Fishing Report

Gibson County Lake
Water temperature: mid 50s

Charles Warren of Trenton snagged a 45-pound blue cat on chicken strips with Red Kool Aid in seven-feet of water.

Bass: “I caught 15 bass (recently) dragging a red lipless crank very slowly in one-to-three feet of water,” Trenton’s Brent Smith said. “One weighed 9.6 pounds and another 10.1 pounds.”

Crappie: “They have gone shallow,” Brent said.

Pickwick Lake
Water temperature: lower 40s. Elevation: 410 feet

Bass: Nothing much has changed over the past few weeks, bass fishing is slow, but picking up.
Keep it pretty simple while covering as much water as possible, while moving your bait slow.

Carolina rigged Strike King Rage Craws work well, and a Series 3 crank bait in red colors also works well.
Just remember, when cranking a crank bait – keep it slow. Rock bluffs and grassy areas are still holding fish, but you can look for smallmouth to start biting better over the next few weeks.

Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley
Water temperature: 54-to-56 degrees. Water color: A recent current draw has pulled the mud and color out, and the water color is very good over (both) lakes.

Both lakes are beginning to stabilize – just above 354.4 after recent rains – but are subject to rise due to additional rain.

Bass: “Fishing has picked up quite well … bass are really settling down and feeding on Shad Rap and Rattle Trap style crank baits off rocky shorelines and flats with pea gravel or chunk rock,” Darrell Van Vactor said. “Some super size fish are being taken with several reported over eight-pounds the past few days.”

Darrell, the operations manager at Crappie USA/Cabela’s King Kat Trail in Benton, Kentucky, said smallmouth bass continue to be found on deeper ledges in the mouths of the major bays suspended, and hitting Rattling Rouges in bright colors and Creature baits.

Crappie: “They are moving again, and are now in the bays advancing toward that four-to-six-foot water range as they prepare for the upcoming spawn,” Darrell said. “A few guys are still spider rigging the deeper flats and wood cover in eight-to-12-feet successfully picking up eight- to-12 fish in a half day.”

Redear: “A few Redear have been caught in the past couple of days by anglers casting green curl tail jigs to the banks,” Darrell said. “For crappie, these tasty critters are still a month away from prime time, I would say.

“If the TVA will let the water rise slowly, the fish with continue this migration toward the shallows.

If they pull hard current, the fish with back out a little deeper, and wait for more settling times.”

(PHOTO: Charles Warren of Trenton displays a 45-pound blue cat he caught at Gibson County Lake)
David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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