# Early Spring Crappie Trip



## RMK

A friend and I are planning on doing a spring fishing trip down south early this spring. (last of March, first of April time frame) We are about 90% set on trying Kentucky lake. Cumberland isn't completely ruled out. Crappie will be our main target. We've never fished either lake before. There are a couple other posts where other guys are thinking about early spring trips south... it would be cool for a few groups to be down there in the same time frame and help each other get on fish.
Anybody crappie fished either lake early spring? how was it?
Which lake would you guys consider a better crappie lake?
Places you would recommend to stay?
Any end or area to focus on/stay away from?


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## crappiedude

I've fished both and both lakes can be good. If you look farther down this page (before opening this thread) there is a post by Lundy called "Lake Cumberland" he started last January. It's a pretty good read and I posted some pics that you may find useful. The amount of cover in the backs of the coves in C-land is unreal and I believe is the key to finding the crappie. The pics I posted were from our most recent and only trip we've taken to C-land in recent years. The time was late April of 2016. We were on a learning trip and it took a while to figure out a few favorite spots to fish. We had a good time even though we were dodging some pretty good storms through-out the time we were there. C-land is a deep, deep lake. We never left the creek area where the state park was located and if memory serves me the water was 50/60 feet deep in the creeks. All that cover was everywhere once you got to 30 fow.
We camped at the Cumberland Lake State Park Resort so I can't help you with places to stay but I do know they had cabins and I would guess they are okay but nothing fancy. There is a marina at the park where you can get bait/fuel if needed. I would suggest fueling everything up before you got to the park (boat & truck) as there are not a lot of options (at least that we saw) in the immediate area outside the park.

I've been going to Kentucky Lake for a long, long time, 15-20 years maybe. It's a very structure oriented type lake. By that I mean the fish relate to offshore cover and structure pretty heavily. Decent electronics with GPS is very helpful. Being able to find and return to cover is very helpful in learning the lakes. We mostly have fished the northern end of the lake on the LBL side of the lake. We have stayed a some cabins a long time ago but for the most part all of our recent trips we've stayed at Hillman Ferry Campground On the LBL. In mid April we have found fish up on the bank and we've found them in 20-30 fow sitting on brush piles. Like anywhere finding them is the key to good fishing. Ky Lake is shallower than C-land. I would think it wouldn't matter what end of the lake you are fishing (north/south) the fish are there you just have to find them. If this is your 1st trip to the area, I would suggest just picking 1 or 2 coves off of the main lake and learning those coves. An excellent way to learn a new lake is to hire a guide for the 1st day but if that isn't in the cards long line trolling or slow trolling double minnow rigs is a popular choice.
There are places to stay everywhere on the western side of Ky Lake. I've have stayed at Ken Lake State Park and it was nice but it was tough keeping our boat at the cabin so I rented a slip at the marina. Some cabins were better than others for keeping the boat on site there. I looked around at the cabins at Ky Dam Village (another state park) and it seemed boat parking/access to cabins was better at this park. You may want to check with Chaunc at this site, he spends a month down there and he stays about mid lake near Ken Lake for better info.
The Asia carp are everywhere on Ky Lake but supposedly it hasn't hurt the fishing but I can't verify it one way or the other. The fishing has been tough for us the last few years but I know others who are just killing them sometime it's just timing since we pick our time months in advance.

FWIW my friend and I decided we are going to Cumberland this year. I may do a Ky Lake trip with my wife if I can talk her into it.

One thing to keep in mind is these lakes are nothing like the lakes in Ohio...they are huge and can get nasty. Don't let that stop you but you do have to respect them.
I hope this helps.


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## Popspastime

We spent 2 weeks down there last year until the storms ran us home and had a great time. Kentucky Lake was good and we caught lots of fish but lots of smalls as well, had a blast. Fished Watts Bar as well, fish were better size but less of them, temp was a bit lower then Ky Lake. I fished the Big Sandy area (South) and plan on doing that again this year. Last week of March and first week of April is the target right now but being retired leaves me able to adjust time with weather patterns. I plan on running and gunning different lakes again this year but KY Lake will be our main focus.


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## RMK

great info you guys. thanks.


