

I understand where you guys are trolling cranks but exactly how are you doing it. What size cranks, what type of poles, how many at the same time. I long line troll but would worry it would be to much pull for those 14' poles so what size pole are you using? Are you trolling from both the front and back or what kind of boat set up are we talking about?

By the way, I saw one of those spoonbill come flying out of the water one day while flying down the Ohio River. I had to stop the boat to try figuring out what the heck I just saw. I came completely out of the water and had to be three or four feet long. It reminded me of some ocean fishing trips seeing different fish come flying out of the water. I have only seen the one in my entire time on the water but it is something I will never forget.

Jigboy,

Im no pro but I've got the hang of the crankin' for crappie and it's actually a really fun method, especially when fish are really scattered, its windy, or fish are just on a reaction bite. I actually use my spider rig setup for this (I guess pushin' as opposed to pullin' cranks?), I use four rods mainly. Two 11' (bnm bucks jig rods) on inside and two 7' on the outside. 8-10 lb line. I use bandits mainly, 300s most the time, with a swivel to help twist and make changin' baits easy. I use the electric tm mostly, and use the gps to track my speed, depth etc. Haven't had any probs yet(knock on wood...) and have been pretty consistent doing this. It works well for bigger fish but isnt really a numbers method, but u can occasionally load em up. I mainly just look at the sonar and follow breaks, cover etc. I usually go in a semi-straight line but u can swerve from side to side to vary depths and speed of your cranks. Shad color cranks as well as really bright colors (white, chart, pink, red) usually do well for me. There are charts available and books (precision trolling is an awesome read) that will help you determine how deep your cranks will run w/ your setup according to speed, line size, crank model, and line put-out etc. A line counter reel would be real handy for this but I cant spare the extra $$ when I can get pretty close just estimating line out. Locating the thermocline is important in the summer and makes finding a starting point for depth a lot easier and more efficient. Hope this helps sum, and like I said, Im no pro but w/ a little trial and error its easy to pick up and relaxing once you get things workin' rite (not to mention keeps you from burnin' up settin' still in the dead heat!!) You catch a mixed bag doin' this so it keeps things interesting. I taught myself on carnico and now do it on cave run and most all the places I fish. Hope this helps. Try it, if u like hybrids/whites as well as crappie its a killer method. Good luck, let us know how ya do if you try it. Good luck!:)

kentucky lake is a blast to crappie fish barkly is too i havent been able to make it down in a couple of years lookin forward to my next visit.have caught some big slabs on both lakes good luck where ever you go ...