Your Kick'n Bass Fishing Report for April 18, 2018
From the deck of the Kick’n Bass pontoonThe weather since my last report has been horrendous with rain, snow, rain, cold fronts and wind! Yes, I said rain twice. After the high water we experienced last month the TVA lowered the water back to winter pool only to have to raise it back to summer pool as of this writing. TVA is water management not fish management, but it does throw off the bite quite a bit. The last week has been tough but the 10-day forecast looks to be back in our favor. Looking forward to warmer weather and bigger catches!UPDATE: Before this report went out I fished yesterday with the sun out, lower winds, rising air temps and water warming fast! We caught a dandy bunch of fish. Hang in there and get going to the lake. The fish we caught yesterday were mostly females and had eggs that looked a couple weeks from spawning. Several throwbacks that were just under 10 inches. Big fish was 16 inches. Fish on!! |  |
| Lake conditions Water temps are about 55.5 degrees in the morning and warming up to about 58 degrees in the afternoons. These temps are below average for this time of year. Water levels are at 358.8 and they are predicted to move above summer pool (359.0) for the near future. TVA is pulling 80,000 cfs right now trying to stabilize the levels. Here's a link to the TVA website. tva.gov/Environment/Lake-Levels/Kentucky Weather forecast weather.com/weather/tenday/l/42025:4:US |  |
| Crappies Boy what a difference from previous years. This weather pattern has caused the crappies to be scattered from 6 to 28 feet deep. They basically don’t know what to do because of all the fluctuations. In the next week these fish are going to school up better and possibly start the spawn with some warmer weather. We need water temps in the 60 to 70-degree range for crappies to spawn. Best technique for us has been spider rigging at about .5 mph. Most fish we have caught have been in 12 to 17 feet of water. Using jigs tipped with minnows or a nibble have been about 50% each. Dark colored bodies and black/chartreuse joker style jig bodies (Sorry Ronda) have been great along with the Crappie Hut Jigs black/chartreuse Dragonfly head, and Kentucky Green twister-tails. Personally, I’m dying for warmer water to start pulling crank-baits. |
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| Other Species Same report as my last report on other species. Haven’t fished for any other types of fish but we have had incidental catches of largemouth, yellow bass (some good-sized fish) and a bunch of perfect eating sized whitebass. The whites and yellows had eggs that looked reddish and gritty… a sure sign of being close to their spawn. ATTABOY: My boys and I had a great trip! Thanks, and can’t wait to do it again. Bill W. |
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