I just about need a rope tied to my belt loop any time I work a Zara Pup. It looks so enticing darting side to side that I almost want to go in after it. Thankfully, a feisty smallie often beats me to the punch, especially during June.
Smallmouth waters often have warmed enough by June to have the fish fired up. However, the same waters have not gotten toasty enough to turn the fish lethargic or drive them deep. In addition, hatching aquatic insects, misdirected terrestrials and shallow schools of minnows tend to keep the fish looking up for meals this time of year.
June is an outstanding topwater period in streams and lakes alike, although the nature of the bite tends to be a bit different in each. In moving waters, the surface action sometimes lasts all day, and it’s apt to be best through the middle of the afternoon.
In lakes, which are generally warmer than smallmouth streams by June, surface action clearly peaks very early and late in the day. Good topwater fishing can occur during midday – and wise anglers pick up their topwater rod occasionally throughout the day – but mornings and evenings definitely bring the most predictable action.
For stream fishing, most fishermen favor fairly small topwater plugs, like Tiny Torpedoes, Zara Pups, Baby Rattlin’ Chug Bugs and Spit’N Kings. Chrome and bone are favored colors for average conditions, with black working quite well when the water is stained or the skies are very dark, and clear is tough to top for very clear water and bluebird skies.
As summer progresses, a Rebel Bighopper, twitched or slowly wobbled across the surface, can be deadly on small streams or near grassy banks. When walked on the top with occasional pauses, a Bighopper nicely imitates an out-of-place liver ‘hopper skittering across the top.
Small buzzbaits and soft-plastic jerkbaits also can be productive some days when plugs won’t do the job. Soft-plastic jerkbaits are great baits to turn to when smallmouths are busting on plugs but not quite getting them. Buzzbaits work great for working a lot of water and figuring out what kind of spots the fish are using.
Some summer days, stream smallmouths will be everywhere they should be and will hit any topwater offering that invades their space. More often, anglers need to experiment. Areas that commonly hold topwater-feeding fish include pocket eddies along the bank, waters beside current-breaking cover and swift rocky runs, where fish hold beneath submerged boulders.
Stream fishermen sometimes overlook swift areas for topwater fishing, but large runs that have good current pushing through them sometimes hold the most aggressive fish. A Tiny Torpedo, which draws attention with its spinning propeller and can be fished fast, is among the best baits for swift-water fishing.
Many of the same lures that work well on streams also will draw smallmouths to the top on reservoirs. However, with bigger fish on average, far more water for anglers to cover; deeper waters and a greater likelihood of waves to contend with; lakes also bring in a need for larger plugs. Larger “walking” lures, like Super Spooks and Sammy plugs, are favorites among reservoir smallmouth fishermen.
Like on rivers, buzzbaits work really well for covering water and locating fish. Even on days when plugs will drum up more action or attract strikes from bigger fish, buzzbaits help anglers find hot banks or types of banks that are holding fish.
On glassy-calm mornings or evenings, one of the best ways to bring big smallmouths to the top is to slowly wobble a floating jerkbait like a Bomber Long “A” or a Storm ThunderStick across the surface. This “finesse” topwater approach, which sends out a subtle but distinctive wake, is especially good in very clear water.
Early and late in the day, many types of areas are likely to produce good topwater action on reservoirs. Bluff banks, tops of points or humps and waters near specific cover features, like boulders, docks or brush all offer good prospects.
Prime spots generally will be close to deeper areas that have been holding fish during the day, often on the lake’s main body or in the far lower ends of creeks. Anglers generally work a lot of water until the fish reveal themselves, whether by hitting a lure, breaking the top or spooking some baitfish.
Through the middle part of the day, the bulk of the topwater action that occurs on reservoirs is over main-lake structural features like humps, ledges, saddles and major points. The same fish most anglers target with Carolina rigs and crankbaits will sometimes hammer surface plugs, especially if a lake has some current running through it.
Occasionally these bass will push baitfish to the surface, making the call for topwater obvious. Other times, the only way to find out whether they will come up is to throw a Spook or a big popper from time to time and make some noise on the surface.
Whether the smallmouths have been busting on top or not, veteran anglers always have a topwater bait or two tied on during June. It’s hard enough to maintain the composure to make a decent cast when smallmouths are scattering baitfish, let alone trying to find the right plug and tie it on in the heat of the moment.

By Jeff Samsel

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Smallmouths eat crawfish – lots of ’em. In streams and lakes alike throughout Kentucky, crawfish are at or near the top of the smallies’ favorite foods list. Therefore, if you want to catch your share of smallmouths, be sure to incorporate plenty of crawfish imitating lures into your bait selections.

