Kentucky Lake 12-12-24
Report Contributor - Steve McCadams, Professional Guide/Outdoor Writer (stevemc@charter.net)
After last week’s frigid fishing scene across Kentucky Lake that diminished activity for most anglers unwilling to participate in the endurance test, things showed improvement for crappie fishermen. A few nice stringers were taken this week by anglers targeting the 9-to-14-foot depth ranges. Successful anglers sort of cherry picked their days, avoiding the nasty winds when they could. That aided their quest to work main lake areas or pursue open water spots within big bays that gave up some decent stringers.
Fish are holding tight to structure in the midrange depths with a few anglers stalking even deeper water and finding a few holding in brush piles around the 18-to-22-foot depth range. Not unusual to find a few crappies falling back deeper when cold weather is in the picture like it was last week.
It appears temps will moderate by this weekend and even rebound to the upper 50’s and low 60’s by early next week before another cool snap enters the picture by midweek. Rainy days are about to descend as the weather warms. The weather roller coaster seems to be alive and well as late fall fades to winter. Winter officially arrives on December 21.
Lake levels have stayed relative stable lately and hovering around the 354.7 elevation across the reservoir. That’s up a few inches from a week ago but still in the normal range for winter pool levels across the lake. Watercolor remain clear. Surface temps were in the upper 30’s and low 40’s last week but have slowly moderated.
A few bass anglers have been out targeting smallmouth and stalking deep holes where fish are hiding from the current whenever it’s flowing. The recent Bassmaster tournament opened some eyes as to late fall bass fishing. It revealed the bronze backs can be caught even in inclement conditions if you know how to locate them and implement the proper techniques.
Kentucky Lake has pretty much had a good smallmouth fishery for many years, but anglers have become better educated at finding and catching them in recent years. No doubt the advancement of technology with Livescope and Live Image type sonar equipment has enhanced anglers’ knowledge of the illusive deep-water hideouts of smallmouth here.
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