Weekly Fishing Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley dated April 6, 2017

Started by Dave Stewart, April 07, 2017, 11:44:49 AM

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Dave Stewart

April 6, 2017

Kentucky Lake:  Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 355.17  Surface Temperature - 62
Lake Barkley:  Water Level at Barkley Dam - 355.20  Surface Temperature - 62

Both lakes are one foot above winter pool.  Kentucky Dam was generating at an average rate of 64,000 cfs this afternoon.  Barkley Dam was generating at an average rate or 51,600 cfs this afternoon.  The latest lake levels , current flows and forecasts for all the TVA lakes can be found at http://www.tva.com/river/lakeinfo/index.htm.

Current Conditions:  Wind, wind and more wind has been the story here over the past week with just a couple of days of comfortable wind conditions for the fishing.  To top that off, the TVA has been fluctuating the water levels up and down which is never good if you are trying to stay with a shallow water bass pattern not to mention what it is doing to the folks trying to fish the Crappie spawn.  I noticed the TVA dropped the water levels again about 8 inches between yesterday afternoon and late this morning.  We also have had cold fronts coming through every other day it seems.  Our water temperatures rose as high as 64 degrees on the morning water temperatures and then dropped back to present levels over the past couple of days with cold fronts.  What days we were able to get out this past week, we took most of our bass on secondary creek channel banks and points in the creeks and bays.  We did catch some bass on crank baits but the most productive bite was on shakey heads and jigs.  We are getting a lot of small buck bass but did manage to boat some keepers up to 5.5 lbs with most of the keepers in the 2.5 to 3 lb range.  Hopefully, this pattern of high winds will go away next week and things will settle down and the rapid fluctuations of the water levels will subside as the TVA slowly brings the water levels higher toward summer pool by the end of the month. 

Wish I had a better forecast for the weekend but it appears these windy conditions are going to continue for the next few days.  The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 60/night time low of 40 with post frontal wind NW at 15 with higher gusts.  Saturday is showing a high of 70/night time low of 54 with wind SW at 15.  Sunday's forecast is calling for a high of 75/night time low of 59 with SSW wind 15-25.  Monday is showing a high of 75/night time low of 58 with wind SSW at 15.  The forecast for next week after Monday is showing the winds are going to subside, let's keep our fingers crossed!

Largemouth Bass: Largemouth are being taken on main lake primary points and channel banks on deep and medium running crank baits, shakey heads and jigs. Largemouth are being taken on channel banks and secondary points in the creeks and bays on medium running crank baits, spinner baits, jigs and shakey heads. Some fish are being taken on shallow main lake flats and on flats in the backs of the creeks and bays on warm days on lipless crank baits, shallow running crank baits and spinner baits.  I did get a couple of reports of a few fish being taken shallow on buzz baits and whopper ploppers.  This shallow water bite is up and down depending water level fluctuations and cold fronts.

Smallmouth Bass: Smallmouth are being taken on main lake channel points and banks as well as on secondary points and channel banks in the front halves of the creeks and bays on medium running crank baits, tube jigs and jigs. The numbers are low but some nice fish have been taken. These fish are on late prespawn/spawn patterns now.

Productive Lures: Some of the productive lures reported this week are Rapala DT crank baits in demon and red craw, Rapala shadraps in demon, red craw and original crawdad, Bandit medium running crank baits in rootbeer/chartruese,  Stike King 6XD crank baits in "woops"y shad and chartruese "woops"y shad,  . D&L jigs in "oops" and cumberland craw, Slong's jigs in cumberland craw, Charmer shakey head jigs and Slong's shakey head jigs with Charmer shakey head worms in green pumpkin and Zoom trick worm in green pumpkin/purple, Strike King red eye shad and Lewis rattletrap lipless crank baits in crawfish patterns. Spro Little John shallow and medium running crank baits in spring craw and chartreuse with black back and Slong's spinner baits in white/chartruese. 

Crappie: The Crappie started spawning last week but have backed off some due to the water level and water temperature flucuations. These are primarily Black Crappie. They are being taken around brush piles in 5-7 ft of water by fishing with minnows or small curly tail jigs under bobbers and by casting curly tail jigs. These fish are moving to the banks early in the morning and during the afternoon on the warmer days and are being taken by casting curly tail jigs and road runner type baits. The White Crappie are staging around brush and underwater stake beds in 8-11 ft of water as well as in 12-15 ft of water. These fish are being taken by vetically fishing with jigs and minnow jig combinations as well as slow trolling curly tail jigs.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON VISITING OUR LAKES I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES FOR ALL YOUR FISHING AND BOATING NEEDS:
Fisherman's Headquarters is located in Draffenville at the U.S. 68/U.S. 641 triangle, or the Draffenville "Y". FHQ stocks everything an angler could need, from live bait, hooks and bobbers to top of the line tournament bass tackle. More than a "bait and tackle" store, Fisherman's Headquarters is a true "pro shop", offering advice, training and special order assistance not found online or at the big box retailers. Services even include custom electronics training and installation. The store offers a wide variety of nationally known brands as well as many regional and hard to find items we use on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. They stock many of the products I rely on daily, such as Charmer Baits, Slong's lures, Picasso lures, Bag 5 lures and Pro Tungsten weights. From bluegill to bass and catfish to crappie, FHQ has you covered! Stop by and visit or phone 270-527-5938

Jet-A-Marina: If you have a problem with your boat while you are visiting our great fisheries, let me recommend you have the folks in the service department at Jet-a-Marina check it out. These folks have a well known reputation for trying to keep our visitors on the water while they are here if they can possibly do so, especially you tournament anglers. Hopefully you will not need this kind of assistance but if you do, you can find Jet-a-Marina located on U.S. 62 in Calvert City, just a couple of miles north of Kentucky Dam. Jet-a-Marina also has a great showroom for all your boating accessories and check out the new Ranger and Stratos bass boats too as well as bulk oil at rock bottom prices for your engine. Phone: 270-395-4030.

GUIDE SERVICE:

For those of you that may not be familiar with my service: I am a full time catch and release bass fishing guide. I only guide for bass. I have been guiding for bass full time on these lakes for over 20 years and bass fishing the lakes for over 30 years. I do not go out and fish panfish for 4 or 5 days and then try to guide on bass for one or two days.

No one knows everything the bass are doing but one thing is for sure, if you only fish for bass day in and day out, you will have a lot better idea of what they are doing and also be familiar with all the different techniques it takes to be a successful bass angler.

If you book with my service, you will have me as your guide and you will be guided in the comfort of a late model Z522 Ranger Comanche equipped with Lowrance HDS electronics and top of the line tackle. I provide just for fun bass fishing trips, tournament preparation trips, focused teaching trips and technique instruction. If you are in need of a bass fishing guide give me a call or drop me an email.

Available Dates:
March: Sorry, I am booked up.
April: Sorry, I am booked up.
May: 1, 4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17,18,20, 21, 22, 23
June: 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30
Of course I am taking reservations for the rest of the season also through November


Captain Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
270-362-9987
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www.kentuckylakeguide.com
"Fish With a Professional"

Lipripper

Dave thanks for your reports and love the depth you go into.  ~c~ That wind is a killer for sure. ~sweat

Kats Rule And Bass Drool.Viet Nam Vet