Please post your reports for Barren River lake here
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Please post your reports for Barren River lake here
September 3rd, 05'
Water was up about 5 feet after the heavy rains from Katrina. Floating debris was collecting against most channel bend bluffs and floating in the lake as well.
Water temps were in the high 70's early and warmed up to near 82 by late afternoon. Water was stained in most areas on the main lake and reportedly muddy in the creeks.
Caught some early fish suspending around flooded trees and bushes with jigs and worms. Also picked a few up with a crankbait around points where we found some fish schooling.
The mid-afternoon bite was difficult but we found fish on bluff walls in 12-15 feet of water again on jigs.
Nice day on the water. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
To add to mike's report we found several fish on the shallow windblown flats. Unfortunately the only ones biting where 10".
Got several bites fishing cumberland craw and clear with blue flake jig with pumpkin seed trailers. Most of the fish we caught where on ledges of chunk rock. Caught a couple of small fish working a silver rattle trap on the shallow flats and through submerged sycamore trees where the wind was blowing into them.
We hit the water about 7:30am and had a lot of surface activity so I tried to get on a spot really quick before it ended. Worked a white buzzbait and a silver zara spook for about 30 minutes with no luck and the top water activity stopped around 7:45.
I really worked shallow areas near deep water on the mainlake(My summertime strategy). However with the recent rain and cooler water pooring in I think working deep up into the creeks might have been better. That is if you could get past the staind water and back into the creeks cooler/clearer water should have been present.
This year I have been the most productive using D&L jigs in cumberland craw, Smoke Purple, and clear with blue flake. I also have some FLW plastic pumkin trailers that have been unstoppable. Smoke purple tubes, red shad worms and junebug worms have been popular on most of the clear lakes.
Hey Billy
Way up the creek you could get above the strong color and the temps were a few degrees cooler. That was our winning ticket. Back out the creek we did get bit but it was only short fish.
JR19
9/09/05 Barren River Lake, from sun rise to noon
Water 78 -80, Stained to green color.
Still a lot of floating logs in the upper end of creeks and some in main channels.
No keepers at all, but had a ball and caught 3 slots and the rest where dinks.
Crank baits,( 6 -8' Bandits) and plastic (Baby bush hog & Paka Craw)
All where in 8 -15' of water on a vertical walls. On and one big fat Spot that would have been a keeper...even if they where all less than 15" first time in my life I got bassin thumb ( skin all roughted up ) from lipping so many bass http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
9/10 thru 9/11 Caught 11 pounds 4.5 oz one of which was a 4 pound 9.5 oz hog. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/smile.gif and partner had 10 2. Most fish were caught next to submerged timber. We caught our fish on Road kill tubes and watermellon brush hogs. Water was 79 degrees in the morning and warmed up to about 82 by noon
Water was stained. We went way up the Barren River to catch these fish.
We also caught fish on 9/9 but it was practice day so they did not count.
September 24, 2005
The lake is being drawn down and the fishing is tough. Most of the lake is stained, up the creeks is very stained to muddy. Shad are everywhere.
Launched at 7am, water temp 80.5 degrees. Caught several short fish on a Zara Spook and Buzzbait. One good 14 inch slot fish came on the spook out of 1 foot of water on a secondary point.
headed to Peter Creek and caught one more 14 inch slot, a fat KY, on a jig on a point on the main creek.
Headed back under the bridge and up another mile and fished some layed down wood catching another slot on the jig. Again, shad were everywhere.
Water Temps on the main lake at 2pm were 84.2 degrees.
Pretty much caught short fish everywhere we went but no keepers. 2.66 pounds was enough to win third place. Pretty sad, but this time of year is tough http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
Tues. Sept. 27, 05
Fished from Sun up till 3 PM
Water 85.4 to 89.5.
Clarity slightly stained to almost clear down near dam.
Hooked a lot of nice fish but was not able to land any of them.
Lost one on a crank bait, spinnerbait, jig, and plastic.
Some where hitting like bluegill, real lite and just tap tap tap by the time you figured out is was not a bluegill, was to late.
Had 4 spit hooks back at me near boat.
Not sure what I was doing wrong but some where hitting the jig so hard it tore the claws off the paca chunk I had as a trailer.
Hit it hard, and spit it out before you could do anything, must be getting old and my reflexes are getting slow http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emhammer.gif Any way real nice day to be out high was only 80 with 3 - 5 MPH north wind.
Oh most of the fish I found at the mouth of creeks on walls with 20 - 30 ft of water.
Shad are starting to school up at the mouths of creeks.
Sat. Oct. 1.
Fished from first light to around 12:30 PM
Water is from slightly stained to stained, almost clear near dam.
