# KenLake Crappie 2007



## TheKing

Got our trip scheduled for 2007. We'll be there 7-14 April this year. Would like to meet up with any OGF'ers that are on that schedule and would like to share fish stories and beers.


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## crappiedude

I maybe there (at Kentucky Lake) that week or the next, but we always camp on the LBL at Hillman Ferry campground. If I go that week I'll try to hook-up. I used to stay @ KenLake State Park a few years ago. I'd go down for a long weekend in March. I used to catch some nice fish in that bay.


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## chaunc

Will be there that week. Where are you staying?


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## TheKing

chaunc & crappiedude - 
We'll be at KenOaks in Aurora. We have fished Jonathan Creek for the past two years and so we will try it again this year since we are starting to get it figured out. Our group for this year is four hardcore fisherman that usually has bad sunburns after the first few hours.  

Have fished the normal Ohio pattern with minnows under the bobber and slow jigging. Lots of guys spider rigging seem to end up with bigger harvest (though smaller fish) and we will try that this year for something new. Smaller fish at 10-11 inches is not a bad deal, eh?

We also want to plan a day trip or two at another bay either on KenLake or Barkley just to explore some.

We could meet at the Willow Pond restaurant in Aurora. Beans and cornbread, catfish filets, and frog-legs are their specialty.


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## Big Daddy

Hmmmm..... I gotta check my schedule!


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## chaunc

I'll be, or should i say, probably be, staying right next door at the Early American Motel. Not the fanciest place but its comfy. Been staying there for 16 trips out of 19. Do you get your bait from Henry and Wade at the general store baitshop? Try their pizza from Miss Helen. Really good and hits the spot when we come in for lunch. I believe they still have a picture of my 17 1/2", 2lb 15 oz crappie, that i got back in 2002.


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## TheKing

Chaunc,
We have gotten bait at the bait store right next to the motels....I think its the same one you mentioned. Also from Bait-n-Bullets. I slip my boat at Lakeside Marina and they have bait and tackle and gas pumps, too. Lakeside is a nice well-kept RV campground. The marina is older, but well maintained and equipped. Large covered slips that include a locker and electric hook-up for charging batteries and such. 

We'll have to try Miss Helen's pizza. Will look for your picture on the wall. 3 lb crappies, yeah ! That's what I am looking for !! :B 

So far, we have never come off the water during daylight except to stop in at Sportsman's Anchor marina just long enough to grab a quick sandwhich and soda on the run. Still working to figure out the patterns and locations.

Check that schedule Daddy.  Have you been there yet?

Chaunc - have they ever raised to summer pool in this second week while you were there?


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## chaunc

Summer pool.....  one year we were there the water was so high, we had to walk on the picnic tables at Lakeside marina, to get down to the marina.  Got there on sunday and by wednesday the water had risen that high. Man, we were sitting in the Kenlake restarant and looking out the barge window. The whole breakwall was under water. We just drove our boats right out the back corner just below the tree branches and fished the corner near the bridge. Took 20 big smallies and a couple dozen slab crappies there on minnows. So if the water is up, fish the flooded shorelines.
I know Beth from Baits and Bullets too. Always stop in on our way in town and get what we need and gas up the boat. Always stop in on our way back home to pick up whatever worked down there to bring back to try here. Here's a couple from last spring.


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## TheKing

WOW ! Those are nice some slabs. And we can always get you a new Bengals sweater!  

Is that the Sportsman's Anchor Marina? 

Hard to imagine the water that high. I am hoping to avoid that. That's why we ran the first week of April that past two years just to be sure. I have been told that the target date for the change is 15 April.

I had a few nice slabs, this isn't one of them. But it would have been difficult to have two in one day like those you showed.


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## chaunc

We caught 14 that size that day. 16ft deep on the brushpiles right out from Johnathon creek bridge. Seems they school according to size. We went to kenlake to clean them.


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## crappiedude

I thought that looked like KenLake cleaning station. Do you guys ever go over to the LBL side to fish? If the water is muddy from the rain in creeks and coves on western side, its usually pretty good in coves on the LBL. No agri run off, or at least not much.

