Lake Barkely Report. Good read!

Never caught a single crappie.:bash
When the North Wind Blows....Go home.
But had a blast with my buddy Bill. He and I caught a ton of White Bass.
Fished in Ford's Bay.
I want to say a BIG Thank You to those that warned me about winter pool.
Found areas that went from 15 foot to near dry dock.
In fact, listen to this one. We were the only ones on Ford's Bay. Until a Bass Boat launched
and we watched them fish the shore for a bit then decided it wasn't the place for them. Flew by
us at around 75 feet at high speed. Yep, heading for the river. Well we had scoped out the Bay for shallow
water. They did not. When they hit the mud flat (1 to 2 feet) they came to an abrupt stop. :yikes
When they flew by me I told Bill watch this. They buried the boat. Nice bass boat with larger motor.
No one got hurt or thrown. Buried the motor and was not able to raise the motor. Stuck for sure.
So my buddy Bill says "lets go see if they are alright". I said "yea right". Fly by me that close.
Bill is a retired cop. So we went. Got over by them and asked if they wanted a ride to the shore.
They said no thanks, they called another buddy for help. OK, if you need us we will be right over there
fishing. About an hour later and two long anchor ropes they got pulled out. Was a muddy boat for sure.
Started right up and took off out the river. Never saw them again. I told my buddy Bill that they best be
sure there water pump is working. Since they were alright I told Bill I wished I had a video of that.
I have a flip phone and don't take pictures very well.
So a BIG thank you to those that warned me of low tide.
Chub

And if by chance that boat is on crappie.com Karma is tough. And I am glad you are ok.

Ford has some stumps in it that are 4 ft through. He better be glad it was just mud he hit .

I've seen more than one boat mar up on the very same flat in Ford's bay ...

I've seen motors nearly ripped off transoms on that one stump just across the creek channel from that same flat ...

Ford's is dangerous when not following the creek channel at winter pool ...

Rickie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

I've seen more than one boat mar up on the very same flat in Ford's bay ...

I've seen motors nearly ripped off transoms on that one stump just across the creek channel from that same flat ...

Ford's is dangerous when not following the creek channel at winter pool ...

Rickie

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Rickie.
What is interesting is we looked for a channel and could not find it. We went from the one point over to the stumps.
Never was deeper than 3 feet. Just at the creek mouth is a shallow flat and as you enter Fords it drops to 15-17 feet
then right up to 2 feet again.
On a side note. Have you ever had luck in Fords for crappie. In two trips I have not caught crappie there.
I caught most the crappie across the river at Donaldsons Creek. and in the Duck pond.
Chub

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hunterchub

Rickie.
What is interesting is we looked for a channel and could not find it. We went from the one point over to the stumps.
Never was deeper than 3 feet. Just at the creek mouth is a shallow flat and as you enter Fords it drops to 15-17 feet
then right up to 2 feet again.
On a side note. Have you ever had luck in Fords for crappie. In two trips I have not caught crappie there.
I caught most the crappie across the river at Donaldsons Creek. and in the Duck pond.
Chub

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When you enter Ford's bay from the lake ...the creek channel follows that south bank for about 100 yards and then the creek channel makes a hard right toward the North for about another 100yards and then the creek channel opens up to the west ...

The fish attractor/+ icon in the image below (just to the west of my purple line) is the 4ft diameter stump right on the west side of the creek channel just 50 yards north of where the creek channel makes the hard turn to the North ...

(The creek channel I have marked in purple) ...

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...psqlidvwct.png

Rickie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hunterchub

Rickie.
What is interesting is we looked for a channel and could not find it. We went from the one point over to the stumps.
Never was deeper than 3 feet. Just at the creek mouth is a shallow flat and as you enter Fords it drops to 15-17 feet
then right up to 2 feet again.
On a side note. Have you ever had luck in Fords for crappie. In two trips I have not caught crappie there.
I caught most the crappie across the river at Donaldsons Creek. and in the Duck pond.
Chub

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If you don't want to divulge I can certainly understand and no hard feelings but I was wondering if you could offer me any tips of where you had any success on Donaldson Creek. I have fished there a lot these past few months and haven't caught one. I have caught some bass and catfish but zero crappie. I'm probably going again either this week or next for another few days and any advice would be appreciated.

If you're into spider riggin ...get on a specific depth contour of the south side of that creek channel and follow it like my purple track shows below ...

If you don't pick up fish ...backtrack that same path... but move the boat 2' deeper or shallower and stay on that depth contour the entire purple path ...

