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  1. #1
    Member Mike Daleo's Avatar
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    Lake Beshear Fishing Reports

    We have a new guide starting a business in 2010 on Lake Beshear. Andy Southard is on the lake 2-4 days per week already and will be posting reports regularly.

    Located in Dawson Springs, KY between Lake Malone and Lake Barkley, it has been rumored to be the home of the state record largemouth.

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    #2

    Lake Beshear Fishing Reports

    Thanks for the introduction Mike. As previously stated, my name is Andy Southard and I will be guiding on Lake Beshear beginning late February, 2010. Since this lake is relatively unknown, I would like to take a minute to review the lake for those of you who are unfamiliar with it. Lake Beshear is a 47 year old lake that impounds 784 acres and has 23 miles of shoreline. It is located approximately 30 miles east of Lake Barkley. Redden’s Boat Ramp provides the only public access to the lake, with a $3 launch fee. The lake currently has a boat size and motor restriction of 18’6” and 150 hp respectively. With tall bluff walls and hills surrounding the lake, it is extremely protected from the wind. With the boat and horse power restrictions, large boat waves are never a problem. This quality fishery just so happens to be very protected and comforting to fish. This is a great place to spend a weekend with the family and feel comfortable doing so.

    While there have been a few smallmouth and spotted bass caught here, largemouth are the target species on this lake. Northern strain largemouth are the only black bass species native to this lake. KDFWR reports this to be one of the top lakes in the state in fish 15” or larger per acre. The opportunity for the fish of a lifetime on this lake rivals any lake in the region. Beshear also has an abundance of channel catfish, with the occasional blue in the mix. The lake also has some crappie and bluegill. I will only be guiding for bass, but if anyone has interest in another species, fell free to call me for a referral.

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    #3

    Lake Beshear Fishing Reports

    Lake Beshear Report 9-24-09

    Temp. 77 Visibility: 1.5-3’
    Color: Slightly copper (usual of this lake in the fall)

    Largemouth are in transition right now, but are still catchable. The two dominate patterns this week were primary points with adjacent creek channels, and bluff walls. The fish being taken off of the points have been on shakey head worms, football jigs, and Carolina rigged creature baits or 10” worms. The fish being taken off of the bluff walls have been slightly smaller, but much easier to catch. Flipping finesse jigs and tubes into visible cover has been most effective on bluff walls. The usual summer crank bait bite hear is slowing down, but some good single fish are still being taken.

    Lures of the week: Slongs 5/16 oz. spider jigs in green pumpkin and green pumpkin purple with a green pumpkin or watermelon jelly paca trailer. Slongs ¼oz. poision tail shakey heads, with 6-7” straight tail worms in green pumpkin. Prowler 4” tubes in green pumpkin and watermelon. Slongs ½ oz. football jigs in phantom with green pumpkin paca trailer. Carolina rigging baits have been Hook Some Bass baby brush hogs in watermelon red/watermelon purple, Prowler 6” lizards in green pumpkin, and Prowler 10” magnum worms in redshad.

    Feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a guided trip:

    Andy Southard

    270-836-3774
    andrew.southard846@wku.edu

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    #4

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (Andy Southard)

    Lake Beshear Report 10-12-09

    Temp. 67 Visibility: 1.5-4’
    Color: Dark Copper/Brown

    Many patterns have been used to catch largemouth over the past two weeks. Fish are being taken off primary and secondary points as well as associated creek channel banks that have water willow (grass) present. The fish in the grass are being taken with finesse jigs and spinner baits fished around the edges of the grass. Fish on the main lake points are being taken with shakey head jigs, carolina rigs, and small football jigs in 4-8’ of water. There are still some small fish being taken off of bluff walls by flipping finesse jigs into visible cover. Another effective pattern has been 4-9’ diving crankbaits in shad patterns fished parallel to creek channel banks on a stop and go retrieve. The deep crankbait bite is all but gone as these fish have moved into 4-8 feet of water.

