Fishing Report Archives

Make no mistake about it; catfish is still king of the summer fishing scene on Kentucky Lake!

In the aftermath of abundant rain that fell in the wake of repeated thunderstorms passing through the region earlier this week and portions of last week ample runoff has entered the Tennessee River watershed lately. As a result Kentucky Lake has plenty of current flowing as TVA has been discharging over 57,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) this week through Kentucky Dam.

Lake levels and discharge rates could change daily. Starting off the week lake levels were falling slowly and were dancing around the 357.8 range. Water color is mostly clear but more stain has entered the main channel area the last few days. Surface temps are in the 85 to 87 degree range.

A cool front has slipped in the door and will give anglers a rare touch of fall for a few days. That’s a welcomed change to the heat and humidity, which is the norm for August angling.

Fishermen could see some foggy mornings enter the fishing scene. A light jacket or long sleeve shirts may replace sunscreen or a day or two.

Meanwhile hefty stringers of blue catfish are dominating the Kentucky Lake fishing scene again this week. Good flowing current has helped prolong the summer bite and anglers are taking advantage of it.

The scenario should continue as a lot of runoff has entered the Kentucky Lake watershed this past week. Whenever discharge rates increase at Kentucky Dam it has a domino effect upstream for summer catfishermen stalking the deep holes along the Tennessee River.

Where bend and turns or perhaps humps and other irregular features in the topography occur that may divert the submerged flow is where anglers frequently discover buried treasure in the form of ole’ whiskers. Schools of catfish are hot on the trail of meandering balls of baitfish and such spots pay dividends.

Kentucky Lake’s summer catfish bite should continue to hold up for several more weeks as long as steady current stays in the picture.

A lot of anglers are targeting the 40 to 50 foot depth range but some fish have been suspending at times in their pursuit of meandering schools of shad. Successful anglers that have learned to monitor their sonar screens are scoring big catches of both blue and channel catfish.

Productive baits have been nightcrawlers, chicken livers, cut bait such as bluegill, big minnows, catalpa worms, hot dogs dipped in various homemade concoctions and shrimp just to name a few. There are some good commercial baits available at your favorite bait shop that are working too.

Scattered reports of summer crappie have come in from anglers still stalking stakebeds and brushpiles around the 12 to 15 foot depth range. Most were tightlining jigs tipped with minnows or Berkley Power Bait crappie nibbles in white or chartreuse.

Deeper crappie have been taken around 18 to 25 feet by anglers tightlining live minnows. Some are tipping jigs will minnows as well. The live minnow seems to be enticing to summer crappie.

A few boats are trolling crankbaits over main lake ledges and picking up a potpourri of species around the 12 to 15 foot depth range. It’s not unusual for trollers to encounter crappie, white bass, yellow bass, drum, catfish, sauger and an occasional hefty largemouth or smallmouth bass.

The trolling technique covers a lot of water and sometimes a school of white bass can be discovered holding on the edge of a drop-off.

White bass have been seen in the jumps around the Paris Landing sector on days when calm winds delivered placid water that allowed anglers to hear and see them busting shad. The surface activity has been inconsistent but anglers are tossing spoons and Rooter Tails to catch them once the school submerges around main lake sandbars.

Bass fishermen are still banging away at main lake ledges with big deep diving crankbaits, swim baits, Texas and Carolina rigged worms and even tossing finesse baits at times in hopes of enticing finicky bass to bite.

Hopping a hair jig with a craw type trailer is another summer bait that always seems to be on the rod of the summer bass fishermen’s arsenal.

Now that some cool weather has entered the fishing scene anglers need to make the most of it and get out and about. It’s a nice reprieve from the hot and humid conditions but it won’t last long!