August is an interesting month of fishing on Kentucky Lake. I call it the smorgasbord month in terms of the fishing. This is largely due to the massive populations of baitfish occupying nearly every inch of the lake and meandering out over open water in droves. Because bait is so abundant and everywhere in August it tends to put all game fish everywhere at times and seemingly nowhere at other times. But there are some good consistent bites in August even in the blazing heat.
Best Bets for August: Deep Schools of Catfish
This time of year our fisheries will see giant groups of catfish gathering offshore and around brush in deep water. Finding the fish requires a bit of searching and or fishing. Large deep flats just off the main river can be great places to look. Look for where creek channels dump into the main river and look on those deep corners and flats in 20-25 feet of water. You will be looking for large biomasses on your electronics of fish hunkered near the bottom in big groups.
If you’re not using electronics, you can still have success Carolina rigging and bottom bouncing cut bait out deep. Trolling can work too. But often its better to setup up on a deep flat and put a lot of baits out. A good lake map can help you identify the areas.
There are still quite a few catfish hanging around brush piles this time of year too. And bait under a float or even artificial lures will catch a fair share of catfish fishing around brush piles in 10-20 feet of water. Catfish will fall for minnow baits, crappie jigs and more when fished around brush. But day in and day out, it’s hard to beat dough bait, cut bait and other dead things catfish like.
Other Good Bites
While the heat can be brutal, the topwater action really heats up in August and carries into the cooler months. But don’t wait until it cools off. Instead, play your sunlight. Go early and late to take advantage of the “jumps” or the “hops” as anglers call them. You are looking for game fish surfacing and eating baitfish near or on the surface. When you see this, run to it as quick as possible and get close to the area and start casting your favorite poppers, walkers and other topwaters and subsurface baits for white bass, largemouth and smallmouth bass and even stripers at times.
The jumps simply refer to a school of game fish jumping a school of baitfish up to the surface. They use the surface to pin the bait and feed similar to what they do to baitfish on the bottom with current on ledges. This activity is often most prevalent on calm days and also on overcast or low light conditions. So first thing in the morning can be good but I often find a longer bite in the evening as the sun dips behind the horizon. That last hour to two hours can be some super fast and furious fun fishing.
If they won’t take your topwaters, try inline spinners, jigging spoons, blade baits, small lipless crankbaits and even twitch baits or jerkbaits worked quickly under the surface.
The crappie fishing can still be decent in August if you are willing to get up early and be out there for the first few hours of daylight. After about 11 am, fishing gets a lot tougher. Look for the brush that provides the most shad to be the most productive in deeper waters this time of the year.
Bass fishing can still be good on the lake in August. Look for bass roaming main river shallow flats with stumps. Often the shallowest flats are some of the best. Even in the middle of the day. Shallow cover gets good as well in August as baitfish congregate around any form of cover. There will still be small groups of fish on deep current edges and around brush in the mid-depth level. And dock fishing can start getting good as the lake begins lowering to winter pool and more and more shallow cover disappears.
Bluegills will mostly be out deep and on mid-depth cover this time of year. Along with your friendly yellow bass. You can still catch them good fishing your normal crappie brush with smaller jigs meant for smaller panfish.