Because crawfish are such important forage for smallmouths (and various other species), lure manufacturers make many different kinds of lures that imitate crafish in one way or another. Most fall into the broad category of crankbaits, soft-plastic lures or jigs.

Probably best known of the crawfish lures is a Rebel crawfish. One of the best-selling lures in the nation, as it has been for many years, a Rebel Crawfish imitates a craw in its swimming posture (claws tucked in), which is when a live crawfish is most vulnerable.

The Wee Crawfish model, which is 2 inches long, is the original size and is still the most popular. However, the smaller Teeny Www Crawfish and Deep Teeny Wee Crawfish also work really well for smallmouths, especially in small streams. Whatever the size, a steady retrieve is tough to top.

A couple other crankbaits, and Arbogast Mud Bug  and a Luhr Jensen Kawdad, are specifically shaped to look like crawfish. Beyond these, however, nearly every crankbait ever created comes in assorted crawfish color patterns, and those patterns are invariably among the favorites of smallmouth fishermen.

Bright crawfish patterns, most of which feature a lot of red and orange, work great during early spring when rain or snowmelt adds color to the upper ends of usually clear waters. Fish a small crankbait fast over the tops of rocky points and main lake humps, choosing a model that will “tick” the bottom as it comes across the structure.

Crankbaits imitate crawfish best when they run deep enough to kick up gravel or at least swim close to the b ottom. Crafish tend to stay close to the rocks and often scoot around among them, so that’s where smallmouth look for craw-flavored snacks.

Other than crankbaits, the most obvious crawfish imitators are various craw worms or other soft-plastic crawfish. These baits usually have “crawfish,” “craw,” or “claw” somewhere in their names.

The most popular lures in the soft plastic set are the craw worms, which have a worm-type body and crawfish claws and head shape. Cabin Creek Bait Company, based in Winchester, offers a classic 4-inch craw worm in their soft-plastics line.

Many crawfish imitations developed over the past couple years — lie Yum Craw bugs, Cabela’s AquaGlow Tube Craws, Storm’s Rattle Hot Claw Tubes and Madman Crawfish Tubes — and have very realistic crawfish shapes and tube bodies. Because of the tube bodies, these baits sink slowly when Texas rigged. Pitch them around boulders or beside stumps on gravel flats, let them drop and hold on.

A craw worm, lime a craw tube, can be Texas rigged. In addition, you can rig one Carolina style, fish it very slowly on a split-shot rig or string it on a leadhead and swim it in creeks or bounce it down rocky points in reservoirs. The leadhead rig, especially, has great applications for Kentucky smallmouths.

Beyond the many soft-plastic offerings, that actually have specific craw-like qualities, numerous other soft-plastic baits are commonly used to suggest crawfish. Grubs, fished on leadheads and bounced down rocks, are classic examples, but over the past few years, various “creature” designs like Yum Woolly Hawgtails and Gene Larew Hoo-Daddies have become very popular among smallmouth fishermen.

A final popular way to use a soft-plastic crawfish is to match it with a jig, which is another type of lure that is commonly used to imitate a crawfish. The term “jig-and-craw” has become almost as popular as “jig-and-pig” among bass anglers, and many jig specialists favor either craw worms or craw-type pork or plastic “chunks” over other trailer types for smallmouths.

Rubber-skirted jigs and hair jigs both have their advocates, but hair jigs, like a Punisher Jig, probably get the nod from the most mountain-lake smallmouth fishermen. March is a great time to bounce a hair jig down a chunk rock bank at Dale Hollow or Lake Cumberland.

The best crawfish-imitating colors vary from lake to lake and stream to stream based on the color of crawfish and the water colors. Brown and orange is a popular color combination for jigs. For stained water, many fishermen like craw trailers that have chartreuse or pink claws.

For fishing a jig-and-craw, a key to success is keeping the bait near the bottom all the time, which often means slowing down. Even if you are swimming a jig, give it time to sink after your cast, swim it slowly and pause from time to time to let the offering sink again.

Also, keep your line as tight as conditions will allow as the bait falls and watch the line all the time. Smallmouths often will hit jigs (or bottom-bumping soft-plastic crawfish) on the fall, and sometimes all you’ll feel is a gentle tick.

When you feel anything or see any unusual line movements, set the hook solidly, and be ready for action. Sometimes the lightest strikes turn out to be the biggest smallmouths!

