Kentucky Lake White Bass: Fishing for White Bass
White bass are a fun fish to catch and they can easily be caught during the summers on Kentucky Lake. Every summer white bass will school up and feed heavily on bait fish. They can usually be found where the main river channel meets up with creek channels. Lots of birds circling and diving down to the water can indicate a school of fish driving bait fish to the surface. You’re not going to see schools of white bass in every spot you fish, but when you do find them, it can be non-stop action. Many of the fishing guides will report on the summer white bass when they turn on, so make sure you’re staying up to date with the fishing reports.
When the summer bite turns on, get out on the water and find some of these schools of fish. When they are on the surface, shallow running crankbaits will work. Small spinners and small casting spoons will also catch fish. When you find schools in deeper water near the bottom, try vertical jigging a small 2 to 3 inch spoon.
The tailwaters below the dam is also a good spot to fish for white bass. Many yellow bass are also caught beneath the dam.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Striped Bass: Fishing for Striped Bass
Striped bass are available to catch on Kentucky Lake, but they are definitely not plentiful. Anglers that do catch striped bass tend to catch them on accident most of the time when they are fishing for white bass. Below the Kentucky Dam is probably your best bet to consistently catch stripers. Crankbaits work well and so does live bait. The tailwaters will hold fish from spring through winter.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Spotted Bass: Fishing for Spotted Bass
Spotted bass are considered a bonus fish for most anglers that are fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass on Kentucky Lake. There aren’t a ton of spotted bass in the lake, but they are not uncommon. Expect to catch spotted bass in the same areas that you catch largemouth, especially when largemouth are schooled up over deeper water.
The same baits will work for spotted bass that work for largemouth and smallmouth bass.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Sauger: Fishing for Sauger
Sauger are considered a bonus fish for most anglers on Kentucky Lake. There aren’t a ton of sauger in the lake, although, they are catchable. The tailwaters will produce some action from spring all the way through the winter. Deeper water on the main lake will also hold some fish. Sauger tend to bite better when there is a little current moving. Crankbaits are good baits, although, a simple jig and minnow setup will also work.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Redear Sunfish: Fishing for Redear Sunfish
Kentucky Lake has a stable population of redear sunfish with enough fish in the 8 to 12 inch range that work it worth targeting them. Panfishermen usually catch them on accident while fishing for bluegill or crappie. Spring through early summer is typically best. Redears will spawn a little deeper than bluegill, but they’ll be the similar areas. Just make sure to fish a few feet deeper than you do for bluegill in the spring and you should be able to catch some of these fish. Redear sunfish also feed primarily on the bottom, so keep your baits near the bottom. Bobber rigs will work, but you may want to set them a little bit deeper.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Channel Catfish
Kentucky Lake is a very good channel catfish lake, although, most anglers don’t really take advantage of this catfish fishery because they are busy fishing for crappie or bass.
From late spring through early summer, you’ll find channel cats spawning along the shallow rocky shorelines. They are easy to catch once you find them. Live nightcrawlers, chicken liver, live minnows and cut bait will work.
The main lake channel offers excellent fishing during the summer. Using your electronics to find fish will help you to put more fish in the boat. There are a lot of catfish schooled up during the summer and they won’t always be right on the bottom. Sometimes, live shiners fished a few feet off the bottom will actually catch more fish than fishing on the bottom. Because they feed on shad, it is not uncommon to catch a catfish on accident with a deep-diving crankbait.
Fall provides some good fishing as well, but as water temperatures drop, it gets a lot harder to catch fish. From late fall through winter, your best bet would be to fish the tailwaters.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Bluegill: Fishing for Bluegill
Kentucky Lake has some big bluegill to fill your livewell with. There are lots of bluegill in the 6 to 8 inch range and many fish bigger than 8 inches. You will also catch plenty of smaller bluegill while fishing for the big boys, but using bigger baits will help elminate some of the smaller fish.
Spring is a great time to fish for them shallow along any type of cover along the shoreline. Rocky shorelines are a good place to start. Summer positions most of the bigger bluegill in deeper water. Brush piles in 6 to 15 feet of water will hold bluegill throughout the summer. A lot of the same areas that hold crappie will hold bluegill. Just fish a little shallower for the bluegill.
The mayfly hatch causes a buzz among the bluegill during the summer. Look for bluegill to be feeding aggressively on the surface along the shorelines. It may be tough to catch them though because of all the food in the water that you are competing with. Flies work well over here, but live bait will also do the trick.