Nice fish Chaunc, last year I got in to a good group like those. Most were deep still in 16/18 fow and it was the 3rd week of April. I may move our trip up a week this year, but have to check w/ others in our group. I love that lake, I'd like to retire there.

Hey King, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only guy to stay out so late. It seems to me that just before dark, the crappie seem to move up on a couple of points we fish. The surface comes alive with fish activity. Man, I wouldn't miss that for anything. We're always the last guys in at nite. I'll sleep when I get back home.

One day I'll figure how to put some pics on here.


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## chaunc

We go over to Barkley at least one day. A few years ago, a couple buddies went out with a guide there and remembered the way to get to the launch. Couldn't remember the exact spots but we just fish the bay near the launch. Catch some 14's and 15's there but only a few. I found a ledge there that holds fish but we had 4 people in a 16ft boat so i couldn't fish it like i wanted too. Spot like that is hard for 2 in 1 boat to fish. 
We rode down river from Kenlake to Blood river and fished 2 times last year. I believe it was an 18 mile run. Wouldn't you know the wind picked up on the ride back.  Had to put our rain gear on. We were the only trailer left in the lot that night. Cleaned fish til 11:30.


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## wvsportsman

Nice crappie both you guys are holding there. Chaunc I don't see nothin wrong with your sweatshirt..LOL


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## chaunc

Well then you outta love this shirt.


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## wvsportsman

Yep I sure do. another nice papermouth too. really nice pics Chaunc, keep em coming.


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## chaunc

Here's one with my buddy T O holding a couple that weighed real close to 2lb each.








Like that shirt...


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## TheKing

This my nephew Gary. For some unknown reason, he catches as many bass on his crappie jigs as he does crappie. I don't think he is hooking the minnows correctly... 

He is not wearing his Browns shirt cause I used it for TP the day before.


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## wvsportsman

Really nice pics guys. Chaunc you da man on the crappie! King, the smile on you nephews face says he wasn't upset over the shirt..LOL


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## gstrick27

just for the record thats a big crappie not a small bass   

as for the shirt it was only fair since theking's shirt made a heck of a slime rag the entire week


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## TheKing

Chaunc - 
How many times have you fished the second week of April? I looked at the elevation history for April 05 and 06 and it is the week of the rise. I could guess that it is a good time for them to move in close. But I am guessing since I don't have that feature in the local lakes. I am wondering what the successful patterns are for that.

gstrick - that was my underwear you were using !


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## chaunc

Out of the 19 years i've been going, i'd say 12 times. Maybe 16 counting the times we stayed 2 weeks. I like to fish the rising water. The fish move in close to the shorelines and riprap in the evenings. Cast to any cover near shore during the day. Find a shallow ledge and they'll be stacked up on it.


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## crappiedude

King, I usually fish the 3rd week of April. Over the last 5 years it's always different, last year the were scattered. We'd catch 2 or 3 in 16 fow next fish would come in 6 fow. I never did get a pattern but at the end of the day I had a good mess. My partner didn't do so good, he accused me of keeping him in dead water.  
What Chaunc said about the evenings does seem to be the most consistant pattern we have every year. 
What surprises me is the ring perch we catch down there. I wish I could find a big school. The last 2 years we caught enough catfish ti sink a boat.
You are correct about the rising water during the 2nd week. It seem to always come up the week before we get there. The nice thing about Ky Lake is, even the bad fishing is pretty good.


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## gstrick27

TheKing said:


> gstrick - that was my underwear you were using !



that is exactly where i would wear a bungals shirt too!!!!!  
did you hear they are changing the uniform next yr, will still be orange, but instead of names on the back it will have their prison id number


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## TheKing

6 more days and counting....

Chaunc - are you guys going ?


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## chaunc

TheKing said:


> 6 more days and counting....
> 
> Chaunc - are you guys going ?


Yepper.  We'll be leaving on saturday morning, 5AM. We'll be staying at the early american motel on 62 in Aurora. Right across the road from the baitshop and restarant. See you at Kenlake marina one morning for breakfast.