By Jeff Samsel, previously published in The Kentucky Fishing Journal

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Lexington angler Billy Elkins lands a smallmouth bass from central Kentucky's Elkhorn Creek. Fishing for smallmouth bass in Elkhorn Creek and other Kentucky streams should improve in 2009. Photo by Lee McClellan

Frankfort, Ky. – Elkhorn Creek, one of the premier smallmouth streams in Kentucky, produced fantastic smallmouth bass fishing from 1998 to 2002. Anglers could expect to catch a few dozen smallmouth in a day’s fishing. A couple of these fish were usually longer than the 16-inch upper limit of the 12-16 inch protective slot limit in effect for largemouth and smallmouth bass in the creek.

Fishing flattened out on the Elkhorn in 2003 and the downward trend continued through 2006. It isn’t pollution, disease or development that caused this trend. It’s rain.

“When we have really wet years, it impacts the spawn in a negative way,” said Jim Axon, former assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Drought years are good years for smallmouth spawning on streams.”

Fishing on the Elkhorn flourished from 1998 to 2002 because drought years in the late 1980s and early 1990s encouraged great reproduction of smallmouth bass. The better smallmouth bass breed, the better the future fishing.

The same positive development that created the good fishing is taking shape again. Smallmouth fishing on the creek began to pick up in 2007 and improved again in 2008 until last summer’s drought made the fish lethargic. This coming year should be the best year for fishing on Elkhorn Creek since the 1998 to 2002 boom.

“In our sampling last spring, we saw lots of smallmouth in that 15-17 inch range,” said Jeff Crosby, central fisheries district biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “The fishing on Elkhorn should be good this year.”

Population evaluations of smallmouth bass by fisheries biologists for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife show excellent smallmouth spawns in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994. “Those fish born then are at the top of the slot or above now,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “You need a time lag of 5 years or longer to see the benefits of a good spawn. It takes about 5 years for a smallmouth in the creek to grow to 12 inches.”

The same phenomenon that created the recent good fishing on Elkhorn should occur throughout the state. “The same weather patterns that impacted Elkhorn should have done the same throughout the state,” Buynak said. “It should be a good year for stream smallmouth fishing all over Kentucky.”

In southwestern Kentucky, the Gasper River, Fallen Timber Creek and the Barren River downstream of Barren River Lake offer good smallmouth bass fishing.

The Green River downstream of Green River Lake Dam, the Little Barren River and Russell Creek in south-central Kentucky all have quality smallmouth bass to catch. The South Fork of the Kentucky River, the Big South Fork and the Little South Fork of the Cumberland River, the Redbird River and the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River give southeastern Kentucky anglers overlooked smallmouth bass fishing.
The South Fork and main stem of Licking River, the Little Kentucky River, Slate Creek and Eagle Creek in north-central Kentucky are good places for smallmouth bass. The Levisa, Russell and Tug Forks of Big Sandy River, Kinniconick Creek, Tygarts Creek and the North Fork of Kentucky River grant eastern Kentucky anglers a place to stretch out a light action rod and 6-pound line with a hard-fighting stream smallmouth.

Anglers fishing for smallmouth bass in these streams in the next few weeks need to find the smallmouths’ winter holes. Smallmouth bass migrate in late fall to the deepest holes in the stream that also possess good structure such as boulders, stumps and fallen trees. Target the flowing ends of these holes in March and early April with a purple hair jig, 4-inch pumpkinseed with green flake lizard or 1/8-ounce white spinner bait.

If the water is dingy to muddy, pound any current break in the same areas such as a large rock or log with the white spinner bait. Also try the slack water pockets next to flowing chutes in these areas as well with the spinner bait. Some anglers like the Beetle Spin type lures in this situation.

For a complete list of Kentucky smallmouth bass streams, call 1-800-858-1549 and request a copy of the Stream Smallmouth brochure. You may also access this brochure at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov.

—Lee McClellan, KDFWR

Author Lee McClellan is an award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.

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There’s nothing wrong with TV fishing shows – after all, they placate many avid anglers through long, cold winters.

But come mid-January in Kentucky, many of those pent-up anglers have heard Roland Martin say, “Son, that’s a big fish,” so many times they begin to wish harm on the noisy old fishing pro.

With freedom in mind, and despite an admonition – “You’re crazy!” – from a co-worker, Lee McClellan and Chad Miles set out last Monday to get their smallmouth fishing fix on Lake Cumberland.

It doesn’t get much tougher than it was Monday – 20 degrees outside with winds of 10 to 15 mph, the water 41 degrees. It’s only a few small steps removed from ice fishing.

