Fishing Report Archives

By this weekend a long overdue cold front will be in progress. Temperatures are expected to plummet, dropping some 25 degrees in the days ahead.

Kentucky Lake’s fishing scene is about to see a drastic change as lows Saturday and Sunday nights are forecast to fall into the upper 30’s and low 40’s. Daytime highs are expected to only reach the low 60’s on Saturday and Sunday.

For several weeks both fishermen and hunters have been hoping for cooler weather. Looks like the region is about to get it. And, most everyone was hoping some much needed rain was preceding the cold spell.

This past week has seen some hot summer days taking over the fishing scene at midday. Stagnant winds made it feel even hotter out there on the big pond too. Low to mid 80’s with no breeze has heated things up above the norm for the first week of October so hardly anyone will complain about cooler days ahead.

Lake levels dropped a few inches this week. Elevation at Kentucky Dam fell to the 354.9 range at midweek.

Water color remains clear. Discharge rates at Kentucky Dam had fallen off to 29,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) this week.

Surface temperatures have started the mornings off around 78 degree and warmed to 80 at midday. Watch for that to decline rapidly once the cold front passes through the region this weekend.

Bass fishing continues to be challenging for the average every day angler who had been throwing everything in the tackle box hoping to stimulate some strikes from sluggish bass.

While a few anglers reported some activity it has been hit and miss. The most activity has occurred around flats and in some big bays where schools of white bass have been busting the surface with frequent feeding frenzies.

Several calm days revealed surface activity as fish tore holes in the placid waters in hot pursuit of big schools of shad.

Some largemouth and smallmouth accompanied the feeding sprees too.

Meanwhile, some area tournament winners credited their success to tossing swim baits out on main lake areas.

Finicky bass have been reluctant to show much interest but some of those tournament anglers who have mastered Livescope technology have managed to find and catch a few fish even in the toughest of times.

The early October crappie bite has been challenging as well for most anglers but there are always a few success stories. Depths of 8 to 11 feet have given up some decent stringers this week but it required anglers to make a lot of stops.

The finicky crappie have been one here and two there but not much in the way of schooling fish. Some stakebeds and brush piles in midrange depths have produced while anglers utilized live minnows and a few jigs tipped with minnows.

Enticing the sluggish crappie to bite has required anglers to experiment as to both depth and bait presentations. The bite has been best in the early morning and late afternoon hours as those hot days with high skies and stagnant winds at midday saw activity diminish.

Cloud cover has been rare, which added another hurdle to the equation.

The long hot spell has seen above average surface temps wear out their welcome. The shallow bite has been somewhat below average but that’s about to change.

In the aftermath of the cold front will be normal fall type weather so hopefully more fish will transition toward shallow areas in the days ahead.

Some catfishermen stalking the main Tennessee River channel area chalked up some decent stringers of blue and channel catfish this week. Despite low flows the bite was pretty good at times out there.

Looks like it’s time to dig out the coveralls and heavy jackets. A rare cold front is about to blow in and change the whole fishing scene for a few days, although temps are forecast to moderate by next week.

Finally it’s going to feel like fall out there!