Fishing Report Archives

The spring of 2023 certainly came in like a lion. Apparently it brought a lot of smallmouth bass with it. Smallmouth bass is the way to win bass tournaments here on Kentucky Lake now days. The majority of bass tournaments this spring have been won with smallmouth bass and heavy weights.

Anglers are catching more crappie this year than the past six years with many anglers capitalizing on their crappie catches by using forward facing sonar. Bluegills are starting to move in the shallows getting ready for their spawning season.

Red Ears are spawning and can be found in 1.5 feet of water and deeper. I caught a nice bunch recently that included some real giants.

The largemouth bass started their spawn early. The weather fronts that came through stalled some of the spawning activity. In a perfect world Kentucky and Barkley Lakes would be at full pool at the beginning of April rather than at the end.

We are at full pool now and a lot of largemouth bass are spawning and that will continue till about Mid May. My favorite way to catch them this time of year is with a weightless trick worm. I fish real shallow water 3 feet down to 6 inches. I am certain that many of the bass I get in the skinny shallow water won’t be caught by other anglers.

These bass that in the super shallows are very spooky and are not really in to eating but rather making nests, laying eggs, and protecting. Big loud flashy baits don’t work very well and can spook these bass.

Besides using a trick worm I like to have some type of pitching bait tied on for certain pieces of wood cover. When going from one spot to another it’s nice to have a buzzbait tied to catch bass that are cruising and roaming.

The largemouth bass spawn is nearly over. However, there are still a lot of fish in the super shallow water. Many bass will stay shallow when the spawn is over - especially if there is good emergent grass around. Some bass still have eggs in them. Ledge fishing will start soon. A lot of bass that make their way out to an offshore ledge still have eggs in them and as those eggs dissolve the bass absorb the nutrients from the eggs. When you see the yellowish fluid coming out of the hole on their belly that is the eggs that are dissolving.

I posted an informative article about the largemouth spawn on Shelldivers Guide Service Facebook page.