KyAngler_1120

I guess the answer to your question is dependent on exactly where you are fishing and what your target actually is. Personally I use a couple brands of tubes in various sizes with the 3.50 being the most common. The Strike King Coffee tubes in the 3.50 and 4.0 are my go to if I am flipping/pitching or just need a larger profile tube. Depending on the lake and the presentation needed I will fish my tube on a couple different hooks. I love fishing my tube on the inserted tube jigs if I am fishing in deeper water or in areas with less cover, or swimming the tube. In heavy cover condition I use the Eagle Claw Shaw Grigsby tube hook with a bullet weight of choice. Trokar has hook especially make for tubes also, but I have never used them. The only other larger tube that I use is a discontinued Cabin Creek craw tube in crawdad color...bought them during a going out of business sale in bulk and have about 150 of them. They are a great craw imitator, but the plastic is a bit heavy and difficult to t-rig. My other go to tube bait is the Strike King Bitsy tube in 2.75 iches. This is the first tube that I ever fished and I still use it more than the larger larger tube baits. I only fish this one on insert jig because it is simply too small to rig tex style. This is a finesse tube and it is small presentation, but it catches fish in just about any water system. I originally started fishing the bitsy tube in the small streams and rivers around my home and they are killer on spotted bass and smallmouth. There a couple lakes where I also fish this smaller profile tube and have caught some quality largemouth. My techniques for fishing a tube in my area are basic. First I drag the tube on the bottom and this produces fish in both lakes and small streams/river systems. Another technique is a basic ripping of the tube...let it settle on the bottom and rip the tube; produces a reaction bite on the fall. I also love fishing the tube it works well when the fish are active and more inclined to chase a moving bait. It is pretty rare if I flip/pitch a tube any more because it just seems that I have better luck with creature baits.

Lol I am not the starter of the thread, but here in South Central KY we are getting our first good snow in several years. Looks like we will get 10-12 inches. I know that is nothing for you guys up north, but I would be happy if it never snowed again!

Some variation Green Pumpkin/red flake Yamamoto Senko 7 inch, fished wacky style. Just a tad over 6lbs in the month of march.

Yes it is...it is quite common to see them 75-100 at a time on Cedar Creek this time of year. The group hanging in that area today numbered about 30-40.

Life is always busy and with the weather and work schedule the month of January did not present any opportunities to fish. February is quickly shaping up to be a much better month. Yesterday would have been an awesome day to fish, but my girlfriend Heather took to me Lexington Kentucky boat and outdoor show, where I had the opportunity to see Mark Zona in person…it was a cool experience. Today was not as warm and sunny in Kentucky as the previous day, but it with air temps in the low 50’s and a stretch of days with similar warm conditions in the last week made for better than expected conditions. Today’s trip included not only me, but Heather also. Just yesterday at the outdoor show I purchased my new fishing license and Heather purchased her first ever license and has made the decision to take up my hobby with me. Outside of some small creeks, ponds and fishing as a child Heather has no real bass fishing experience. We set out mid morning giving the temps as much time to warm up the water temp at Cedar Creek in Lincoln county KY. I have been fishing this lake religiously for the last 7-8 years; for a time I lived on the lake when I worked for Kentucky State Parks. A lot of the fishing I do is actually from the bank and my two personal best bass have come from the bank fishing at Cedar Creek. My go to spot is standing on top a concrete culvert that run underneath KY HWY 1787 and allows water to drain into the lake from the opposite side of the road. This spot produces big fish during all times of the year. In the spring big females come to this area to spawn, in the summer fish actually go up into the shade of the culvert, in the fall month bass seem to be attracted to the rip rap rocks that have been placed around the culvert, and during the winter bass come to this area as the sun warms the concrete and the large rocks around the area. The top goal of today’s trip was to allow Heather to catch her first Cedar Creek bass and the go to spot was holding a largemouth just as I knew it would. Her fish was a typical 2lbs health fish that is common for that area. She caught it first cast on a YUM dinger 5 inch watermelon and pearl laminate, fishing it wacky style; a fishing technique that catches a lot of bass on Cedar year round. My bass fishing didn’t produce anything for me, so I switched locations and species. I caught my limit of trout on an inline spinner while ripping it and letting it flutter. Along with my limit of trout I did manage to catch one bass that is a dink compared to Heather’s results. It was a wonderful day and I am looking forward to many more good fishing days and some bigger fish

There are some big smallies on the river, but as you have probably heard the Rockcastle is rough river to travel and many of the good fishing locations are hazardous to get to. Kentucky fisheries also discovered that the native strain of Walleye is surviving and thriving in the the river. I started my career out with Kentucky State Parks and I worked at William Whitley and literally lived on the lake. It is becoming a true trophy lake and I fully expect the next state record to be caught there any year now.

Hey guys, I am an avid angler from South Central/South East Kentucky region and I grew up fishing the mountain creeks and tributaries for Rock Bass (Red Eye), and Smallmouth. The Rockcastle river ran right through the little town where I grew up and during the summer months growing up my grandfather took me fishing almost every day. As I have gotten older I still enjoy the river and small stream fishing, but primarily I have moved into lake fishing. Most of my fishing days are spent on Cedar Creek Lake in Lincoln County. Currently I am serving a deputy sheriff in my home county of Rockcastle and it seems to be my job that takes up so much of my fishing time lol. Cannot express how much I look forward to interacting on this forum and gaining some much needed knowledge about bass fishing in general.