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## TheKing

We'll be leaving Friday morning at 5 am. And staying at KenOaks which I think is right across the street from your motel. I'll be in my '87 dark blue suburban and slipping the boat at Lakeside Marina for the week. My boat is a 16ft deep-V smokercraft with a johnson motor. We usually get on the water at dark, and come off the water at dark. KenOaks has a decent fish cleaning station and that's where we'll be afterwards if the marina cleaning station is busy. 
We will probably be at the Willow Pond restaurant several nights for their beans, cornbread and all-you-can-eat catfish.

Stop by for a visit if you get a chance Chaunc. And good luck !


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## sauguy

got back from a week of crappie fishing out of paris landing tenn. we fished mansard island and the power lines. here is a pic of my biggest 1lb 11 oz. also a pic of our three man catch of 81 crappies. the three man day was a guided trip out of mansard island with guide richard williams, the crappie wizard. the limit is 30 per man there. just did not make it. all in the freezer, yum yum.


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## chaunc

Dont think i'll be heading that far down river. Glad to see they're changing colors now. Should be jet black by the time we get there. Hey King, we're gonna go over and fish Barkley one day next week. My buddy knows a couple spots that hold some monster slabs.
Sauguy, With Weezer, you'll get what you pay for. He's one of the best on that end of the lake. Did you fish his bamboo or stake beds? How deep were they? I'll try to find that pattern up river.


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## sauguy

we fished his beds for a while, some were in 3 to 4 feet of water. also fished the power lines in 8 to 13 feet. he hates crappie fishing


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## born2fish

Hey guys,
I just spent the weekend down on Ky Lake and the bite was good, but not great. The ones we did catch were pretty big. Females are starting to plump up.

I can't give up my spots as they are stake beds put out by family/friends. I'd get shot for posting a spot. 

This should be a good week there and I do anticipate the water levels rising. They actually seem really low for this time of year. 

I remember seeing a company on the web that is selling side scan radar pictures of Ky Lake. I think it was hydrografx or something like that. Seemed like an interesting way to find structure and creek beds. Follow those two things and you'll catch crappie this time of year!


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## TheKing

Thanks for the info born2fish. What part of KenLake were you on?

Don't get shot for giving up stake bed locations !!  We'll find 'em somehow.

I inquired to the Hydrografx sales via email a few days ago but never got a response. It looks like a great map, but no address or phone number for contact. So I will just hold off until the company contacts me.

Chaunc -
We talked some about taking a day trip to another bay or even Barkley. If Jonathan Creek doesn't produce, we just might be up for a trip. 

Sauguy - I hope we have your luck this time. Nice fish.


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## sauguy

TheKing said:


> Thanks for the info born2fish. What part of KenLake were you on?
> 
> Don't get shot for giving up stake bed locations !!  We'll find 'em somehow.
> 
> I inquired to the Hydrografx sales via email a few days ago but never got a response. It looks like a great map, but no address or phone number for contact. So I will just hold off until the company contacts me.
> 
> Chaunc -
> We talked some about taking a day trip to another bay or even Barkley. If Jonathan Creek doesn't produce, we just might be up for a trip.
> 
> Sauguy - I hope we have your luck this time. Nice fish.


good luck to you guys, was a great trip.


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## sauguy

any one ever go for the fall bite. my buddy who lives there is trying to talk me into going down in november.


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## chaunc

sauguy said:


> any one ever go for the fall bite. my buddy who lives there is trying to talk me into going down in november.


I may be able to this year. Been wanting to go for about 5 years now.


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## sauguy

richard williams told us to forget about spider rigging then, but to use one pole and jig. have you heard about this technique?


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## chaunc

Yeah. They fish ledges. I do it here in Pa. in the fall too. Learned this technique from watching Midwest Crappie DVD's, with Rich and Russ. Great videos to learn from. Get his new series.


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## TheKing

FYI- 
I was contacted by Hyrdografx and will have the new sidescan map of Jonathan Creek on hand next week. Will post a review of it after the trip.

Chaunc - Don't forget to pack your winter gear......


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## chaunc

Will do that for sure.  I just hope i dont have to pull my boat in the snow.


