Fishing Report Archives

Kentucky Lake’s late October fishing scene has been nice this week courtesy of beautiful weather. Fall fishing held up to its reputation as stable conditions greeted fishermen across the region with above average temperatures and relatively light winds.

Lake levels were stable too as the reservoir is resting around the low ebb of winter pool. Elevation at Kentucky Dam was hanging around the 354.9 range as was the rest of the reservoir. Water color remains clear as a dry region yearns for rain.

Surface temperatures reflect the unusually warm weather with readings in the 64 to 65 degree range. Watch for that to fall a few degrees next week as a drastic cold front is in the forecast with daytime highs projected to be only 46 degrees by Monday. At night the mercury is forecast to dip down to 33 degrees as a nasty front blows in.

Daytime highs have been in the upper 70’s and low 80’s this week. Being out on the lake lately has been the cat’s meow. Nice weather with beautiful scenery changing daily as the parade of colors puts on a show has been well worth the price of admission.

The crappie bite has been pretty good across the reservoir this week. Last week was okay too but high winds showed up for several days and sort of upset the apple cart, dictating how and where boaters could go.

Not too bad this week as anglers have been able to move about the lake and check out several open water areas in their quest to find October crappie. That’s the way autumn angling is supposed to be.

Most of the decent stringers have come from 8 to 12 feet. That midrange depth has been productive but anglers have had to make several stops as the fish have played games of hide and seek at times.

Anglers are just having to knock on a lot of doors to accumulate numbers of keeper size crappie. Some slabs have been taken but there are a lot of small fish biting so fishermen are having to keep the measuring board handy most days.

Still annoying anglers in certain areas of the lake are the aggressive and annoying schools of yellow bass who never seem to get their fill. For anglers tipping jigs with minnows or just presenting live minnows only the yellow bass are sometimes like a pack of wolves detecting a smell of blood.

However, sometimes the crappie are down there in the brushpiles and stakebeds holding tight in the cover if you can get past the yellow bass army. Some crappie have been taken deeper as main lake ledges and structure in the 15 to 17 foot depth zones have given up some fish as well.

Up Big Sandy and West Sandy a few anglers have found fish in shallow structure around the 4 to 8 foot depth range. Vertical fishing jigs or jigs tipped with minnows have paid dividends at times.

Next week’s cold spell may curtail activity for a few days as northwest winds will be part of the fishing scene as the front rolls in but watch for things to settle down once the front passes.

Bass fishermen are still struggling to find and catch big numbers. Shad activity is abundant in the bays plus out on the main lake as big schools are roaming about.

Back in some of the larger bays bass have been taken on chrome colored Rattle Trap style lures plus shallow running crankbaits. Some bass have been busting the service on calm days in their pursuit of baitfish as have a few schools of white bass.

Not much happening for the shallow bite as the bulk of anglers tossing spinnerbaits, shallow running crankbaits and hair jigs around visible stickups are not finding much cooperation. The better bass bite has been back off the banks as of late.

A few nice smallmouth continue to show up for anglers targeting the secondary sandbars and ledges using swim baits and hair jigs.

As to the catfish bite reports have been sluggish for most as diminished current seems to have curtailed activity. TVA has decreased discharge rates at Kentucky Dam lately down to only 19,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) so not much current in the main channel as of late.

There’s still some great fall fishing ahead as the pumpkin month fades away. Most cold fronts won’t last too long so watch for a quick rebound. Anglers may have to put another log on the fire for a few days and button up the coveralls but not for long. Mild days will soon return.