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Jane and Tom from TN 2017
Kentucky Lake Crappie Fishing
"1 pole jig fishing"
Crappie Action
Guide Service
GREAT FALL WEATHER GREETS KENTUCKY LAKE ANGLERS
Fall fishing is alive and well on Kentucky Lake this week thanks to
great weather that arrived on Tuesday in the aftermath of a cold front
that put a little chill in the air.
Sunny days have dominated since midweek as mild temperatures and light
winds teamed up to deliver excellent fishing conditions here on the big
pond. After a rather warm fall, some jacket mornings and shirt sleeve
afternoons are now the norm.
Surface temperatures responded to the cool nights and brisk morning
wake-up calls. Temps fell to the 67 to 69 degree range at midweek.
That’s four or five degrees cooler than last week at this time.
Water color remains quite clear across most of the reservoir as very
little rain has fallen across the region. Almost no runoff has entered
the reservoir as it has been quite dry so no dingy water is present
throughout the Paris Landing sector.
Lake levels were falling slowly at midweek after a slight rise in
elevation last week. TVA’s projections for the weekend indicate the
Kentucky Dam sector will see lake levels in the 355.1 while upstream
around New Johnsonville the forecast shows the elevation will be 355.4.
Crappie have been biting good this week. Some nice stringers of fish
have been taken on a consistent basis by anglers working stakebeds and
brushpiles in the 6 to 11 foot depth range. With the exception of a mean
Monday when the backside of a cold front delivered annoying northeast
winds the bite has held up well.
In addition to midrange depths paying dividends some anglers working
main lake ledges in the 14 to 16 foot depths have also found enough fish
to keep them happy. Bottom bumping rigs armed with live minnows have
worked but so have jigs tightlined around the deep structure.
Although everyone is having to measure and cull several small fish, the
big numbers of fish biting are keeping anglers quite busy. Expect to
encounter several crappie just shy of the 10-inch minimum length limit
but with cooler days and lower surface temps entering the picture a few
more big fish should start showing up.
Popular jig colors this week ranged from red/chartreuse skirts fished on
lime or red leadheads to some black/chartreuse, white/red and blue
sparkle/chartreuse just to name a few. There have actually been a wide
variety of color producing and some anglers continue to tip jigs with
minnows and Berkley Power Bait crappie nibbles in the chartreuse or red
with glitter colors.
Kentucky Lake crappie fishermen should have some good fishing for the
next few weeks as more fish move toward shallow venues. Meanwhile,
several anglers are still voicing concern over the lack of shad schools
being seen.
Normally threadfin shad are abundant in the early morning and late
afternoon periods along gravel banks. They’re usually seen feeding on
midge hatches in the lowlight conditions but numbers of baitfish appear
to be down.
Bass fishing has been a bit slow for most anglers but that could improve
not that light winds and stable weather have returned.
Several boats continue to target main lake flats with shallow running
crankbaits, suspending jerk baits and swimbaits. In an attempt to find
some fish moving up on the shallow sandbars most anglers are attempting
to cover a lot of water in their search.
Other patterns such as shallow gravel banks have been inconsistent. The
shallow topwater bite hasn’t worked very good lately but that can change
when cloudy days enter the picture, especially the early morning and
late afternoon periods.
Some boats continue to back off the banks and stay on a summer pattern
of stalking main lake ledges with shad colored crankbaits and jig and
craw or Texas rigged worms. There has been a little current this week on
the main Tennessee River area and that usually works in favor of the
ledge bite.
Each week the trees fade more toward a parade of fall colors. The peak
is still another week or two away but now is a great time to be out
there!
Also check out our past:
Kentucky Lake Fishing Reports
Steve McCadams is one of the nation's best known Crappie Fishermen
and a full time resident of Paris, Tennessee. Steve is also a
professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area.
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