Fishing Report Archives

Bouncing around and riding the whitecaps going to and from their favorite fishing holes have been Kentucky Lake anglers throughout the lion’s share of fall.

At a time when stable weather patterns normally dominate the fishing scene here it has been topsy-turvy a lot of days. Both temperatures and wind velocity have fluctuated at times.

The last week to ten days have seen bitter cold fronts blow in accompanied by bone chilling northwest winds that brought early freeze warnings. After a warm up and shifting winds that went back to a southerly direction unruly strong breezes have still called the shots, dictating where anglers could fish.

From my perspective it has been an unusually windy fall and I can’t recall this much unstable weather and wind. Anglers have been beat up by whitecaps far more than normal since autumn arrived.

Hopefully things will settle down as November finds its place on the calendar.

Presently lake levels are stable and pretty much staying around their normal low ebb of winter pool elevation. Readings this week have been hanging out around the 354.5 range across the reservoir.

Surface temperatures were in the 61 to 63 degree range. Water color remains clear with some stain around shorelines where high winds have stirred up sediments.

A rare thunderstorm passed rapidly through the region on Tuesday, dropping some much needed rain. A thirsty region soaked most of it up quickly as there wasn’t much runoff and not enough to change lake levels.

Fall crappie fishermen have been doing their best to negotiate stubborn breezes. There have been some decent stringers taken at times, especially for those who hit the lake early or perhaps fish late afternoon hours when winds subside.

The bite was fair for a few boats fishing midrange depths of 8 to 13 feet. Jigs have been producing as have a few live minnows at times. Tipping jigs or leadheads with minnows has sometimes produced.

Most anglers were using vertical presentations of 1/16 to 1/8-ounce jigs while experimenting with color combinations. From dull colors with unpainted leadheads to some blue or black/chartreuse color combinations or similar variations of tube skirts with metal flake, anglers have been fishing clear water most of the time.

Some reports indicated a few crappie were taken in deeper depths of 15 to 20 feet at times. Deep brushpiles were attracting a few crappie that found a comfort zone out away from shallow cover.

The shallow bite has been below average as usually anglers are finding crappie moving up to the 4 to 8 foot zone in decent numbers by now. While a few fish have been taken in that zone it has not paid normal dividends due in part to relatively clear water and not much cloud cover.

Tipping jigs with Berkley Power Bait has yielded a few strikes too as anglers are trying it all.

Bass fishermen found a few more fish cooperating this past week but the wind limited their territory. Still producing have been shallow roadbeds and rocky points. Tossing shad colored crankbaits and Rattle Trap variations have been popular choices.

More shad had moved up on gravel banks this week in the early morning and late afternoon hours.

Catfishing hasn’t seen a lot of activity lately as not many boats have been able to fish the main channel areas. Low current has been a factor. Not much flow is the story out there due to a lack of rainfall that has plagued the region for quite some time.