Terrific Bass, Catfish and Crappie Fishing in the Bluegrass

• Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases.

---

Kentucky Lake has long lured anglers with its diverse fish habitat spanning more than 160,000 acres. Created in 1944 when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) impounded the Tennessee River for flood control and hydroelectric power generation, it’s the largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River. Its sprawling coves, bays and creeks border 2,064 miles of shoreline.

Like many large reservoirs, Kentucky Lake has seen its ups and downs, and the decade between 2010 and 2020 was especially difficult. A burgeoning Asian carp population made angling risky, with the large fish constantly leaping from the water whenever boat traffic neared. Simultaneously, fluctuating water levels during spawning season hampered bass and crappie recruitment.

Today, anglers have fewer issues with invasive carp, as aggressive commercial fishing has dramatically reduced their numbers. And, thanks to cooperation between TVA managers, fisheries experts and anglers, water-level issues seem mostly resolved. The result, according to Adam Martin, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries biologist for the Kentucky Lake region, is a dramatic upswing, with a bass boom underway.

Catch Big Crappie, Bass and Blue Cats

As of 2024, five of the preceding seven years saw above-average bass reproduction, with smallmouth productivity soaring after 2020.

The lake also boasts ample crappies, with many fish in the desirable 12-inch-plus range. Additionally, the nearby Cumberland River, just below Lake Barkley, Kentucky Lake’s neighbor, is brimming with blue catfish.

BASS BOOM

Matt Carter of Hook ’Em Up Guide Service (hookemupguide.com) guides full-time on Kentucky Lake and targets everything but catfish. However, his favorite pursuit is bass fishing—both largemouths and smallmouths—from late spring through fall.

“We hit a wall in terms of bass numbers around 2018, but we’ve gotten progressively better,” Carter says. “This year was better than last year, and I think next year will be even better. Smallmouth bass are really showing up. I credit that to the way they spawn in deeper water than largemouths. You’re seeing more tournaments where smallmouth bass are playing a part, with 20- to 25-pound bags of fish—all smallmouths—being weighed. That was unheard of a few years ago.”

Carter has caught his share of Kentucky Lake lunkers. His personal bests include a 9-pound, 12-ounce largemouth and a 6-pound, 13-ounce smallmouth. He’s an avowed “offshore guy” who likes to fish deep, so he loves the summer. After spawning, bass head to deeper water, and by late May or early June, Carter says fish are often as deep as they’ll be all year.

“I’ve caught them in 34 to 38 feet of water, set up along the ledges or small, subtle ravines or underwater ditches,” he says. “They’ll suspend out of the current and wait for baitfish to come by.”

He notes that Kentucky Lake offers ledge-fishing options along its entire span. The lake is loaded with structure, including lots of submerged stumps and shell beds. Entire towns were submerged when the lake was created, and wood and concrete building foundations remain. Carter says fishing over the former town of Birmingham can be especially good.

For offshore fishing, he loves brown, green pumpkin and black-and-blue football jigs, which bounce nicely along Kentucky Lake’s rugged bottom. A Carolina rig works well, too. When targeting bigger fish, he’ll toss an 8-inch Nichols Lures Magnum Flutter Spoon. Deep-diving crankbaits, like Norman DD22s, in a shad pattern with some blue and chartreuse can be good as well. He adds that big swimbaits in natural shad colors—typically white or white with chartreuse—are great when fishing ledges, too.

Bass also move into shallow water in summer and fall, often heading to shaded areas under the lake’s many large docks. Carter says the front ends of some docks sit over 20 feet of water, from which the depth may steadily decrease to 3 feet on the shoreline side. Here, he typically throws jigs and soft plastics pegged to a 1/4-ounce weight. The guide’s favorite bass setup (deep or shallow) is a 7- to 7 1/2-foot, medium-heavy-power, fast-action rod with a baitcasting reel (a 7:1 gear ratio reel offers great versatility) spooled entirely with 10- to 12-pound fluorocarbon line.

When facing tough late-summer conditions and less-aggressive fish, he switches to finesse tactics, a time-tested favorite being a drop-shot rig with a plastic in the Morning Dawn color. For targeting smallies, Carter likes a Ned rig or Carolina rig. He’ll switch to a 6-foot 10-inch, medium-power, fast-action spinning rod spooled with 8- to 10-pound braid with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader for these approaches.

SLAMMIN’ SLAB CRAPPIE

Guide Doug Wynn of Crappie Gills N’ More (crappie-gills-n-more.com) has fished Kentucky Lake for more than 50 years. He now specializes in trolling jigs and small crankbaits for crappies. In spring, Wynn follows the spawning migration from deep water near creek mouths to the shallows, then back deep post-spawn. After that, it’s a hunting expedition, usually centered around main-lake channels and structure. Locating forage fish is often the key to finding crappies then.

Wynn’s trolling setup varies with the conditions. Sometimes he’ll pull small planer boards. Other days, he’ll push jigs—“‘power trolling’ in Mississippi terms,” he says. His boat is also loaded with the latest electronics to help find structure and fish.

