Brandon Hunter

The water temperatures are warming up and everything has greened up. You know what that means in the spring? Spawn! This time of year the smallmouth and largemouth are in full blown spawn mode with some of the spawn starting to wind down. Crappie are pretty well done, and the big bluegills and shellcrackers are making their way to their nests.

This is a great time of year to be on the water, with everything for the most part being up shallow and easier to target. It is crazy to think that we are already halfway through the spring months. Let’s dive in to it!

Lake Conditions and What's Happening on the Lake

Water Temps : Low to mid 70s
Lake Level : 359 and stable
Water Color : Main river clean, creeks are pretty clean

For the most part, the smallmouth spawn is starting to wind down, but don't rule out catching them on beds through the first couple weeks of May. There have been a good number of largemouth spawn, but again there are still waves that have yet to move up in my opinion. When the fish get done spawning, there are still many ways to catch fish that are up guarding fry usually through the month of May. Keep in mind, we had a very mild winter and it seems like everything happened earlier this year. There are always a good number of fish that can be caught moving in or moving out on secondary points in the creeks, largemouth and smallmouth both.

Techniques and Where

Ned Rigs and Shaky Heads - A ned rig or shaky head is probably the #1 bait choice for Kentucky Lake when fish are spawning. A ned rig fished over smallmouth that are on beds or even fished on gravel points on the main lake to cover water, can be deadly. A shaky head is a bait that you just can't go wrong with. Target fish on lead in banks moving towards spawning pockets for those largemouth and smallmouth that are spawning closer to the bank say in that 6-8’ range

Specifics - Divine Ned Head, Owner Block Head and Owner Shaky Head 3/16 or ¼ oz, 6th Sense Boosa Ned, Ned Fry, Divine Shaky Head

Swimbaits - A swimbait is always on the deck of my boat, if not 2 or 3 of them. It's a bait that you can cover water with and one of those baits that you can search for those post spawners around main lake flats or bars. You can also catch spawning smallmouth on this bait fished over the top of beds on main lake flats in 6-10’ of water.

Specifics - 6th Sense Divine 3.2 or 3.8 in Pro Shad, Sexified Shad, Ghost Ice Minnow, 6th Sense Whale 6.0 rigged on a weighted keel hook for those post spawn largemouth in the creeks

Damiki Rig - Same places as Swimbaits but targeting fish with forward facing sonar

Specifics- 6th Sense Juggle Minnow or Rapala Crush City Freeloader on FFS Head

Swim Jigs or Chatterbaits - A swim jig or chatterbait fished around shallow cover can be a good choice for those fish that are up guarding fry. Flooded flowers, laydowns, any type of shallow cover.

Specifics - Dirty Jigs Tackle Swim Jig or Jackhammer, 3/8 oz for the shallow cover, Bluegill or natural colors or shad colors will both work

Finesse Jigs - A finesse jig can be fished on lead in banks when fish are in transition along chunk rock banks or lead in spawning banks.

Specifics - Dirty Jigs Tackle Finesse Jig 5/16 natural colors

Swing Head - A swing head is a great bait to wind around those lead in banks when fish are in those transition areas. You can cover water with this bait when the bite gets tough and in between areas.

Specifics - 6th Sense Core-X Swing Head with the Bongo 3.7 Water Candy or Green Pumpkin

Flipping Baits - Everyone knows a good flipping bite is hard to beat when the water levels are up. If you know where the deeper bushes are, there are a good many bites to be had up in the thick stuff. It's May on Kentucky Lake. Enough said.

Specifics - 5/16 or 3/8 oz pegged sinker with flipping bait of your choice. I run the 6th Sense Prawn or the brand new Congo Craw

For those of you who are not familiar with my service, I competed for eight years on the FLW Tour. I am a full time, licensed and insured Captain, with first aid and CPR certification. I offer one-on-one training, technique-specific trips, fun bass fishing trips, and electronics training in your boat.

I would love the opportunity to share a day with you in my Vexus VXS20 or in your own boat to get your electronics dialed in. I am here to help you and to help you become a better angler and to give you confidence in your equipment.

If you're in the area on the north end of Kentucky Lake, make sure to visit us at Hitec Outdoors. We are a full line electronics dealer/install center and also have a great selection of bait and tackle for your trip to the lake.

Come see us! Follow me on Facebook and Instagram @brandonhunterfishing and @bhunterfishing for anything fishing. Make sure you are following along and subscribe to my YouTube Channel BrandonHunterFishing. Please visit brandonhunterfishing.com and shoot me an email to book your next trip. See you on the water!