But McClellan, associate editor of Kentucky Afield Magazine, and Miles, administrative coordinator for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, have the winter blues worse than most; after all, they spend their days listening to fishing stories.

On this day they’re going to try to perfect their float-and-fly technique, a go-to method for catching sluggish smallmouth when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees. That’s when smallmouth “suspend” in the water column and move as little as possible to preserve energy; it’s also when baitfish suspend and, in some cases, die off.

Float-and-fly is effective because it mimics baitfish in the throes of death by dangling a small hair jig on light, ultra-clear line 7 to 15 feet below a bobber. The jig’s hair puffs out, and the waves or the angler’s twitching of the rod makes the jig jitter like a dying shad. Most experts think that action triggers an instinctual message in the smallmouth’s thumbnail-size brain: “Eat that thing; it’s the best you’re going to get for a while.”

At 8:15 a.m., McClellan, Miles and the author were the only ones on the lower end of the lake, in Guffey Creek near Wolf Creek Dam. That’s one of the things McClellan likes about float-and-fly fishing in 20-degree weather.

“We have the place to ourselves,” he said.

He also likes it because he’s had success. He and Miles have thrown everything at smallmouth in the depths of winter – spoons, blade baits, crawfish jigs, grubs. And, like most in winter, they’ve been skunked more times than they’d like to count.

They’ve also been skunked throwing float-and-fly. But more times than not, the method has proved successful.

Given the conditions, and depending on definitions, Monday was successful: three smallmouth, each about 2 pounds, after about eight hours of fishing.

All were caught about 9 feet deep along shady bluff walls in the back of Guffey Creek. As water temperatures hit the low 40s and fish have less energy, McClellan finds that bluff walls produce more fish. When water temperatures are a bit warmer and fish move more, McClellan also finds fish on deep lake points.

Each fish was caught using slightly different action. One angler dipped his jig in lots of “fish dope,” a petroleum-based gel laced with garlic or other fish scents. Another found it too cold to be applying “dope” and did without. One angler tended to twitch his rod a bit more.

Each had a number of “pull downs.” When a smallmouth grabs the jig, the action of the bobber varies. Sometimes the weighted bobber will lie on its side. Other times it will dive straight down. Last Monday, it went straight down on each strike.

McClellan chose Guffey Creek for several reasons. One was safety. On a frigid day, there might not be other boats on the water. If something goes wrong, it pays to be close to the ramp. Guffey is a two-minute run from a new ramp near the dam.

He’s also had success there, as well as in Beaver and Indian creeks. All have bluff walls and are near the deep water at the lower end of the lake. He said Harmon and Difficulty creeks also can be hot spots.

McClellan and Miles worked their way along virtually the entire creek, spending extra time on steeper walls and on points. It took patience to catch fish. But when they did, the excitement provided enough warmth to get them through the next hour.

Their last stop – about 5:30 p.m. – was the mouth of the creek. By this time, the wind had kicked up and the boat was getting tossed around.

But there were big fish and baitfish all over Miles’ sonar screen.

As the boat tossed and Miles fought the trolling motor, the wind whipped up more and more. The sun dipped behind the hill, adding to the chill. And the little bobbers struggled to stay above water.

Eventually, Miles gave it up, even though he was sure there were fish on that point.

On the ride home to Frankfort, as core body temperatures got back to normal, thoughts turned to food, warm drinks and spring fishing.

The anglers began to tell fishing stories again. One fell asleep, hoping to catch up on fishing shows he had taped over the weekend.

The end-of-the-day, unbearable cold was soon forgotten, and thoughts turned positive and hopeful.

Maybe Roland Martin isn’t such a bad guy after all.

—By Chris Poore

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Except it may be the best weather condition for catching the largest smallmouth bass you’ll ever hold.
“On an overcast snowy day, light will be greatly diffused,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “This brings the smallmouths up shallower and they can be easier to fool. They are more likely to strike an artificial lure because of less light penetration.”

Anglers should take advantage of this. In our premier winter smallmouth lakes such as Lake Cumberland, Dale Hollow Lake and Laurel River Lake, anything than can get smallmouth out of their usual deep-water lairs is a blessing. These lakes are so clear you can see where you chipped paint from your jig head in 10 feet of water. This water clarity pushes smallmouths deep for most of the year during the day, but snowfall and a leaden sky bring them up to feed.

“I also think it is a pressure-related thing,” said Ted Crowell, former assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “Snow brings along with it low barometric pressure. It is just like when it rains in summer. This turns fish on.”