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## crappiedude

Chaunc & King good luck to you guys next week. I will also be there Saturday. I will be camping on the LBL at Hillman Ferry. Its going to be some frost nights for sure. Most of our fishing will be @ Pisga, Smith and Duncan bays and at Bear and Buckhorn Creeks over by Moors. Hopefully, this front shouldn't hurt the crappie too bad, just maybe push them out to a little deeper water. 
Chaunc, I'm just hoping we aren't camping in the snow. Anyway good luck and be safe. CD


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## TheKing

Crappiedude-
Good luck to you. You might run in to us if you are at the Willow Pond restaurant in Aurora near nightfall. 
I agree, the front will hurt the fisherman worse than the fish. I figure it will reduce pressure and increase our chances.

All,
Be safe on the road trip and watch for ice on the roads.


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## chaunc

See you guys there. Leaving at 5AM saturday.


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## TheKing

We're back home two days early Chaunc. 5 keeper crappies total for the trip. Right week, wrong weather pattern......


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## chaunc

TheKing said:


> We're back home two days early Chaunc. 5 keeper crappies total for the trip. Right week, wrong weather pattern......


Tried to catch up with you at the restaraunt on tuesday evening. Wanted to put you on the bite. Here's a few pictures. I finally got a new PB. 3lbs 2oz. Also got a huge cat on 4lb test while fishing the same area.


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## chaunc




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## Lewis

Wow!!
Nice Crappies Chaunc!


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## crappiedude

We came home on Thursday as well. High winds Wednesday and more high winds forecast on Thusday were more than we wanted to fish in. 

Our frustating part was we found fish, we just couldn't hold the boat in place. I work for a steel co, so my anchors are plenty heavy. We foung a little drop off with scattered brush piles on the bottom of the drop. We caught a few on jigs but most of the better fish came on minnows. We'd anchor the boat, catch a fish or two and the wind would push the boat into the brush. I think the most keepers we had in a day was 10 but the fish were very nice size. Very few under 12" and ran up to around 15". The bottom must have been gravel as the anchors came in clean. 

We mostly fished the LBL side of the lake and most of our fish came from 10' to 15' of water. The drop off we were fishing went from about 7' to 10' and was the only real structure we could find in the area. It had a variety of fidh as we caught catish, bluegill, largemouth & spotted bass, sauger, rock 
bass and even caught a big shiner (I think) about 10". 

We also fished a few points and did okay, but again the wind made it tough to fish. I used the TM to move around the ends of a few points as we had slip floats out adjusting the debth of the bait until we caught a few fish. I bounced a vibe around the rocks as we moved the boat around hoping to catcha few sauger or ring perch but managed to catch some bass. I did finally manage 1 nice ring perch inside a bay but couldn't find any others.

Normally we go down the third week in April and the water levels are a little higher. Some of our points we fished had structure showing we normally pitch jigs at. It really didn't matter much as the crappie weren't shallow anyway. 

That is still one great lake. Maybe I'll try to get there again this year. Glad to see you guys had a safe trip. Hopefully your year will be a productive one. Nice fish Chaunc. I hooked one heck of a catfish on my 12' crappie rod but he whooped me.


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## TheKing

Chaunc and Crappiedude -
Looks like you guys did well in that tough weather. I can't really say that we found a pattern, but the few fish we caught came from 12 feet of water next to rise to 6 FOW in no-wind coves. Man, those crappies down there are big. Our biggest was 14.5 inches.

Sorry I missed you at the restaurant Chaunc, we could have used some help on patterns. I wanted to look you up, but I forgot the name of your lodging and did not have internet access. Congrats on the big cat and that monster crappie. I would have thought long and hard about a mount for something like that. 

We did not venture to the LBL side this year because I didn't want to trust those wind predictions. 

I can give a review of the Hydragrafx maps if you like. Of course, they are of no help in those conditions.

Here is a pic from one of our better days.


And here is my friend Doug holding my fish.  


And here is my friend Keith...he caught a cold beer....very cold one.....


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## crappiedude

The wind made it tough to travel. We only made it out of Pisga Bay a few times. We have some favorite spote in Duncan ans Smith bays but we just couldn't get there. Well we've got lots of fish to catch here so most of those spots will just have to wait. I'm going to try the Ohio river creeks a little more this year but I waiting for this weather to break a little. They get some pretty nice fish in those creeks if ya hit it right.


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