    Lures of the week: Slongs 5/16 oz. spider jigs in green pumpkin and black/blue with a green pumpkin or black shadow baby paca craw trailer. Hook Some Bass ½ oz. spinner baits in blue glimmer or white and chartreuse. Slongs 3/16 oz. PT shakey heads with a 6-7” straight tail worm in green pumpkin, or with a paca craw in okeechobee craw color. Slongs 3/8 oz. football jigs in phantom and copperhead with a green pumpkin or alabama craw paca trailer. Carolina rigging baits have been Hook Some Bass baby brush hogs in watermelon purple and Prowler 10” magnum worms in redshad. Rapala DT-6 crankbaits in pearl grey shiner.

    Feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a guided trip:

    Andy Southard

    270-836-3774
    andrew.southard846@wku.edu

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    #5

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (Andy Southard)

    Lake Beshear Report 11-3-09

    Temp. 57 Visibility: 1-2’
    Color: Stained

    The largemouth are in an early fall pattern now, with many fish showing up shallow over the last week. The fall pattern is becoming more dominant every day. With the water level high and fluctuating, the location of the fish changes from day to day, but the shallow bite has been persistent. Spinnerbaits fished around the water willow, or around lily pads have produced more and better fish than any other pattern. The bite has been slightly above average with all the new water coming in. Most of the fish have been taken in less than 4’ of water. There are still plenty of fish to be caught on channel banks (4-8’ of water), but these fish are requiring a more finesse presentation and have not been as consistent as the shallower fish.

    Lures of the Week: Hook Some Bass spinnerbaits in blue glimmer and white and chartreuse (lightly stained water). Brushmaster spinnerbaits in white with double copper colorado blades (heavily stained water). Slongs 5/16 oz. spider jigs in phantom. Slongs 3/16 oz. PT shakey head with either a 6-7” straight tail worm, a Hook Some Bass baby brush hog in watermelon purple, or a NetBait baby paca craw in green pumpkin. The Hook Some Bass baby brush hogs are also working well on a carolina rig for the fish that are remaining on the points.

    Feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a guided trip.

    Andy Southard

    270-836-3774
    andrew.southard846@wku.edu

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    #6

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (Andy Southard)

    Lake Beshear Report 3-17-10

    Temp: 49 Visibility: 8”-2’
    Color: Stained

    Well after a long winter I am back on the water on a regular basis. The USA Bassin tournaments have started now and you can expect to see 15-20 boats at the ramp for the next several Sundays. The KDFWR have also informed me that the horse power limit will be enforced much more strictly this year, so keep it legal (150 or less). We are still about 6 degrees behind on water temperature. There are still some largemouth on a late winter pattern but most have pushed into an early prespawn pattern with the days getting longer. We are still very early into prespawn so fishing is very day to day with the weather. The bite is getting consistently better and some bigger fish are starting to show up shallow. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to get in on some of the best early spring fishing in Kentucky.

    Early prespawn patterns are becoming more effective every day. The shallows are warming up on sunny days (up to 54 degrees) and during average weather the shallower water is the place to be. These more active shallow fish are actively feeding and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are getting more of the bites on warm days with a few fish coming on lipless crankbaits. Most of the fish that are shallow are relating to grass or the plentiful amounts of wood that last year’s ice storm left us. Jigs and texas rigged craw baits have also been producing well, especially for quality fish. The main lake fish are being taken on jerk baits and jigs fished around 6-7’.

    Lures of the Week: Hook Some Bass Spinnerbaits in white/chartreuse. Brushmaster spinnerbaits in white. Hook Some Bass vibe in blue glimmer. Slongs 5/16 pt jigs in phantom and black/blue. Slongs 5/16 pt shakey heads fished with a craw or creature bait in green pumpkin or watermelon red (several different plastics have been working on this). Smithwick rouges in clown. ½ oz. Strike King redeye shad in sexy shad and chartreuse sexy shad.

    Feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a guided trip.

