Eastern Kentucky Fishing Report

This fishing report was compiled for the week of March 17, 2015.

Editor’s note: From snow to floods, it seems that finding fishable water has become somewhat of a challenge. Much of Cave Run Lake is closed this week as are some of our other local lakes. Water levels on Cave Run went from winter pool to 15 feet over summer pool in just 10 days. We are still hearing that Laurel River, Dale Hollow, Cumberland and Cedar Creek lakes all produced smallmouth in the past couple weeks. 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 at press time has reach 744.7 feet. This has closed some of the ramps and made fishing hard to do. We will continue to check the lake. With additional rain on the way, these conditions are not expected to change this week. Water temperatures remain just over 34 degrees. Musky: slow. Hot baits have been Bulldawgs, some jerkbaits and in-line spinners. The in-line spinners have been the most productive bait for the last few weeks. Largemouth Bass: slow. Cold-water temperatures have put the fish near the bottom. Use jigs, drop-spoons and A-rigs once you locate shad. Baits that produced were lipless crankbaits jigged vertically, Johnson’s spoons and shakey-head jigs. Smallmouth: slow. 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: slow. 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. Catfish: Slow, we didn’t receive any reports on catfish this week.

Grayson Lake: Winter pool for Grayson is 637 feet of elevation. At press time, it stood at 656.4 ft., which is up another another six feet from last week. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has continued to hold water in the lake to help reduce downstream flooding. The water is 34-41 degrees with some freezing. The influx of water has broken up much of the ice and warmer temperatures should open up the lake. Bass: Slow, upper areas of the lake are stained from rains that turned creeks muddy. A few fish continued to be caught fishing shakey-head jigs and chatter type baits in deep water. 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: Slow fishing live bait from the heads of coves near discharge areas.

Greenbo Lake: Greenbo got a stocking of 5,500 rainbow trout on Jan. 29. The lake remains partly frozen with water temperatures between 32-39 degrees. We do not believe this ice is safe to be on. The water level has been stable. Bass: Slow fishing structures with jigs and spoons. Some anglers have reported better catches when the wind is blowing and stacking up plankton near the dam. 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: Slow 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 level of the Ohio River in both Greenup Pools was within 75 percent of flood stage. Below the dam, the lower pool was 49.91 feet while it was 21.05 on the upper side of the dam. The Ashland pool was 48.20 at mid-week, which is a little over flood stage. Continued melting snow and rain will impact the Ohio River this week and could again to lead to unfishable conditions. The Ohio River has been going up and down as rain and flooding streams make their way to the confluence. Fishing was reported slow but should improve as water levels return to normal. Largemouth Bass: Fair and improving. Jigs and small spinnerbaits have produced this week fishing points and areas that hold weeds. Some bass has 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: No activity was reported but the river is expected to rebound at anytime. 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 is open the fish report remains unchanged, water temperatures have been in the 34-39 degrees. The winter pool level is 624 feet of elevation and water levels were at 632.2 feet at press time. The lake is clear of ice and as water levels return to normal we should start to get some new reports Bass: Some catches have been reported using creature baits and blade baits while fishing first break structure and deep-water points. Freezing could close the ramps if cold temperatures continue. Some fish have also been caught using A-rigs fishing over shad pockets in 18 feet of water. Crappie: Slow, fish 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 back water 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.