Percy Priest 11-12-2011

Fishermen are nuts. At least this one is. Haven't been on the lake since last Tuesday a week go. I knew this week coming up was not going to allow me to fish so I went Saturday. Never mind that the wind was blowing 25 mph with gusts to 140. Never mind it was the second day after a front. Never mind that the night temps have been 26-34. My itch needed to be scratched so scratched it was. Got to the lake at 10 am. Put my heavy weather suit on with Underarmour shirt underneath. I knew the temp was supposed to get up to 66-68 but with wind I also knew that I would likely get side spray from the waves. I did. Lots of it. I searched a lot of places but I just couldn't find much fishable water because of the wind. Threw mostly cranks and rattle baits but I saw no shad not even on the sonar. Finally caught a 9" smallie to save me from a skunk. Caught it on a rock bluff wall on a shaky head while I was sitting in 40 feet of water. Gave it up for the day at 2:30. Glad to get home.

Bill

Kentucky Lake, Richland Creek 11-1-2011

Tried a new ramp today.  Rob gave me directions to Richland Creek at Mason's ramp. I spent the entire day, 7-3, in the creek. Lots of fog on the water at 7.  Idled around the creek looking for shad. The water is about 5 feet below summer pool with a water temp of 57-59. Saw no topwater activity. Finally caught a 1.5 bass on a Rapala DT6 in Helsinki Shad in 6 feet of water. Crossed back across the creek but no activity. Crossed back to a pocket off the creek where I saw a lot of shad flipping. Found a small spot that yielded 7 nice white bass, 1.5-2 lbs. Didn't really see any busting shad but they were in the middle of a concentration of shad. Caught these on a Red Eye Shad in sexy shad with green top. Continued working around the pocket. One side of the pocket had a little deeper bank to about 6 feet. Switched to the DT6 and picked up a 2 lb bass.

Noticed a lot of bird activity out in the middle of the main creek so headed there. There was no schooling but lots of shad flipping. Occasionally saw a blow up but couldn't draw a strike so I headed back to the pocket. Picked up 4 more bass on the DT6 on the steep bank and a couple of more on the Red Eye. One more bass in same spot as the first one. I also caught 3 Skipjacks, 2 of them near 12". Finally headed in at 3 pm.

My final total was 19 fish, 9 bass (best 5 over 9 lbs), 7 white bass, and 3 skippies. Probably didn't burn quart of gas since I never even went out on the river. I was disappointed not see any serious schooling only individual blow ups. Still it was a satisfying day. No big fish but all the bass were at least 1.5-2 lbs as were the white bass. I really like Kentucky Lake.