Weeky Report for Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley dated September 13, 2018

[Dave Stewart]

September 13, 2018

Kentucky Lake:  Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 355.94  Surface Temperature - 80
Lake Barkley:  Water Level at Barkley Dam 355.75  Surface Temperature - 80

Both lakes are 3 feet below summer pool  The TVA is forecasting a rise of one foot in the lake levels over the next couple days due to expected run off from heavy rains expected up river from the remnants of hurricane Florence.  Kentucky Dam was generating at an average rate of 32,600 cfs this afternoon.  Barkley Dam was generating at an average rate of 25,200 cfs this afternoon.  As the lake levels drop boaters should be cautious when navigating the lakes.  There are a number of areas where old foundations, stumps, humps and ridges are just waiting to ruin your trip and cause damage to you and your boat.  If you are not familiar with the lakes, follow the navigation buoys and be very careful when navigating outside the buoys. 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.

Current Conditions:  The water temperatures have dropped over the past few days as we had cooler post frontal days and lots of cloud cover.  The sun showed  back up today with some higher air temperatures and the warming trend is expected to last though the weekend at least at this time with lots of sunshine.

The bass bite picked up during the cooler days with the cloud cover and we took a number of fish with most of them being short fish but also with occasional nice keeper.  Our best bite this week was fishing top water baits on rock river channel banks early in the morning and then moving to rocky channel points where ned rigs, shaky heads and finesse jigs were taking fish. The fish we caught were feeding on schools of the fry that I had mentioned were moving to deeper water in my last report 2 weeks ago.  We did fish a few ledges over the past week and took a few fish but the bite there was more scattered and slower. 


LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken on the ledges on the main lakes and around the mouths of the deeper creeks and bays.  The ledge bite is slow. These fish are being taken with  Carolina rigged creature baits, Texas rigged large worms, jigs, drop shots, shaky heads and swim baits. Largemouth are also being taken on rocky river channel banks and points.  These fish are taking top water lures early in the morning and ned rigs, shaky heads and finesse jigs during the day.  Largemouth are also being taken in the creeks and bays on channel banks and secondary points, especially those with wood cover.  These fish are being taken on shaky heads, ned rigs, Texas rigged creature baits and finesse jigs. 

SMALLMOUTH BASS:  We caught a number of Smallmouth on the early morning top water bite and later finesse lures bite on rocky main river channel banks and points as mentioned above. Most of these fish were short fish but a lot of fun. 

White Bass:  White Bass are being taken by vertically fishing with blade baits and inline spinners along the river channel ledges.

PRODUCTIVE LURES:  D&L jigs in Cumberland craw and oops patterns, Slong's jigs in mustang, Charmer timber pups on Carolina rigs, shaky heads and Texas rigs in green pumpkin, green pumpkin/blue and watermelon/purple, Big Hammer swim baits in bay smelt and Robo worms on drop shot in mean green.  Zman TRD in green pumpkin on ned rig,  Yamamoto Senko in green pumpkin/black, green pumpkin magic and Charmer Slim Jim in blue craw on shaky heads. Strike King top water splash bait in white and Lucky Craft Sammy in ghost pearl lemon.   
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IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON VISITING OUR LAKES I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES FOR ALL YOUR FISHING AND BOATING NEEDS:

Fisherman's Headquarters is located in Draffenville at the U.S. 68/U.S. 641 triangle, or the Draffenville "Y". FHQ stocks everything an angler could need, from live bait, hooks and bobbers to top of the line tournament bass tackle. More than a "bait and tackle" store, Fisherman's Headquarters is a true "pro shop", offering advice, training and special order assistance not found online or at the big box retailers. Services even include custom electronics training and installation. The store offers a wide variety of nationally known brands as well as many regional and hard to find items we use on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. They stock many of the products I rely on daily, such as Charmer Baits, Slong's lures and Pro Tungsten weights. From bluegill to bass and catfish to crappie, FHQ has you covered! Stop by and visit or phone 270-527-5938.

Jet-A-Marina: If you have a problem with your boat while you are visiting our great fisheries, let me recommend you have the folks in the service department at Jet-a-Marina check it out. These folks have a well known reputation for trying to keep our visitors on the water while they are here if they can possibly do so, especially you tournament anglers. Hopefully you will not need this kind of assistance but if you do, you can find Jet-a-Marina located on U.S. 62 in Calvert City, just a couple of miles north of Kentucky Dam. Jet-a-Marina also has a great showroom for all your boating accessories and check out the new Ranger bass boats too as well as bulk oil at rock bottom prices for your engine. Phone: 270-395-4030.

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 over 20 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 electronics 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:

I still have some dates available in  September, October and November.  Now is the time to make your reservations for the fall fishin

Captain Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
www.kentuckylakeguide.com
dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
270-362-9987
"Fish With A Professional"

[Lipripper]

Thanks again Dave for your great report.  It sounds like the cloud cover days was producing more fish.