Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, Land Between The Lakes

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Jerry Maupin
(270) 753-5136
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Well, we had another great day of casting for bass last Wednesday when I fished with my cousin Dave Maupin. We were unable to be on the water until mid morning, but we launched at the Irvin Cobb ramp and that put us in Blood River ready to go.

We traveled some in order to fish a few of the bays which are large but not as much as Blood River is. We were looking to hook up with some big bass, which we thought might have moved into the shallows where there were a few old brush piles and downed trees.

We caught some nice bass on the crankbaits and it was a lot of fun because it has been a long time since we had the chance to fish together. Most of the bass were very healthy, so they really did put up some good fights, which is exactly what we wanted.

Of course we gave it our best shot but the majority of the area was covered with other anglers and we could see they were not catching any big bass either. Dave is a very good fisherman and has plenty of the correct lures, but when the fish don't feed well, it can be tough to catch them.

We had a great time anyway and released all we caught, alive and happy to swim away. I did catch one largemouth around four pounds. I met with Cecil Sells, Toby Tobin and John Luoma at the Kenlake Marina where we loaded the boat and went looking for crappie.

The waters were excellent color but seemed to be a little higher, and we thought we could live with that. We traveled bay to bay casting the best crappie jig ever into all types of brushy cover placed on the lake bottom, but the crappie just didn't seem to be there. In fact the crappie didn't respond to anything we threw at them. The fish we could see on our electronics might not have been crappie at all but they sure schooled like them. The men caught little bass on the roadrunners again but not one single crappie came into the net. Lots of little bass and one big drum, but nothing kept.

We traveled several miles searching as best we could as the winds increased steadily after we first began, but finally had to admit defeat. Next time, men. Thanks for trying so hard. Except for the winds, the waters seemed to be excellent. I next fished with another trio of anglers who knew how to fish and also wanted to catch some crappie. Herb Fenton arranged the trip with friends Steve Liston and John Basnett.

Now these guys came prepared with everything an angler could want to fish with. I mean it, they had it all and I said to myself, OK crappie, here we come. We traveled some distance again simply to get away from so many of the other boaters or anglers.
These guys had all they needed and used it, I think, to no avail. I never have felt so badly in my life over a fishing trip. We simply couldn't locate and catch a crappie of any size anywhere. We did the shallow bank casting, deep bank casting, ledge casting, river bank casting and did not catch a single crappie. I think Herb caught a couple of bluegill on some live worms of some kind but that was it and I was again at a loss as to why.

Where were these crappie? I know the lake waters have risen quickly and fallen the same way, then risen again quickly. We watched boaters and anglers dwindle down to nothing without any success with the crappie. Now don't misunderstand, we have been catching bass but no one eats bass anymore.

Thanks to the good anglers, Herb Fenton and Steve Liston we still enjoyed fishing with them.

Happy Fishing!

Jerry Maupin

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