Crowell has spent many a winter day chasing smallmouths at Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow. “It is unbelievable, the fish you can catch in December in the snow,” he said. “There’s nobody else on the lake. There’s nobody in the parking lot. It’s great.”

Also, unstable weather places predators at an advantage over prey. The changing weather of a snow storm and the cold of winter disorient baitfish and smallmouth bass gobble up all they can. This is especially true for larger female smallmouths who must store up fat reserves for egg development in early spring. They need to eat.

The plummeting water temperatures of December also stress baitfish such as shad or alewives. They swim in circles and quiver as they fight death. This is why the float and fly technique is so deadly in winter. A small, light craft hair or duck feather jig suspended on light line 8 to 12 feet deep perfectly imitates baitfish in their death throes.

Another highly productive technique is suspending a large crappie minnow or medium-sized shiner under a bobber 6 to 10 feet deep off points. The bobber flutters on top until it abruptly torpedoes toward the bottom. Smallmouth bass that hit live bait in winter don’t fool around. They strike fiercely.

Both of these techniques produce, because the baitfish suspend in the water column in tightly packed schools in winter. Smallmouth bass cruise under these schools looking for those alewives or shad acting peculiar and pick them off.

A black 1/8th to 3/8th-ounce rabbit fur or bucktail jig swum just above bottom and down those main lake points produced winter smallmouths for your grandfather and they do the same today. The old-school pork rind is still the best trailer. Find the smallest pork rind possible or cut a bigger one in half. Although the soft plastic chunk trailers prove much easier to handle and take on and off the hook, pork is still the best choice in cold water.

Main lake points from Beaver Creek down to the dam are great places to try on a snowy December day on Lake Cumberland, while the Spruce Creek area is tops for Laurel River Lake. Try main lake points and cuts near Phillips Bend in the mouth of Wolf River on Dale Hollow Lake. You’ll be fishing the same waters that produced David Hayes’ 11-pound, 15-ounce world record smallmouth bass in 1955. Those cuts and points closest to the old Wolf River channel are best.

Don’t let snowfall scare you from chasing bronze this winter. Don some waterfowl hunting clothing or coveralls and a pair of warm boots. Grab some hand warmers, a thermos of strong coffee and your fishing rod. Five-pound smallmouth bass are waiting for you if you brave the elements.

By KDFWR

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Dave Stewart of Bass Buster Guide Service in Benton, Ky.Years guiding: 6. Contact number: 270-354-5039. Email: dave@kentuckylakeguide.com

Kentuckyfishing.com: How did you get started as a guide and why?

Dave Stewart: Actualy, I got started after I retired from the military in 1995. I moved to Kentucky Lake and I was living at a resort. People at the resort asked me if I could take some people out who weren’t catching fish. I helped them catch fish and this eventually became a business.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you like about the job?

Dave Stewart: I like he people. Outdoors people, especially anglers, have got to be some of the best people to be around. For me, watching clients catch fish has become more fun than catching the fish myself.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you not like so much about the job?

Dave Stewart: Winter. I hate the off season. I get bored.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite tactic?

Dave Stewart: I primarily guide for bass; it makes up probably 95 percent of my business. For smallmouth, I love to fish crankbaits and jerkbaits in teh spring. In the summer I fish for largemouth and I love to use Carolina rigs. Kentucky and Balrkley are good Carolina rig lakes. I love to fish tubes, too. That’s kind of a trademark of mine, tube fishing.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Why do you like to fish for bass over other species?

Dave Stewart: I started ot fishing fo bass in clubs and tournaments. It just seems to be the most challenging of the fish here to catch. I enjoy taking people out, especially those who are having trouble finiding fish. I started out guiding as much crappie as I did bass. But I turned to bass. That’s where my reputation is. Ninety-five percent of my business is tournament preparation.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Are tournament anglers tougher to deal with? Are they more difficult to deal with?

Dave Stewart: Not really. You ahve to take each client as they come. Probably my most favorite clients are children — fathers and sons. But tournament types are not that hard to work with.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Do your clients have special tactics they want to try?

Dave Stewart: I find that for the majority of them, since I do a lot of tournament preparation, most people will leave it up to me. They realize one tactic is not a catch-all. But I do have a lot of people who want to try Carolina rigging.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite lure?

Dave Stewart: As a go-to lure I’d have to say a tube. I’ve been fishing them for years and years and years. They’ve just become popular down here in the last few years. I’m not sure I’m happy about that. (laughs) My favorite lure to throw, though, is probably a Carolina rig or a crankbait. But a tube is definitely the go-to lure. When nothing else will work a tube will get you some fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: When do you most like to fish?