Water temp. from 73 way up in Skaggs Crk to 78 near Dam.
Lets say I had a ball caught fish where ever I went.
Ended up with 5 keepers 2 at lest 3LBs
Lost a real good one when my old Diawa handle snaped off http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/crying.gif
Caught them on crank baits, Jig and Paca Craw, Bush Hog.
First light no top water so started throwing jig and wow caught my best ones, most of the good fish came before 9 AM except for one and it came from WAY up in Skaggs Crk and I mean way up as far as you can go, where I was is not on the map nor on my GPS http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif
Great Day and had a ball. the fish are starting to bite.
Oh what I listed does not include the Hyb Bass, or the white bass.
BUt pew was going to go to another creek and come out of Skaggs and pontoon boats everywhere so I just packed it in.
Good to hear the action is picking up Ed! http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
The water temps were from 75-68. About 10-12 days ago they were about 4-5 degrees warmer. Poll level is 550.4 (summer pool 552) and the water level is stable(inflow VS outflow) with good colored water in the creeks and clear back out. Early morning bite was slow to fair on buzzer and spinner. Made a move to another location where there was alot of fish busting shad and had a ball. Caught fish on buzzbait, spinnerbait and a jig fish seem to be scattered everywhere but when I found shad the bite was more concentrated.
JR19
Gene sounds like a fun day! Gotta love this time of year when you can find them busting the schools of shad.
Sat. Oct. 8, 05
Fished from 12:30 PM till about 3 pm
Water 73.9 deg.
Wind 10-15 MPH out of the N
Cloudy with sprinkles.
Water is slightly stained
2 Keeprs, 2 slots, and 1 dink
Jig, and tub
Fish are holding it seems at the first major break.
Did not travel all that far and stayed around the Narrows area.
So considering figured I did not do to bad. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/eyes.gif
Friday Oct 14
Meet and fished most of day with Cincybassin to show him around the lake (pre fish for T)
Water slightly stained.
Temp ? his is broke
Caught fish almost every where we went.
But the I came threw around 3 PM
21.5" , 3.5 lbs SM on a crankbait in Skaggs Creek. Looked like she was just coming up out of the channels to start loading up for winter, she was skinnnnny.
But oh boy what a treat. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
He took pics so when he gets home and emails me copies will post .
Day was nice and on top of it we caught fish, which was great showing him around the lake for his first visit here http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/smile.gif
Love those brown fish Ed http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
Fished Friday 10-14 with ED and it was a fun time. Ed was testing the handling of the Bug Boat or maybe he was just trying to get rid of me. hmmmm.......We might need to change his name to CrazyEd. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif Thanks Ed.
Here's one of his Smallie
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...108AaNmTRk1Yue
Sat 10-15 fished way up the Barren river up in the no ski area around Glover Creek / Oakmont Bay. Caught a lot of slot fish Sat. Tubes, jigs and c-rigging.
Sun 10-16 fished same area as Sat. Caught all fish on drop shot. Missed some early fish on Buzzbait.
Ended up with big fish Sunday and placing 3rd.
Nice job Jamie! You had much better luck than I did at Barren! Congrats on big bass and 3rd place! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
Barren River Reservoir: Saturday Oct. 15 & Sunday Oct. 16, 2005
Fished from 6:30 AM Local Time until 5:00 PM local (Central Time)
This was my club's 2 day tournament.
Water temp 64 in the morning when I began and 70 at the end of the day.
Water clarity: slightly stained to stained
Water level dropped on Saturday and had dropped a LOT more by Sunday. They started the winter draw down.
Air temp 48 at launch and warmed to 75 or so by finish of day. Very sunny with bluebird skies.
My partner and I caught a lot of fish mostly on a jig. However, we could not boat a keeper. Also caught fish on spinnerbaits, and worms. I caught one on a buzzbait and had about 20 that blew up on it but didn't hit it. They were just knocking it out of the way. Changing colors, blades, etc. did not help. Caught 1 fish on a crankbait.
We fished the river and wound up going way up till we almost ran out of water. All of our fish were caught off of rock banks in 10 to 25 feet of water. Wood and lay downs did not yield a fish and I bet we caught 30 to 40 fish between the two of us.
Sunday morning was very cool, showed 37 on my Expedition's thermometer at launch. Water temp was 61 in the morning and 69 by days end. Also EXTREMELY foggy until about 8 am local time. We fished from 6:30 local time to 3 pm local time. MUCH different day. Still no keepers and very few fish weighed in by our club. My partner and I caught about 10 fish total and EVERY one was off of wood! NOTHING off of rock bluff walls! We fished Skaggs and went to the back end of it. The water was stained to very stained. I caught 6 fish all of which were 14 to 14 & 1/2 inches...but no keepers. All my fish were caught on a spinnerbait off of logjams in little cuts. My partner caught 1 on a spinnerbait and everything else on a jig and no keepers. Beautiful weather but a tough tourney for us.