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## RMK

i just got some more gear to improve my spider rigging set up. getting that in the boat now and am looking forward to giving that a try down there while searching for fish and cover. i have a small collection of crappie cranks and minnow rigs


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## sherman51

i have a friend that i use to work with that made a trip to ky lake early every yr. I'm not sure which lake or area he fished. but they just about always had good fishing with some real large keepers. they mostly slow trolled with small cranks. with the old bass magnets cranks being very good. but they have fished reel foot lake and liked ky much better.
sherman


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## RMK

sherman51 said:


> i have a friend that i use to work with that made a trip to ky lake early every yr. I'm not sure which lake or area he fished. but they just about always had good fishing with some real large keepers. they mostly slow trolled with small cranks. with the old bass magnets cranks being very good. but they have fished reel foot lake and liked ky much better.
> sherman


thats good to hear. early on in my search for a lake to go to i was thinking reel foot. but i have heard several different reports of that lake not being "GREAT" right now.


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## RMK

i looked into sportsmans lodge a little bit as far as a place to stay on kentucky lake on the LBL side. looks like a lot of different options to stay and location seems ok. not sure if they have boat docks close yet or not.


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## Popspastime

So your going to stay way north in Kentucky? Chaunce stays up that way and fishes that end. Maybe he will chime in and give you some ideas.


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## Carpman

Fished for crappie at cumberland late April in 2017. Did pretty good just anchored on logs coming down into the water. Coves of the main creeks did the best for us. We only had 2 spots that produced crappie for us in all of Indian creek. Once we found them we could catch them. The size was unbelievable. Every fish we caught was 1-2 lbs. We rented a houseboat, only have to launch once and you are on the water. Catching bait was no problem with a light off the back of the houseboat. We will be there again the same time this year.


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## RMK

Popspastime said:


> So your going to stay way north in Kentucky? Chaunce stays up that way and fishes that end. Maybe he will chime in and give you some ideas.


quite possibley. thats the first place i ve looked at a little closer. i was hoping chaunc would come across this post...


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## crappiedude

Just send Chaunc a PM either on here or the crappie site. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help you out.


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## RMK

we are booked for march 28th-30th at the sportsmans lodge on kentucky lake.


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## Lewzer

Make sure you go to Patti's for the huge 2" porkchop and the great bread made in flower pots. Seriously...
It's one of those local iconic places to eat.

https://www.pattis1880s.com/

Patti's is only 24 miles away from where you are staying. About a half hour drive. My company has a plant in Calvert City. Been there many times.
FYI Paducah is a dry county. If you drink, get it before you go or get there.


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## RMK

Lewzer said:


> Make sure you go to Patti's for the huge 2" porkchop and the great bread made in flower pots. Seriously...
> It's one of those local iconic places to eat.
> 
> https://www.pattis1880s.com/
> 
> Patti's is only 24 miles away from where you are staying. About a half hour drive. My company has a plant in Calvert City. Been there many times.
> FYI Paducah is a dry county. If you drink, get it before you go or get there.


sounds great. thanks


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## bountyhunter

LEWZER you made me hungry, I wrote the info down ,come spring we,ll go check it out.


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## Popspastime

We work the "Big Sandy" area down south, it's been very good to us so far. We'll be there the last week of March and first week of April.


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## RMK

Popspastime said:


> We work the "Big Sandy" area down south, it's been very good to us so far. We'll be there the last week of March and first week of April.


even though thats way south of where we ll be, thats good to hear. i m sure the more times you can get to a given area the better idea you have of where/what to do to be successful. This is our first out of state fishing trip, not to mention first time to kentucky lake. there will be some learning going on to say the least. still very excited about it and looking forward to it. everything i ve read and heard there are crappies there to be caught. we ll just have to see if we can find them and figure out how to catch them!

how many years have you been going down there?


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## Popspastime

RMK,
I think you'll enjoy yourself there, and the visit may become a habit. Unlike other lakes around it the cover is all submerged and nothing on the banks. The fishing will be from 4 ft. to 14 ft. so don't be afraid to try different places and depths. A Crappie is a Crappie no matter where it swims so fish them like you do at home. Up north there's more docks around so look for the bait working the surface around them (especially in the evening) and work them as well. Watch out for all those spider riggers..lol. 2 people on the front with 26 poles, it's crazy. Have fun and catch a bunch..


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## chaunc

Maybe I'll see you guys down there. I'll be there in that same time frame.


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## RMK

chaunc said:


> Maybe I'll see you guys down there. I'll be there in that same time frame.


Saw on another post you re headed down now. Good luck chaunc! Leave a couple for us. We ll be down midday on wednesday.


