Calling Mr Dave Stewart

[alveyau]

I have been fishing Barkley since Sunday and can't find any keeper size fish shallow--today water temp 67 with flowers in the water and the shallow water seemed dead--we found some good fish in deep staging areas but I don't understand what's keeping them deep----thanks for any advice Dave

[Dave Stewart]

Most of the fish I have caught on either lake last week and early this week were on final staging banks and points just off the spawning areas (which were still dry). The best bite for me and some of the folks that I network with has been on Carolina rigged lizards, shaky heads and jigs. I know of 2 tournaments won on Barkley fishing these areas and lures over the past 2 weeks. The water has come quickly up a couple of feet in the past few days...the fish are starting to move up also. We have taken a lot of buck bass shallow (they are always the first to move in) as well as some keepers. Look for more ladies to moving up shallow over the next few days. Just because you are finding warming water temperatures later in the day does not mean the fish rushing in shallow to spawn that afternoon....I learned a long time ago to track fish with morning water temperatures...and the morning water temperatures we have right now tell me that the fish should be moving shallow in numbers with some starting to bed. They don't all move up at the same time...there will be fish staging as well as moving shallow over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, the TVA will keep the water coming up and not drop the levels or play with the levels every day like they did last year during the spawn.

[artcarney_agr]

74 is the magic number based on my past years for the keepers to be up shallow in the flowers, once you hit that number it's game on. Until then, back off a couple of casts from the bank.

[Maddog10]

Not as knowledgeable/experienced as Mr. Stewart, but I fished a tournament on Barkley last weekend and pretty much echo his comments. We caught one good one shallow, and watched another boat catch a 5 lber shallow, but also found a lot of non-keepers as well. The staging areas produced better size as nearly all of our bites were keepers, but the bite was slower. Like him, I expect the move into the bays could be happening at any time though. Water levels have risen significantly since last Saturday. We also had some luck on lead-in banks or the first little nook inside a bay. It doesn't always have to be points or the very back of bays. Don't forget the middle ground.

[Bobby Gray]

This is always a tricky time of year on the big lakes.. A lot of the fish have other things on their minds besides eating. Makes them tough to catch. Another thing I have found over the years is that once those males set up on a spawning bed it don't matter how much water comes over up their heads they stay in that bed until the eggs hatch... as soon as this occurs the fry will run shallow and those males will follow suit. Easy to catch them The females are not going to be far from an active bed staging if she still hasn't finished. The females IMO rarely go shallow for their part of the spawn for more than maybe 24 hours. As soon as she's done her business and water reaches 70 degrees on these lakes.... She's heading out. A few may amble around shallow if water is high enough... But if she's done.. she's either gone deep or heading that way. Good thing is their should still be a wave to go at least...those fish will get real shallow now if TVA keeps things stable.

[alveyau]

Mr Dave Stewart thanks so much for the info you are definately a class act and your advice is always spot on--for any of you guys that wants to improve your fishing I highly recommend Dave's eliminating water class you will learn more in a few hours than you can imagine--thanks to all the other guys who offered advice it's much appreciated--god bless and tight lines