Here's what I think is going on with Ky Lake
I've been reading a lot of post of folks having a hard time catching fish and wanting to know whats going on. This spring, buffalo13 and I have put in a lot of time on the water and I have kept a log book. Looking back into the years past and comparing them with this spring has shown me something. This year has been really weird! With rising and falling lake levels and with the over abundance of rain this spring, it has thrown everything out of wack. We started off March chasing the blacks into the shallows as usuall and then the water came up. The fish went shallow for a short time but this also caused the water to muddy considerably which we all know that blacks are not fond of muddy water on Ky lake. Then the water fell and what fish that had moved in pulled back to the 6-8 ft depth which was good because we had seen this happen in the past and was ready for it. Then the lake warmed up and the whites moved in which was great because they don't mind muddy water but the blacks had moved out looking for clearer water. No big deal because we were happy just to catch crappie no matter the species. Then the fronts started hitting and the lake levels were up and down. Rain was falling hard and the wind was always blowing. Typical spring huh? Here is were it got weird. The shallow stuff was no longer holding fish like it normally did so we moved looking for the fish. We found them hanging on the creek channels in stakebeds that were in 12 to 14 FOW and that is were they have stayed consistently. Instead of running up into the shallow backs of the bays in masses, they were staying on the ledges and running into the banks close by spawning. When we would spot them on the down scan, we would know that the beds were full but the fish wouldn't bite so we went to the old tried and true method. Keep changing colors and presentation till they did bite. We would go through 10 to 15 different colors till we found one they were wanting or we would swing the boat from side to side or just try to hold the jig as still as possible. The reason for this is, we believe, that the water color was so inconsistent from one depth to another that light penetration was playing a big factor. Well, it worked up till recently when the fish went into the full spawning mode. You know, that mode where you pull into a bed and see that it is full but the fish just tick it or swat it. We found this out because we would catch fish in the tail or the side of the jaw or we would lose a lot of fish at the boat because the hook wouldn't be in the meat. Well, that seems to be were we are now. The fish we are catching are spewing eggs when we pull them in the boat. I fish out of a local marina and the people I talk to that are bring in fish are telling me that they are catching them from 2 feet to 15 feet. Some are sitting with bobbers in 2 feet because thats what the way you fish in the spring and we are out fishing ledges in 12 to 15 feet because that where the depth finder is showing them. Its crazy! The moral of the story is this-if you see fish on the depth finder, keep changing colors or presentation till you get them to bite. Something sooner or later will pay off, just have patience and don't give up. Also, try cover that is out deeper from a spawning bank. The big females run in and out of deeper water while the males sit on the nest and guard it. The males will be agressive in guarding the nest and the females will be starved due to the energy put forth in the spawning process although they are less likey to feed till after the spawn but you will find one every now and then that gets tired of looking at that bait swimming in front of them and knocks the crap out of it.
