Fishing Report Archives

Spring’s wild ride on the weather roller coaster continues. The region has experienced all four seasons in one week!

If you don’t like the weather just stick around a few days; it will change! That’s just what’s happened this week and with the wild ride of temperature extremes has been fluctuation in lake levels too. Will stability ever return to stay?

That’s a question being asked by anglers this spring as they’ve battled all the elements---from harsh temp changes to drastic alterations in lake levels---as the peak of spawning phases arrived. Dogwood winter descended earlier this week, putting a real chill in the air that kept most anglers off the lake and adding another log to the fire.

In the middle of it all has been the lingering pandemic that kept anglers and the overall tourism industry at bay. There are some positive signs on the horizon if folks continue to be cautious. Cautiously optimistic best sums of the present scenario.

As to the cold mornings; not to worry however; a nice warmup in on the way and by this weekend temps will rebound to the upper 60’s and low 70’s. Anglers have already shown signs of thawing out as the lake is seeing a lot of boating activity.

Both bass and crappie anglers are back on the front lines of fishing, ready to resume the battle with finicky fish that have also been somewhat confused due to all the lake level and weather changes taking place.

Lake levels crested on Wednesday and began a slow descent. The reservoir climbed to the 359.3 range at Kentucky Dam, which for mid-April is about two feet above TVA’s curve for this time of year.

Upstream in the New Johnsonville area the lake was higher at 361.3, which reflected heavy rains upstream in the TVA valley that were pushing through the Tennessee River system. That means a lot of current is present in the main river channel again this week as lake levels recede.

If it seems like the region has experienced a lot of rainfall this spring that’s an understatement. TVA released this statement earlier this week: It’s official: this was the rainiest first quarter in recorded history.

The 24.61 inches in rainfall received from January through March 2020 was the most rainfall in the first three months of any year since this data started being recorded 131 years ago. The previous record was 23.95 inches, set way back in 1891. TVA’s River Operations has been managing all that water, taking actions that include spilling at all nine mainstem Tennessee River dams.

Meanwhile, the present status of the crappie and bass spawn should resume quickly by this weekend courtesy of the rapid warming trend now underway.

Surface temperatures fell back to the low 60’s this week as the cold front and nasty northwest winds really influenced what had been an unusually warm weather pattern. It put the brakes on spawning to some degree, confusing the fish and fishermen.

Watch for activity to resume for crappie who may well make another attempt to follow the rising lake levels and return to some shoreline habitat. Once lake levels jump above the summer pool elevation of 359 shoreline habitat will once again be inundated with enough water to occupy the abundant cover such as willow trees and buck bushes.

Lake levels are now receding slowly and TVA is projecting a level of 359.1---down from 359.3 on Wednesday---by Friday at Kentucky Dam. Just how low they will pull the reservoir back down is unknown.

The agency is revising its projections about every 12 hours on its website.

The fish made a brief blitz toward shoreline habitat about ten days ago when the lake made a drastic jump and climbed to the 362-plus range for a few days. Then, TVA pulled the plug and dropped the reservoir quickly in an attempt to create more storage capacity and get levels back to the agency’s normal curve for early April.

Although unpopular with anglers had the agency not pulled the plug and lowered lake levels rapidly we’d be experiencing drastically high water right now as a result of the heavy rains across the region last weekend. Some areas to our south experienced 3 to 4 inches of rain in a short period!

Anglers can expect crappie to resume spawning in some shoreline habitat by this weekend as well as increased activity just out from shorelines in 4 to 8 foot zones. Several male crappie sporting their beautiful dark spring color change were taken late last week in 4 to 8 foot depths.

No doubt the males were moving up and ready to spawn, which is a normal stair-step pattern on Kentucky Lake as peak spawn arrives. Males usually enter the structure first and sometimes occupy gravel banks as they stage on the doorstep of spawning territory.

Females will hold out and suspend in midrange depths waiting for ideal conditions and some stability before making the blitz and broadcasting their eggs on the base of structure such as stumps, bushes and the variety of manmade fish attractors such as brushpiles and stakebeds.

In clear water the crappie will spawn a bit deeper whereas dingy or muddy conditions will see them head shallow. Light penetration has a lot to do with the ideal spawning depth so it can vary from one area of the lake to another at times.

The upper Big Sandy is a prime example as shallow, dingy water color there appeals to early spawning crappie. Areas such as West Sandy and upper Big Sandy basin were giving up some good stringers last week and that activity should return.

Boats applying long-line and spider rig style techniques were scoring nice stringers as they slow trolled out away from shoreline in the 6 to 10 foot zones. Activity improved for those using vertical jigging techniques over manmade cover.

Also appealing at times have been casting techniques. Some fishermen were tossing curly tail grubs and tube jigs around shallow flats and gravel points. And, some chose to use live minnows beneath casting bobbers to fool a few finicky male crappie into biting.

Crappie were definitely on the move prior to the cold spell and boats vertical fishing both live minnows and jigs were finding fish playing their game. Places that were void of fish a few days earlier began to produce.

Cold fronts and quick drops in surface temps usually curtail activity for a few days and it throws the fish a curve. Backing out and taking on a mood swing is the norm. However, watch for that to improve quickly by this weekend. Sometimes there’s a difference in the bite from cool mornings to warm sunny afternoons!

Bass fishermen continued to put some hefty stringers in the boat before the weather change and are likely to resume right along with crappie fishermen.

Shoreline grassbeds, buck bushes and willow trees should be attracting bass as the fish make another attempt to seek out spawning territory. Anglers had already found a few fish up on the banks in the previous lake surge and will likely see the pattern repeat.

Pitching Texas rigged craws and worms should produce as will lizard and jig and pig combos. Spinnerbaits and topwater jerk baits will definitely appeal. Floating fluke style worm presentations should be deadly in the days ahead.

With the lake falling it may well pull bass back to the outside parameter of shoreline habitat, especially on steep banks within pockets of large bays. Flipping and pitching presentations should resume quickly.

There aren’t many weeks when you can start out with snowflakes and frostbite and end with a sunburn! That’s been the case this week, however, as the Kentucky Lake fishing scene has run the gamut of both lake levels and temperature extremes.

Spring fishing fever is returning. About face!