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps0cfwgqop.png

Rickie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slow Retrieve

If you don't want to divulge I can certainly understand and no hard feelings but I was wondering if you could offer me any tips of where you had any success on Donaldson Creek. I have fished there a lot these past few months and haven't caught one. I have caught some bass and catfish but zero crappie. I'm probably going again either this week or next for another few days and any advice would be appreciated.

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I've only fished Donaldson 1 time so I don't have any tips for that bay except to find the creek channel ledge and follow it ...

Crappie should be migrating back into the bays from their summer river haunts to start the fall feeding stage and using the creek channel ledge as their highway ...

Rickie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

I've only fished Donaldson 1 time so I don't have any tips for that bay except to find the creek channel ledge and follow it ...

Crappie should be migrating back into the bays from their summer river haunts to start the fall feeding stage and using the creek channel ledge as their highway ...

Rickie

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Thank You I appreciate it.

I like Donaldson. Very defined creek channel to follow. I spider rig and troll Bandits along the channel. Everywhere is fair game at spring spawn time.
I had hoped to get to Donaldson last weekend but wind wouldn't allow it. I had hoped the fish would have moved to shallower water. 6-8 feet.

I've never had luck on the south side of Donaldson, but on the north side there are pvc structures and brushpiles out from docks that can be found and fished.

IIRC there is a state brushpile out at the end of the old roadbed that is marked (that is towards the southern bank) and a few stakebeds towards the very back.

I came out of Ford one time with a guy who didn't know about the flat. Some kind of biting gnats were after us and he said "If we aren't going to catch fish, let's do it where there aren't any of these @#$%^&*&*&^%$%^ gnats!" rotfl I sat down and he hammered it. We ran over that flat WOT. I couldn't decide whether to yell, shut up, hang on or wet myself. If he'd shut down, we'd have probably hit bottom. The depth finder said 2ft before it stopped reading. I was physically trying to lift the boat from the passenger seat :eek:

Even when you think you know those lakes, you'll use your prop to find a new shallow spot now and then. I'm a big believer in idling until you know you have clear path.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CatFan

Even when you think you know those lakes, you'll use your prop to find a new shallow spot now and then.

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You better believe that !!

Back in the early 1970's, when I was fishing the KY ABF State Classic Tourney ... I cut into a creek a little too sharp, not knowing that the marker buoy was missing :Doh: and plowed a 50yd furrow across a sand bar. Ate the paint off my alum prop, halfway up the ears !! Luckily my boat was a flat bottom tri-hull fiberglass and was easily pushed off with a paddle.

I did see the depthfinder jump up to <2fow, but by that time I was already slowing down from the prop plowing through the sand. Looked behind me & all I could see was a mud trail running nearly out to the middle of the lake :Rofl

... cp :kewl

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

and plowed a 50yd furrow across a sand bar... cp :kewl

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When we lived in GA, I used to fish Jackson Lake a lot. In the hot summertime, there was some really good bassin up the Yellow River well above the lake. Only issue was on the straight stretches of it, the river was no more than 18 inches deep but nothing but sand bottom. We would line up for the middle of the straight, throttle wide open and trim the motor up as high as possible. Looking back there would be a sand roostertail. Coming back down the river it was easy to see the furrows we dug. If the bite was on it was well worth the risk. The motor repair folks loved changing out impellers from Yellow River.

Stumps and house foundations on Barkley are a totally different game. One day during duck season years ago, I was in my 14 foot Polar Craft jon with a 25 Johnson just south of the duck pond. My black lab female Cinder was with me. I hit a hump and totally grounded the boat. I had hip boots on and stepped over the side to push it off. I was standing in the middle of a concrete carport with the house foundation still very visable next to it. The mud and slime made pushing the boat easy and I was off and gone in no time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrdux

When we lived in GA, I used to fish Jackson Lake a lot. In the hot summertime, there was some really good bassin up the Yellow River well above the lake. Only issue was on the straight stretches of it, the river was no more than 18 inches deep but nothing but sand bottom. We would line up for the middle of the straight, throttle wide open and trim the motor up as high as possible. Looking back there would be a sand roostertail. Coming back down the river it was easy to see the furrows we dug. If the bite was on it was well worth the risk. The motor repair folks loved changing out impellers from Yellow River.

Stumps and house foundations on Barkley are a totally different game. One day during duck season years ago, I was in my 14 foot Polar Craft jon with a 25 Johnson just south of the duck pond. My black lab female Cinder was with me. I hit a hump and totally grounded the boat. I had hip boots on and stepped over the side to push it off. I was standing in the middle of a concrete carport with the house foundation still very visable next to it. The mud and slime made pushing the boat easy and I was off and gone in no time.

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"Looking back there would be a sand roostertail." I saw one of them roostertails last weekend. Was not a pretty site.