Fishing Report Archives

Listen closely and you can hear the silence of a beautiful fall morning calling you to the rapidly changing shorelines and rolling hills mirrored in placid waters of Kentucky Lake.

This past week delivered some fantastic weather and anglers who ventured out soaked it in too. If they caught a fish is was just a bonus to the awesome autumn conditions out there!

If you missed going this week there are still some great opportunities ahead. Peak colors aren’t here just yet but rapidly approaching. Plan a trip these next few weeks and don’t let this great time of year pass you by.

I love fishing all four seasons but there’s something special about the stability of fall that lures me to the lake. Yes there are occasional northeast winds that upset the apple cart but nothing like the roller coaster weather picture of spring when nasty north winds and cold fronts blow for several days running, changing the fishing patterns literally overnight.

Lately the autumn outdoors has been pretty kind to Kentucky Lake anglers with only a few windy mornings that kept them onshore. Usually the cold and windy mornings quickly lose their grip. Given enough time the wind switches from north to northeast during the morning and by midday makes its way to southeast before return back to warmer southern breezes.

That’s been the case lately. Jacket mornings and shirt sleeve afternoons are the norm this time of year. That’s why smart are the anglers who dress in layers. It’s also wise to pack the raingear regardless of what the weathermen forecast. Ever notice those folks are indoors but they’re telling you how it’s supposed to be outdoors. Remember: you can always take it off!

Meanwhile, the fall crappie bite continues to hold up pretty good across the reservoir. Some decent catches have showed up again this week in the coolers of crappie fishermen targeting the 9 to 14 foot depth range while some report fish falling back to the 15 foot depths.

Lake levels have been relatively stable lately. Some slight variation has taken place but the reservoir is down now and sleeping right at its winter pool range.

Elevation at midweek had dropped slightly to the 354.9 range in the Kentucky Dam area and slightly lower upstream in the Paris Landing and New Johnsonville sector. TVA has been pulling enough water through the system lately to keep a light current in the main Tennessee River channel.

Surface temperatures fell a few degrees since last week as cool nights had an influence. Readings at present are starting the day out in the 66 degree range and warming to 69 to 70 by midday. By this weekend that could be a degree or two warmer as a touch of summer temp ranges made a brief visit at midweek.

Water color remains clear. Very little rain has fallen in the region the last week to ten days.

Crappie anglers are mostly vertical fishing jigs or tipping jigs with minnows or Berkley Power bait to entice bites. The fish are still a bit scattered at times as the high pressure and mile high skies have diminished the shallow bite at times.

Known to be light sensitive, crappie have been finicky at times with a few fish moving up in the late afternoons or early mornings when fog helped filter out the bright sunlight. It’s not unusual to see fish active when a little wind is present but exhibit sluggish moods when mirror still conditions are present.

Most of the fish have fallen back to midrange depths or slightly deeper as the reservoir levels fall. A cloudy and rainy day will see the bite improve in shallow depths but until that happens most of the fish are pulling back to flats or ledges near deeper depths and riding it out there.

Some anglers fishing West Sandy and upper Big Sandy have managed to land decent numbers in relatively shallow depths at times whereas boats fishing the Paris Landing sector and elsewhere up and down the Tennessee River channel bays or main lake flats are targeting somewhat deeper depths.

Catfishing is alive and well. The bite has been consistent for several weeks. Hefty stringers are coming in from anglers using nightcrawlers or chicken livers for bait.

The slow but steady current has kept the bite going as most boats are targeting the deeper depths of 35 to 45 feet. Fall catfishing is well worth the trip and many anglers overlook it.

Bass fishermen continue to sort of struggle to put together consistent patterns and produce decent numbers. There have been a few exceptions but the overall bite has been challenging even for veteran bass fishermen familiar with the fall patterns.

More shad activity is showing up at times along gravel banks and shallow flats. Watch for the flocks of gulls and they will help locate the schools of baitfish.

Some white bass and yellow bass have been busting the surface at times while in hot pursuit of roaming shad. That activity usually has some largemouth mixed in too.

Tossing chrome/blue Rattle Traps or Strike King’s Red Eye shad style lures will help cover a lot of water and produce strikes.

Tennessee shad colored crankbaits are working too as are some swim baits and suspending jerk baits. The topwater bite has been sluggish but a few anglers are tossing Heddon’s Zara Spook and similar type jerk baits and scoring a few strikes.

Finding schooling bass on a consistent basis has not been in the cards for most bass fishermen thus far this fall.

As a timely transition of seasons takes place out on Kentucky Lake make plans to soak up some of it before winter weather sneaks in the door.

It’s important to remember fall fishing is different in many ways and one of those requires boaters to pay close attention to channel markers. Several pontoons and fast moving bass boats have already encountered some shallow sandbars and that’s not good for the prop and lower units. Best be cautious out there these next few months!