How's the bass fishing? Is it worth making a trip from northern Kentucky down there to fun fish for a few days?
How's the bass fishing? Is it worth making a trip from northern Kentucky down there to fun fish for a few days?
The bass are pretty well spawned out at this point. Some are in transition areas and some are out on ledges right now. If you hit some good stable weather conditions IMO you could have some good days.
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Barkley was the worst I have ever seen two weeks ago.
There are still quality fish to be had. With a bazillion boats out power fishing try something different. I haven’t wrecked them by any means the past couple weeks but still catching nice fish.
Plan on going this weekend, hopefully can find a few.
I fish mainly between the bridges and it is as bad as I've ever seen it. Nobody's out. Saw maybe 3 boats on the main lake all day. Dinks shallow on top water and trick worms. Hate fishing like that.
I started fishing early Tuesday morning and caught 3, 18” stripers and 2 short smallmouth out on the main lake near Blood River. Headed farther south and managed one four pound largemouth. Quit about lunch.
Over the years I have seen commercial fisherman coming out of the Barkley marina ramp. This year I seen two boats coming out of the marina ramp everyday and seen two Boats coming out of the ramp way back in the little river by the bridge. As far as fishermen not very many on the lake and the few I talked to are baffled.
I fished a small tourney a couple of weeks ago out of New Johnsonville, water temps.. ranged from 71-73 level about 6" above summer pool had been relatively stable for a week. Water stained slightly more than normal.. still not bad. I've been fishing this lake for more than 30 years... Should have been a recipe for some numbers.. this lake has always been a little tough right around the spawn? But would have thought enough post spawn then to make for a decent shallow bite. Myself and a partner zipped...1 very short bass. A 47 boat field.. 20 teams had fish.. one 20lb sack, 1 13 lb limit was second and the rest of the 20 weighed 1-3 fish less than 8 lbs, with most only having 1 keeper? It's become a mystery to me.. The only good days I seem to have anymore is if I figure something out and get 4-5 quality mature bites, Really big fish, usually with little else to go with it. I'll have a few of these a year now? quality over quantity, The difference is...Now - I just have some duds.. going out on this lake catching nothing.. like hardly getting bit? The numbers just seem out of reach anymore for me. Even on electronics, when they get where I know I can find them... just not seeing them? It's really unbelievable.. I'd add this though...With the water we've had, and the stability, If we don't have a good spawn this year we never will. On a positive note... seems like I am seeing a lot less carp this year?
This post reminds me of the propaganda post Mark Menendez made on Facebook less than a year ago. I can't recall his exact words but it went something like "people need to run to Facebook and let everyone know KY lake is alive and well"...as soon as he made that comment I though he has sold his sole to the tourism devil. It's no big secret that KY and Barkley are both on a big down hill slide. People can put their head in the sand if they want but the biggest issue both those lake have came from Asia and I am not talking COVID 19...its Asain carp. Will it someday rebound...only time will tell.
Slow for me, zeroed yesterday. Caught several in April but was hit and miss. Not seeing a lot of bluegill beds either, It clearly is in a downhill slant, I would not drive to come here. I am planning on traveling some, and I live 15min away. I still go when have few hours want to kill. Goodness is, seems like a lot of bait, and less carp. But still a lot of carp but smaller ones like 2-4#
On a positive note,
The redear, bluegill, channel cats.. are on. Sitting on bank and have been catching a bunch.
Much more fun currently than chasing bass in my boat.
Fishing is absolutely terrible. If you find the right area you still can catch some good ones but its a needle in a haystack. There are way fewer carp. I think it will rebound but this year and probably next year will be brutal. We are seeing the bottom right now. No way it can get worse.
was on Barkley week before last for 3 days and caught 3 decent keepers and a few shorts each day. That is a good day for me. Now, I'm not an experienced fisherman and usually don't catch much when everyone else seems to catch plenty. Heading down again tomorrow and will probably get skunked.
Water was up and current was ripping. Thought that might help me but guess it scattered them out or I just never figured it out. Caught a couple fish each day ranged from 2.5 - 4 pounds, no shorts. Everyone might be on them but it was a nice weekend and it was a little breezy and the fleet was out so moving was a little of a struggle.
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In my humble opinion this year has been much better than last year. I've still managed to have those 15-20 fish days and mix a few nice 3-6lbers in there. Not saying I do that every trip, but I do catch fish every trip. Stable water this year during the spawn should translate into a good spawn. 2016 was the best spawn on record per KDFWR and those are all the 14-16" fish that I seem to catch alot of.
Looking at that 2016 spawn and the likely good spawn from this year, in about 4 years, the 15" fish will be 4-5lbs and these new fish will be 15" fish...Just saying there's a lot to look forward to on this lake!
2005 Ranger Z21
2005 Mercury Verado 250