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Huge Kentucky Lake Bluegills

by Steve Welch

I have been going to Kentucky Lake for 20 years and have a ton of great crappie stories. One day I will look forward to retiring and bringing my guide service to the Paris Landing area.

I can think of no place on this earth that I would rather end my fishing career. I plan to guide a little, enjoy my pension, and spend time with my loving wife and grand children.

As good as the crappie fishing is at Kentucky Lake , you never hear about the great bluegill fishing until you get down there and hang out with the locals. The bait shops down there gear their summer sales towards bluegill fishing for good reason.

Crickets are a top seller and wax worms are hard to find, so bring a lot of your own bait if you plan a trip to the lake. I can use three 250-worm boxes during a five day trip.

The fish start spawning as early as April 27 or 28 according to Garry Mason, a prominent guide and close friend of mine. He regularly guides for bluegills as often as crappie. Other guides have started this trend as well.

Memorial Day weekend is when I try to make a trip, but the whole month of May is the prime time.

You need to closely follow the moon phase. They will spawn on the full moon each month in April, May and June.

Just fish in the backs of the bays and on gravel-covered banks where spawning beds are located. The fish will make a circle in the gravel and many fish will use the same beds. If you remove one fish, another will soon take its place.

For the spawn, I use several different tactics. One method is to work your way down the bank fishing a Carolina rig with a couple of small split shots pinched on above a 1/48-ounce Charlie Brewer Charlie Bee, which is tipped with a wax worm. Once you come into contact with a bed, there will be several fish using it.

Another method is to cast a small cork with either an ice jig or a 1/48-ounce jig under it and the same split shots pinched on above the jig. I use a weighted, spring cork or fixed cork for easier casting. I always go down to four-pound test line and tip the jig with a wax worm or cricket.

I also sneak up to the beds with my long twelve-foot rod and vertically fish on top of beds. If they are a little deeper, try to find the stake beds that crappies just abandoned after spawning.

For this method, I fish the same small jigs, but I tie a small loop knot above a drop-shot weight. If you get hung on bottom the drop-shot weight will just pull off. This gives me the ability to get the light jig down to the bottom quickly, where the bigger gills are located.

I asked Garry what size bluegills one could expect to catch. He told me the lake is full of six to eight-ounce, ten-inch bluegills that you can barely get your hand around. The shellcrackers or redear sunfish grow to 21-ounces because Garry has one that size mounted at his home.

I have heard of two-pound bluegills being caught, but have not seen one. This lake also has crappies over three and one-half pounds. I haven't caught one of them yet, but each year someone does so.

If you should wait and go down during the summer, huge bluegills are attracted to current and current breaks. Kentucky Lake is always pulling current and what better way to find a break than to fish the bridge piers? Any of the huge bridges hold tons of gills during summer.

I have taken more than 500 gills from one pier during a five-day trip. My youngest son once tried to count how long he could keep the bait away from them and seven seconds is all he could manage. That is action!

Riprap is another good fish-holding structure around the bridges. I take my long rod and vertically fish the rocks until I come into contact with them. I use the same drop-shot pattern as I do for the bridge piers.

Kentucky Lake is full of bluegills and no limits are put on them since they are a very renewable resource. If a good get-away is in your plans for early summer or even during mid-summer, give Garry a call and he can put you on them. Call (731) 593-5429 or email him at:  grmason@aeneas.net

For Charlie Brewer baits, go to their web site at: www.sliderfishing.com   I am sold on these baits and use them for crappie, walleye, white bass and bluegills.