Steve McCadams

It's summertime and the living is easy...that's a lyric from the famous song and it sure seems to fit the Kentucky Lake fishing scene right now.

Summer has indeed arrived on the calendar, having officially transitioned to its place last Sunday. Anglers have been in the summer mode for quite some time and the bite is holding up well.

Lake levels are staying around the 359.3 range, which is just a fraction above normal summer pool level. Water color remains clear.

Surface temperatures are dancing around the 80-degree range as warm days now hold a grip.

Despite the heavy rains and flash flooding a week ago TVA has managed lake levels quite well. The runoff has not swelled lake levels much as the agency has been pushing a large volume of water through Kentucky Dam.

The current has diminished recently and is now down to 22,000 cubic feet per second. That's down dramatically from early to mid-June but still enough to keep baitfish moving about and maintain the bite for catfish, bass and crappie out in the main lake areas.

Still producing is the edge of the Tennessee River channel in depths of 35 to 45 feet. The bite has fallen off some compared to earlier in the month when stronger current present, which had really turned the catfish bite on.

Boats are still out there floating with the current and bumping bottom along the edge of the river channel. Decent stringers are still being taken. Most credit nightcrawlers, chicken livers, hot dogs marinated in red Kool Aid and garlic. Several commercial stink baits are working too.

A few mayfly hatches are beginning to show up along the main channel islands and shorelines this week. Anglers can expect some massive hatches to emerge in the weeks ahead.

Once the flies hatch it brings a lot of bluegill and bass to shallow shorelines where overhanging willows form a shady canopy. Schools of pin minnows are roaming the grassbeds and buck bushes too.

The abundance of forage lures a lot of fish so anglers can toss light spinning tackle with a twister tail grub or Rooster Tail and have tons of fun. From bluegill to bass; there's a lot of activity waiting for you.

Tossing topwater jerk baits will produce some nice bass as they not only move up to feed on the mayflies but capitalize on all the small sunfish swimming beneath massive fly hatch buffets. Tossing a spinnerbait, small crankbait or Texas rigged worm will pay dividends too.

Ledge fishing patterns are in full force right now across the lake. Tossing huge crankbaits are the ticket but so are big Texas rigged worms, Carolina rigs, jig and craw combos or finesse baits.

Whenever there's current moving the ledge bite picks up. That’s because it stirs up more shad activity out there so monitor your sonar screens closely for those balls of baitfish.

At the same time the deeper ledge bite is producing, even during hot weather bass fishermen need not turn their backs on the shallow bite altogether.

Crappie are hitting pretty good for anglers who find structure in midrange depths of 12 to 15 feet. Some fish have been taken deeper in the 16 to 20 foot range. However, Kentucky Lake is known to have several productive depths so don't rule out 10 to 13 foot structure, especially if a cloudy day descend and filters out that bright sunlight.

Live minnows are working well but so are some jigs tipped with minnows. Vertical fishing the bait around brushpiles or manmade stakebeds is working.

Trolling crankbaits out over main lake sandbars is working well too. Pulling shad or pearl and chartreuse colored cankbaits out there can be very productive.

It's yet another technique for catching fish in Kentucky Lake during the summer months.