Hitting Barkley April 4-7

I'm headed to Energy campground for a 4 day stint. Will be fishin with my 2 cousins. We've camped here and fished Energy, Crooked Creek and Little before.

Just wondering if anyone having any luck around this area or know of better creeks around this time. Have been up to Taylor Bay and Jake Fork Bay before as well.

Last year we ran around all over the area for 5 days and believe it or not had some of our better fishing in Energy Lake. Anyone hit energy lately or any other places around we be appreciated.

What about Pond creek or Shanklin creek down south or Honker Bay up north. My boat can get about anywhere. Just lookin for some new spots to get the most out of the family vacation.

Last year we got several on Chart. roadrunners and black/chart jigs or black/pink jigs.

Not use to this high muddy water it sounds like we are going to have. Thanks ahead of time for the tips you guys always seem to have.

Energy was doing good before the water rose. It may be over the road by now.

What about those other bays i mention. Has anyone ever tried any of these?

For some reason it seems most people on here talk about KY more than Barkley. Which is it KY is better or is everyone trying to keep Barkley a secret?

;)

The water is way up, and it looks like the Ohio is going to be getting some more water tonight. Don't expect it to be down by then. If they do start dropping it, that will pull the fish away from the bank for sure.

I am heading to Barkley 4/6-4/11. Just got email from the park manager @ Barkley SRP and he said they expect the lake to crest on Fri. for whatever that's worth. Like some of the guys were saying on the other threads, alot depends on how fast the Ohio drops and they start dumping water.:(

Let me know how well you do in crooked creek, me and Dad usually go up about one day a year there, never have really done that well, we just keep going back though.

I read in one of these threads where water clarity is usually better on the LBL side of Barkley due to the forested land as opposed to the eastern side which is more agricultural. Wonder if that makes Crooked creek and the like a better option?

Well if the water is over the energy dam, I guess I won't have to put the boat in and out to go between Energy and Crooked Creek!:D

I'm hoping with the water temp going up the fish will come close and hopefully that the water just doesn't drop too fast. Maybe they will wait till Apr. 7th to let her rip.

I'm afraid dropping the water level too fast will hurt it more than high water, clarity or temp combined.

We will see by next weekend!

If it's NOT dropping fast, and still has some color to it, and it's still flooded a couple of feet up the trunks of the live trees along the banks .... ease in there and drop a minnow right down beside those flooded live trees (all around all "4 sides" .. just imagine the tree trunk as being square ;) )

Some buddies and I went to KY/Barkley one time ... lake was flooded and water was dirty ... most people were turning around and heading back home. We were 5.5hrs away from home, and not about to "give up" :p
We found the fish hanging right next to the flooded live trees ... in about 3-4ft of water. You had to put the minnow/float right next to the tree, as it seemed that the fish were nosed up to them. A foot or more away from the tree trunk, and no fish :eek: The bigger the tree trunk, the better ... but, don't shy away from trying any tree that's reachable. It'll only take 5 or 6 seconds of letting the minnow swim around, before you'll know if a fish is there, or not !! We had our minnows about 1 to 1.5ft deep under the float.
Also, if you can find them, drop a weedless jig down into any Button Bushes (locally called "Buck Brush" or "Buck Bushes") ... let it go all the way to the bottom, lift it up about 1ft - then hold it there for a few seconds, then "very slowly" reel it back up. That also worked, if/when we could find those bushes ;)

Don't know if you'll have the same results as we did ... but, it wouldn't hurt to give this a try, if the conditions are similar. My partner and I fished Barkley Lake, while my roommate (solo, in a bigger boat) ran to KY Lake. Our results were about the same, number wise and size wise. We got mostly 2lb fish, and 10-12 of them per boat. (My "partner" was a stone rookie :D and too stubborn to fish the same tactics that were working for me & my roommate :rolleyes: )

... cp :cool:

Thanks Pappy for the info. I'll be sure to try those flooded timber tactics. This is all starting to look more and more like a flooded timber Sept. Wood Duck Hunt (My other passion besides Crappie fishing)!