Dave Stewart: I love spring. I love the early smallmouth and the pre-spawn largemouth. It’s got to be the most productive and the most fun fishing there is. Those are the days of the big numbers and the big fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What kind of cover or areas do you like to fish the most?

Dave Stewart: The obvious would be stumps. Old stump fields are the most productive. I also like brush piles. If you find those brush piles you can score fish. But fish like to cruise open water. So it changes all year long.

First published in The Kentucky Fishing Journal, February 2003

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Terry and her stepfather, Scott Salchli, were fishing the edge of a weed bed near the Claylick Boat Ramp late in the afternoon when the fish struck. Terry caught the record muskie on a Double Cowgirl in-line spinner with two size 10 gold blades and a purple skirt.

The 54-inch fish succumbed as Terry made a figure eight in the water with her lure. Muskellunge that follow a lure but don’t strike often fall for this old trick.

“She did the figure eight perfectly,” Salchli said. “She made really good, wide circles. The fish struck just as she was making her second figure eight.”

The new state record is only the third muskellunge the teen has caught since she started fishing for them last September. “It didn’t fight that long, but was still unbelievable,” she said. “I was running around the boat ramp. I felt like doing jumping jacks. I could’ve run laps around the whole lake.”

Salchli, who works for a soft drink company, also guides anglers for muskellunge on weekends on Cave Run. He is also a member of the Professional Musky Tournament Trail.

“This is the first Sunday I’ve had off in a while,” he said. “This was the only fish we saw all day.”

Terry won the in-line spinner that caught the record at a Muskies Incorporated banquet earlier in the year. The teenager realizes the significance and rarity of her catch. “I’ve been to Muskies Inc. banquets and saw older people who fished for 50 years trying to catch this kind of fish,” Terry said.

Her record muskellunge surpassed the previous state record by nearly three pounds. Lexington resident Scott Flatt caught the former record, a 44.38-pound fish, from Cave Run Lake in 1998.

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Kentucky Lake Guide Dave Stewart nets a smallmouth for the author.

Before we went down to fish with Dave Stewart, a guide on Kentucky Lake, my fishing buddy called one of his brothers for some advice on where to stay.

“What are you going to fish for?” his brother, a long-time Kentucky Lake angler, asked at the end of the converstation.

“Smallmouth.”

“You mean largemouth,” his brother said.

“No, we’re going after smallmouth.”

Stewart wasn’t surprised later when he heard the conversation rehashed.

“A lot of people are thinking about largemouth because that’s what the laek is known for,” Stewart said. “I spend a lot of time convincing people to go after smallmouth.”

Stewart, who retired from the military and started guiding in the mid-1990s, has developed a busy service as one of the few who focus mainly on bass fishing.

” A lot of people who come here don’t focus on smallmouth,” he said. “The locals have picked up on it. But those who have come from out of state don’t even know they’re in here.”

Knowing that fact has made a difference for a number of anglers, including Stewarts clients who are preparing for tournaments.

Stewart switched to crankbaits for Kentucky smallmouth after noticing that smallmouth were reacting to a topwater chug bait only when it was moved rapidly. His hunch paid off. For the next hour, smallies hammered the faster-moving bait.

“In early spring tournaments, smallmouth are usually in the top 5 of the weight category of any tournament and most of the time win tournaments. The same happens in the fall.”

It doesn’t take long to convert a client.

“When you mention smallmouth, their eyebrows raise and they usually say, ‘I’ve never caught a smallmouth.’ It’s a great thing when somebody catches one when they’ve never caught one before.”

It’s not too bad when yo have, either.

On the day we went out with Stewart, we pulled in at least a half dozen over three pounds. Not bad anywhere, though Stewart said it was slow for Kentucky Lake.

Our day started around 7 a.m. fishing a Pop-R, a chugging topwater bait. Stewart instructed us to popt it hard. He wanted to get their attention.

He noticed that the faster we retrieved, the more likely we were to get a strike.

So we switched to crankbaits _ rootbeer colored Bandit 200 Seires and a Norman’s rootbeer Little N.

“The key there is something I always try to preach to people,” he siad. “Let the fish tell you what they want and then go to it. This time they wanted a faster-moving bait.”

The switch paid off. We spent the next hour catching fish on the crankbaits.

When that slowed down, we switched to Snoozer Road Kill Cammo and Smoke Purple tubes, and we stuck with them the rest of the day.

