Brought to you by: Fishtale Lodge
Report for April 14th, 2001
WATER LEVELS AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
It's time you headed to the lake and wet a line.
The crappie and bass are begging you to visit them.
A rash of warm weather this week has really heated things up,
namely the spawning phases of both crappie and bass in Kentucky Lake.
Surface temperatures this week have been rising steadily as has
the lake elevation. By midweek surface temperatures were hitting the 65
degree range. The weatherman delivered above average temperatures that
made it feel more like midsummer than early spring.
Lake elevation along Kentucky Lake is above normal too. Recorded
elevation in the Paris Landing area was 358.2 on Wednesday, which is
some two feet over normal for this period in April.
TVA's normal curve of reservoir filling begins on April 1 each
year and usually starts from the 354 range. It's supposed to be a slow
curve where about a foot each week fills the reservoir to the summer
pool reaching of 359 by or around May 1. Thus far the lake stages have
been anything but normal here, even though rain has not been a factor
locally or upstream.
One of the questions on the minds of area anglers is the status of
the lake levels. Since the reservoir is ahead of schedule, will TVA
begin dropping the level in the days ahead? Crappie and bass are
spawning now across the area so lake stages are at a crucial period.
Fishing this last week has been good, especially for crappie. Some
of the fish are spawning now as surface temperatures heated up this week
into the 64 to 67 degree range.
Those hot and somewhat humid days recently kind of speeded up the
timetable for spawning phases. In fact, the largemouth bass are usually
a week or two behind the crappie in spawning here but several anglers
have reported seeing bass already on the bed and fanning a nest.
Crappie have been hitting good with most of the success stories in
the Paris Landing area coming from depths of 7 to 13 feet. There are
still some fish being taken from the flats out in the mouth of Big Sandy
and up around the Mansard Island area in depths of 11 to 15 feet.
The shallow stumps in the back of Swamp Creek have produced some
nice crappie this week too. Depths there are in the 4 to 8 foot zone
with a lot of male crappie in the spawning mood and awaiting the arrival
of females which will likely move in these next few days.
In the West Sandy area and up around Country Junction the crappie
are really hitting in the shallow depths of 7 feet and less.
Water color is somewhat clear in the Paris Landing sector as the
constant increase in lake elevation this week has pushed back any dingy
water that was present. And, to some degree it scattered the fish too.
Some debris is floating across the lake as shoreline habitat
becomes inundated. However, the shallow buck bushes and willow trees
along the bank still lack sufficient water as to their fish attracting
ability at this time.
Techniques such as casting jigs has been popular lately for
shallow
water enthusiasts. The dark male crappie have been running the banks
around chunk rock and stumps. The larger females have been laying back
in somewhat deeper water yet it appears some of the fish are now
spawning out away from the shoreline in deep structure such as manmade
brushpiles and stakebeds.
Some hefty stringers have been taken this week by anglers who are
also drifting the sandbars and stump fields. Vertical presentations have
worked well too as anglers dip live minnows and jigs around submerged
structure.
This is the time of year when a lot of different techniques can be
applied on Kentucky Lake at the same time but in different depths. All
seem to produce to some degree.
Jigs colors in the chartreuse, black/chartreuse, grape/chartreuse
and pearl have been popular choices.
Look for a good week of fishing ahead as most of the crappie hit
the spawning mode. The main topic has been the wind as it has really
played havoc with most anglers this spring.
March was windy and cold. April has been hot and windy.
Most fishermen are hoping things settle down this next week in
terms of the thunderstorm threats and gale winds.
Meanwhile, bass action is fair at best. Many anglers are finding
some buck bass holding at the edge of dead grass beds along the banks
that just received water this week.
Tossing floating worms, spinner baits and top water jerk baits
have
produced some strikes as has crankbaits worked around gravel points.
When the bass go on beds it can be tough fishing. That seems to be
the case right now. Several small fish are hitting but the larger bass
are somewhat finicky in the opinions of most anglers.
For Previous Fishing Reports
Click Here
Steve McCadams
is a professional hunting and fishing guide
here in the
Paris Landing area and host of The Outdoor Channel's television series IN-PURSUIT.
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