Ky Lake 2014

We made our annual Ky Lake trip last week and all things considered it was a pretty good trip. We had rain on 3 of the 5 days but only on 1 day did we have any lighting that made us head to the bank and get out of the boat until the storm passed. We had constant wind which on a normal year would be calm in the morning then die down in the evening but not on this trip. Like most spring fishing trips ya just deal with what you get.
It was certainly a different year and our best areas that we usually fish were dead but we looked around and found some new areas that produced for us. On some occasions the wind got up and we could not leave the bay where we were staying. In a way that may have been a good thing because it made you look harder and just grind it out. We found some new areas that worked out for us.

In looking at some new to us water Brian got the nice black on a Big Joshy swim bait. It went right at 2#.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps945868e5.jpg

A little farther down the bank he got a nice white. This fish is very representative of most of our Ky Lake crappie.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...psc49346c0.jpg

Here's a pic from the end of one of the days. Most of the fish we found we not in any large numbers but we get 2 or 3 fish and them have to move on to find another spot holding 2 or 3 more. At the end of the day we would have a decent mess of fish. The last few years we caught lots of little fish but this year we only caught 3 fish under 10". Even thought 10" is the legal size we normally only keep anything over 11". It was good to see the average size going back up again. Thank God for electric fillet knives.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...psd4c39be0.jpg

The last few years we've been trying to get Brian a 16" fish but the best we could do for him was just at 15" just like previous 2 years. In the final hours of the trip though I did manage one. My measure only goes to 15" but this guy extended the board by more than an inch. It weighed 2# 9 oz.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...psc04ea0cc.jpg

To put this fish's size into perspective here it is again next to a 12" crappie.
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps0ddf6583.jpg

I'm already looking forward to next years trip in 356 days.

Looks like a great trip.

Glad you guys had a good trip even with these crazy conditions going on down here. I'm having pretty a pretty good time too. Not many limit days but i'm averaging a dozen a day. Getting a lot of big fish tho. Some decent gills and stripes are rounding out my day. I'll be here another 2 weeks so I should hit the spawn eventually. Was hoping to get on some redears but that probably wont happen til mid-may the way things are going here.
Attachment 158903

Nice bag slabs for both of you. Great job. It makes you feel even better when you can get them in tough weather conditions.

great report, glad you found some fish, thanks for pics

Chaunc...
We did manage 2 redears but we never actually fished for them. Both were decent size and were caught on jigs. Both fish came off the same slow break line dropping from 6-9 fow on 2 different days. We also caught a few ring perch on the top of that break. Normally the perch we catch are dinks but we had a few decent size this trip. I made a half hearted attempt to fish for them but I didn't do any good.
It is a crazy year down there. Normally we throw 1/16 oz jigs most of the day and then towards evening we switch to 1/32 oz but not this year. Because of the wind we used 3/32 oz jigs almost exclusively but we did throw some 1/8 of 1/4 oz. Our normally day was catch 2 or 3 fish in 6 fow, then the next 2 or 3 would be in 23 fow. Then a little later we'd find a few in 8-9 fow.
We did find a bunch of males shallow on some protected rock banks the 1st 2 days but the wind changed and crashed that shoreline pretty hard the rest of the week. The bigger females seemed to be holding out deeper. If you can manage 2 or 3 decent weather days in a row it should be "game on"
Over the last 5 or 6 years I've noticed a change in the fishing down there and I wonder if coming down a week or 2 later may be a better idea, we'll see.
I hope you get on them good before you have to go home.

That monster dwarfs that 12" crappie. Still looking for my first 16 incher also.

Those are some certified horse head sloth donkeys........ Looks like a nice time...... Nice hat MAX LOL

Awesome. The water never looked that calm when i was there! Water was muddy in the creeks and windy all day everday pretty much. Still managed to catch a few here and there. The average size was about 13". Only caught 1 that was undersize and smallest we kept was 11.5". Dad also caught this nice largemouth. Definitely would like to go back next year!Attachment 158969Attachment 158970Attachment 158971

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Originally Posted by jeepguyjames

Nice hat MAX LOL

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I was hoping no one noticed.

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Originally Posted by liprippersc78

Awesome. The water never looked that calm when i was there! Water was muddy in the creeks and windy all day everday pretty much.

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On occasions we could find places to hide from the wind and a few of those areas held some nice fish.
Since we fished on the LBL side of Ky Lake, the water is usually clearer over there.
Those are some nice fish you guys got and that bass is a whopper!

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Originally Posted by crappiemax

i was hoping no one noticed.

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john,

looks like you had nice trip, now you're back where we get excited with a 9 1/2 incher !!

I like the hat, i have one just like it!

Tom

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Originally Posted by H20WOLF

john,

looks like you had nice trip, now you're back where we get excited with a 9 1/2 incher !!

I like the hat, i have one just like it!

Tom

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LOL...that's the truth.

Sounded like good overall trip Max! It"s been prob five years since making trip with friends as we always stayed on the blood river cove... Good times and fishing as I still miss it but coaching my kids in spring sports has killed the trips to the lake lol! Thanks for report...