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Fishermen all around the Kentucky and Barkley Lakes fishing scene have enjoyed a week of excellent weather that has really put pep in the step of all anglers.

Warmer days are in progress and the weekend looks good for both turkey (season opens Saturday in TN) hunters and fishermen. The weatherman deserves a tip of the hat this week for ALL outdoorsmen.

Pretty good life for outdoorsmen these days; they can choose to chase turkeys by morning and fish in the afternoons!

Current conditions on Kentucky Lake have water levels a bit ahead of schedule and somewhat above normal for this early in April. TVA has been releasing very little water (only 12,000 cubic feet per second cfs) through Kentucky Dam this week so very little current is present out there in the main Tennessee River channel.

Surface temperatures are in the 65 degree range. Water color is mostly clear. Lake elevation was at 357.9 as of this report. That’s about two feet or so ahead of schedule on TVA’s normal curve for spring lake levels but the fishermen are doing just fine.

Good stringers of crappie have been taken this week from the 7 to 10 foot depth range. Several other depths are giving up fish too as those drifting and trolling out on main lake sandbars around the 10 to 13 foot depth range have caught fish too.

A wide variety of methods continue to produce fish. Bank fishermen are fooling a few into taking both jigs and live minnows as casting techniques are working. Slow retrieving the bait beneath slip bobbers has paid dividends lately as male crappie are up there on the gravel banks and around shallow submerged brush and stumps.

Those out on the main lake areas are vertical fishing jigs and minnows too around submerged stakebeds, brushpiles and stump rows and accounting for coolers full at times. The fish are staging in midrange depths and slow trolling techniques are producing some nice stringers too.

Long lining methods have yielded limits lately for a lot of anglers as their efforts to pull RoadRunner style jigs plus curly tail and tube skirted jigs have been quite productive. Chartreuse/blue, red/chartreuse, blue metal flake and pearl are just a few of the popular choices.

Spawning is underway as females are bloated with eggs and will likely spawn this week. Some may have already begun spawning phases due to the early spring warmup the area has enjoyed.

The biological clock has been a bit ahead of normal due to the above average temperatures in early April this year.

Already showing up are a few scattered bluegill and redear sunfish (shellcracker) on shallow gravel shorelines. They're not bedding yet but just responding to the warm water. However, redear will spawn ahead of bluegill so that bite is already beginning to accelerate.

Bedding bluegill will continue to show more interest each week as the surface temps rise. By the end of April odds are early bedding bluegill will be in the mood and spawning phases should begin. More shellcracker will continue to show up too on shallow gravel and mud banks as those pockets heat up.

Bass fishermen have been landing some nice smallmouth as the bite picked up this week. Some anglers reported catching five fish limits of bass anchored by all smallmouth. The bronzebacks have been the in the spawning mood.

From suspending crankbaits to curly tail grubs and various finesse bait presentations, smallmouth have been aggressive. Dandy largemouth have been taken on rocky and pea gravel points as anglers toss crankbaits plus jig and craw combos plus Texas rigged craws and lizards. Spring has sprung here on the big lake. Anglers have had spring fever for several weeks. This recent stretch of nice stable weather has really stimulated the interest level for all sorts of fishermen. Even a few catfish have been taken by bank fishermen casting nightcrawlers around shorelines. Soon the catfish will be moving up to rocky banks for spawning phases too. It's a great time to be out on Kentucky Lake holding a fishing pole and enjoying the sights and sounds of spring.