Does anyone fish Kentucky Lake much? I’m from Illinois and took a week off for my birthday and thought about coming down for a few days. I haven’t been to the lake in 8-10 years. I would be staying around the dam/Moors area. Any info on largemouth/smallmouth would be appreciated. I was kinda hoping I could catch them ledge fishing.
Just got back from KYL some scattered fish on ledges around mouth of creeks
seen fair amount of baitfish mayfly hatch starting now too
we did not catch many but caught enough
I have been here at Moors since April 11. I work out of my motorhome. I have been out almost every evening and watched the fish move in and then out. 12 -15 feet of water on the ledges and some main lake points are producing some good fish and decent numbers.. I have been catching Sauger, White Bass (like crazy), Spots, Smallies, and LM. I am leaving to back home on Thursday. I have a few days left and hope to keep getting them> PM me if you want to talk. Smallies are a little deeper but I found some in 8 to 10 on top of the ledges feasting on the same stuff the white bass are eating.
We caught a lot of sauger more than ever before
Me too. Also more smallies for me than ever before. but I may be getting better at finding them. Fishing is still not as good as it was 10 to 15 years ago. but it is better this year than it was for the past two. weather has been great this spring here.Originally Posted by BrotherJim
We've been the last few weekends, pretty good numbers early on topwater, also caught several on small swimbaits and light line in same places. Mostly smallmouth on these. A few small keepers scattered. But if you want to get bit its working for us. Think main lake points and any little bumps along the river that might break some current. As far as the ledges go, 2 weeks ago I wasn't seeing much out at all. Last Saturday I spent several hours scanning ledges and was surprised by what I was seeing there.. A few larger schools which got me pretty excited. However, several hours of fishing them only yielded a few bites for us. 1 real nice fish, couple of keeperish bites, but I just couldn't make them bite good despite seeing them. Maybe timing or Lack of current probably, but I was encouraged by the numbers I was seeing out there that I haven't been seeing out there the past few years. Clearly lots of folks are catching them out or seeing them out, because lots of boats camped on deep community holes. I ended the day Saturday running some main lake or real close cypress and willow trees I knew had some water on them and got a pretty good frog bite going in the shade. That was ton of fun... lots of bites and another good one popped up and surprised us. We caught a nice limit in an hour and half doing only that. Things are looking up for the old girl it seems to me. Looking forward to the next few years.. For accuracy sake, I'm fishing south of Kenlake to Danville area.
Great report Bobby. Appreciate it. We fished the Strike King tourney on Saturday out of JVille. It was so odd to run down the lake at blast off and seeing boats on the ledges. Haven't seen that in the past 4-5 years. Felt good.
Yea, I agree.. The last couple of years the ledges (and parking lots) have been pretty bare. I personally feel like some of it is we that have some more threadfin now and a lot of gizzard shad back. Those two take off and run out deep after the water warms up. The emerald shiners (?) we saw so many of the last few years, seemed to me, to stay a lot more shallow and more along the river banks. Also - Hoping (wishing?) maybe we have some grass sprigs trying to find a way here or there. Water has been really stable this year so far and the clarity has been great. No crazy current events. That is the conditions under which it has gotten a foot hold in the past. I know Pickwick, from what I hear, is sprouting a bunch of grass in all the old places after a much sparser year the last few years. So we can keep are fingers crossed on that here. Conditions are prime for it, maybe it will happen. I haven't looked for any yet.
Exactly. If the lake is going to get back to close to what it was we need grass and the conditions have been right for us to get some. Also, its nice to graph without carp. I have graphed a lot the last couple weeks without seeing much at all if any big schools.
You and Bobby are making me want to go give the ole ledges a try this weekend
I can temper the expectations for you haha I haven't found a whole lot and like Bobby said they are fickle. Its tough but better than the last 4-5 years. Graphed yesterday. Quite a bit of bait has moved out there since last week. Fishing a ledge last night, a lot of bait surfacing with stripe busting them.You and Bobby are making me want to go give the ole ledges a try this weekend
Went out for a little while Friday. Put in at Jville. I was very surprised at the amount of shad out on the ledges. Great great sign as they haven't been out there like that the last several years. Quite a few bass out there too, but they were hard to get to bite. Ended up catching a few, but no big fish. All 2.5 to 2.75lbs. Still a lot of carp out there, but not like what it was.
I liked what I saw, and hopefully it is a sign of good things to come.
I also caught a smallmouth out on a ledge. I've never done that on KY Lake before. Yea I've caught plenty of smallmouth there, but never on a a ledge. I've put hundreds and hundreds of hours in just out on ledges around Jville and have caught no telling how many largemouth out there, but never ever a smallmouth Thought that was interesting.
Last edited by west_tn; 06-22-2023 at 08:23 AM.
Reply With Quote