Eastern Kentucky Fishing Report

This fishing report was compiled for the week of April 14, 2015.

Editor’s note: This week we have been impacted by heavy rains and violent weather. Lake levels exploded this past week, and we have been in a holding pattern waiting for things to settle down. Our Huntington District U.S. Army Corps of Engineer lakes have been dropping rapidly. These lakes include: Grayson and Yatesville Lake. Cave Run in controlled by the Louisville district and they have been holding water in Cave Run, which is dropping much slower. 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: The lake level had reach 752.2 ft. at press time and some ramps remained open. However, some short ramps have been underwater after the violent weather last week. We will continue to check the lake levels. While the water level was near 20 feet over summer pool it was starting to fall slowly. Water temperatures are also starting to come up. Readings of 49-54 degrees were recorded this week. Musky: Good, fishing the heads of creeks where the water is changing colors. Hot baits have been lipless crankbaits, some jerkbaits and in-line spinners. The in-line spinners have been the most productive bait while the water is still stained. Largemouth Bass: Fair. Warming water temperatures have improved your chances fishing flats and creek heads. Use jigs, drop-spoons and A-rigs once you locate shad. Baits that produced were lipless crankbaits fishing creek heads and points. Smallmouth: Slow to fair. Smallmouth fish are always spotty on this lake; however, this week some good fish were reported caught near the dam area fishing spoons and lipless crankbaits. Crappie: improving. These fish continue to hit small 1/32 oz. jigs dressed with twister tails or minnows along with roadrunner spinnerbaits. The fish are staging in channel trees and near weed beds and starting to move up on points holding brush. Catfish: Fair, fishing backwater areas with live bait.

Grayson Lake: Summer pool for Grayson is 645 feet of elevation. At press time, it stood at 649.2 ft. and was falling. We had reported catches last week in the main lake area. The water is 47-54 degrees. Bass: Fair and improving. Upper areas of the lake are clearing making the lake very fishable. A few fish continued to be caught fishing shakey-head jigs and chatter-type baits in deep water. However, jig & pig-type baits and some jerk baits produced this week fishing creek heads and points. Crappie: Fair, fish downed timber and brush in 14 to 18 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, fishing live bait from the heads of coves near discharge areas and in backwater.

Greenbo Lake: Greenbo is unchanged except for becoming stained; it had a stocking of 5,500 rainbow trout on Jan. 29. Water temperatures are between 49-56 degrees. The water level has been stable. Bass: Fair but improving fishing blade baits and crankbaits. We had a report last week that a smallmouth over 6-pound was caught. Spinnerbaits and blade baits have produced this week too. Trout: Good using Berkley sparkly orange Powerbait rigged using a small treble hook with a split shot about six to 12 inches up the line. Catfish: Fair 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: At press time the water levels of the Ohio River in both Greenup pools were rising due to rains and should begin to fall again by the time this report is published. The lower pool was at 38.77 feet while the upper side was at 12.85 feet. The Ashland pool was 40.40 at mid-week. All of these are normal water levels. Rain may impact the Ohio River this week, however, the river should continue to improve. Fishing was reported improving when water levels were returning to normal. 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: We are waiting on reports from anglers fishing below the dam at press time. Water levels had returned to productive elevations and we expect to get good reports. The old standard method of twin tail grubs on ¼ oz. ball jigs is still the best producer of Sauger and Walleye. Use 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: Slow, fishing inline spinners and blade baits. Look for breaking fish. We had no reports of Hybrid Striped Bass catches this week. 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: Slow, using live bait in backwater areas. Minnows, cut-bait and worms fishing on the bottom have all been successful.

Yatesville Lake: While the lake was up nearly eight feet over summer pool, engineers have been dropping it quickly. At press time it was only two foot over summer pool. The water temperatures have been 48-53 degrees, producing both bass and crappie Bass: Some catches have been reported using crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, creature baits and blade baits while fishing first break structure and shallow water areas near deep water. Some fish have also been caught using ½ oz. jig and kicker in dark colors fishing points that get long periods of sun. Crappie: Fair, some success has been reported using Road Runner spinners fishing 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: Slow fishing backwater areas where flooding has created some warmer pools of water. Bluegill: Slow, we didn’t get any reports on the bluegill fishing on this lake this week.