Fishing Report Archives

Good news for Kentucky Lake’s fishing scene! Lake levels are falling and temperatures are rising.

At midweek Kentucky Lake finally crested. Lake levels are slowly receding after a long bout with high muddy water. Fishermen on the big pond have been battling adverse conditions for a long spell in the aftermath of major flooding earlier this month. In additional to high muddy water have been high winds too plus below average temps.

It has been mean out there for most anglers but it appears better days are fast approaching. After cresting around the 363 mark at Kentucky Dam (normal for mid-April is around the 357 range) TVA began dropping the water a few inches daily.

Due to a lot of flooding to our north along the Ohio and Mississippi River TVA has been limited on discharge rates. That dilemma is beginning to ease up.

Normal summer pool is 359 on Kentucky Lake and target date on that is May 1 each year. Whether or not TVA pulls it back down to normal curve in the next week to ten days remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, fishermen of all sorts are attempting to pattern fish and outguess their whereabouts during all the fluctuation. It has been a guessing game for most.

Surface temps this weeks kicked off around 62 degrees due to a cold front which was accompanied by chilly northwest winds. A warm spell is now underway escorted by southerly winds.

Daytime highs are forecast to climb into the upper 70’s and low 80’s the next few days with a few rainy days expected. No heavy rains are anticipated.

Surface temps will likely rise to the mid to upper 60’s soon.

The rise in surface temp should restart the crappie march toward shallow areas. There were a few people who caught very scattered crappie in visible stickups and buck bushes at the peak of the high water but it was challenging. There has just been too much water that had the fish and fishermen off balance.

Covering the lake surface has been an abundance of floating debris. That’s improving too as lake stages fall.

Catfishermen casting from the rocky shorelines were catching some pretty good stringers. The fish moved up fast during the rise and will still hang around rocky banks and shoreline habitat in the days and weeks ahead in preparation for spawning.

Bank fishermen should have nice opportunities on catfish plus meandering bluegill and shellcracker that are moving up into grassbeds and other shoreline structure. That’s should improve daily as the water warms.

The scattered crappie bite ought to settle down and improve for the average angler who has been sort of confused lately. A few boats have scored decent stringers of crappie during the unstable conditions but muddy high water has been a factor.

Falling lake levels should pull a lot of the dingy water out of bays in the coming days. The overall fishing scene should get a boost.

More boats are likely to resume slow trolling jigs and pushing spider rig presentations. Shallow to midrange flats and areas back in the larger bays ought to start producing some spawning fish that have been roaming and staging out in the middle of nowhere during the periods of changing weather and lake levels. Hopefully high winds will begin to settle down in the approaching days as well.

Still paying dividends have been manmade fish attractors in 9 to 14 feet. A few days ago anglers were letting out more line in an attempt to fish what would normally be referred to as midrange depths. What was normally 10 feet deep was 14 feet or more!

Through all this wild spree of changing lake stages has been concern from crappie anglers as to the status of the spawn. Many worry the fish will drop some eggs in shallow areas as TVA pulls the plug.

Meanwhile, scores of crappie anglers are anxious to stalk the stickups and search for some spawning crappie around buck bushes, willows, etc.

The next few days will keep anglers off balance a bit as they attempt to move about and establish a pattern. All the changing conditions lately have humbled anglers and understandably so.

Bass fishermen should see the shallow shoreline bite improve. Tossing a spinnerbait, Texas rigged craw or worm and some topwater should enter the picture. Several are pitching and flipping jig and pig combos around the endless amount of stickups.

The lake is on the path to normalcy. It’s fast returning to better water color and normal elevation. Perhaps the worst is over and bright days lay ahead for anglers who deserve it!