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## Popspastime

Getting ready!


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## crappiedude

Sunshine????? That looks good, all we had down here is snow all day yesterday.
I'm leaving for Alabama in about an hour.
Good luck and be safe.


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## kycreek

Hope to see some fish pics.....


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## RMK

Popspastime said:


> Getting ready!
> View attachment 258413


You look more ready than me. I m still getting things put into piles!


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## Popspastime

I'm just waiting for a lake condition report as to when I'm going to roll out. Boats loaded with gear and fueled. The water temps have just been hovering and need to move a bit higher for me to pull the trigger. Now I want to know what your going to fish with those big yellow rods?


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## RMK

Lucky! They are two piece trolling rods that are broken down in the picture. Planning on trying a little spider rigging. Especially of we can't get on shallower fish jigging the steak beds.


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## RMK

being our frist trip to kentucky lake and given the current unfavorable conditions.... i m considering looking into going the guide route for a day hopefully towards the begining of our trip. i emailed one guy, something along the lines of AAA guide service. he was all booked up. anybody know a good one or know another one in the johnathon creek or blood river area?


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## Popspastime

RMK.. you still on the same time frame for heading down there? Looked at the conditions and the lake fell to 52 again.. wth? Mid April is starting to look like the time for me..wasn't planning on this at all.


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## RMK

Popspastime said:


> RMK.. you still on the same time frame for heading down there? Looked at the conditions and the lake fell to 52 again.. wth? Mid April is starting to look like the time for me..wasn't planning on this at all.


We weren't planning on any of this at all either! And yes we re heading down wednesday. It will be what it is. I talked to a couple of guys down there yesterday and the general answer is that it's pretty tough right now.


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## RMK

Arrived at sportsmans lodge around 2. Rained the entire drive here but cleared up as we were getting ready to fish. Got the boat rigged up and loaded and dumped in the water. Quite over welming at first. Alot bigger water than I was expecting for one and two a couple possible glitches with my fishfinder/navionics chip. Depth from sonar reading dosn't seem to be accurate and dosn't match my navionics map at all and I can't figure out how to offset the depth to current level. So the first plan of finding marked deep structure went out the window quickly. Saw a pack of boats down the lake spider rigging and decided to join them. First serious attempt at the setup worked ok. Producing a couple bumps but no fish. Evening was approaching and we were close to some docks that ended in 10 to 12 feet of water. Scott suggests to shoot them.... I think he's crazy but hey why not. His first good shot under the dock pulled a keeper crappie. He pulled 3 more shorts and a yellow bass. I pulled 1 more keeper crappie and a sucker. Water temps 55 to 56. Hard for me to believe they were that warm but that's what the finder sayed. Not to disappointed with our first half day trip on a brand new to us piece of water.


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## Popspastime

Glad you made it thru all the rain and found your lodge. I'm still hemmed up here watching the weather and temps looking for a weather slot to head down. You should have a keel offset adjustment for the depth readings but remember to change it back when you leave. As long as its reading actual depth I'd leave it alone. The navi card is probably written to high water data and those lakes fluctuate so much I don't think they'd ever match. Looks like a couple whopper rains coming your way again so stay dry and have fun. Keep those pictures and reports coming..


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## RMK

6 keeper crappie today. 1 more lost on its way to the boat. And 1 bass. Of the 6 fish 5 came slow trolling in 12 to 20 feet of water and 1 came floating a minnow 4 feet deep below a cork in 10 feet of water. People did better than us that were anchored fishing deep structure. Water temps still 55 to 56. Anticipating a good day tomorrow. We met a great guy this morning. Doug Wynn captin and guide of crappie gills and more. Super nice guy and very very very knowledgeable. He taught us a lot, shared some good info, and was even nice enough to give us a couple handfuls of plastics, some jigs, and some really nice minnow rigs for pushing. If anybody needs a guide look him up. He will teach you something.


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## RMK

Better day today. Good weather and not to much wind. Water ad warm as 58. 57 was more common. 24 keepers out of around 65 fish. 10 to 12 feet of water fishing 8 to 10 feet deep pushing minnows around .5 give or take a couple tenths. Found a few in shallower 4 to 6 feet deep with one nicely colored black male. Only color we ve seen this far. Had a fun shallow evening bite that added the last 3 or 4 keepers.Hope to get some pics on later.


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## RMK

Only half a day left for us down here


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