Fishing Report Archives

Kentucky Lake’s fishing scene has all the indications of an early spring. Already blooming and screaming spring are droves of Bradford Pear trees that are parading their beautiful white buds across the landscape.

People sometimes confuse the early blooming trees with dogwoods but the first ones to jump out in March each year are the Bradford Pears but dogwoods are likely to starting budding soon…maybe the next week to ten days. Saucer magnolias are already peaking out with a pink face too!

All these signs point toward an early crappie bite that has really been underway for several weeks now. With warming days and rising surface temperatures all systems are on go for aggressive activity.

The area is still in prespawn phase but each passing day is stimulating the crappie and bass to move up and occupy midrange depths. Stairstepping their way toward spawning territory is the norm in early March as the fish are responding to their biological clock ticking down the magic moment of spawning time.

Surface temperatures this week have risen to the 55 degree range. That’s up a few degree from last week. No doubt some cooler days will slip in the door as March is always iffy when it comes to weather.

Lake levels have been falling slowly. Elevation this week at Kentucky Dam was down to the 354.5 range, which is near the reservoir’s low ebb of winter pool.

Boaters need to use caution this time of year and pay close attention to channel markers. Resist the temptation to take open water shortcuts.

Water color is clear. TVA is discharging about 91,000 cfs (cubic feet per second) so there has been a bit of current present in the main Tennessee River channel at times.

Weather has been pretty good to anglers this past week. It has been somewhat stable with a few days of light winds that really worked in favor of main lake area fishermen.

March has a windy reputation so any calm days are a bonus this time of year.

Good stringers of crappie have been taken in the 10 to 13 foot depth range lately. That midrange depth is always popular this time of year as crappie start to work their way toward spawning territory.

As the fish migrate from main lake deeper venues they begin to occupy structure in places between their deep winter hideouts and shallow spawning territory.

That’s what’s happening now across the reservoir. Both bass and crappie appear to be on the move.

Up West Sandy some nice stringers were taken recently by anglers vertical fishing hair and tube jigs in a vertical presentation over manmade fish attractors such as stakebeds and brushpiles.

There are also some decent stringers being caught by boaters slow trolling spider rig presentations. Trolling Road-Runner style jigs with the small spinner leadheads plus a hair or twister-tail grub attached is attractive to suspended crappie.

As surface temps warm and the fish meander their way toward spawning zones they often roam and suspend out over deeper water or transition up to shallow flats out on the main lake.

When crappie start staging in preparation for the forthcoming blitz toward spawning spots slow trolling or drifting with the wind can be quite effective.

Covering a lot of water is the key as trolling or drifting slowly with a buffet of baits and color combinations will sooner or later put the angler in touch with roaming schools of crappie.

In the Paris Landing sector anglers are also reporting crappie moving up too. Fishermen are indicating they’re having to make a lot of stops as their manmade structures are holding fish but sort of a one or two here; one or two there result.

A few structures have yielded 4 to 5 fish at times so some stops are just more productive than others, which is the norm this time of year.

Already starting to produce a few fish have been shallow structures in the 5 to 9 foot depths at times. All it takes in a sunny day or two to stimulate that shallow bite.

Some fishermen prefer casting jigs as the fish head shallow so their favorite technique is to toss both jigs and live minnow rigs retrieved slowly over submerged structure. Sometimes just open areas will produce at times.

Twister tail grubs are deadly this time of year if you locate a few fish relating to structure. Keeping a wide variety of color combinations in the tackle box is recommended as the fish can sometimes be quite finicky and show favoritism.

Crappie anglers should continue to see the bite hold up and improve in the days and weeks ahead. Cold fronts will come and go but the fish are marching toward spawning territory.

The bass bite has shown positive trends lately too. Tossing crankbaits around big chunk rocks has always been effective in March across Kentucky Lake.

From crawfish variations to shad colored combos, the early spring pattern here has always favored a crankbait pattern.

The shallow pea gravel and rocky shores attract some big females that are in the prespawn phase just waiting for warmer surface temperatures to trigger them into moving toward shallow bays and pockets off the main lake.

Also popular are suspending crankbaits as well as the ever popular Rattle Trap style lures that allow anglers to chunk and wind, covering a lot of water.

Some stickups will soon be holding bass if not already. Shallow running crankbaits plus spinnerbaits and jerkbaits are worthy of consideration.

That ticking sound you hear is the biological clock of both bass and crappie as spring draws near. The season officially arrives March 19th!