Fishing Report

Gibson County Lake
Water temperature: 92 degrees

Bass: “Bigger bass are tight to brush piles and timber hitting big jigs and plastics,” Trenton’s Brent Smith said. “Good numbers of smaller bass can be caught on small top-water minnows and flukes on the main body of the lake.”
Catfish: Shallow

Pickwick Lake
Water temperature: 85 degrees. Elevation 414 feet

Bass: “If the wind is down, and the water is calm, a walking bait like a Strike King Sexy Dawg will attract a lot of fish in shallow water areas or main lake points,” Clagett Talley said. “Walking baits have always worked well on Pickwick, and they are really fun to use. If the water is a little choppy, I like to use a Strike King 3 blade buzz bait.”

Clagett Talley, a tour guide from Savannah, said after the top-water bite ends, throw a series 3 crank bait in the same areas where you were catching fish on top-water baits.

“Usually, by 9 a.m., you will need to move out to deeper water, especially if the dam is generating current,” Clagett said. “Throughout the day, look for bass in deep water on your depth finder in 15-to-20-feet of water. You can usually catch these deep water fish on Series 6XD crankbaits.”

Stripers: Clagett said striper fishing has been productive.

“Early in the morning, you can catch a few on the Strike King, King Shad and Wild Shiner Jerk baits” Clagett said. “If you can, catch a few small bluegill and use them for live bait.”

Clagett recommends using a two- or three-inch weight with the live bait to get your rig to the bottom.

“Drift from the Dam downstream as far as the powerline crossing, and if they are feeding on the bottom, you are sure to catch some big stripers,” Clagett said.

Catfish: “The catfish have been really biting,” Clagett said. “I have caught several catfish on nightcrawlers and cutbait (from skipjack), fishing in 20-feet of water with a one-ounce jig and 2/0 hook.

“On all of my catfishing trips lately, we lost count of all the small catfish we caught, and we also caught several catfish in the five-to-10-pound range,” Darrell said. “The biggest catfish we have caught on a guide trip over the past two weeks has been 25 pounds on cut bait.”

Want more from the “Mayor of Pickwick Lake?” Give Clagett Talley a call (731) 607-5266, or visit him online – www.pickwickareaguide.com

Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley
Water temperature: mid 80s

“Kentucky and Barkley lakes are on a slow drawdown to winter pool with levels falling several inches this past week,” Darrell Van Vactor said. “It is important to remember that more underwater obstructions will present a hazard for boaters as the levels fall.”

Darrell, the Operations Manager Crappie USA/Cabela’s King Kat Trail in Benton, Kentucky, said it is also important this week is to keep plenty of water and Gatorade in the boat with temperatures climbing to the mid 90s, and and heat indexes over 100 degrees all week.

“It might be a good time to get out early, or wait until later in the afternoon to make that trip to the lakes,” Darrell said. “Dams are cranking up the current with Kentucky Dam scheduled to release over 40,000 cubic feet per second this week.
“This is welcomed by most fish species since it causes the shad and other baitfish populations to move around more and make themselves more vulnerable for feeding game fish.”

Bass: “Largemouth Bass have been slow with a few fish being caught on the ledges by Texas rigging nine-or-10-inch worms in green/pumpkin/pepper and large crankbaits early and late,” Darrell said. “A few fish are also still being caught early and late on top-water baits around Mayfly hatches, especially on cloudy days.”

Darrell said smallmouth bass are slow, with a light bite on ledges in the mouths of major bays on Creature baits and Jerk baits.

Crappie: “They are still being caught in 15-to-20-feet of water on crankbaits trolled over wood cover,” Darrell said. “Both numbers and size are down from last week.”

Catfish: “Catfish are king right now,” Darrell said. “With the heavier current, they are biting great on main lake ledges and creek channels, and should continue to do so as long as the dams are pulling good water.”

Darrell recommends cut skipjack, shad and large minnows for the blue cat – nightcrawlers and leeches are preferred by the channel cat, for the time being.

Bass Tournament
The Henderson County Bass Anglers Thursday Night Bass Tournament at Beech Lake will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., today. Visitors are welcome to participate. For more information, call (731) 695-1654.

(PHOTO: Lake Graham, Jackson)
David Thomas, Twitter– @DavidThomasWNWS
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