Weekly report for Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley dated October 31, 2014

[Dave Stewart]

October 31, 2014

Kentucky Lake:  Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 354.75   Surface Temperature - 66
Lake Barkley:  Water Level at Barkley Dam - 354.80  Surface Temperature - 66

Both lakes are slightly less than one foot above winter pool.  Kentucky Dam has been generating an average of 53,000 cfs over the past 12 hours.  Barkley Dam has been generating at an average of 17,200 cfs over the past 12 hours.  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 . With the lake levels down, everyone needs to be cautious when navigating the lakes. Use the navigation channels unless you know exactly where you are and if you are not sure, idle your boat until you are sure you are in safe water.

Unseasonably warm weather last weekend served to raise the water temperatures a couple of degrees but a cold front that passed through the lakes area on Tuesday brought with it some colder days and nights which resulted in a drop in water temperatures to present levels.  Another strong cold front is passing through the area today which will result in some unseasonably colder weather this weekend including our first hard freeze and some high north winds.  This will no doubt drop our water temperatures more which is a good thing as we are still running about 6 degrees above normal for the last week of October.  This should get more of the larger shad and bass moving into the creeks and bays.  I have observed that some schools of adult threadfin have moved into some of the creeks and bays over the past couple of days and the result has been more schools of bass feeding up on the schools of baitfish there and a more consistant early morning topwater bite.  Expect more of this as the water temperatures continue to drop over the next week. 

The  forecast for today is for a high of 50 and low of 31 with NNW wind at 23.  The forecast for Saturday is for a high of 50 and low of 29 with wind N at 13.  Sunday's forecast is showing an improvement in the weather with a high of 56 and low of 37.  The forecast through next midweek is showing a return to more seasonable temperatures with high's in the 60's and low's in the 40's. 

LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken on ledges on the main lakes and in the mouths of the deeper creeks and bays as well as on main lake points and on secondary channel points in the front halves of the creeks and bays. There is some early and late topwater bite on the points but it is scattered. The ledge bite is scattered as the shad and fish are moving around a lot and it is hit and miss. The ledge fish and the fish on the points are more consistant using slow techniques with smaller lures on Carolina rigs, shakey heads and jigs but some of the fall transitioning fish are starting to school on main lake points and it is opportunity fishing and not consistant but there have been a few good bags of fish taken.  Largemouth  are also being taken early and late on main lake flats near stumps on topwater lures, slow rolled spinnerbaits and square billed crankbaits. We are taking some shallow topwater bass in the backs of the creeks and bays early in the morning and late evening on walking baits and splash baits. We are taking bass on lead in channel banks and on staging points in the creeks and bays after sunrise and during the day on finesse jigs, shaky heads, and light Carolina rigs with creature baits. Some bass are also being taken during late morning and during the day on flats in the creeks and bays where they are chasing schools of threadfin shad. These fish are being taken on spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless crankbaits and slow rolled square billed crankbaits. The numbers of schooling fish on the flats has been increasing over the past few days and this should continue as the water temperatures drop to normal levels.

SMALLMOUTH BASS: Smallmouth are being taken on the primary points and secondary points and channel banks in the front halves of the creeks and bays.. The numbers of fish are not great but some quality fish have been taken. We are getting most of these fish on jigs and shakey heads. We have also taken some nice Smallmouth early in the morning on topwater lures on shallow flats on the main lake and in the creeks and bays.

Some of the more productive lures reported this week are: Strike King Splash baits in shad pattens and Lucky Craft Sammy in ghost pearl lemon, Bag5 custom painted lipless and square billed crankbaits in blue glimmer pattern, Strike King Red Eye Shad in blue/chrome, "woops"y shad and chrome "woops"y shad, Charmer timber pups in green pumpkin and watermelon with purple flake on Carolina rigs, D&L football head jigs in Cumberland craw and Oops patterns on the ledges and the baby advantage jigs in the same patterns on the points and channel banks in the creeks and bays,Chatterbaits in blue glimmer, Slong's spinnerbaits in blue glimmer, Charmer shaky head worms in green pumpkin blue and green pumpkin on Slong's shakey heads as well as Yum Dingers and Yamamoto Senkos in green pumpkin.

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 18 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 sonar 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:

November: I have a number of openings available in November. November can be one of the most fun times of the season with the true fall bite in the creeks and bays with schooling fish taking topwater, crankbaits and spinnerbaits. If the extended weather forecasts are right we should be in for a good late fall bite this year. Book your trip now while I still have dates available. I am also taking bookings for next season now and the spring bookings are coming in so if you want a particular date for next spring, you should be booking now.

Captain Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
270-362-9987

www.kentuckylakeguide.com
"Fish With a Professional"