Kentucky Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Lake Barkley 03/02/06:

Dave Stewart dave@kentuckylakeguide.com wrote:

Kentucky Lake: Water level at Ky Dam - 354.37 Surface Temperature - 49
Lake Barkley: Water level at Barkley Dam - 354.55 Surface Temperature - 50

Both lakes are just a few inches above winter pool. Record high temperatures and warm south winds warmed the lakes up considerably yesterday. Today we had a north wind blowing but still high temperatures but the air temperatures are supposed to return to more seasonable levels over the next few days. I would expect the surface temperatures on the lakes to drop a little with the cooler weather.

Largemouth Bass: Largemouth Bass are being taken on rocky main lake points and the first secondary points in the bays on suspending jerkbaits, slow rolled crankbaits and jigs. Largemouth are also being taken shallow in the bays near wood cover off gravel banks on warm days using lipless crankbaits. This bite is just getting started so I would expect it improve dramatically over the next couple of weeks unless we have some really cold weather.

Smallmouth Bass: Smallmouth Bass are being taken on gravel points on the east side of Ky Lake on suspending jerkbaits. Again, this bite is just getting started and should take off soon barring any bitter cold weather that would drop the water temperatures.

Here are some of the productive lures that were reported this week: Smithwick Rogues in black/chrome/orange, Rapala Husky Jerks in black/silver and blue/chrome/orange, Rapala shadraps in original crawdad and Lewis Rattletraps in blue/chrome.

Crappie: There have been mixed reports on the Crappie this week. The reports from the north end of the lakes indicated the fish were somewhat slow but some being taken by fishing brushpiles in 12-15ft along the old creek channels near the mouths of the bays on curly tail jigs fished by spider rigging. The reports from mid lakes south indicated that the fishing was a little better and that some Crappie were being taken in 5-6 ft of water where the warm winds had brought the water temps up to the low 50's.

I returned from my winter seminar tours this past Monday. My thanks to the folks that emailed me some up to date fishing reports on what they had been doing lately, reports are always appreciated and especially when I have been gone for 6 weeks. I got back on the water on Wednesday this week for the first time and it was a beautiful day in the high 70's although somewhat windy.

I ran my boat out to check it out and did some fishing...I had two nice fish on Ky Lake fishing a suspending jerkbait on the east side of the lake and 4 nice fish on Barkley later in the day fishing shallow with a rattletrap. Best 5 fish would have gone between 18-19lbs. Of course I was fishing just before the cold front came thru so the bite was good with the combined effect of the approaching cold front and the warm temperatures warming up the water.

I was doing a lot of running and checking things out or I am sure I could have boated quite a few more fish but I was more than happy with those I got. It's good to be home and back on the water. I would like to thank all those folks that came by the boat shows to see my seminars and it was good to meet so many nice folks and talk fishing.

I have the following dates open in March and April for booking:
March: 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, and 30
April: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, and 29

If you are in need of a guide for some fun bass fishing, tournament preparation, lake familiarization or technique instruction don't hesitate to give me a call or drop me an email.

Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
270-354-5039
dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
www.kentuckylakeguide.com
" Fish with a Professional"