Trolling speed depends on water temperature. When pulling cranks, he may go as slow as 1.4 mph in 50-degree water or between 1.7 to 2 mph in warm water. He says speeds below 1.4 mph don’t permit good hooksets with crankbaits. In colder water, he’ll use forward-facing sonar to target fish in cover or troll Crappie Magnet Fin Spins on a long-line setup. Trolling spreads consist of five ACC Crappie Stix rods—16-, 14-, 12-, 10- and 8-foot—with line-counter reels run front to back off each side of the boat. When trolling, he prefers 2 feet of lure separation with jigs and underspins, and 4 feet when pulling crankbaits.

Wynn believes “crankbaits are big-crappie catchers.” His best fish is a 3.4-pounder, but he says clients regularly catch crappies 16 inches and longer. Trolled cranks also garner bites from bonus species, like sauger, bass, catfish, drum and grinnel (aka bowfin). His favorite trolling baits are Pico Lures’ INT Crankbaits and Crappie Magnet Fin Spins, and he likes plastics from Crappie Magnet, Crappie Monster and Pico.

BLUE CATFISH BONANZA

The rivers around Kentucky and Barkley lakes produce excellent catfishing. Fellow outdoor writers Tom Berg and Kent Weil discovered this while fishing the Cumberland River below Barkley Dam last September with Tony Travis, an avid angler and former commercial fisherman. According to Travis, carp guts catch roughly 10 times more fish than standard cut bait. He gets the carp from bowfishers or finds them along the banks when they flop out of the water. Berg says he initially wondered if slippery, slimy carp guts would stay on the hook, but soon discovered that one glob could catch several blue cats before needing to be replenished.

Travis says the catfishing is excellent, with reduced commercial pressure yielding abundant whiskerfish. He catches 2- to 6-pounders year-round but likes targeting bigger cats once the water gets around 60 degrees.

“The big catfish come right toward the dam,” Travis says. “We catch loads of 30- to 50-pounders.”

Whether he’s going after trophies or eaters, Travis targets current seams below the dam. He moves closer to the dam for the jumbos—“up in the boils,” as he calls it—but he doesn’t have to get as close for the smaller catfish. While targeting big fish in the swifter current near the dam, he’ll run 8- to 10-ounce weights and thread the carp guts on 7/0 or 8/0 hooks (many anglers also use shad or skipjack). His small-cat rig includes a 5-ounce sinker and 4/0 circle hook.

In both cases, he keeps his boat’s motor running constantly in the fast current to help slow it down and offer quick maneuverability when needed. The aim is to get baits to the bottom, with sinkers bouncing but not dragging, which can cause frequent snags.

Travis uses extremely short, 2.5- to 3-foot rods paired with a beefy reel, like Abu Garcia’s Ambassadeur C3 (size 6500). Normally, he spools 60- to 65-pound braid with a 60-pound mono leader that he twists, doubling it up. He sometimes runs two hooks per rig, but when fishing is good, he’ll use a single hook, as double hookups can be common and one hook provides ample action. He says the focus should be keeping lines straight up and down at the side of the boat, which is why he likes the shorter rods.

Voracious blue cats eagerly await bait and other food flowing through the dam. It’s relatively easy to catch all you want in just a couple of hours.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

• Lodging, dining, fishing and boating insights for anglers considering a trip to Kentucky Lake.

Kentucky Lake’s massive size can overwhelm some anglers. Guide Matt Carter recommends talking to someone familiar with the lake, picking up a map and drilling down on one area. Both he and guide Doug Wynn also warn inexperienced boaters or people in undersized vessels to be careful, particularly on windy afternoons. Wynn says 5- to 6-foot waves can occur, depending on wind speed and direction, and in these conditions small, shallow-draft boats should stick to protected bays or coves. He recommends every boater should have a GPS locator with structure maps and a cellphone to monitor weather reports.

The Explore Kentucky Lake website (explorekentuckylake.com) has current fishing reports and a list of available guides. Fish the lake on your own if you like, but hiring a guide can dramatically flatten your learning curve.

For lodging, consider Kentucky Dam Village in Gilbertsville, which offers rooms, cottages and the Harbor Lights restaurant, as well as overnight dockage and rental fishing boats at the marina. Sportsman’s Lodge in Benton is another option, with motel rooms overlooking the water, cottages, a marina with boat rentals, campsites and a pool. Big Bear Resort, in Benton, and Lakeland Resort, in Aurora, are other solid choices with similar amenities.

Hungry anglers seeking burgers should check out Sizzlin’ Sisters Lakeside Grill in Benton and The Burger Barn Bar and Grill in Hardin. For breakfast, hit up the 50’s Café or Deaton’s Four Little Pigs BBQ. For dinner, grab a catfish plate at The Pond, sample solid Mexican cuisine at Los Tres Amigos or enjoy delicious Southern-style cooking at Patti’s 1880’s Restaurant.

---

• This article was featured in the August issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

---