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Brought to you by: Fishtale Lodge
July 1, 2010
Fishermen finally got a reprieve from the hot and humid weather this
week. Cool mornings chased away humidity and some northeast winds have
kept temps under control.
Surface temps responded and actually fell a few degrees the last few
days thanks to some cooler nights. Readings are now in the 86 to 88
degree range and may cool off even more by the weekend. Last week temps
eclipsed the 90 degree range for several days.
Water levels have been falling slowly but Kentucky Lake is still a few
inches above normal summer pool elevation. Readings at Kentucky Dam will
be 359.5 the next few days. Upstream at New Johnsonville lake levels are
in the 359.3 range.
Watch for lake levels to fall slowly after the holiday weekend. Water
color is relatively clear in the main lake area of Big Sandy and along
the main Tennessee River channel. Slight stain is present around some
island points where wave action has stirred things up but the overall
reservoir is clear.
Bass action has held up well the last several weeks despite above
average temperatures. A lot of fish have been caught in both shallow and
deep areas but the bigger fish have been favoring the drop-offs.
It appears the big crankbait bite slowed some the last week or so while
Carolina rigged worms, lizards, and crawfish have worked well as have
Texas rigged worms and jig and craw combos.
Hopping a green pumpkin-pepper jig with a crawfish trailer has been
popular as have black/blue, and brown/ pumpkin pepper. Some of the
bigger fish have fallen prey to the jig while some of the smaller bass
pass it up at times.
Big worms in the 10-inch length have been popular too fished Texas
style. Berkley’s Power Bait worms in the blue fleck, plum, red shad, and
Tequila Sunrise have been popular color choices.
Carolina rigs are always popular for ledge fishermen and this summer has
held up to that pattern. Zoom’s Brush Hog, Culprit, Gambler, and various
brands of plastics have worked for anglers crawling them slowly around
structure and sandbars with shellbeds.
Some fish have opted to strike big swim baits too as anglers working
ledges and humps go back and forth and alternating lure presentations at
times ranging from big crankbaits to spoons just to trigger a strike.
Although most of the bigger stringers are coming from deep water ledges
there are still some anglers working shallow weedbeds and outside buck
bushes where schools of pin minnows are attracting bass.
Some treelaps along the main river and islands are holding bass too as
that shallow structure always seem to hold bass when the baitfish are
present. Topwater produced some fish around the weedbeds and bushes
lately as buzzbaits and floating fluke style worms were triggering
strikes.
Crappie backed off some this week but were still hitting and seemed to
transition toward deeper depths. Some midrange structure in the 13 to 15
foot zones that were holding a lot of fish up until last week appeared
to have less appeal.
I backed off to some main lake ledges in the 20 to 25 foot zone at
midweek and found some improvement with a few big crappie scattered
among the smaller fish. Live minnows were working but a few fish took
jigs tipped with minnows and plain jigs.
Expect to find a lot of small crappie on the ledges but right there with
them are some dandies as well. A few spots were loaded with annoying
yellow bass that always seem to sport an appetite, along with some sly
bluegill short striking now and then.
A few mayflies were hatching earlier this week but no massive hatches
were seen in the Paris Landing area. It’s quite likely a good hatch will
occur in the next few days as rarely does the Fourth of July arrive
without a big hatch somewhere close by.
Some catfish were on the prowl on main lake flats and back in big bays
too as a few pontoons were jug fishing and scoring decent catches. Not
many boats were stalking the main river channel but that should change
soon as current returns.
The weather has cooled some but the fishing is still hot so strike a
trot and take advantage of it.
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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