Kentucky Lake New Johnsonville June 22, 2013

Kentucky Lake June 22, 2013

Set the clock for 2:30 am but was awakened by my wife at 2:12. She thought I was supposed to get up at 2 am. Only 18 minutes but at that time of the morning I could have sure used them. Got to the New Johnsonville ramp first and waited to collect "big fish" fees. The Cumberland Bassmasters launched at first light and my partner, Carl, and I headed downriver to an installation I call a pumping station. We immediately spotted a willow tree swarming with May flies. Bream were popping all around. On my second cast with a slim top water popper a bass came out of the water and inhaled the popper, a nice 16.25" keeper. Nice start. A few minutes later the scenario was repeated but this one came unbuttoned. We really thought we had a top water bite going but it stopped there.

We soon realized we needed to move to the ledges. We picked up a few on long worms in the front of Dry Creek. We finally decided to go to the west side of the lake around Nathan Bedford Forest Park and Pilots Knob. Only one keeper over this way on a square bill under a May fly laden tree.

This was where our day changed. First Carl received a call from Life Alert saying his Mom had fallen. A couple of calls later, he determined that she was OK. We were prepared to head to the ramp but Carl felt he didn't need to leave. That is when the next call came... from Rob. Noah's motor was acting up and he was afraid to run. They were in front of Richland Creek. The plan was for me to pick up Rob, carry him to the ramp at New Johnsonville. Noah would use his trolling motor over to Mason's ramp. Since it would take him a while we were able stop and fish a couple of ledges that Rob knew. Carl got hot and picked up 3 more keepers filling out his limit. I could only weigh in 3 keepers. As a footnote, Rob attempted to charge $5 for the coordinates to that hot ledge but Carl quickly pressed the waypoint button on my GPS thwarting Rob's plan. (Please note, those coordinates are NOT published here.) After dropping off Rob to get Noah's truck and pick him up at Mason's, we tried a couple of banks near our ramp. We finally packed it in.

Noah was first place boater with 11.85(?), I was second with 5.75. Carl edged out Omar by a few ounces with 6.80+. We stopped at the Cajun Corner in Waverly for a good lunch. 

We miss our good friend and club member, Steve Ahern, who passed away a couple of weeks ago at a much too early age.

Kentucky Lake 6-14-2013

Kentucky Lake 6-14-2013

Left Franklin with Jack at 3:45 am heading to New Johnsonville and the lake.  Forecast was for 84 and mild with winds out of the NNW at 6-8 mph. Also, the water was at least 2+ feet higher than 2 weeks ago. We made out first stop at factory which usually produces a fish or two but hasn't got last two times...nor this time. So we moved along to next creek down. We fished hard but only caught a couple of dinks. I wish I could report a number of good catches but I just can't. I think we caught a total of 7-8 fish most being small. Had one about 2.5 lbs. and maybe one more club keeper (12"). We fished in the creek and then moved out on the main lake. Back to that forecast, those 6-8 winds were whitecapping. We crossed over to the west side but still couldn't escape the wind. We did find a good concentration of mayflies. Caught one small bass here and Jack caught a bream. Headed back down near the ramp but the wind finally conquered us and we pulled out at 1 pm

We did have one event worth mentioning. Jack was coming toward the front of the boat when he tripped. His knee caught the windshield on the console breaking it half. He felt bad but I knew it wasn't going to be a catastrophe. I called my dealer, Riverside Marine on Saturday and he had one in stock. I picked it up and will install it Monday.

I am looking forward to our tournament next week. I just hope the water level is lower and the winds are calmer.