    Andy Southard

    270-836-3774
    andrew.southard846@wku.edu

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    #7

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (Andy Southard)

    5-8-10
    Surface Water Temp: 70
    Water Color: Muddy (maybe 6 inches of visibility with a white spinnerbait)

    I started off the day throwing a spinnerbait along the shoreline grass and covering water. I caught a couple shorts, and one that went 5.15 lb. After doing this for a couple hours with little success, I picked up a shakey head and fished just outside the grassline and off bluff walls in the shade. Throughout the rest of the day I was able to really catch a bunch of fish on a shakey head. I probably had 15 keepers on it all together. I also threw a Lucky Craft RC 2.5DD crank along the outside of the grassline to try and pick up any larger post-spawners. It worked to the tune of 5 keepers averaging almost 3 lbs each. The largest of the crankbait fish was right around 4 lbs.

    Keys to the day:
    - Fish the shallow grass early for aggressively feeding bass with a spinnerbait.
    - Slow down and throw a shakeyhead to high percentage areas for less aggressive fish.
    - As the sun gets higher in the sky, target shaded areas
    - As the day progressed, the wind started to blow, and I picked up a crankbait to capitalize.

    All in all this was a decent day, and a pattern that should be successful to some degree throughout the early summer.

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    #8

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (sdkylaker)

    5-23-10
    Water Temp: 76 - 84 degrees surface (the water warmed up significantly on the surface throughout the day)
    Weather: mostly sunny, extremely hot, scattered cumulus clouds
    Water Color: Slightly stained, the mud has mostly left the portion of the system closest to the dam where I fished. (We could see our white cranks 3 feet down)

    We fished from 10 AM t 3 PM after relocating from a lake which was not producing. During this period, we had 6 keepers. The largest was 3 lb 11 oz., and the best 5 went 14 lb 14 oz. These fish were caught on crankbaits, shakey heads, and a light jig. The best quality fish were caught on crankbaits (DT10 and RC2.5DD cranked along the outside of the grasslines), while the other fish on the jig and shakeyhead were caught on transition areas between grasslines and bluff walls. All fish that were caught were shallow. The crankbait bass would hit within the first few cranks of the handle as we were ripping the big cranks through the grass. The shakeyhead and jig fish hit on the initial fall.

    On another note, I have never felt Beshear bass fight so hard! These fish are mean and aggressive right now! If you want to have one heck of a fight, I would suggest heading to beshear soon!

    Key's to the day:
    -Fishing high percentage areas thoroughly (The fish weren't as scattered as the last time I fished in the early part of the month, they seemed to be more on transitional areas and points)
    -Fish the shade! We fished the middle of the day on maybe the hottest and brightest day of the year so far. These fish were trying to keep from getting as burned as me!

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    #9

    Re: Lake Beshear Fishing Reports (sdkylaker)

    5-30-10
    Water Temp - 80 - 86
    Weather: Sunny with clouds and scattered storms moving in later in the day
    Water Color: Fairly clean. It seemed as if an algal bloom was beginning in certain areas of the lake. Clarity was probably 4 feet+

    Fished from 6 am to about 4:30 pm. The bite never was hot, but it was consistent throughout the day. I caught a limit of 1.5 to 2 pound fish on a flat side crank out of the grass by about 8 am, and then attempted to improve my weight. Picked up a 1/2 oz jig with a super chuch trailer and fished around shaded bluff walls in transition areas between grass and rock. I also fished off sloping points with grass. I was able to cull out all my smaller fish with bass in the 2.5 to 3.5 pound range. I wasn't able to get a big bite, but I broke a couple off that may have been good ones. The fish wanted a still jig today and they were much deeper than they have been in the past. All the good fish came out of 10-14 feet of water. No major patterns emerged for me, but the like I said, the bite was consistent. I would cast out, let the jig hit bottom, and pop it ever 2 or 3 seconds. Several fish hit on the initial fall.

    My cousin caught a Bowfin that weighed 5.5 on a big white spinnerbait. That was interesting because I've never heard of them being caught out there. It put up one heck of a fight too!

    Good luck and good fishing!

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