Fall brings bluegill shallower again. You can find a lot of your bigger bluegill back in the bays and creek channels in the fall.
Winter fishing is tough. Fish deeper and fish slow. Downsize your baits as well. Small jigs tipped with little pieces of worms and wax worms will get some bites.
Good baits are worms, pieces of nightcrawlers, crickets and even small minnows. Small tubes work well for the bigger bluegill, but you’ll catch a lot less bluegill with the tubes than the live bait.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Blue Catfish: Fishing for Blue Catfish
Kentucky Lake offers some good fishing for blue catfish. They can be caught from spring through fall, but the summer is typically the best time to catch them. Target the deeper ledges where the creek channels meet the main river channels. If you can find some type of cover such as wood or stumps, you’ll increase your odds of hooking up with these big catfish.
The tailwaters provides some action year-round for these fish, but summer is still the best time to catch them in this area as well. Some good baits to use for blue catfish are chicken livers, chicken hearts, live shiners, cut bait and nightcrawlers.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Spider Rigging for Crappie
Spider rigging is a popular method for catching crappie on Kentucky Lake and we’re sure that many crappie anglers use this technique on other lakes as well. (Spider rigging involves using many rods, so this technique may not be possible to use if your state’s fishing regulations allows the use of one or two rods at a time)
Spider rigging is a simple setup where crappie fishermen will have 4 or 5 rods off the front of the boat or the back of the boat. Minnows are usually the bait of choice and each rod will be set up at a different depth to help you find the best depth on any given day. For example, you may be fishing a drop-off with some brush piles in 17 feet of water. One rod will be a foot off the bottom, one will be 2 feet off the bottom, one will be 3 feet off the bottom, etc.
If you are getting most of your bites at a certain depth, it is smart to put the majority, if not all of your rods at that specific depth. When the action is hot, it can get a little crazy with all of the rods out, but when the action is slow, spider rigging can be the key to putting more crappie in your livewell.
A nice rod holder setup is ideal to keep everything under control. You need to make sure your lines are far enough from each other and the trolling motor to eliminate tangles, but still close enough to you so you can easily grab the rod when you get a bite.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
Kentucky Lake Crappie Fishing
Kentucky Lake has some outstanding crappie Fishing. Hit it right on this lake and you can fill the livewell in a hurry.
Spring - The annual crappie spawn usually takes place during the last week of March or the first couple of weeks in April. It all depends on the weather.
The pre-spawn is the time to catch crappie staging at the mouths of bays and creeks. At times, they will school up in very big schools from 10 to 17 feet of water. As the spawn arrives, crappie can still be spread out at various depths. A cold front will move fish back out into deeper water during this time of year, so it really takes a good week or so of warmer weather to get these fish going. Once they start their spawn, the black crappie will move into the shallows first and you can be catching black crappie in 1 to 2 feet of water while other anglers are catching white crappie off of brush piles in 17 feet of water. This can make it frustrating to find a pattern, but once you get a good week of consistent warm weather and the water temperature gets into the low 60s, you may have 2 full weeks to catch crappie shallow. Once the black crappie start to move out, there will still be some white crappie moving into the shallows.
Summer - It takes an experienced crappie fishermen to consistently catch crappie in the summer. These fish will move out to deeper water. Some fish will still be along the deeper creek channels, but a lot of the big schools of crappie will move out onto the main lake. Many of the guides do really well in the summer because they have numerous gps points of areas that hold brush piles. Even if you only catch a fish or two off of each brush pile, a good guide may have 50 or spots that he knows about. If you hit it right, you’ll only need to hit a few of their better spots.
Fall brings cooler water temperatures and this will help move the crappie into the creeks and bays again, although, they won’t be as shallow as they were in the spring. For those deep water crappie anglers, there will still be schools of crappie in deeper water on the main lake, especially as water temperatures cool down into the low 60s and upper 50s.
Winter fishing is tough for crappie, but they will school up in deeper water on the main lake. If you can find some of these schools, fish very slow and downsize your baits. Small jigs tipped with a live minnow, just the head of a minnow or wax worms will work. A double jig rigged with plastics can also be effective.
Some of the popular techniques for catching crappie on Kentucky Lake are veritcal jigging with small jigs tipped with tubes or live bait, bobber fishing with minnows, drop-shotting with minnows and spider rigging.
For more information on the lake, please visit Kentucky Lake.
