Your Fishing Report for August 17, 2019

From the deck of the Kick’n Bass pontoon

The weather since our last report has been hot and hotter. This is great news because the hotter the better for whitebass and yellowbass! We have also caught just about every other fish that swims in the lake. The next ten days seem to be mid 80’s to 92 degrees with heat index nearing 100 degrees…perfect for whitebass fishing! No fish pulls harder than a whitebass and they bulldog there way trying to escape but we catch a bunch of them anyway.

Lake conditions

The TVA has the water level staying at 357.70 elevation. About normal for
this time of year. You can follow the water levels at the link below or on theTVA app. 

tva.gov/Environment/Lake-Levels/Kentucky

Crappies

We haven’t fished for crappies lately because in the summer my groups tend to want to fish for what is biting best. I would imagine pulling crankbaits on main lake ledges and deep bays will work and we have caught a few while casting SteelShad blade baits and inline spinners. We are going to start crankin’ again shortly…stay tuned!! 

Weather forecast

weather.com/weather/tenday/l/42025:4:US

Whitebass and Yellowbass

The white and yellow bass are good right now! Scan those ledges to find these fish in schools and it is game on. Our favorite way to catch them is using SteelShad bladebaits. For years now these have been our go to lures. They catch anything that swims and so high quality that they last a long time. Favorite colors are gold and silver but SteelShad have produced a myriad of colors and sizes the last few years and they all work. They are sold at our local tackle stores and Hitec Outdoors has them all. 

We have been using inline spinners also in 3/8-ounce size in silver blades with either a red/white color pattern or green body with a silver blade. Color usually doesn’t matter a lot but try them all until you find your favorite and most successful color pattern. Reel about 8 to10 times and then open the bail and let it free fall. This imitates a dying shad. Repeat this in a yo-yo style retrieve and hold on. A recent mayfly hatch has slowed the whitebass bite some but that hatch is over and the whitebass are picking back up. Mayflies hatch off the bottom of the lake and fish sit near the bottom gorging on them as they hatch. You can see this on your Lowrance downscan as the fish are right on the bottom of the lake and not swarming around chasing shad.

Largemouth

We have caught both of these the last few weeks. Biggest largemouth has been this monster that Field Reporter Steve caught that grabbed a small yellowbass at the water surface. It missed connecting on the first try but came back and it was game on!! Weighed about 7 pounds and was released to fight another day.

Catfish

We have been catching blue and channel cats while whitebassing all mixed in feeding on the shad baitballs that the whitebass are chasing.

Bluegills and Redears

Haven’t fished for these but have seen some small catches at the cleaning station.

Other Fish

We have caught a slew of carp and buffalo up to 25 pounds…quite the fight on our whitebass tackle! 

ATTABOY

Thanks for another great day Captain Rich and for being on Team Doris! 

—Doris Petefish, Ill