I have plucked them out of standing timber before, sure hope it works. It looks like the rain Southern Ill and Ind. are getting today is going to keep the Ohio and Miss really high for some time. So hopefully Barkley and KY Lake won't get pulled down for another week or two!

This all may work out after all. Sure hope so!

I had my last bag out of the freezer Friday night. So it is time to restock!:D

Barkley is on its way down, It will be out of the timber by wednesday unless we get some heavy rains.

Well went to Energy Lake area over the weekend. It was BAD....Real BAD! The worst I've seen it on Barkley in over 10 years. We stayed at Energy Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, and pulled out Tue.

The water was High was an understatement! The Damn at Energy was just about completely under by Mon. You could troll through the whole weekend the south side of the dam's road was already flooded.

Needless to say fishing in Energy and Barkley was very slow. We had 4 boats with 13 guys. Over the 5 days.....17 Crappie TOTAL with all 4 boats. A few largemouth and white perch mixed in. Not a single bluegill or catfish. In the past you'd always seem to catch something on the slow crappie days, but this trip all the fish had lock jaw!

Energy Lake and Crooked Creek Bay where fairly clear considering the high water. But Barkley it's self was very muddy.

These are hard fisherman too! We fished 12 hours plus everyday in all 4 boats and each boat barely caught 1 crappie a day. That is bad slow. We threw every color of the rainbow and every technique known. Nothing worked. Pounding the banks, Spider rigging, drifting, jigs, minnows....you name it we tried it. The water temp was 58 -61 degrees most days.

I believe the spawn could be messed up a bit this year. We were told the water level would crest on Wed. It rose from Fri-Tues everyday.

Oh well, the camping and eating were a hit at least. No work for 5 days is great!! There is always next year. I just hate I took a 5 hour drive for no crappie. In another week it should be better.......ain't it always.:mad:

Boy oh boy I got to go back this weekend to get my boat, wish I would have brought it home It does not look good.I will still fish its better than sitting at home wishing I was fishing.Green Turtle Bay here I come:eek:

I've got a buddy that is one heck of a crappie fisherman and he is camp'n a Cravens right now. Last I talked to him he was having a terrible time catch'n any fish and he's been camping there & fish'n that area every year for as long as I can remember. If he ain't catch'n fish it's tuff. On the bright side I have some good news. I have some other buddies that have been bust'n their butts at Energy. Look for and ol'boy named Jim and his better half. Tell him Terry told ya to check with him on what the fish are do'n. Believe me he'll know.

Good Luck!

About the only Energy tactic that worked for us, was the same one everyone else was doing. It barely worked. Not well mind you.

Almost every boat out there was drifting about half way back into Energy in the middle of the lake and drifting toward the back. You might drift down with 3 guys fishing and maybe take 1 crappie every 4 drifts. Water was around 15 feet deep and gettin hits around 9 -6 feet. It is VERY SLOW fishing this way. I'm talkin 1 bite every 3 hours....you better be ready!

Anyway that is about the only advice I have from 5 days of pounding that area. It's only got to get better.

Tony:

The wife and I came down from Michigan. Got to Kentucky lake on Sat. 4/5 and fished it 'til Sun. 4/6 mid day when we had to pull over to Barkley SRP which we had reserved over a month in advance. Took one look at Barkley lake and packed up and went back over to Kenlake SRP until Wed. There was no way I was putting my boat in that muddy, debris riddled lake...just asking for troubles, and I run a jet too. I agree with you that it was as bad as I've heard about in years!

Barkley fell 1 ft from 4/11to 4/14,the fish we caught were all full of eggs,Id say a couple of days of good sun and the full moon comeing it will get good,caught all our fish 9-10ft.Good luck Deadeye.

OOOH! I'm so jones-ing to get up there to fish!!!!!