Tourney was won with about 16 pounds for two days and the big fish was a 3.75 lbs smallie!
Tight Lines! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
John Thanks,
The bad news I lost Angler of the year by 1 point. The thing is the guy that got 2nd only beat me by a couple ounce this weekend. MY fault. Saturday I released a 14-1/2" slot which was about an inch longer than the one I had in the well. That hurt.....As it was sliding over the side I thought oooh chitttttttt. If I would have finished 2nd I would have finished first for the year. Theirs always next year.
Man the weather was pretty good. That fog really hurt us not being familiar with the lake Sun morning.
I hear ya on the buzzbait thing. They were smacking it Sun. but I didn't have any keepers on it. We had one guy catch about a 16" spot on a buzz bait.
It was a fun weekend.
Wow Jamie...1 point!! That really blows especially with the mess up in the slot fish. Oh well, it's not like second place is all the bad. I know it's not AOY but you were definitely in the hunt!
Our club doesn't count slot fish, only keepers. Makes it simpler like that, but it would have been nice to weigh a couple! I know I had one slot that would have weighed 2 lbs! FAT Fish!!
I hate I didn't get to see you, but it was tough as we were launching at 6:30 am local time. And you were right about the fog on Sunday Morning...it was dense!
Oh well congrats again on a good tourney and a great year! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
Fished a club tourney yesterday 10-22-05. Caught fish on just about everything. Water was slightly stained around 68 degrees, cold over cast about 1/2 the day and did I say windy. Caught fish on buzzbaits, spinner baits, crankbaits and plastics. Caught most of our fish in the back 1/2 of the creeks. Also caught one that culled another from under a school of shad( always tried that technique with a rattle trap but had never worked until now). Lost a good 3-4 on a buzzbait that hit about 5 feet from the boat http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/crying.gif. Tried to lead it around until my partner got the net but one jump and it was gone. Was afraid to set the hook that close figured I would snap it right off. We came in 2nd and got big fish. Needless to say we would have won if would have had that other fish. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
Modified by Joe Skeeter at 10:01 AM 10/24/2005
sounded like a good day...
Nov. 5, '04
Cloudy to partly cloudy wind was blowing out of the S at 10 -15 MPH with gusts to 25 MPH.
Water Pee Green to Stained
Fished from 7 am to noon
Caught two nice LM that would not even fit on my Golden rule ( which is 18" Long)
Weighted one on my little Rapala Dig scale and did not even weight 3 lbs....are they that far off OR these fish are skinny. They both where in the shape my SM of last month.
Caught them on a white spinnerbait, on wind blown banks, in less than 5 ft of water.
Good job Ed, nice report http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
Fished today from 0800 to 1400. Water temp 44-46. Chalky green in color on main lake and murky up creek/river arms. Caught 5 fish with 2 over 15", 14" smallie, and 13" ky and one dink. The best 4 were about 7 lbs. One one a tube, the rest on a crank. All in about 8' water near or on channel edge. The lake is about 4' above winter pool.
Barren River: Wed. March 29, 2006
Fished from 10:30 AM Local Time until about 4:30 PM local Time
Water temp 52 in the morning when I began and 57 when I finished fishing in the afternoon.
Water clarity: Clear to slightly stained.....nice color!
Water level 12 feet above winter pool but still way below summer pool.
Air temp at launch was in the low 50's and warmed to mid 60's or so by end of the day. Beautiful day...got some sun!
I fished with my son JT and we did NOT catch a fish. I got bit 3 times late in the day and missed them all. I was pitching a jig or a worm and should have had at least one, but the fish prevailed! Bites came in 3 to 4 feet of water in Peter Creek which had quite a bit of color.
Hopefully the lake will turn on this coming week as I have Saturday and a Sunday Tourney next weekend.
Tight Lines!
they should be hitting some spinnerbaits carolina rigs and soft jerkworms or flukes in April. Thats my experience in the past anyway, if I can't get bit on the pitchin bite.
Sunday April 9th. Barren was 13ft below summer pool. It was on fire! It took 24lbs to win the Toyota tournament. 6 fish limit .1st place was 24lbs+. 2nd place 21+lbs.3rd place 21+lbs. 4th place 20lbs .5th place 19lbs. Big fish 6.01 I only had 12lbs and a 5lb big fish a didn't get a sniff of a check. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/eek.gif
Awesome weights! Thanks for the report! http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif
Sat. 5/06/06 Fished from around 5:30 AM till around 3:30 PM.
