Fishing Report Archives

Surface temperatures this week have cooled down to the 59 degree range as chilly days this week descended on the region. Also falling have been lake levels.

Kentucky Lake had risen several inches last week and crested around the 355.6 range but has been falling steadily and is now down to the winter pool range at 354.4 as the weekend approaches.

Water color is pretty good across the reservoir as falling lake levels usually pull any stain that was present out of the bays and out to the main river area.

After the present cool spell loses its grip Kentucky Lake anglers can expect a reprieve by early next week when a warming trend returns with pleasant conditions. Highs are expected to rebound to the upper 60’s for a few days, offering some nice fall fishing conditions.

Crappie fishermen have been dodging the cold mornings and nasty north winds some days. The number of boats on the lake diminished when the weather had a mood swing. Watch for boaters to return quickly as mild temps take over accompanied by light and variable winds which give fishermen more freedom to explore out there in the big water.

A few decent stringers have been taken in Big Sandy and West Sandy by anglers stalking midrange depths of 8 to 14 feet. Some reports indicated a few fish were lurking even deeper during the falling lake levels period.

Some anglers found a few crappie backing off to the 15 to 19 foot depths a few days. It’s not unusual for fish to pull back to deeper venues during falling lake levels. However, with mild days in the forecast watch for crappie to head back toward shallow to midrange areas.

Odds are crappie will slowly return to structures in the 8 to 12 foot depth range in the next few days once sunny days influence. And, a few crappie are likely to move up even more to the 4 to 6 foot range.

Some spider rigging techniques were still producing for boaters slowly working both flats and along the edges of changing contour. Both jigs and live minnows have been paying dividends.

Also producing some fish have been tightline techniques for boaters vertical fishing jigs and minnows around manmade fish attractors. Depths of 8 to 12 feet were giving up a few scattered fish but boaters were having to make a lot of stops as it has been a one here; one there scenario as of late.

Bass fishermen are back to tossing shad colored crankbaits around gravel banks and even some exposed crappie beds that are exposed since lake levels are lower.

Some smallmouth were showing up on the east side of the reservoir for anglers casting twister tail grubs, crankbaits and working hair jigs on sloping gravel banks or submerged sandbars.

The overall bite has remained challenging for most bass anglers this fall regardless of what technique they’ve used it appears.

Some late fall catfishing is still underway. Not many boats have been out there targeting catfish lately but the bite is still on for those that find the balls of baitfish near the main river channel areas.