Thread: Barkley Water Condition

No ice, I'll bet by this afternoon the temp will be pushing 50 with the sunshine and dirty water.

Originally Posted by justinp61

North Barkley on the LBL side was muddy today. I had 12.

Thanks for the report. I thought about going tomorrow, but decided to go listen to beagles run.

Talked to a buddy that bass fished both lakes today with no luck. He said the current was pretty strong. Got the ranger hooked up and batts charged. Gonna put in sugar bay in morn. Wiskers you make it back yet and gonna be on the lake?

Originally Posted by crossarm

Talked to a buddy that bass fished both lakes today with no luck. He said the current was pretty strong. Got the ranger hooked up and batts charged. Gonna put in sugar bay in morn. Wiskers you make it back yet and gonna be on the lake?

Nope... Get off bright and early Monday morning! If the weather's nice I may be fish'n by 10.

Got a report yesterday of fish being caught spider rig'n in the mouths of the bays 10' deep in 12' of water.

If the lake is stable I'll bet ya a dollar you can find fish on shallow humps in the mouths of certain bays as shallow as 8'. Those Blacks will take advantage of a warm spell and rising water this time if year. Me and some buddies found them a few yrs ago, in late Feb./early March, in the back of a shallow bay during high water, 3' deep in 5' of water. Water was muddy and 42 degrees. They were all BIG Blacks! Spanked'um casting jigs under bobbers for about 4 days in a row.

Another year I got into'um big time in the middle of a bay, 8' deep in 10' of water. Caught a limit of big Blacks. Busted the tail lights on my trailer out with ice that morning putting in. It was sleeting and spitting snow toward the end. Liketa not got my boat back outta the lake that day due to ice on the ramp.

I can't wait!!!

Originally Posted by Wiskers

Liketa not got my boat back outta the lake that day due to ice on the ramp.

I can't wait!!!

It's a good idea to keep a bag of salt or sand in the truck if you're going to fish this time of year.

I fished Barkley yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. Water looked like coffee when I pulled up to the ramp so I almost turned around an headed to KY Lake. Figured I could at least find a few good brushpiles and check out some I fished last year to see if they needed sweetening up.
Several boats came off the lake while I was getting ready to unload. Several had fish and what surprised me most is a lot of them were caught using floats in 2-5' of water right around the drop. A few caught fish earlier in the day and said they caught them shallow to 15' deep.
I only had 4 after 30 minutes or so of fishing. About 4:00, they shut off and I didn't catch another keeper. All my fish were white crappie but I was sitting right over the top of them. Some of the guys fishing with a float caught moslty black crappie. Whiskers makes some good points to remember about fishing muddy water.

Originally Posted by Wiskers

Nope... Get off bright and early Monday morning! If the weather's nice I may be fish'n by 10.

Got a report yesterday of fish being caught spider rig'n in the mouths of the bays 10' deep in 12' of water.

If the lake is stable I'll bet ya a dollar you can find fish on shallow humps in the mouths of certain bays as shallow as 8'. Those Blacks will take advantage of a warm spell and rising water this time if year. Me and some buddies found them a few yrs ago, in late Feb./early March, in the back of a shallow bay during high water, 3' deep in 5' of water. Water was muddy and 42 degrees. They were all BIG Blacks! Spanked'um casting jigs under bobbers for about 4 days in a row.

Another year I got into'um big time in the middle of a bay, 8' deep in 10' of water. Caught a limit of big Blacks. Busted the tail lights on my trailer out with ice that morning putting in. It was sleeting and spitting snow toward the end. Liketa not got my boat back outta the lake that day due to ice on the ramp.

I can't wait!!!

Whiskers, what color do you like to use in muddy water? Float or tightline? Do you think it is a waste of time to cast when water is muddy during the winter?

Originally Posted by Bronson

Whiskers, what color do you like to use in muddy water? Float or tightline? Do you think it is a waste of time to cast when water is muddy during the winter?

I LOVE a 1/16 oz chartreuse glow jig with a 2" yellow and chartreuse (my favorite) or black and chartreuse Southern Pro Lil'Hustler tube. I like to fish it under a rattle bobber with no additional weight and I pump the tubes full of crappie nibbles with my bait pump. I really believe the scent helps in muddy water.

Next time you go out find you some shallow stuff fairly close to deep water to concentrate on for the next time the lake takes jump and we have a few days of unseasonably warm weather. If the lake is rising they'll even run back in the bays on the shallow flats. Keep track of what the lake is do'n cause just as SOON as it starts to fall they'll make a dash to the drops for the security of that deeper water. They'll even pull out to the creek channels and set right on top of a brush pile that comes up high in the water column.

Man I wish I had been home this past week!