Sweet Home...Kentucky?

Well the Kentucky Lake fishing trip has come and gone. I must first apologize for the lack of pictures, they will be coming shortly. After 9 hours of driving (7 of which were in IL), I arrived tired and hungry to the Land between the lakes at Kentucky Lake. Steve had arrived before me and we decided after his poor impressions of Kenlake State park to try Hillmen Ferry Campground in the LBL. We both arrived at roughly the same time at Hillmen. We registered and took up camp close to the beach, and boat launch. We then decided to go get some food and supplies. After 9 hours in the car, my first thought was a beer would be fine. Unfortunately we were in a dry county, and beer was 30 miles away. Steve saved the day, and had brought most of a 12-pack. GG Steve!!!! So after driving around for another 30-60 minutes we find a super Walmart. Ok, not a huge fan of Walmart, but you take what you can get in foreign territory. We got our groceries, and fishing licenses, and maps headed back to camp, drank a couple beers and went to bed. Monday = the big ZERO, that's right skunked the first day BOOO. We decided we were in need of a trip to Gander Mountain, to pick up some fishing supplies and beer (stupid dry county). After Monday's misfortune I was a bit worried we may not catch anything. However, Tuesday evening proved much different, after almost two days of fishing we finally started just slamming them in a shallow weedy bay. I'd say we came in with at least a dozen bass. Steve landed a really nice 18 3/4 " hog on his very dear Texas rigged 10" ribbon tail worm.

Ok so now we have some fish. We were not able to pattern anything during the day. Once in awhile one of us would land something, but the daytime fishing for us was tough. However, the evenings were a much different story. I spent the dusk throwing Zoom and Sizmic Toads mostly, sometimes using either a T-rigged tube or worm. Steve really held fast to his Junebug and Tequilla Sunrise colored t-rigged 10" worms, he threw a brush hog around as well. During the day we threw Carolina Rigged worms and lizards from 4-10" in a variety of colors. We threw tubes, cranks, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jigs, everything we could think of. We were on fish, the 502c was going so nuts we actually had to turn off the sound. Nothing doing though. Usually after 4-5 hours of fishing in the morning we would find a wood pile or shady cover spot and toss the fly rods for pannies.

I am really glad we brough the fly rods. It was a really great experience for both of us. I have never really learned how to use mine, I basically get lucky when I cast. Steve however, is a superb caster, but has never landed a fish. I noticed my casting improving throughout the week and Steve ended up landing the biggest fly rod fish, a nice 1-1.5 lb rockbass. The gills we were catching were just basically potato chips, but at least it was something.

Friday evening, we had some issues with boat gas and the fire so our dinner was running a bit late. We headed out with about 1.5 hours of daylight left. Steve landed a very nice 18+" LM fairly quickly. I was on the verge of getting skunked when I switch from my Sizmic toad to a scum frog. Not much of difference really, but the toad was getting hung up in the mossy weeds. I tossed the scum frog around some tree, darkness was coming fast and I still hadn't landed anything. Then I notice a Stump with some downed branches, I make a perfect cast, twitch the frog and SLAM! I new it was something special, my rod doubled over. Finally, I hoisted a 19" LM into the boat. Sorry Steve!!! Unfortunately, the Bass just inhaled the scum frog and it went upside down in it's mouth, I hope it was a clean release.

All in all I had a great time, I estimate our total bag at probably 30-40 Bass and bunch of tiny gills. It was great to spend a week with Steve, something we haven't been able to do in a few years. Some of our downfalls I think were one a Mayfly hatch on Tuesday, which usually puts a damper on things, a FLW pro bass tournament that started on Wednesday. All the good spots were being fished really hard. A lack of knowledge of ledge/hump fishing in general, no deep diving crank baits, I don't use them and don't really want to purchase them. I would really like to go to KenLake during the bass spawn and fish the way I like to, in the shallows fast with plastics and topwater. I think I would also like a guide for a day, that would really help. At some point I would like to get into the crappie on that lake as well. They had moved to deep water and we were just not prepared for them. The weather was just perfect, the fishing was great in the evenings, and you really can't ask for much more than a week fishing with a good friend. I'll get some pics up soon.