Weekly Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley dated November 15, 2017

[Dave Stewart]

*November 15, 2017*

*Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 354.95 Surface Temperature
- 58*
*Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 354.70 Surface Temperature -
58*

*Both lakes are about one foot over winter pool. Kentucky Dam was spilling
at an average rate of 61,600 cfs this morning. Barkley dam was spilling at
an average rate of 50,600 cfs this morning. * *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.*

*FLASH: I AM FORMALLY ANNOUNCING THAT I WILL BE RETIRING AT THE END OF
NOVERMBER 2018. I AM MAKING THIS ANNOUNCEMENT NOW TO ALERT THOSE OF YOU
THAT BOOK WITH ME EVERY YEAR THAT YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS WITH ME
FOR NEXT YEAR SOON IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. *

*I AM ALSO MAKING THIS ANNOUCEMENT SO THAT THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE
INDICATED TO ME MANY TIMES THAT YOU WANT TO TAKE MY "ELIMINATING WATER"
CLASS BUT HAVE NOT FOUND THE TIME TO DO SO ARE AWARE THAT THIS COMING
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY WILL BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO TAKE THIS CLASS AND SHOULD
MAKE A RESERVATION NOW WHILE I STILL SOME DATES AVAILABLE. I ALSO HAVE A
FEW DAYS STILL AVAILABLE THIS MONTH THAT I AM WILLING TO TEACH THIS CLASS
AND WILL ENTERTAIN TEACHING A FEW CLASSES IN DECEMBER TO ACCOMODATE THOSE
THAT CANNOT ATTEND IN JANUARY OR FEBRUARY NEXT YEAR. *

*I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO A FUN AND PRODUCTIVE FINAL GUIDE SEASON NEXT YEAR
AND WISH TO THANK ALL THOSE THAT HAVE MADE MY PAST 22 YEARS AS A BASS GUIDE
SO ENJOYABLE.*

*ALSO, THIS WILL BE MY LAST WEEKLY FISHING REPORT FOR THIS SEASON. I WAS
DIAGNOSED WITH A PARTIALLY COLLASPED LUNG LAST WEEK AND ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT
TOO SERIOUS, MY DOCTOR HAS ORDERED ME TO STAY OFF THE WATER FOR THE NEXT
COUPLE OF WEEKS TO ALLOW THIS TO HEAL. SINCE MY GUIDE SEASON ENDS THIS
MONTH EACH YEAR I WILL NOT BE ON THE WATER AGAIN UNTIL NEXT MARCH. AS MY
REPORT FOLLOWERS KNOW, I WILL NOT PUBLISH A REPORT UNLESS I HAVE FIRST HAND
EXPERIENCE OR CONFIRMED INFORMATION. I WILL AS I HAVE OVER THE YEARS,
PUBLISH A REPORT NOW AND THEN THIS WINTER WHEN I HAVE CONFIRMED CREDIBLE
INFORMATION ON THE BASS FISHING HERE AT THE LAKES.*


*Current Conditions: *Bass fishing continued to be slow last week as
indicated in the results of the FLW BFL Wildcard tournament with most of
the field having weighed only one fish or no fish in the two day tournament
with only a few limits weighed in. It only took an 8.5 lb average each day
to qualify for next year's All American tournament. The good news is that
the water temperatures finally dropped into the 50's late last weekend and
I have received a number of reports of schools of shad and bass starting to
move into the shallows over the past few days on both the main lake flats
and in the shallows in the creeks and bays. This indicates the fall bite
is finally getting started and we should start experiencing a more
productive bite over the next few weeks.

*Largemouth Bass: *Largemouth are being taken on secondary points and
channel banks in the creeks and bays. These fish are being taken on medium
running crank baits, suspending jerk baits, spinner baits, Carolina rigged
creature baits, shaky heads and tube jigs. Largemouth on shallow flats on
the main lake as well as shallow flats in the creeks and bays on top water
lures, lipless crank baits, square billed crank baits, spinner baits and
Senko type baits near isolated wood cover.

