Fishing Report Archives

For fall fishermen on Kentucky Lake the parade continues. More beautiful weather in in the process of returning and above average temperatures are forecast for the approaching weekend. Some rain is possible early next week but sunny days prior to that.

As to lake levels TVA will continue a slow but gradual drop in the days ahead, which will keep plenty of current in the river channel for catfishermen who have thrived this fall.

Forecasts for the weekend show the reservoir dropping slightly to an elevation of 354.4. That is flirting with the low ebb of winter pool levels and down a few inches from last week.

Water color remains quite clear. Surface temperatures cooled a bit from last week and are back down to the mid to upper 50’s. Some cool nights have entered the picture compared to last week when surface temps rose to the mid 60’s for a couple of days.

When southwest winds have returned with light velocity crappie fishermen have been scoring some pretty decent stringers. There were a few days earlier in the week when nasty north winds took a bite out of the fishing but really had a bite to the air. A few mornings required coveralls but some anglers stayed on shore waiting on the midweek warmup.

After a couple days of diminished activity due to cool snaps and high pressure skies the crappie responded favorably. The bite from midrange depths of 8 to 12 feet has been good at times.

Anglers are vertical fishing jigs and minnows over manmade fish attractors. Some are opting for just a live minnow presentation while others are tipping the jig color of their choice with shiner minnows to enhance bites.

Most anglers are having to make several stops during the course of a day’s fishing trip to accumulate a good catch.

A few boats are stalking deeper ledges and finding some scattered fish in the 18 to 24 foot zones. A few fish are there but the bulk of the catches are coming from midrange depths, which is the norm for this time of year given the mild weather we’ve had.

Still showing up in the creel have been nice size slabs. Hefty crappie tipping the scales at 1 ¼ to 1 ½-pound are being caught on a regular basis. Most anglers are not loading the boat with big numbers of fish but catching enough to keep it very interesting.

Bass activity is still sluggish for most with a few isolated reports of decent stringers taken on swim bait, shad colored variations of crankbaits and some suspending jerkbaits at times plus Rattle Trap style lures fan cast over sloping flats and sandbars out on the main lake areas.

Looks like Kentucky Lake’s fishing scene will get yet another extension to a beautiful fall season. Happy Thanksgiving to all you anglers!