Fishing Report Archives

Mid-March has a way of playing games with the minds of anglers here on Kentucky Lake. Several reasons for that but topping the list is the prespawn phase now underway as just about everyone and their brother is nervous and anxious.

Spawning time for crappie is fast approaching. Bass aren’t too far down the road either. Both species have a biological clock that is ticking away and anglers lacking patience often want to speed things up. A few nice days and spring fever runs rampart!

However, March is a month full of variables and weather changes often ride a roller coaster. Drastic changes are known to occur overnight, throwing a curve to warming trends that put the fish on the threshold of blitzing toward spawning territory in shallow venues.

March madness has a reputation and it isn’t always favorable to fishermen. One day warm and sunny with light winds. Next day the ides of March blow in with gale force, dropping temperatures with a northerly breeze and whipping up whitecaps where placid waters yesterday presented a mirror slick image across the open water.

Wise are the anglers who prepare for the worst and hope for the best. March has proven to be an unstable month. Always has been; always will be!

Best not hang the coveralls, overcoat or raingear too deep in the closet just yet. Around these parts it’s usually mid-April before weather patterns settle down and mild temperatures take command.

Meanwhile, prespawn crappie phases are indicating the fish are on the move and already staging in midrange depths. Like the anglers who pursue them they’re feeling the change coming. They’re showing signs of transition as many fish have begun moving from extremely deep hideouts and stair-stepping their path toward spawning zones a few feet at a time.

Anglers have been finding most of the decent stringers in the midrange depths of 14 to 18 feet but there were a few warm days recently when fish responded to rising surface temps, dingy water color and rising lake levels. Some days fishermen found crappie in 8 to 12 foot zones although they were scattered about.

In the days ahead watch for a lot of movement to take place for Kentucky Lake crappie. They sense the biological clock’s ticking. Hormonal changes are taking place. The annual ritual is about to begin.

Generally speaking prespawn phases begin in March and by the mid to latter part of the month crappie have really responded to lake conditions and temperatures by slowly moving up toward shallow flats and working their way into bays and venues where spawning will soon take place.

Females are already sporting a hefty profile as their egg sac develops and a bulging belly confirms. Although male crappie haven’t begun to transition toward their beautiful dark purple color when pigment responds to hormonals changes that’s soon to occur.

By next week watch for dramatic changes to be underway. More fish will be moving toward shallow to midrange depths. And, male crappie will take on their darker color phase as peak spawning time nears.

Kentucky Lake’s peak spawning phases are always weather related but generally occur from early to mid-April. There have been a few rare times when unusually warm weather arrived early and lingered, moving up the timetable to late March.

Surface temperatures need to be in the 62 to 66 degree range before spawning really kicks it in high gear. Even then stability is a factor. The first day your temp gauge reads high doesn’t mean spawning is taking place at that moment. It’s a gradual thing as to the warm up as cold nights can take away what a midday sun may have delivered.

Just this week trees began budding across the hillsides preceded by massive fields of brilliant yellow buttercups. All are shouting spring’s approach.

Dogwoods haven’t bloomed just yet but watch for that to happen within the next week to ten days if we get a warming trend to ward off the nasty cold fronts. If mean March cold fronts slip back in the door it will push the active spawning phases back a week or ten days, which would put it back to the normal frame of early to mid-April.

Right now practically everyone is waiting at the threshold. Mother Nature will use her own clock to choose the right time so be prepared to ride it out these next two to three weeks. Odds are both sunscreen and overcoats will be needed.

Bass fishing has improved the last week to ten days as local tournaments and overall fishing indicated some decent stringers taken. Several nice smallmouth have been caught lately too.

Most fishermen are beating the banks and sloping points or roadbeds and riprap levees with various colored crankbaits. With all the stained water present color choices on crankbaits are ranging from loud colors such as Firetiger to fluorescent reds, oranges and greenish combinations.

Spinnerbaits have scored some nice catches too as have some swim baits, jig and craw combos and some Alabama rig offerings.

Watch for the shallow bite to improve just like the crappie once warmer surface temps pull baitfish to shallow shorelines.

Presently surface temperatures are in the 52 to 55 degree range. A cool spell is in the forecast---highs only 57 to begin the weekend with some cool nights---will slightly postpone the warmup that started the week when highs kicked off in the 70-degeee range.

Water color has remained dingy across a large area of the reservoir, especially up Big Sandy and West Sandy where muddy conditions from the last two weeks of rain have been reluctant to dissipate. The mouth of Big Sandy and south toward the power lines and Sulphur Well Island are sporting a good color for fishing.

Anglers are reminded that areas within the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge are now reopen to fishing and boating activity after their winter closure to avoid disturbance to wintering waterfowl. The areas reopened last Tuesday.

March madness is indeed underway. It’s a changing month with many mood swings and anglers must learn to adapt and change with it. Don’t let those bad days get you down. Spring and all its glory is on the way as it officially arrives Saturday, March 20th!

A change of seasons has occurred!