By Scott Ellison
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-983629.mp3
Murray, KY – Quality of fishing, not quantity in this week's FLW Outdoors Fishing Report. Scott Ellison explains how largemouth bass are enticing fishermen on Kentucky Lake.
Scott Ellison here, with the weekly fishing report, brought to you by FLW Outdoors.
Summer continues to mellow into fall, but the fish aren't exactly celebrating yet. Though fair numbers of bass are being caught off ledges and points, there's no real consistency in the number of bigger fish. Quantity hasn't been the problem lately; just the quality.
Bream fishing has about shut down now, but there's still a few crappie being caught in deeper water. Some guys are anchoring over brush and fishing 1/16-ounce jigs over the cover. Others are trolling the ledges with 300 series bandit crankbaits, which dive to about 15 feet. While it's not an exciting way to fish, it's efficient, and it'll put a Friday night fish fry on the table for you.
Though I'm starting to sound like a broken record on the bass, big soft-plastics and deep-diving crankbaits are producing the best catches, and afternoon fishing is the best, if only because that's when they're pulling more water at the dam. Speaking of which, the lake is down a couple of feet, probably because it's been necessary to generate more power for air conditioners. Really, we need some rain and more of the cooler weather like we had a week or so ago when temperatures fell back into the high 80s. Did you notice how it seemed to perk up the fishing a bit?
If you're in the right place at the right time, you can catch bass on topwater lures now too. A lot of schooling activity is going on, involving largemouths and white bass. There's also still a short period in the morning when you can catch largemouths along the shoreline on topwaters. Still, it's better to look for schoolers chasing shad later in the day.
As I said, white bass are also roaming up and down the lake in big schools but most fishermen are going after largemouths now. If you're around white bass, though, give them a try. Who knows, you might catch the next state record. The current record came from Kentucky Lake, and weighed 5 pounds on the button. It was caught in 1943 by Lorne Eli of Dawson Springs, and it's still one of the longest standing records there is.
That's it for now. Hope for cooler weather and hungry fish. I'm Scott Ellison of FLW Outdoors, signing off until next week.
Scott Ellison is a lifelong fisherman and FLW Outdoors College Fishing Promotions Manager.