Went to Kentucky Lake for the first time. I spent 4 days with 8 other fisherman and three boats. Fishing 12 hours per day was pure fun. Crappie fishing was slow and unpredictable. Some in the group have experienced the limit catches of 2 lb Crappies in years past, but it did not happen that way this year. Part of the group caught a few nice Crappie out in open water (12-15 ft deep), but not too many. These Crappies are slabs. I learned that a common pattern on this lake is to find large schools in open water and bobber fish them or tight line five to ten feet deep. As for me, I went to the shallows in search of active schools and we found awesome schools of large bluegill on two consecutive days. Cats were also in these waters and we caught about about 6 total that were in the 3-10 lb range, averaging about 5 lb. We caught until we were tired of catching. And we cleaned about 75 or 70 total 'gills. Not Ohio 'gills...Kentucky bluegills. The largest was 11.5 inches and looked like something from Ripley's Believe it or Not. Most were too big to get your hand around and in the 8 inch range, but there were several 9-10 inch mutants. At the end of the second day of this, we were so tired of catching that we just hooked them and let them run around for a while. Very tasty. I am not embarrassed about catching bluegills. They are one of the fastest actions around when they are beginning to nest. It wore me out and most all of my fishing gear. It rained heavy drenching rains one afternoon/evening, and it rained all night one of the nights. But the lake did not muddy up one bit. Big water here. We found a cove that we since named Magic Cove. 4 foot Gar, 15 inch smallmouth, 10 lb catfish, several 14 inch largemouth, something 20 inches long bright green with a big black wart on its lower lip, and some other normal stuff. This cove was amazing. We only fished it for a total of a few hours. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyone else have experience at this lake?
i've fished ken lake several years in a row and always caught slab crappies there. You're right its big water and a millon places to fish. Thats were I'll spend my vaction next year. great place.
I've fished Kentucky Lake for a couple of years now and you know it's big when there are large barges going down the main lake. Biggest crappie I have caught are from there (14-16"). Couple of years ago, we were bass fishing and proceeded to catch 15-20 channel cats on crankbaits. A good fight on 8 lb. test. Got into a cove one time and there were at least 50 gar just below the surface. Those things are just plain ugly. Always camped at Lakeside Campgrounds because you could pitch a tent next to the water and pull the boat up on shore by the camp site. Looking forward to going back.
I am heading out tomorrow for a weekend at Lake Barkley. Weather last week had the water level up, but the warm temps this week is really starting to make it more fishable. Here too the crappies are slabs, some as much as two pounds. Hope to get into a few of them. By the way, I am also intending to do a little bass fishing while there. The crappies is just to please those going with me who desire a fresh crappie meal. All of it is just another reason to get away and GO FISHING. Will let you know first of the week how we do.
Can some of you share successful crappie fishing patterns on this lake? Do the same patterns work at Barkley and Energy lakes? I can't wait to hear your stories CreekFloater.
