Kentucky Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Lake Barkley 04/25/06:

April 24 2006
KY Lake
Paris Landing

Fishing slowed down a little this week with the passing of a couple of cold fronts but fish were still being caught up in and around the mustard flowers and grass. We fished the Southern end of the Lake this week and the spawn is in full swing. The males have been seen busy, sweeping or fanning their nest sites, they remove silt from areas one to two feet in diameter in preparation for driving or herding females to the sites they have prepared. Males will pick sites with a rocky or gravel bottom to help hold the eggs.

Many of the males brought to scales this week showed signs of this pre-spawn behavior as there tails were indeed frayed and raw. They can repeat this process several times throughout the spawning period and adjust to rising or falling water temps and depths. When conditions are right they will seek out a female and drive her to the nest they have prepared. They will then bump her in the stomach with their nose releasing her eggs.

The female will not drop all her eggs at the same time. She then returns to deeper water where yet another male may seek her out and repeat this process several times throughout the spawn. Some females never do spawn throughout this period, it all depends on whether or not a male seeks her out and drives her to his nest. Unlike most of the animal world it is the male bass that will then tend to and protect its fry until they are ready to be on their own. The females have little to do with any preparations of the nest or care of the fry.

With this information in mind you should be able to target male bass up shallow with a variety of baits. On clear days when you can see them, drag creature baits into their nests and then shake them to promote a strike. Or, on days that there is wind or cloudy water situations fish can be caught by pulling spinner baits slowly through the area. The females should be in a little deeper, it does not have to be very deep, areas that are just a foot or two more in depth should hold some of these fish and can be targeted with worms and slow moving baits.

Some of the baits reported from the American Bass Anglers tournament this week that fish were caught on were jig and craw combinations as well as worms fished Texas rigged. Some of the larger fish were reported to have been caught on spinner baits fished slowly bumping the bottom.

If anyone is planning a trip down to Kentucky Lake this spring and are in need of accommodations please give Inn By The Lake a call, we have everything you need to make your stay a pleasant one. You can contact us at http://www.innbythelakeky.com/