Fishing Report Archives

With the dog days of summer upon us and smoking hot weather, now is a great time to fish off shore ledges. A ledge can be any type of drop off a hump, a bar, a simple turn in a contour, roadbed, rockpile, creek or river channel.

Kentucky lake has more ledges than all the other TVA lakes put together so finding the right drop offs is the key to catching quality bass.

The progression of bass leaving the shallow spawning flats making their way to deeper water was a little slow this year due to all the cloudy and windy days we had at the end of May.

Once the bass started showing up on ledges it seems clear Kentucky Lake's bass fishing is coming back strong. Some of the summer ledges that weren’t holding many fish the last three years are now holding significant numbers of bass this summer and that is a great thing to see.

I switch up my off shore baits a little every year but my main bait is a 10 inch plum worm. I usually have a Carolina rig, football head, wobble head, deep crankbait, and one ounce single bladed spinner bait tied on to.

This year I have been using deep crankbaits as my second choice and it sure worked great yesterday.

When I talk about fishing deep water I’m fishing in 9' down to 30'. The middle of June is when you get bass making their way to the 20-plus depths. The fishing pressure is down so if you can find some bass off shore and off the beaten path you may have them all to yourself.

I use my electronics to find likely areas then I will go over them looking for fish and to see what kind of structure is down there.

Largemouth bass are not schooling fish. However, they will bunch up during the summer on off shore ledges so when you locate bass on a ledge they are there. This is because of the ledge - not because they are traveling in some random school.

Kentucky Lake's ledges are massive so bass will move around on a ledge a little depending on conditions and baitfish.

Many times where you see them on electronics is not where you catch them. Catching them sometimes is all about casting at a specific angle. The correct angle can put a huge limit in the boat really fast.

Please check out my Shelldivers Guide Service Facebook page and shelldiviersguide.com.

As a guide I am here to show people the best time that I possibly can, help tournament fisherman gain an edge, and teach people different techniques and bass behavior.