Eastern Kentucky Fishing Report

This fishing report was compiled for the week of June 16, 2015.

Editor’s note: The fishing has been good this week. Crappie, Bluegill and Catfish are active in all our reporting lakes. Bass has been good at times as well as Muskie, b the water temperatures go up, your methods will need to change.

If you catch a good fish send me the picture, I will include as many as I can in the fishing reports each week. Please 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 has been stable this week, standing at .3 feet over summer pool where it has been for the last week. All ramps were open at press time. The Licking River and Beaver Creek are at summer pool. These areas are hard to navigate because of standing trees that may not be visible and extreme caution should be taken while in these areas. Water temperature is 75 to 78 degrees with some fluctuations according to the daily weather pattern. Musky: fair. Once the water temperature reaches 80 degrees the Muskie fishing will begin to slow down. Fish the heads of creeks where the water is changing colors. Hot baits have been lipless crankbaits, some jerkbaits and in-line spinners. Square bill crankbaits have also been hot this past week producing some good fish. Largemouth Bass: fair. The water temperature has started to go up once again as the weather settles into a summer pattern. Some fish are starting to cruise the bank early and late. The fish caught this week fell prey to Spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, weightless jerk-worm and square-billed crankbaits. Smallmouth: Good 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 staged in channel trees and near weed beds and started to move up on points holding brush. Catfish: Good, fishing backwater areas with live bait. White Bass: We did get a few reports that the white bass have been jumping off and on. This is good new since last year’s white bass kill. We are interested in hearing more from anglers having success catching white bass.

Grayson Lake: Summer pool for Grayson is 645 feet of elevation. At press time, it stood at 645.5 ft., and was stable. We had reports of good catches being taken in the major arms of the river fishing plastic worms and spinnerbaits. The water is 74-77 degrees. Bass: Good in areas where bass has finished spawning. Bass are expected to be near the banks and spawning areas as they cruse old spawning beds. Crappie: Fair to good, 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: Good, fishing live bait from the heads of coves near discharge areas and backwater.

Greenbo Lake: Greenbo is unchanged and continues to be stained. The lake is near 76-80 degrees and the water level has been stable. Bass: fair. Bass are nesting, which has slowed the fishing, however, jerk-worms proved to be the best bait this week producing fair numbers. Blade baits and crankbaits also produced using bright colors fishing points and flats. 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: excellent. This is the big tip for this week: Catfish have been taken almost everywhere on Greenbo this past week. I was told that a number of stockings that have not been reported on have resulted in a large population of catfish in the lake right now. Fishing with live bait or Chicken Liver has produced good numbers. Bluegill: Good, fishing live bait near underwater structure. The bluegills are still holding near old spawning beds. Crickets, worms and small jigs have produced some good catches.

Ohio River: At press time, the water levels of the Ohio River in both Greenup Pools have been stable for a couple of weeks. The fishing has been slow with water levels being a little low for the best fishing conditions. Below the dam, the lower pool was 14.11 feet while it was 13.07 on the upper side of the dam. The Ashland pool was 35.03 at mid-week, heavy rain may impact the Ohio River this week but for now the river is in good shape. The week warmer temperatures improved fishing. Largemouth Bass: Good, fish have been taken near spawning areas and backwater areas along with the head of some creeks using spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. 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: Water levels have returned to productive elevations and we expect to get continued good reports from anglers. The old standard method of twin tail grubs on ¼ oz. ball jigs is still the best producer of Sauger and Walleye. Use bump-the-bottom retrieves while running a two-jig setup. One of the two baits needs to be a little off of the bottom. White Bass: Good, fishing inline spinners and blade baits. Look for breaking fish. We had no reports of Hybrid Striped Bass catches this week. Bass: Reports we got this week were better than expected, anglers reported success fishing old spawning areas using jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. Catfish: Good, using live bait in backwater areas. Minnows, cut-bait and worms fishing on the bottom have all been successful.

Yatesville Lake: The lake is stable and just about at summer pool. The water temperature is 74-78 degrees. Bass: Good, some catches have been reported using jerk-worms, AC Shiner and other jerkbaits. Some fish have also been caught fish ½ oz. jig and kicker in dark colors fishing points. Fishermen are reporting that the bass are finished spawning. Bass have been active in shallow water early and late in the day. Crappie: Good, 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 lives bait. We have seen some anglers improving their odds drifting across fish attractors using both live bait and jigs. Catfish: Good, fishing backwater areas where there are some warmer pools of water. Bluegill: Good, fishing old spawning beds using live bait and small 1/32 and 1/64 oz. jigs.