Brought to you by: Fishtale Lodge
Steve McCadams'
Kentucky Lake Fishing Report for:
April 12th, 2005
CRAPPIE AND BASS ACTION
IMPROVES...LAKE LEVELS FALLING FAST...SEVERAL CRAPPIE STILL IN SPAWNING
PHASES
Crappie action has
improved within the last day or two here in the Paris Landing area after
a weekend of rising lake levels that really scattered fish.
Lake
levels are falling fast as TVA draws the lake back down to its curve for
reservoir filling, creating more storage capacity should additional
flooding hit the valley.
Tuesday
the lake began falling a few inches after cresting on Monday. Fishing
improved as crappie seemed to return to structure and resume spawning
after a day or two of roaming open waters.
Presently
the lake levels at New Johnsonville are in the 359.5 range but
projections are for readings of 358.2 by Thursday. Kentucky Dam is
expected to have an elevation of 357.9 on Thursday. Therefore, the lake
will fall several inches each day.
Surface
temperatures are in the 63 to 66 degree range throughout most of the
reservoir with the upper Big Sandy and West Sandy area showing the
warmest readings.
A lot of
crappie have been caught the last few days in the New Hope and Country
Junction area up Big Sandy as anglers there mostly trolling jigs or
using drifting techniques. Some good stringers were also taken in Swamp
Creek and around the Sulphur Well Island sector where crappie fishermen
were trolling, drifting, and also vertical fishing manmade fish
attractors.
A few
anglers are working main lake ledges where some scattered fish were
taken on the tops of sandbars in 12 to 14 foot ranges. Not many fish are
relating to the deeper depths.
A few
scattered fish have also been caught around some shoreline habitat in
the upper Big Sandy mud flats but receding waters will make most of that
structure too shallow in the days ahead.
I found
improvement in my 9 to 12 foot crappie beds today (Tuesday) as fish were
taking 1/16-ounce jigs tipped with minnows and some fish preferred just
the jig. Tipping it with Berkley Power Bait helped some too. Many of the
same areas were void of fish over the weekend.
Popular
colors have been white and unpainted leadheads with while/clear sparkle,
chartreuse with red or blue metal flake, and some hair jigs with light
brown and yellow tails and water color has been relatively clear.
In stained
water some red and chartreuse, along with pink and pearl, light blue and
chartreuse, and various florescent combinations have worked such as
green and orange.
Male
crappie are quite dark in color, indicating spawning is underway. A few
females appear to have already dropped eggs but there are still several
fish holding eggs. So, spawning is still underway and many fish are
doing it in deeper water and away from shoreline structure.
With lake
levels falling, look for increased numbers of crappie to fall back to
the 7 to 10 foot range in the days ahead. Fishing will likely improve
for anglers fishing submerged structure in these zones.
Bass
really moved up to shallow weedbeds and wooded structure the last few
days when the water rose. The popular yellow flowers around back bays
and shallow shorelines was holding fish.
Successful
lures were floating worms, flukes, jerk baits, and lizards. Spinnerbaits
were also producing. A few outside buck bushes were drawing fish earlier
in the week but falling lake stages will likely pull bass back off the
banks somewhat in the next few days or at least draw them to steep banks
where deeper water is close by.
Carolina
rigged lizards and crankbaits will continue to produce around points and
rocky areas as fish pull back out of pockets and relate to sloping
points near deeper venues.
Some bass
will likely go on bed within the next week or two.
Anglers
can expect a lot of current in the main Tennessee River channel areas
where stained water is now present.
Late last week rising lake
levels had debris floating throughout the reservoir as lake stages
jumped by almost a foot for two to three consecutive days. After four
days of rising lake levels anglers can expect just the opposite for a
few days.
Generally speaking, fishing
has improved for most anglers in the last day or two after a weekend of
difficulty in the aftermath of rising lake stages.
For The Lake Barkley Report
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Also check out our past:
Kentucky Lake Fishing Reports
Steve McCadams
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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