*Smallmouth Bass: *Smallmouth are being taken on rocky main lake points
and rocky secondary points in the creeks and bays. These fish are being
taken on shaky heads and tube jigs. Some Smallmouth are also being taken
around submerged crappie beds in the creeks and bays on shaky heads and ned
rigs.

*Productive Lures:* Some of the productive lures reported this week are
Lucky Craft Sammy and Lucky Craft Gunfish in ghost pearl lemon, Strike King
spash baits in white, Strike King Red Eye Shad in chrome "woops"y shad and "woops"y
shad, Strike King square billed crank baits in "woops"y shad, Bandit medium
running crank baits in rootbeer/chartreuse, Slong's spinner baits in blue
glimmer, D&L jigs in "oops" and Cumberland craw, Slong's jigs in
Cumberland craw and mustang, Charmer timber pups on Texas rigs and Carolina
rigs in green pumpkin and watermelon/purple, Charmer slim daddy's in blue
craw and green pumpkin on shaky heads and Charmer tubes rigged stupid style
in green pumpkin/blue tail and green pumpkin/orange.


*IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON VISITING OUR LAKES I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING
BUSINESSES FOR ALL YOUR FISHING AND BOATING NEEDS:*

*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 Commanche 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.

*ELIMINATING WATER CLASS:* I will be offering my class on how to Eliminate
Water again this winter during the months of January and February and I
will also teach a few classes this month in November. These classes are
limited to one or two people per class. The classes last approximately 8
hours. The cost of the class is 200.00 which covers one or two people.
These classes have been very popular with my clients over the past few
years and all the feedback I get is very positive.

*Here is a short description of the Eliminating Water Class:*

*"How to Eliminate Water":* This class is done in a classroom environment.
In this class you learn the most important thing that you can learn as a
bass fisherman, that is, how eliminate water to find the Bass by finding
the highest percentage spots during all the different seasons of the year
that will hold more fish, more often. In this class you will learn what
information you need to know in order to eliminate water to find these high
percentage spots during your preplanning for a trip and how to apply this
information as well as current environmental conditions to make decisions
on which techniques you should be using when on the water that day and how
to adjust to environment changes that can move your fish or change the
pattern from day to day, season to season.

Basically, what I teach you in this class is how to use knowledge of mother
nature by using scientific knowledge, logic and common sense to develop a
system to find your fish as well as make decisions before you get on the
water and while you are on the water to be a more consistent bass angler.
What I teach you in this class is what I do every day as a bass fishing
guide when I am trying to find and catch bass with my clients. What you
will learn in this class will apply anywhere you go bass fishing, this is
not specific to just Ky and Barkley Lakes.

Finding bass and making decisions as how to catch bass is not done solely
by looking at electronics, it is accomplished with knowledge. There is no
button on your sonar unit or mapping unit that says "Go Find Fish". Sonar
units show you fish AFTER you find them. Mapping units show you just that,
a topographical map of the body of water you are on. The mapping unit
allows you to mark spots on your electronic map where you have found fish
and assist you in navigating back to those spots. Just as with a paper
topographical map, you can scan over an electronic map and mark "places of
interest" or as I call them "looks good" spots to go check out when you get
on the water...but finding high percentage spots are not "looks good"
spots. High percentage spots are selected by having the knowledge of what
type spots have the highest percentage chance of holding bass during the
different seasons of the year coupled with how to apply what is going on in
the environment that affect the fish so that you can make the decisions to
choose the right lures and patterns to be more successful.

*I am currently taking reservations for this class as well as for guided
trips next season. Drop me an email or give me a call to make a
reservation.*

*Captain Dave Stewart*
*Bass Buster Guide Service*
*www.kentuckylakeguide.com <http://www.kentuckylakeguide.com> *
* <>*
*270-362-9987 <(270)%20362-9987>*
*"Fish With A Professional"*

[Lipripper]

Dave once again thanks for your in depth reports and sorry to hear about your health issues and hope you get better soon.