Nobody talking about fishing Kentucky Lake this fall? Those that have, how has it been?
Nobody talking about fishing Kentucky Lake this fall? Those that have, how has it been?
I have a High School fishing team that I coached fishing the National Championship there right now. I could not make the trip and they did to catch a keeper yesterday. There were like 107 teams that did not catch fish but the leader has 22 lbs with 4 big smallmouth and 7lb largemouth that team has also won the National Championship 2 years in row. There were a few limits but many 1 and 2 fish bags. It's on the Bassmasters website if you care to follow.
In my opinion the lake is fishing better than it has the past 2 or 3 years. Still nowhere close to what it once was though
The lake just kicks my butt
It is actually out of Paris Rodney. Not sure if you can even run 140 miles south from Paris can you?
I haven’t fished it but I keep up with the guys still at murray. They have been catching some good fish here and there but not like it used to be. Still some big fish to be caught though. 2 more years or so it will be fun.
Murray State Alum
2007 Champion 210 with all the toys
I believe you are right bloodriverbandit. I think two years and you will see a huge difference. When we came down late summer we caught a ton of fish from 12-15 inches.
I fished Berkeley this past weekend, I was shocked with the numbers of Asian carp in the lake, Unreal!!, Fishing was really bad, but interesting was the number of smallmouth that were caught.
Eric Beaty
2013 BassCat Cougar FTD
2013 Mercury 250 ProXS
Just my opinion. Yes the carp have an effect. Yes the lack of weeds has an effect. Lack of largemouth spawn for several years because of wildly fluctuating water levels has a HUGE effect. Why so many smallmouth? Their spawning activity is not nearly as affected by water level as they generally spawn offshore. I've had days the last 2 years when I caught literally dozens of 10" to 14" smallies. I also watched the netters take thousands of pounds of carp in a couple of hours and all were big ones. They had the opinion that maybe they also had bad spawns a few times as there don't seem to be any small to medium fish.
maybe we are looking at a good smallmouth experience in a few years....
Murray State Alum
2007 Champion 210 with all the toys
My personal opinion is that the carp have clean the plankton out of the water more efficiently than the shad ever did. This leads to higher water clarity (less partials) which gives and advantage to sight feeders like smallmouth and spots. Another sight feeding fish is the skipjacks which I believe are a primary forage for smallmouth in late spring through summer when the fingerlings are still small enough for them. More prey=more predators. I'll also agree with you in the opinion of smallmouth spawning offshore and therefore being less affected by the fluctuating water levels.
The issue with the Largemouth is complex and multilayered. First off was bad spawns dropping the population of the fish. Secondly was the carp out competing the natural forage. Thirdly is the heavy fishing pressure and tournaments during the spawn. I feel that the LM have began relating to roaming schools of shad rather that setting on a point or ledge where we used to be able to easily target them. Without learning a new way to target them fish we will continue to struggle. Last July I found a school on top of a hump in 46' that's deeper than I've ever seen a bass on that lake. We went on to catch 26lbs on that spot (catch weigh release)they weren't there the next day.
I saw many more bait schools this past year than I've seen in the previous 4 and caught a ton of 14-16 inchers so I'm still optimistic about the future of the lake.
Murray State Alum
2007 Champion 210 with all the toys