We were targeting fishing that were chasing bass fry and drum fry in an area on the Land Between the Lakes side of the lake called Sugar Bay. There was no need to leave, except for food and sleep. Throughout the day, we bounced Texas-rigged tubes off the bottom in the back of the bay and on rocky points.

Stewart has two fewer people to convince about Kentucky Lake’s smallmouth.

You can find Stewart at http://www.kentuckylakeguide.com/ You can also call him at 270-354-5039

By Chris Poore

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The difference?

Current.

Tennessee Valley Authority began running enough water to create current over the bar that Lane was fishing, and the fish turned on as if someone had hit a switch. Such is the nature of summer smallmouth fishing on Kentucky and Barkley lakes, where Lane guides and competes in tournaments and has fished all his life.

Lane, who typically fishes for largemouths and smallmouths together more so than he targest one species, does most of his summer fishing with his back to banks. “Out on the deep structure near the main river channel is where you’ll find the most fish — and usually the best fish — on these lakes,” he said.

“That’s not to say you can’t catch a few fish off boat docks,” Lane said. “You can. However, I catch most of my smallmouths from deeper water.”

Lane concentrates on structure along the main Tennessee ad Cumberland river channels, primarily through the lower ends of the lakes. He catches more smallmouths from Kentucky Lake than from Barkley, but his biggest smallmouth, which weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce, came from Barkley.

“They both have plenty of smallmouths. I think I just fish more smallmouth spots on Kentucky Lake,” he said.

The two primary types of features that Lane focuses his summer efforts on are ditches that dump into the main river channel and bars or humps that rise out of or very near to the channel. He often will position his boat over 40 feet or more of water in the main river channel and cast his offerings to structure that is 25 or 30 feet deep.

Lane always looks for a hard bottom, which he can recognize on his graph, because a hard bottom indicates that current regularly washes an area. For smallmouths, he specificallly prefers a bottom of gravel or chunk rock. “There’s just something about rock and smallmouths,” he said.

In addition to his mainstay bars and ditches, Lane targets smallmouths in a couple other types of places. First, he said that barge tie-offs in the lower end of Kentucky Lake always have smallmouths around them. In addition, he pointed toward main-lake pockets along the east bank of Kentucky Lake. A wash sometimes forms in the backs of steep-sided cuts, and the result is a subtle bar where the gravel settles.

“It might only be a rise of a foot or two in 14 or 15 feet of water,” Lane said, “but these areas really hold the smallmouths sometimes.”

Lane’s No. 1 summer tactic, far and away, is dragging a Carolina rig. He C-rigs an Exude B-A Hawg, which is a 4-inch creature bait, typically sticking with a few basic colors. He pointed toward junebug, green pumpkin and watermelon seed as good bets and noted that he abides by the often-stated premise of fishing darker tones on darker days or in stained water.

While Lane’s basic retrieve is a simple dragging motion, he will vary the speed that he moves the bait, the length of each dragging stroke and the amount of time he pauses his offering. “There are times when I will let it just sit there for 20 seconds or more after I bump a stick or a rock. Other times, I’ll hop it along steadily,” he said.

Upon arriving at a spot, Lane sometimes will make a dozen or so casts with a crankbait or a spinnerbait. “That will pick up the most aggressive fish,” he explained. After that, he’ll pick up his Carolina rig rod, which he typically will continue throwing until he leaves that spot.

When Lane specifically has big bass in mind, he sometimes turns to a tactic that Kentucky Lake anglers call “stroking” a jig. “You cast out over the structure, let the bait fall all the way down and then jerk it up off the bottom, almost like you are snagging,” he said. “Then you watch the line as teh bait sinks, looking for a slight tick. You typically won’t feel the strike.”

For stroking, Lane uses a 1/2-ounce black and blue jig tipped with a a black and blue Exude Craw Chunk. “It will wear you out,” he said, “but it produces some really big bass.”

For all offshore bass fishing, Lane looks for the current. If one lake is running more current than the other, he’ll almost always opt for the current. Likewise, he’ll scout spots to see how much current there is, as different spots run more according to which generators are running

“Our current isn’t like in a regular river. It’s very subtle,” Lane noted. “It makes all the difference, though.”

By Jeff Samsel

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Above left: By turning rocks with you feet just upstream of a seine with poles, it’s possible to net hellgrammites with only one person. Hellgrammites and crawfish, both of which will show up in seine nets in many Kentucky streams, also make great trout bait. Above right, Hellgrammites, which are dobson flies in their larvae stage, make excellent bait for various fish species in streams.