Water is on the rise and is Clear near the Dam to Pea Green at the narrows.
Stayed on the main lake all day....lost count of how many I caught but 7 where keepers, with the largest being close to 4 # down near the dam on a spinnerbait.
Lost a couple of good ones in the morning. Water temp started out around 64 deg. and by afternoon was in the lower to mid 70's. All fish I caught showed no signs of spawning, feel they are still fatting up. I did not go up any farther than the Narrows and Stayed on the main lake at the dam. But dam figures no Rally/T and I catch over a limit of keepers http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif All my keepers where either caught on a spinnerbait or a tube
Just got back from 3 days at barren. First day I got there I knew there were several tournament fisherman pre-fishing for the numerous tournaments this weekend so I decided it would be best to fish deep. I knew the shallow water fish would be warn out. Began fishing main lake points with topwater that morn-15 min before daylight. No action at all so I decided to hit the drops. (keep in mind this was pre fishing, I wasnt trying to catch a ton of fish) 1st drop-boated 2 keepers 1 around 3lbs 1 around 4, both on 1/2 oz. jig in 25 feet of water around some brush. 2nd drop-middle of lake-boated 2 keepers 1 2 1/2 and 1 around 3 caught on same bait. 3rd drop- roadbed- 1 fish around 3lbs on drop shot. decided to run up river a little ways and try some deep cover in the channel. 1st spot boated 1 around 3 1/2 on rig in 25+ feet of water. Decided I had found enough for one day and decided to go in. 2nd day of practice was devoted to the river, 1st thing I ran about 5 miles above the blown out bridge since I knew most would be scared to run that far up. Began flipping with little success, boated 3 keeps that were very scattered out and all were only 15 inchers. On the way out of the river I was about 2 miles from the Austin ramp I noticed the channel dropped from 16ft to 20 and decided to give it a look. I graphed some huge piece of cover and decided to fish it to see what it was. Slung the D20 out to search the spot out. As it reached its max depth I hit what felt to be a large laydown and as soon as it got over the other side I stopped it as it was murdered. Got the fish in- about 4lbs -threw back to same spot- another 2 1/2lber made me decide to save the fish for tx day. Hit one more spot which was a channel drop where I knew was some cover 3rd cast I caught the biggest fish Ive ever caught out of barren. Im bad at guessing when they are over 5 but I know it was somewhere in between 6 and 7. I will post the pic of it later. Caught on rig in 25-30 ft. Went in for the day. Tx day came 1st spot only got 1 keep, 2nd 1 keep. Ran to best spot in river and NEVER TOOK A HIT. I was confused so I sat for a minute and just thoguht about what was going on. Decided to run all the way back down lake to my 1st spot and camp out. Got there fished for an hour with only 1 bite, all of a sudded someone hit the switch and it was hammer time. Caught fish after fish untill we culled the 2 smallest keeps out. I lost one right at the boat which was 4-5lbs. partner had one to the boat same size-had the net under her then she tailwalked out and went straight down and broke his line. Ended up with almost 14lbs and lost the tx by 1lb. Could have done better but I was still happy cause it was an awesome 3 days on barren. Most likely the best trip Ive ever had there. Cant wait to go back!
Drews report is right on, find the channel bends with brush on them and you will find the fish, this weekend was only my second trip to barren ever and had almost 16 lbs on sunday, WHAT A LAKE, cant wait to go back, and I will get the pics from the event up on here as soon as someone tells me how to post pics here http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif
Nice report and you and Kyle both had an AWESOME Barron trip!! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/bows.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/bows.gif
Congrats!! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
Great Reports guys, thanks for the info! http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
No prob! Kyle send the pics to me and I will post them. Dang boy! Learn how to use that comp! lol.
Here's flippindrew's pig from the trip along with our nice little limit
http://photos-444.facebook.com/ip006...99444_9355.jpg
http://photos-448.facebook.com/ip005...193448_176.jpg
http://www.bassboatcentral.com/boardstuff2/beers.gif
http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif looks like my fish messed itself a little bit.
Fished last night until a couple hours after light. Caught some decent fish. 6 or 7 keepers and a few slots. Caught on main lake points from 8' to 18' deep. Texas rigged plastics mainly.
Fished last night from about 1030pm until 630am. Caught several fish. 6 decent keepers. A couple were nice smallies. Fish still on main lake points and drops. Texas rigged baby pacacraws and 10" worms. Caught 4 or 5 slots and several dinks too. Water was 88-89 degrees