Fishing Report Archives

Above average temperatures across the Kentucky Lake region have curtailed activity on the local fishing scene. Fishermen are ready for a change.

Raise your hand and shout out loud if you’re ready for fall fishing conditions to take over! You’ve just joined the crowd. Definitely in the majority.

Summer can be stubborn. It’s reluctant to loosen its grip. If you’re checking the calendar autumn doesn’t officially arrive until September 21. Hold on; it’s coming!

September is a month known to have a little bit of summer and fall mixed in. Right now both fishermen and hunters are hoping for a big dose of autumn. Jacket morning and shirt sleeve afternoons are on the wish list!

Bring it on. Some cool foggy mornings would be welcomed.

Soon a brisk north wind will deliver. Before we know it it’ll be time to toss another log on the fire. Gather around the fire pit and wave goodbye to the horrible humidity.

Summers in the Deep South can be unforgiving. Sweltering days get little relief from sultry nights. No breeze stirring doubles the feel of even a light load.

Last week we were flirting near record high temps but earlier this week we got a slight reprieve. Just 5 to 8 degrees cooler makes a difference.

On a positive note every passing day brings us that much closer to fall and falling temps. It’s high time we had some help from chilly nights to lower the surface temperatures. Lately the water is still hot and holding on to the 86 to 88 degree range.

Water color remains clear. Not much rain has fallen the last week to ten days.

As of this report lake levels were hanging around the 356.6 range and falling very slow. TVA is discharging 33,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) through Kentucky Dam.

That’s enough to keep a slight flow present in the main Tennessee River channel.

Most catfishermen, along with bass and crappie anglers, would like to see a little more current out there to stimulate baitfish activity. Not a lot of runoff entering the system lately.

Catfishing reports are still coming in from a few scattered anglers who have been braving the early September heat. A slight cool spell was on the horizon with light rains possible.

Successful catfishermen are bouncing bottom with a double hook rig armed with nightcrawlers, chicken liver, catalpa worms and various commercial blood baits that have worked well at times.

Depths of 35 to 45 feet have been producing whenever anglers locate the balls of baitfish. Finding the shad is the key.

Most everyone would like to see cloud cover and perhaps a light rain. No doubt cooler conditions are coming but folks would like to see that train speed up a bit,

A few decent stringers of crappie have been taken by Kentucky Lake anglers using live minnows or tipping their jigs with minnows. That live minnow seems to enhance the appeal of bait presentations.

However, it’s that time of the year when the annoying schools of small yellow bass, referred to by locals as “yellow jacks”, will steal a live minnow off the hook at the blink of an eye.

Be prepared to go through a lot of minnows if you’re dunking your jigs in the 11 to 14 foot depth range. The yellow bass are out there in big numbers with an appetite like a school of piranha. They are masters at robbing your hook!

The finicky crappie will hit a jig without a live minnow but they much prefer it being tipped with a minnow. The yellow bass are so aggressive they nip the minnow off the jig head before it ever sinks down to the stakebed or brushpiles where the crappie are residing.

Yellow bass aren’t bad eating. They’re small in statue but some folks dress them whole, just cutting the heads off before scaling the fish. Their flavor is actually pretty good.

As to crappie the fish are residing in midrange depths and relating well to main lake ledges where structure can be located on the edge of drop-offs.

Bass fishermen have been struggling lately, according to most reports. Anglers are holding on to a summer pattern due to the heat and high surface temps. Most are banging away at main lake ledges tossing finesse baits plus some Carolina and Texas rigged worms.

Always tied on the rods of hot weather bass anglers on Kentucky Lake are big deep diving crankbaits in the blue/chartreuse, black/chartreuse, chrome or Tennessee shad variation. Rattle traps are another favorite as it allows the angler to quickly cover a lot of water.

Seems there’s always some bass shallow here. From boat docks to gravel banks and rip-rap levees; anglers can usually muster up a few chasing shad in the shallows even during hot weather.

Dancing a topwater lure along rocky banks or even on some open flats where shad are present can produce some surface strikes.

White bass have still been active too out on the main lake sandbars, especially those adjacent to the main river channel.

Casting Rooster Tails and spoons has been productive as have some chrome colored topwater bladed jerk baits.

Sooner or later cooler days will be here!