Lake Barkley: any tips for early July bass fishing?

[zero_cool]

I will be heading to Lake Barkley in 2 weeks for 2-day and haven't been on this lake in 20 years.

Any hints on what to try out? Is it like KY Lake with the ledges or can I find some fish shallow?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[dstep0]

Depends on which end of the lake you'll be on.

South end... Not a whole lot of ledges so it's more about channel banks, points, and shallow cover.
North end... Lots of ledges to choose from. Decent ledge bite but smaller schools than you'd find on KY. If I was on the north end, I would personally navigate through the canal and fish KY.

During the Bass Fest event they had a re-qualifying day that they held on Barkley going out of the south end and 95% of the guys went to the north end to fish the drops.

[artcarney_agr]

Keep it simple.

Topwater in the morning and evenings on flats near main channel - Lucky Crafty Gunfish 135 in Chartreuse Shad or Ghost Minnow, or your favorite buzzbait

Dropoffs the rest of the day along the main channel and main lake points - can't go wrong with a 3/4 oz football jig, or a carolina rig or texas rig or swinghead jig with a big worm. Legal Limit jigs makes a good jig in Cumberland Craw with an added Strike King Rage Chunk in green pumpkin. For a big worm I recently discovered the floating Charmer 10.5" Gator Tail to be pretty dang good.

White bass fishing is pretty good now, keep an eye out for jumps in the morning and evenings to cast a spoon into, or vertical jig a spoon along the old river channel bouncing it off the bottom in about 14 ft to 17 ft deep. The channel swing at the Ashland barge terminal just north of Buzzard Rock is a great place to look, it's also a great place for blue catfish. The War Eagle twin pack of "Jiggin' Spoons" is my favorite as they come with a good quality hook already installed, in either 1/2 oz or 7/8 oz depending on current and wind, for color either nickel or white depending on cloud cover.

Night fishing isn't bad then either, that same jig is really all you need though some nights they'll bite a Hart Spinnerbait "Black Hart" pretty good with a 10" Powerworm added as a trailer. 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz depending on wind, I like the black with red tails with a black powerworm, but I think about any darker color will do fine.

[artcarney_agr]

South end... Not a whole lot of ledges so it's more about channel banks, points, and shallow cover.

I can't say I fully agree with this - the old river channel runs pretty dang deep. There's a good bit of old road beds that intersect it down south that aren't too difficult to find, if you stay near that old river channel you'll find some ledges along it that produce. The ledges on Barkley seem to get less pressure and the bass are more willing to strike as a result, that's just my experience though...most guys think KY is where you have to go to ledge fish, and that's fine with me as it keeps the traffic down on Barkley.

[zero_cool]

Thank you.

We will be starting in the south end but that doesn't mean that we can't make a run north if needed.

Sounds like find the channel bends and old road beds for the deep bite and topwater in the shallows if we can get on them early. Hope we find some shallow as I much prefer to catch them that way. My partner will be on the water for a few extra days this time (combination of having to use PTO and not wanting to take the beating we did on New Johnsonville last month ) so I will have him start looking around for those areas.

[getfished]

You can find some fish on isolated wood on the flats. Flats that have openings above and below so the water flows through them are the best.