Steve McCadams

Rising lake levels are coinciding with rising surface temperatures. For Kentucky Lake’s early spring fishing scene it’s a Mecca for anglers yearning to hit the peak of spawning phases.

TVA’s curve for reservoir filling begins April 1st each year. A slow rise will be underway until the lake reaches summer pool’s target date of 359 on May 1st.

If you’re waiting for good fishing then wait no longer. The bite for both bass and crappie is well underway, despite some unruly wind at times.

Lake levels this week have been around the 355.2 range. Water color has some stain in places but overall it’s in great shape.

It has been a good week for anglers across the whole region as hefty stringers of crappie and bass are coming in. The reservoir’s annual spawning phase for crappie is right on the threshold.

Surface temperatures increased this week and crossed the 60-degree threshold in portions of the lake, especially throughout the Big Sandy sector. That’s triggered movement of crappie toward shallow spawning venues in the last few days.

Readings at midweek had climbed out of the low to upper 50’s to just slightly above the 60-degree surface temp in West Sandy and the upper end of Big Sandy around the New Hope and Country Junction area. That region normally warms quicker than other areas.

Male crappie are showing hormonal changes as their pigment turns darker each day, a sure sign the spawn is close at hand.

Dandy stringers of slab crappie crappie were being caught on a regular basis by anglers using a variety of techniques ranging from long line trolling to spider rigging and vertical jigging over manmade fish attractors.

Once surface temperatures reach the 62 to 66 degree range with some stability then active phases of spawning will be underway. All signs point the annual ritual will begin next week.

Traditionally, the active phases of crappie spawning take place across Kentucky Lake during the first two weeks of April. Weather can influence that as cold fronts sometimes arrive and push the parade back a few days.

Next week it appears a cold front will descend Monday and Tuesday which will likely throw a curve to anglers for a day or two as northwest winds will likely bring a few whitecaps and chilly days to the fishing scene. However, anglers should see a rapid rebound as the long range forecast shows daytime highs returning to the upper 70’s by the middle of next week.

The midweek warmup should really stimulate the crappie to blitz toward shallow to midrange depths and begin spawning. Depths of 4 to 7 feet will produce a lot of fish. Some fish have been taken in that depth range already in the upper Big Sandy. No doubt fish are on the move.

Boaters across the lake are scoring some nice stringers. It has been a good week.

D. J Loversll of Paris Landing Outdoorsman bait and tackle shop on the lake highway says he’s seeing some impressive crappie come in and this week weighed a slab that reportedly tipped the scales at 4.2 pounds! The trophy was reportedly taken in White Oak Creek earlier this week.

Some boats are covering a lot of water by slow trolling Road Runner style jigs in the chartreuse/red and chartreuse/blue color combinations while others are pulling white twister tail grubs on their leadheads. A variety of colors have been producing.

A lot of crappie are suspended, staging out over main lake flats waiting to move up. When this happens the trolling techniques are very effective here.

Boaters spider rigging and slowly meandering across shallow flats and back in the bays are also reporting success as the fish move in. Some places that were void of fish last week are now attracting good numbers as a lot of movement has taken place.

It’s transition time for crappie. They’re migrating from the deeper main lake venues into secondary bays or shallow flats in preparation for spawning. Females will begin dropping their eggs by the end of next week.

Other techniques paying dividends are vertical jigging over manmade structure such as brushpiles and stakebeds. Using live minnows has worked well too.

The last few days bank fishermen are picking up a few more fish as they cast minnows and jigs on slip-bobbers. Now that crappie have migrated to shallow shorelines bank fishermen are beginning to land some nice stringers from areas that were not holding fish a week ago.

It’s party time for Kentucky Lake crappie!

Bass fishermen are landing some lunker largemouth lately as they toss crawfish and shad colored variations of crankbaits around gravel banks. Also working has been suspending jerk baits and crankbaits.

Jig and craw combos are on the list as well as some spinnerbaits now that surface temps are warming.

Soon topwater presentations will enter the picture as well.

Spring fishing time is here!