Friday, 5/14/10, I will be down at Kentucky lake for the first time. Three months ago when I scheduled this, I didn't figure in a flood.    I will be on a boat, but both of us will be novices at the lake. Any advice on what to fish with? Colors? Topwater? Finesse rigs? We hope to get an early start.

Anything will be helpful. We will be putting in south of the dam if that helps. (I know south goes all the way to TN.  Probably pretty close to the dam that is safe.)

Thanks in advance.

Work the ledges on main lake and secondary points. Quite a few of the ledges are in the 5 foot range and the second ledge is at about 12-15 foot. Hopefully they will drop the lake level by then. Last year a Rage Tail Craw in Summer Craw color worked the best for me as a Jig Tip. If the bass are not on the 5 foot ledge they will definitely be on the 12-15 foot ledge.

Uncle Leo and his partner Fred were VERY

successful at Pickwick last week. These are

similar lakes, you should take his advice.

Suggestions for baits and lures: Rage Tail Baby

Craw, Red Eye Shad and Swarming Hornet with

a 3 1/2" LFT Magic Live Shad trailer. I also caught

a few on a 3/4 oz Ledgebuster Single Willow

Blade spinner bait (chartreuse).

When you find grass, try flipping into and around

the weeds. I used a 5" Senko with good success,

but you could probably use any soft plastic.

Good luck!

8-)

I'm going out on a limb here, but I will bet money you will be fishing flooded bushes and timber.

We were there last week and the water was 9 feet over what it usually is.  Most of the people we talked to had never seen it that high before. I don't care how much water the TVA releases, with that much water in the lake, the bushes will still be flooded.

Take your jigs (lots of them), spinnerbaits and creature baits. Hit every tree you can find.  If you see vines hanging off a tree into the water, you will be on fish. The nastier the cover, the better off you will be.

I believe what speedbead said is what you will be faced with.  They will be drawing the lake down but I would still expect it to be 2 or 3 ft. over summer pool.

Also, if you see any buckbrush that is visible there's a good chance that some is in front and under the water that you can't see.  You need to fish the open water in front of bushes as well, these will be in 5-8 ft of water.

to check lake level

http://lakeinfo.tva.gov/htbin/lakeinfo?site=KYH&DataType=All&submit=View+info

It is supposed to be down to 364.3 by Wed.....still 5 ft over summer pool

Be CAREFUL on Ky Lake, it can get very rough very fast! With the lake pull down, I expect most of the trees, cows, boat docks, house boats and such that are currently floating around to be beached by then....most but not all. ALWAYS be looking where you are going!!!!

Color.....think money....green!

You didn't say where you were planning on launching but Moors should be usable by then. So will Big Bear. Let me know if you need more local info....I've been here a long, long time

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm bringing a cabinet of baits and tackle with me along with enough rods to make me look like I know what I'm doing. (I'm not really ;D ) I'm checking to see which ramp we will be launching from to let Deb know. I have stocked up on Watermelon, and green pumpkin soft baits, along with lots of Jigs. (I need a part time job just to pay off BPS now.)

Thanks again for all the replies. If I can think of anymore questions, Ill post them before Wed.

You didn't say where you were planning on launching but Moors should be usable by then. So will Big Bear. Let me know if you need more local info....I've been here a long, long time

We were going to launch at a campground near the d**n, but that may not be the best spot. Any recommendations to get in a spot near some good fishing areas? Is it better to launch out of Eddyville or near Moors? I know they are on different sides of 2 lakes, but I have never been down there. Any reason for one over the other?

Thanks in advance.

Cobraguy ..... what campground are you talking about?

Cobra.....PM sent

Looks like I will be launching out of Grandrivers unless something changes. Thanks for all the help and the PM Deb. I cant respond yet till I hit the 10 post mark.

It looks like the water level is going down, and a report I read on the fishing from yesterday has given me some ideas on what to look for. Here is a novice fishing question. How do I know if the bottom is gravel or not? I keep reading about looking for gravel bottoms in areas.

Thanks again for all the help ahead of time. I hope to have some great stories about this trip next week.

Well, my trip down and back was good. My brother, nor I caught any LMB, but we had fun out on the water. The TVA was pulling so much water from the lakes it made it hard to keep a boat on a path that you wanted. So after 4 hours of nothing we headed in. I can't wait to get back and try it when there was no flooding.

I did however fish a pond near his house in Marion, KY. I was not expecting to catch anything big, so I left the camera at home. This is from my phone. It was appx. 19" and about 4lbs. (I am such a novice, no scale or ruler.) I have never caught a bass that big, and never seen a fight like that either. I caught it on 10llb Fluro, on a wacky rigged Green Senko. Plus it was on a Med/light rod. I thought I was going to loose it for sure. I was stoked after the fish for sure. I caught it's smaller sister 3 casts later on a t-rigged creature bait.

Both went back in to fight another day.