| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Spring Fishing Frenzy: Smallmouth bass fishing great nearby Dale Hollow, Lake Cumberland, and Laurel Lake among nation's best for smallmouth bass fishing, right in here South Central Kentucky (This is the sixth installment of the Spring Fishing Frenzy series of fishing articles. The series - detailing productive fishing opportunities across Kentucky - will continue weekly until early summer.) By Lee McClellan, Associate Editor KY Afield Outdoors magazine, KY Fish & Wildlife FRANKFORT, KY - You hear about Lake St. Clair, Mille Lacs, Lake Erie and the upper Mississippi River as waters that produce the best smallmouth fishing in the United States. As far as catching numbers of smallmouth with many of those larger than 4 pounds, you can't argue with the sentiment. However, to catch the largest specimens in the world, you need to fish in Kentucky and Tennessee. Three largest smallmouth bass come from Dale Hollow Lake This statement isn't regional boastful pride or being a homer, it is fact. The three largest smallmouth bass on the ESPN/Bassmaster Top 25 Smallmouth Bass list came from one water body: Dale Hollow Lake, which straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee line in south-central Kentucky. The all-tackle world record came out of Dale Hollow, an 11-pound, 15-ounce behemoth. Leitchfield's David L. Hayes caught that fish by trolling points in the Kentucky section of the lake on the morning of July 9, 1955. Dale Hollow produced John Gorman's second place smallmouth, a 10-pound, 14-ounce fish caught in April 1969. Gorman fooled the smallmouth with a white doll fly fished in the Obey River arm of the lake. Paul Beal's 10-pound, 8-ounce third place smallmouth struck a smoke-colored grub in April 1986 from the Hendrick's Creek arm of the lake. In all, six of the top 10 smallmouth bass on the list came from Dale Hollow. "The upper Cumberland River system has great smallmouth bass genetics," said John Williams, southeastern fisheries district biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. "Since this general area produces the biggest smallmouths on record, the genetics are excellent for producing huge specimens." Laurel River Lake, Lake Cumberland, and Dale Hollow great for smallmouths The numbing cold of this past winter has fishing rhythms well behind most years. March is normally one of the best months of the year for trophies, but this year it will be April as water temperatures are just now breaking into the upper 40s on these lakes. In spring, smallmouth bass move from their winter hideouts - along steep points, bluffs or suspended above channel drops - toward their spawning grounds on gently sloping banks that run from shallow to medium-depth water. Long, extended points that run well out in the lake also make good spring areas in these lakes as do the shallow ends of small coves that run off the main lake or a major creek arm. Anglers report smallmouth catches over 4 lbs. at Dale Hollow "If wanted to catch a smallmouth bass 6 pounds or better, I would go to Laurel River Lake," Williams said. "I hear regularly of smallmouths over 7 pounds coming from the lake and it seems to improve every year." Small, pearl-colored swimbaits rigged on 1/4-ounce lead-head jigs are deadly in spring on long, sloping points in Laurel. Blade baits ripped off the bottom and allowed to settle again also work well in these spots. Watch your line intently when the blade bait sinks to bottom again as smallmouth often pick it off as it settles. "Laurel is harder to fish and can be terribly frustrating and you'll leave convinced there isn't a smallmouth in it," explained Williams, who caught his personal best 6-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth from the lake two years ago. "Then, you catch a monster and you are motivated again." The smallmouth population in Lake Cumberland is consistently good year after year. "The lake's smallmouths are in great condition with many 20-inch and longer fish in the population," Williams said. Great sloping bank near Low Gap Island have trophy spring smallmouth potential The sloping banks near Low Gap Island, in the middle and lower sections of Otter, Caney and Wolf creeks all have excellent trophy spring smallmouth potential. Swimming a small black and purple or olive hair jig just above bottom in these areas produces strikes right now. Slowly working deep-diving red or orange and brown crankbaits from shallow to deep on these banks works well. Crawling or swimming 5/16-ounce finesse jigs in the Cumberland Craw color along the bottom in these areas also draws strikes as does deadsticking black finesse worms on 1/4-ounce Shakey Heads.. The rip-rap along the dam almost always holds spring smallmouths. "These lakes have the potential to produce world-class specimens in springtime," Williams said. "Now is the time to fish if you can." - Lee McClellan Author Lee McClellan is a nationally award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing. This story was posted on 2014-03-28 03:50:13
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Sports:
Lake Cumberland reaching full pool this summer Softball: Lindsey Wilson splits with Campbellsville LWC Softball at Campbellsville, Thursday, March 27, 2014 LWC's Chanel Roberts earns MSC Field Athlete of Week Honor Exciting Blue Raider softball today at Lindsey Wilson Park Men's Track & Field finishes 17th at Emory Invitational Lindsey Wilson Men’s Tennis takes down Campbellsville 8-1 CU Lady Tigers outlast late Xavier run, advance to Quarterfinals CU Lady Tigers win 2nd round game, NAIA National Tournament Adair Softball leaves home stand 1-1 after loss to Russell County View even more articles in topic Sports |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
