QuestionHey, Thanks a bunch for the advice...really helpful. Funny you should mention the shad rap and killer b lures, as i was lookin at these same lures at Basspro and Cabelas online the other day. Ill probably invest in a few the next order i make, as i have my eye on a new spinning combo from cabelas..lol. I got there Prodigy baitcast combo last year and loved it so i think im gonna get the spinning combo to match..lol. Well anyways, you mentioned that you mainly fish on shallower lakes and have fished deeper lakes but not with much success..i think this maybe one of my problems. The primary lake i fish is, on the average, a very deep lake...i know of 2 or 3 spots over 100 feet deep, and many over 30-40. Its in kentucky, i doubt youve heard of it but its Paintsville Lake, not really a big lake but its the best one close to where i live. I hear the walleye really thrive hear, and ive caught a couple back in the spring on spinerbaits. Since this is a deep lake, the water really doesnt get that hot during the summer, so i dont know why i couldnt catch many in shallow water. Maybe the lake does get hot, maybe where this is a deep lake and stays cool most of the time it may not take much of a rise in temp for the fish to go deep. You mentioned the thermocline and findin where the oxygen was most abundant, luckily i have access to that information as the lakes around here put all of that info on websites on a daily basis...oxygen levels, water temp, outflow temp, water levels, pretty much all you could ask for.
I would fish the weeds or up under overhangin trees, but this lake has very little of either, and the lake is deeper than most lakes aroudn the shorline, leaving little shallow areas to work, so i guess in a sense the fish ARE deep, just a matter of how deep.
I only wish i lived closer to Stonewall Jackson Lake...thats a great fishery..all catch and release...if you ever in West Virginia id highly reccomend it...great vacation place with a top notch resort/hotel over lookin the lake. Well thanks for the advice and hope to get on the water soon.
AnswerHey Caleb; I guess they expect me to answer even though you had no question. So I will ask you a couple of questions.
Where in Kentucky do you live and where is Plantsville Lake. My brother lives in Versailles near Lexington and I plan to come up that way to visit him and do some fishing this spring. We had thought of trying Cave Run Lake in Eastern, Ky. I hear it has some great bass fishing and is also noted for muskie. I caught my first muskie two years ago in Wisconsin and would love to tangle with a bigger one.
Do you have a good Topo map of the lake. I bet there are some structure areas in the lake that would be good fishing. You may still have to fish pretty deep but I remember the one deep lake I fished years ago, Devil's Kitchen in Southern Illinois.
It averaged about 60' with places being 90 or more and those deep holes stayed cold enough to have planted rainbow trout although I never fished for them. This was before electronic depth finders. We had to sound with a lead line but there were places where the water would be 70' and a couple hundred yards away come up to an underwater hump only 20'.
Should you want to answer use my e-mail instead of the All Experts as that is such a round about connection.
Good fishing.
Jack L. Gaither
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