When you come to large fisheries like Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake. Even knowing where to start to fish can seem daunting if you’re new to the lake or don’t spend much time on it. While we have put together a fishing calendar to help visitors and locals understand when the best times to chase certain fish are throughout the year and the best approaches to catching them, we also realize some folks need a helping hand to figure out a new body of water.
Hiring a fishing guide is a great way to learn a new lake or river, especially when you are talking about two of the larger fisheries in the nation with Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake being giant riverine reservoirs covering hundreds of miles. As the old adage in fishing says, “90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water.” Which is a polite way of saying there is more unproductive water than good fishing water when it comes to catching fish.
Hiring a guide can shortcut your learning curve, show you the best bite at that time of year that you are going to be on the water, and also show you some productive techniques to catch fish. Most of our guides are not only great people, but incredible wealths of knowledge about the lake, the fish and the best ways to catch more and bigger fish. And hiring a guide can turn a lot of indecision and frustration into a very relaxing and enjoyable time on the water.
Let’s run through a checklist of why hiring a guide might be the best options for you as well as what to expect and then finish with a list of most of the guides on the lake (we likely don’t know every one of them and will do our best to add good ones we miss after the fact).
Why Hiring a Fishing Guide is a Good Choice
Several reasons exist that make hiring a guide a great investment. Here are the common reasons clients book with a guide.
- You have a limited amount of time to fish
- You will be fishing all week and need pointers
- You are new to the lakes and want to shortcut your learning
- You only fish a few times a year and want to catch them when you go
- You are unfamiliar with a type of fishing you want to learn
Starting through the list here, a lot of people will fish with a guide because they are on vacation in the area, and a day of fishing sounds like a great activity for part of their vacation or trip. A guide will generally know what the fish are doing, have the best way to catch them figured out and offer you a good chance to catch fish quickly in a short window. So your precious few hours on the water are not wasted guessing what to do and where to go.
If you plan to fish all week, sometimes hiring a guide the first day can make your week of a fishing a real great success as he can help you dial in on a bite for the window you are visiting and save you a ton of trial and error time. Sometimes just knowing the depth, mood and good presentations, lets you be a lot more efficient as you move around the lake hunting lunkers.
These are huge fisheries and it has taken our local anglers a long time to learn all the nuances of fish movement, behavior and best areas for feeding. Hiring a guide can shortcut your learning curve if you are new to the area and need to play catch up on what the fish do here at different times of the year.
A lot of clients are repeat customers with a guide because they like to go fish a handful of times and know that guide will put them on fish when they want to go. “I love my repeat customers. I have some customers that fish 5 or 6 times a year with me and they are always some of my funnest trips,” said long time crappie pro and guide Tony Sheppard.
A lot of guides have gotten really good at things like ledge fishing, bush flipping, fishing brush and chasing open water fish with technologies like Livescope. If you want to get better at a technique or type of a fishing, a guide can give you a ton of good pointers to bolster your confidence with those applications.
What to Expect from Your Guide
Your guide should be professional and courteous and do their best to ensure you have a fun time on the water. Keep in mind they are good fishermen, but not all-seeing miracle workers. Unbeknownst to some, they do not control wild animals and they definitely do not control the weather. But most have spent years knowing how to adjust to changing conditions and moody fish and can at least offer you a good shot at catching.
You should not expect to catch a trophy. Nor should you expect to catch a limit. While both of these happen frequently on our lakes, it’s not realistic to expect your guide to know when a trophy fish will feel like biting or that what the fish were doing a few days ago is still what they will be doing tomorrow. Fish can change their locations and behaviors for a myriad of reasons and many of us have spent 4 decades trying to figure out why they do what they do at times without sometimes coming up with a logical reason.
Your guide will keep you safe and work with you to make calls on safety related to weather, wind, and conditions you find on the water. They must be Coast Guard certified on these navigable waters so they are well versed in operating their boats in a safe manner.
They should offer you the opportunity to have a great time. It’s up to you choose to enjoy the time you spend on the water. Just know ahead of time, that some days are better than others. And some days magic happens just like some days can be a struggle for even the best of anglers.
Most guides will have what you need to fish with that day and most are open to you bringing your own gear but be sure to discuss before your day of fishing so you come prepared.
What to Expected of You When Fishing With a Guide
Likewise your guide will expect you to be on time. When booking half day trips, the guide often will have two half day trips on the same day so you missing your window does not always mean they can accommodate your change in time. Most of the guides we know and work with will bend over backwards to make the experience enjoyable and memorable. So at the very least approach it with a good attitude and you’ll be surprised how much fun just being on the water with them can be.
Be open to learning new things. These anglers have experimented a lot on the water and can offer a lot of good advice if you’re willing to humble yourself and be open to some new opinions on fishing on the lakes. The more you play dumb, the more you likely will learn because as we said these guides can provide you a lot of information about the lakes.
Tips are not necessarily an expectation but they are common practice if you have had an enjoyable day or have had a memorable catch. While guide prices might seem a bit high, you’re not only paying for their time and years of learning through lots of trial and error on these big bodies of water, but they also have a tremendous amount of expense in gas in both boats and tow vehicles as well as perishable gear like line, lures, terminal tackle, bait, ice, equipment and more.
Other Thoughts on Fishing With a Guide
If you go into a guided trip with a willingness to learn, an expectation of just enjoying a day on the water, then most of the time, you are going to have one of your best experiences on our lakes. These fisheries are some of the gems in our country and we are proud to host visitors and locals on these tremendous bodies of water.
Running List of Kentucky and Barkley Lake Guides
If you’re interested in hiring a guide, we’ve provided a quick list and will add to it as we learn of more and ones we might have overlooked. There are quite a few guides on the lakes. This list focuses more on the Kentucky end of the lake as there are a lot of Tennessee guides we’re not as familiar with.
Tony Sheppard Big T Guide Service (Crappie / Panfish)
Rodney Hairgrove Guide Service
Brandon Hunter Guide Service (Bass)
Captain Kirk Guide Service (Bass and Panfish)
Crappie Gills and More (Crappie, White Bass and Catfish)
Hook Em’ Up Guide Service (Bass and Crappie)
Kickin’ Bass Guide Service (Crappie and White Bass)
Big Kahuna Guide Service (All Species)
Loveless Outdoor Adventures (Catfish / Bowfishing)
Weakley’s Guide Service (All Species)
Angling Adventures with John Morgan (Crappie / Bass)
Kenneth Burgess Guide Service (Crappie / Panfish)
Double A Guide Service (Bass)
Elliotts Guide Service (crappie)
Steve McAdams Guide Service (crappie)
Bar-Ken Guide Service (Bass)
Captain Penrod’s Guide Service (all species)
