First trip to KY lake March 27th

I posted this in the KY forum and thought I would post here also.

Hi all, you may recall my posts from a couple of months. Planning my first trip to KY Lake with my son and my Dad for 3 days of crappie fishing. First day of fishing will be March 27th. We are not very experienced crappie fishermen. My experience is mostly fishing under docks. We are not set up for spider rigging on my Dad's boat. I have 10 and 12 foot rods we can hold if necessary and have spider rig gear. I hope to do casting with jigs and road runners with BG baby shad and lake fork baby shad. We will be staying in a private cottage just a few hundred yards from Cypress Creek. I'm trying to decide if we should get KY or TN licenses. I was thinking we would fish cypress creek and panther bay area. I thought we could also trailer up to blood so that would require us to get KY licenses. I've been worried about the weather but looking at the long range forecast it appears we might be back on track with highs mostly in the mid 60s over the next week or so. Do you all think they will be getting shallow by the end of the month. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I'd hire a guide for the 1st day and mimic that pattern the remainder of your stay from your boat. JMHO

I would agree on the guide. I have fished that lake many times. There is a lot of water, most of it does not hold crappie. Depending on whether the lake is rising or falling and the current flow, they can be hard to find. I have had trips that were very disappointing and some that were pretty good. It is not an easy lake to fish unless you get real lucky catch them spawning.

I know I should hire a guide but not sure that fits into the budget for this trip. Getting a new well drilled next week.

Generally during this time of year just look where everybody else is fishing. I think you would do better long line trolling with the baits you mentioned. You can cover more area and if you find a group, throw out a marker and come back to them. Colored flies tipped with minnows would also work. Be sure to watch the weather. That lake is huge and it doesn't take long for 3 or 4 ft waves to develop especially if the wind is straight out of the north. Have fun.

Try a guide for a "half day" fee... money "well" spent... pun intended...p.s. I caught my BEST crappie on KY Lake back in 1971 near Sportsman Lodge on Jonathon Creek...3.2 Lbs

If the extended forecast I'm seeing is correct looks like we might be staying home. On the 27th it shows high of 49 with chance of snow and rain. Grrr

The weather men have a hard time predicting tomorrows weather much less week and a half out.

Guess our weathermen are in cahoots....forecast is looking cool for next week. Oh well, guess me and the family will have to dress for the weather and make the best of spring break...

I'm right there with you Centex. I committed over a month ago with hotel reservations, and vacation time on the job etc. but I have to schedule this trip according to the kids spring break. Now the wife wants to back out, the only thing she hates worse than fishing in cold weather is fishing in a crowd. Oh well, she'll probably last till Tuesday and head home I'm having a friend come down Wednesday to finish out the week and will use his truck to tow my boat home.

We are staying at a private cottage that didn't require a down payment so we don't loose anything if we don't go. The forecast is starting to look a lot better though than it was a couple of days. Accu weather now shows 59,64, and 73 for Paris for the days we will be fishing. I have never seen the lake so we will probably not catch any fish if it's warm or cold.

I am already into it a couple bills for deposit on cabin so we are just going to make the best of it. Wish the weather would cooperate, but no way to control that. I can only control my attitude and just enjoy the time I have with the family doing what we love to do. Maybe the crappie will sympathize with me and find the end of our lines.

Tight lines
Ron