Lower lake levels have returned to Kentucky Lake in this week’s fishing report. And, cooler weather has lowered surface temperatures as well.

    Fishing has been good for bass anglers who are finding some shallow flats holding schooling bass. Shad have entered the shallow zones and bass wasted no time in pushing some of the schools up in extremely shallow areas.

    Tossing shallow running crankbaits, rattle traps, and shad imitation jerk baits have worked well. There’s also some surface action underway so keep the silver colored jerk baits like Rebel’s Pop-R, Cordell’s Crazy Shad, and Heddon’s Torpedo tied on.

    Other patterns producing have been Carolina rigged lizards worked around rock points and grassbeds. Some anglers are still throwing crankbaits and jigs on ledges where a few smallmouth have been found.

    With the lower lake levels many stickups are now showing, giving anglers a lot to throw at. Working spinnerbaits around treetops and visible crappie beds has worked too.

    Observed lake elevation in the Paris Landing area was 354.8 at midweek. The lake has been falling slowly since last weekend. Look for lake levels to rise slightly this weekend if predicted rains occur.

    Surface temperatures had cooled after last Monday’s cold front and brisk north winds. Readings were in the 69 to 73 degree range.

    Watercolor is stained in the Tennessee River portion while the Big Sandy area has cleared since last week. The falling lake levels pulled most of the dingy water out of the bays.

    Crappie action has been fair but somewhat below expectations these last two weeks. However, part of the blame has to do with the drastic change in lake levels as the reservoir has been up and down due to the influence of Hurricanes Lili and Isidore.

    The cold fronts earlier this week brought gale north winds for a couple of days which curtailed activity for crappie anglers hoping to work open water areas.

    Some fish are in the 9 to 13 foot zones and taking jigs in the chartreuse and clear colors, along with some blue lead heads sporting pearl colored skirts. Jigs tipped with minnows have worked and adding Berkley Power Nibbles or Kodiak gel scent has helped increase strikes.

    I found some good size fish on Tuesday in 10-fot zones around submerged stake beds but the fish were finicky in their strikes. Even the larger fish were extremely light with the bite and did not appear eager to take a bait of any kind.

    There’s still some action on the deep ledges of the main lake. The falling lake levels have kept a few fish in the 15 to 20 foot zones out there. Working the open water sandbars may be worth a try but watch for shallow water action to improve this weekend and into next week if cloudy days and moderate temperatures remain.

    Some white bass action is also underway as they chase shad in shallow flats and around gravel points. Keep some Rooster tails handy for quick action.