Eastern Kentucky Fishing Report

This fishing report was compiled for the week of Nov 25, 2014.

Editor’s note: The big news this week is the water temperatures fell below 50 degrees. This has put a damper on the bass fishing. If air temperatures rebound it could help the midday fishing. The muskie and crappie continue to be active as well as the smallmouth. If you get a chance to catch some fish, or if you have an outdoor story, you want to share with me. Send us your pictures or story ideas to: trimmer308@windstream.net. We will try to use as many as we can in print and online.

Cave Run Lake: Cave Run Lake continued to drop this week. The lake level at press time was 725.5 feet. Winter pool is 724 feet. The water temperature is 48-50 degrees. If you fish the Licking River, you need to stay in the channel when running from one spot to another. The water may be too shallow to travel to some locations. The best fishing has now moved to the middle of the day except for musky, which remains the most active in the early hours of the morning. Musky: fair. As the water has cooled hot baits have been topwater crankbaits and in-line spinners. The in-line spinners have been the most productive bait this past week. Largemouth Bass: slow. The water temperature fell below 50 this week. This has put the fish near the bottom. Use jigs, drop-spoons and A-rigs once you locate shad. Baits that produced were lipless crankbaits jigged vertically, Johnson’s spoons and shakey head jigs. Smallmouth: fair. Smallmouth fish is always spotty on this lake; however, this week some good fish were reported caught near the dam area fishing spoons and lipless crankbaits. Crappie: good. These fish continue to hit small 1/32 oz. jigs dressed with twister tails or minnows along with roadrunner spinnerbaits. The fish staged in channel trees and near weed beds. Catfish: Fair, we didn’t receive any reports on catfish this week. 

Grayson Lake: The lake is in the winter draw-down and falling slowly. Summer pool for Grayson is 645 feet of elevation. At press time it stood at 641.4 feet. The water is 47-50 degrees. Bass: slow. The bass fishing hit a wall this week as temperatures pushed the temperature below the 50 degree mark. A few fish were caught fishing shakey head jigs and chatter type baits in deep water. Crappie: fair. Fish downed timber and brush in eight to 12 feet of water. Jigs, live bait and small crankbaits have been successful this week. Hybrids: We continue to have some reports that the hybrid bass are active on the main lake. Fishermen have been locating shad and then backing off and throwing swim-baits and big spoons. Fish have been in eight to 10 feet of water. Catfish: Fair to slow fishing live bait from the heads of coves near discharge areas.

Greenbo Lake: The water temperature is 46-49 degrees and the water level has been stable. Bass: Slow fishing structures with jigs and spoons. Some anglers have reported better catches when the wind is blowing and stacking up plankton near the dam. Spinnerbaits and blade baits have produced this week too. Trout: Fair to good using Berkley Powerbait and small spinners or blade baits like the Sliver Buddy. Catfish: Slow fishing cut bait in the heads of coves and deep water points. Bluegill: Slow fishing live bait near underwater structure. The bluegills have left the banks making them harder to find.

Ohio River: The Ohio River level remain stable at 34.63 feet this week, which is within normal limits. While the Ohio River has been stable the fishing was reported to be improving below the dam, this is due to the increased current caused by drawing down our local lakes. Largemouth Bass: Fair and improving. Jigs and small spinnerbaits have produced this week fishing points and areas that hold weeds. Some bass have also been caught near discharge areas fishing blade baits. We also saw some smallmouth caught this week using jig & pig baits fishing rocky areas. White Bass: Some white bass above the dam have been hitting blade baits and inline spinnerbaits. Look for schooling fish.

Below the dam: Twin tail grubs on ¼ oz. ball jigs are the best producers of Sauger and Walleye using slow bump-the-bottom retrieves. Running a two-jig setup produces better strikes. One of the two baits needs to be a little off of the bottom. White Bass: Fair, fishing inline spinners and blade baits. Look for breaking fish. We are also getting some reports of Hybrid Striped Bass catches using stick baits and live bait fishing near discharge areas. Bass: We are looking for some new reports on the bass fishing below the dam. If you get on the water help us out! Catfish: Fair, using live bait in backwater areas. Minnows, cut-bait and worms fishing on the bottom have all been successful.

Yatesville Lake: Water temperatures have been in the 49-51 degree range, and lake levels have started to drop. The summer pool level is 630 feet of elevation. It stands at 629.1 feet at press time and was falling. Bass: Some good catches have been reported using creature baits and blade baits while fishing first break structure and deep-water points. Some fish have also been caught using A-rigs fishing over shad pockets in 18 ft. of water. Crappie: Good, fish the edges of flats in channel bends and old fish attractors using 1/32 oz. white crappie jigs or live bait. We have seen some anglers improving their odds drifting across fish attractors using both live bait and jigs. Catfish: Fair, fishing spawning beds and creek heads using live bait and worms. Bluegill: Slow, we didn’t get any reports on the bluegill fishing on this lake this week.