Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley fishing reports — Dave Stewart — Aug. 27

August 27, 2009 by admin

Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Ky Dam – 357.16 Surface Temperature – 82
Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam – 357.10 Surface Temperature – 82

Both lakes are two feet below summer pool and on a slow drawdown. The present TVA forecast is for the lakes to drop another 6 inches by midnight tomorrow night. We have had a lot of flat water and blue skies this week and not much in the way of current being generated at the dams except in the late afternoon and early evening hours. The water temperatures had dropped to around 80 earlier this week with the cool nights but came back up to present levels the past two days. We have another cool front coming through the lakes area sometime Friday night and the forecast for a high of 81 on Saturday and mid 70’s from Sunday through mid week. The night time lows are forecasted to be in the mid 50’s starting on Saturday night through midweek. This should bring the water temperatures down again. I have noticed a lot of shad movement this week on the main river channel on Kentucky Lake and a lot of big shad schools are showing up around the mouths of the creeks and bays. This is an indication that the shad are starting to stage around the mouths of the creeks and bays in anticipation cooler temperatures and the transition to fall patterns. We have the water temperatures for this to start happening and I expect we will see the fall transition period begin in the next couple of weeks barring any unforeseen extended hot weather. As per normal during this time of August, a myriad of patterns are now available. There are still plenty of fish on the ledges, although the bite has been somewhat slow during the morning and early afternoon due to a lack of wind and current. You can catch the ledge fish during the day, you just need to fish slow with slow moving baits and be patient. One pattern that has emerged this week, which is normal when some of the shad schools begin to move, is that there has been some reported schooling of Largemouth on the flats just adjacent to the creek and river channels. I myself, saw a large school of keeper sized Largemouth churning the water on a main lake flat this week and had two other reports of folks that encountered these jumps. I would advise anyone fishing the ledges near the shallow flats to keep a topwater lure or a lipless crankbait handy in case you encounter one of these feeding schools. Another indication of staging shad is that the bite on the points around the mouths of the bays is picking up. The bass in the creeks and bays are also active, still feeding on schools of fry on the secondary points and on the flats in the backs of the creeks and bays. As you can see, you can take your pick right now of patterns to fish. The night bite for Smallmouth and Largemouth is still being reported as good on main lake points with spinnerbaits and jigs on Kentucky Lake. The White Bass are still being taken primarily on the main lakes along the channels by vertically fishing with inline spinners and small spoons. I did, however, today observe a large White Bass jump in the mouth of one of the bays on the east side of Kentucky Lake.

Largemouth Bass: Largemouth are being taken on the old river and creek channel ledges on the main lakes by fishing with Carolina rigged small creature baits and worms, jigs, drop shot rigs and shaky head rigs. Some Largemouth are also being taken on the flats on the main lake in jumps as they are feeding on schools of baitfish. These top feeding fish can be taken on topwater lures, lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Largemouth are being taken on primary points on the main lake with medium and deep diving crankbaits, Carolina rigged creature baits, Texas rigged worms and jigs. Largemouth are also being taken on the secondary points and flats in the creeks and bays as they are feeding on schools of fry. These fish are being taken on topwater lures, crankbaits, chatterbaits, Texas rigged worms and deadstick worms.

Smallmouth Bass: Smallmouth Bass are being taken on the old river and creek channel ledges on the main lakes by fishing with Carolina rigged small creature baits and tubes as well as by dragging jigs. Some Smallmouth are also being taken on primary points and the first secondary points in the creeks and bays early and late in the day on jigs and tube jigs. Smallmouth are being taken at night on Kentucky Lake on primary and main lake secondary points with dark colored spinnerbaits and jigs.

Some of the productive lures reported this week are: Lucky Craft Sammy in ghost pearl lemon and chartreuse shad, Strike King and Norman crankbaits in sexy shad patterns, Baby Minus one crankbaits in shad patterns, Strike King red eye shad in sexy shad and blue/chrome, Hook Some Bass vibe (chatterbait) in blue glimmer, Chatterbaits in white and white/chartreuse, Charmer 7.5 ” ribbon tail worms in electric grape, Zoom 7″ utail worms in plum, Charmer timber pups in green pumpkin and watermelon/purple, Yum and Yamamoto dead stick worms in green pumpkin and green pumpkin/blue and Jewel football head jigs in gourd/craw tipped with matching Net Baits trailer.

White Bass: White Bass are being taken along the old river and creek channel ledges on the main lakes by vertically fishing with inline spinners and small spoons. The better fishing is during periods of current.

Catfish: The Catfishing is being reported as slow along the old river channels with yellowtails and cutbaits on bottom.

Bluegill: Bluegills are being taken along deep rocky creek channel banks and off rocky points by vertically fishing with small jigs tipped with worms.

FLASH: I mentioned last week that I was having a lot of email problems and a number of my incoming emails was lost in hyperspace last week. My email problems continued until the past two days. Everything seems to be working good now that my website has been moved to a dedicated server. If you emailed me and did not get an answer over the past two weeks, I apologize and invite you to resend your email or give me a call.

If you are in need of a bass guide for some just for fun bass fishing, tournament preparation, lake familiarization or technique instruction don’t hesitate to give me a call or drop me an email. I am still offering the focused ledge teaching trip so if you want to learn how to fish the ledges, there is still plenty of time to do this trip as there will be fish on the ledges for the next month or so. On this trip you will learn first, how to eliminate water, this is key in finding the most productive ledges (as a bonus you learn how to eliminate water during the spring, fall and winter also) and second you will learn how to set up on the ledges and the techniques used to catch the ledge fish.

I have the following dates available for booking in August, September and October:

August: Sorry, I am booked up.
September: 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30
October: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31

Remember, November provides some great fall fishing. If you like to throw topwater lures, spinnerbaits and crankbaits on schooling fish, we always have some great days on this fishing in November. Make your reservation now for the November fishing. Also, I am taking reservations for next spring now so if you can plan that far ahead, you can get the date you want by booking now.

Capt Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
www.kentuckylakeguide.com
270-354-5039
“Fish With a Professional”

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