Grampus, Go-Devils, Conniption Bugs, Hellgrammites…. Call ‘em what you want. Fish think the larvae of dobson flies are candy, so I simply call them great bait.

Hellgrammites, to use the proper common name, abound in cool-water streams through much of Kentucky. Fierce-looking critters, with oodles of legs, big pincers at one end and a hook at the other, they inhabit rocky runs in cool, clear streams, spending most of their time tucked under rocks.

Hellgrammites may stay hidden under rocks because virtually everything that swims will eat them, which I’ve witnessed every time I’ve used hellgrammites for bait ina  cool-water stream. Smallmouth bass typically are the official sought-after species, but somehow the rock bass, largemouths, channel catfish, bluegills, longear sunfish and other fish never get that message (which I don’t mind at all).

My brother-in-law, Jerry Perry of Danville, grew up in Frankfort, fishing Elkhorn Creek and other streams in Franklin County. Perry is strictly a stream fisherman, and he fishes almost exclusively with hellgrammites (plus the occasional soft-shell crawfish that shows up in his seine). He catches his bait upon arrival and then wades up through the creek, drifting hellgrammites thorugh promising-looking runs.

Perry uses a seine net to catch his hellgrammites. His net is small enough (about 6 feet long) for him to manage it alone, but the bait-catching process is easier and more effective with two people. One person holds the net while the other flips rocks and shuffles his feet in the bottom substrate just upstream.

If you don’t have seine, you also can catch hellgrammites by hand by simply flipping rocks and grabbing the little critters when they become exposed. The process is slower, but it’s usually not difficult to gather enough bait to fish with. You just have to grap quickly — before the current washes the bait downstream — which is sometimes challenging because flipping rocks can cloud up the water.

Also grab hellgrammites carefully, whether out of your bait cup or off the bottom. They aren’t very fast, but their pincers can draw blood. Always grab one by the head, right behind the pincers, and you’ll stay out of harm’s way.

The best places to catch hellgrammites are swift, shallow runs that have plenty of rocks to flip. The shallower the better for hand-picking, just because it’s easier to see them and grab them. For seining, a decent current to carry bait into the net and plenty of big rocks to shuffle are the most important ingredients.

Hellgrammites may be anywhere from about 1 to 3 inches long, depending on their age. They spend two to three years in the water as larvae after hatching from eggs. Eventually, they crawl to the banks, go through their pupae stage and finally emerge as flying adults, which mate and lay eggs and then die within a few days.

If bait is ever difficult to find in a stream, especially during late summer or fall, anglers should look under big rocks or moist logs on the edges of streams for hellgrammites that have crawled out of the stream.

Perry puts his hellgrammites in cricket cage or some type of bait cut that he can attach to a belt loop. The only terminal tackle he carries is a packet of bait hooks and a few split shot. He fishes with light spinning or spin-casting tackle.

For most situations, Perry fishes with nothing but a baited hook, which allows for very natural hellgrammite presentations. If the creek is high or he needs a little extra casting distance, he might add a split shot. He’ll also put on a shot or two on the line to fish the bottoms of big pools, where channel catfish often lie waiting for meals.

A No. 6 or No. 8 bait hook works well for hellgrammites. Hold the bait with its back toward you and slide the hook tight under its collar, with the hook point facing toward teh bait’s tail as it goes through.

You can also hook a hellgrammite straight through, from the bottom up, running the hook between the collar and the head.

One of the best things about hellgrammites is that they are extremely durable, as long as they are fresh. After they die, they will begin to get mushy, but a bait hooked live commonly will produce several fish.

Defying stereotypes of live-bait fishermen setting on the banks and waiting for bites, Perry works streams much the same way that a fly-fisherman would. He wades gradually upstream, and casts to the upper ends of runs, riffles, pockets and pools that should hold fish. He picks streams apart as he goes, putting his offerings everywhere that fish should be.

Perry lets his bait drift in the current and pays close attention to his line, watching and feeling for hits. FRom all that I’ve witnessed, however, Perry rarely has to wait for long!

Seine nets

Seines are rectangular nets that are weighted on the bottom and have floats on the top. The nets, which are usually fine meshed, are stretched between poles. In lakes, anglers sometimes drag seines to catch minnows. In streams, the net is just held in place, and the current brings the bait into it.

Artificial hellgrammites

Want to fish hellgrammites without having to catch them? Check out Case Plastics at www.madtoms.com, another maker of lifelike hellgramites.

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