Thread: Heading to KY Lake for some Bluegilll Fishing

Yep, when you plan a trip 4 months ahead of your week's fishing, you just have to go on past history for the right time to come for Bluegill for ideal water temps. The consensus from most Bluegill sites says when the SURFACE temp gets between 68-72 degrees they will start bedding. For KY lake, (History) the Surface temp is between 68-72 in early May, between 72-75 in Mid May and between 75-78 in late May. This is why I picked Mid May for my upcoming trip on the 17th. I think it will warm up to the 70-72 degree range shortly, so I may hit it right, (just by luck), but you never know. But, you have factor in the unexpected, storms, wind, and cold fronts when you plan so far in advance and deal with it when you get there since you've locked the reservation times in advance. Again, many thanks for the posts.

Art, thanks for the info. If you fish Barkley, I'll let you know the location of what I have found to be the best place to find Shellcrackers/Bluegill in mid May through Mid June. Just send me a PM. It may or may no be good now, but it used to be excellent. This was a few years ago, but man, this place was loaded every day. It's a road bed that runs across a bay, not on many (if any maps). You can find it with about any POS depth finder if you know where to look, drop an anchor and can feel the hard 'thump' if you set up on the road(it must have been a paved road). It's about 3-4' on top, and drops off to 6-7' on either side of the road.

Originally Posted by artcarney_agr

That sabiki rig is a nice salt rig to use in freshwater, I use it a lot below the dam to catch skipjack for trotline bait. If bouncing that sabiki on the ledges doesn't work out, try bouncing a war eagle silver spoon in either 1/2 oz or 7/8 oz depending on wind. You might get into a school of white bass while doing it or even a sauger or largemouth. I like the War Eagle spoons because they come with a great hook already on there right out of the package, and you can get them at about any walmart. Chrome, white, or gold all work - I like the chrome on sunny days best

For redear, I catch more on red worms than anything else, and they must be as close to the bottom as possible....a lot of times I don't even use a bobber, just a split shot and slowly drag it through the bed area.

If all else fails and you just want a bunch of meat, the catfish are on the rip rap or rocky banks readily taking a red worm under a bobber. About any marina breakwall with riprap on it should produce for you.

Originally Posted by perchjerker108

Art, thanks for the info. If you fish Barkley, I'll let you know the location of what I have found to be the best place to find Shellcrackers/Bluegill in mid May through Mid June. Just send me a PM. It may or may no be good now, but it used to be excellent. This was a few years ago, but man, this place was loaded every day. It's a road bed that runs across a bay, not on many (if any maps). You can find it with about any POS depth finder if you know where to look, drop an anchor and can feel the hard 'thump' if you set up on the road(it must have been a paved road). It's about 3-4' on top, and drops off to 6-7' on either side of the road.

Sounds good. I know of a few like you've described, seems like I either get into the shellcrackers good or the catfish are swarming. Usually some point between Mother's Day through Memorial is when it gets right on these types of spots.

I finally upgraded to side imaging, hoping that helps me find more beds that aren't quite as obvious. In the past, I've have good luck just looking in the backs of bays on Google Maps - the aerial photos there were taken during low water, pretty easy to spot the beds that are in 4 ft of water at summer pool. A good example is the back of Lick Creek, there were the creek dumps in, you can see several.