Your Kentucky Lake fishing report for August, 2019
From the deck of the Kick’n Bass pontoon
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The weather since our last report has been hot and hotter. This is great news because the hotter the better for whitebass and yellowbass! We have also caught just about every other fish that swims in the lake. The next ten days seem to be mid 80’s to 92 degrees with heat index nearing 100 degrees…perfect for whitebass fishing! No fish pulls harder than a whitebass and they bulldog there way trying to escape but we catch a bunch of them anyway.
Lake conditions
The TVA has the water level staying at 357.70 elevation. About normal for this time of year.
You can check the link below for more info. TVA has a phone app also.
tva.gov/Environment/Lake-Levels/Kentucky
Crappies
We have been pulling crankbaits a lot lately. The Jenko fishing Crappie crankbaits have been our go to baits. The Crappies have been changing their color preferences daily so started out with multiple colored cranks is your best bet. Then narrow down their color of choice as you fish. 1.8 mph has been my best speed about 12 feet down in 14 to 18 feet of water. Sometimes the bay you caught them in yesterday is slow so keeping multiple areas to fish is essential. Main lake flats are picking up also. Keep moving and you’ll find them. Deeper creek channels have started producing some big Crappies lately. There is A LOT of minnows and shad schooled up in the lake right now. Good for us but bad for the baitfish!!
Whitebass and Yellowbass
The white and yellow bass are good right now! Scan those ledges to find these fish in schools and it is game on. Our favorite way to catch them is using SteelShad bladebaits. For years now these have been our go to lures. They catch anything that swims and so high quality that they last a long time. Favorite colors are gold and silver but SteelShad have produced a myriad of colors and sizes the last few years and they all work. They are sold at our local tackle stores and Hitec Outdoors has them all.
We have been using inline spinners also in 3/8-ounce size in silver blades with either a red/white color pattern or green body with a silver blade. Color usually doesn’t matter a lot but try them all until you find your favorite and most successful color pattern. Reel about 8 to10 times and then open the bail and let it free fall. This imitates a dying shad. Repeat this in a yo-yo style retrieve and hold on. A recent mayfly hatch has slowed the whitebass bite some but that hatch is over and the whitebass are picking back up. Mayflies hatch off the bottom of the lake and fish sit near the bottom gorging on them as they hatch. You can see this on your Lowrance downscan as the fish are right on the bottom of the lake and not swarming around chasing shad.
Catfish
We have been catching blue and channel cats while whitebassing all mixed in feeding on the shad baitballs that the whitebass are chasing.
Bluegills and Redear
Haven’t fished for these but have seen some small catches at the cleaning station.
Largemouth
We have caught both of these the last few weeks. Biggest largemouth has been this monster that Field Reporter Steve caught that grabbed a small yellowbass at the water surface. It missed connecting on the first try but came back and it was game on!! Weighed about 7 pounds and was released to fight another day.
Other Fish
We have caught a slew of carp and buffalo up to 25 pounds…quite the fight on our whitebass tackle!
ATTABOY:
Thanks for another great day Captain Rich and for being on Team Doris!
—Doris Petefish, Ill
Book now with Captain Rich!
Gift certificates available
call 270-205-7603 • email kylakefish@gmail.com
website kicknbass.net
And that’s your Kentucky Lake Fishing Report for July, 2019. Are you planning a Kentucky Lake Fishing getaway? Check out our Kentucky Lake area hotel and campgrounds.
