Winter always seems to sneak in at the very last second at Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. It takes forever to cool down and then fall is like 4 hours and then it’s winter. So you don’t get much time to prepare for it before it is upon you. While it may be hard on us to deal with the cold wind and snow, the fishing can actually get quite good in the winter if you understand what the different game fish do on the lake. And adjust the way you fish to the lower metabolisms. It doesn’t always mean you have to fish slow, but you fish in small windows.
Let’s dig into winter fishing on these TVA fisheries in Kentucky.
Basic Winter Patterns for Fishing
The name of the game for fishing in the winter often means deep and slow. The fish tend to group up deep for most of the time in the winter. They will make runs into shallower waters to feed and certain weather patterns can bring them to the banks. So definitely some weather patterns to keep an eye on that can increase your fishing chances.
Fish use river channels and creek channels as migration routes. They are like the highways fish use to move to and from seasonal areas. But they don’t necessarily just hang out in the channels. So you are often looking for areas adjacent to channels like where channels swing in next to a bank or point. Deep Flats and humps or high spots near a channel are the intersections you look for. You might be fishing 20-40 feet deep in the winter for different species, but they will often be in an area near to a channel.
Where to Look for Winter Fish
Main river flats off the main river channel are always good places to start searching and then work in from there. Having a decent depth finder with GPS and mapping can help you cover water and make searching a little easier. There are some mapping apps that you can also download on your phone that can help you find deep areas like Navionics Boating App.
You can find schools of bluegills, catfish, white bass, black crappie and black bass grouped up offshore on these types of places in the winter. Most decent fish finder graphs will show you fish and most will be hunkered on the bottom as big blobs relating to the bait that is trying to escape the colder surface temps.
If the current is running hard, you can seek out areas that tuck out of the current either between a high spot or something that juts out like a point that blocks the current behind it. A lot of fish will tuck into the lead in banks and points going into bays when the current runs really hard in the winter.
If warm rains happen, the shallow waters can get decent for a while and if it happens in the late winter going into spring, it can trigger fish to go shallow and run to the backs of bays and creek arms early.
Suspending Over Deep Water
With newer technologies, anglers have learned that a lot of game fish suspend in the winter. They can be near the bottom or just a few feet under the surface. They are often either relating to bait or they are getting closer to the sun to warm themselves or their eggs later in the winter. Instead of going to the bank, they stay out over deep water and just rise up in the water column. That can make things like spider rigging and trolling available at times.
Most of the time though, the colder waters make it tough to get on fish that are high in the water column. Most often you need to cast to them from a distance. If the water gets some color to it from rain and snow run off you can get closer to fish and vertical jig.
Intersections with the Bottom
The most consistent patterns often relate to find big holding areas near creek and river channels. This can be ledges, humps and flats that intersect with creek channel and river channel junctions. Those areas can often help you refine your search so you are not just wandering aimlessly up and down the lake. You can find a bunch of them on maps and then run up and down the lake check multiple areas until you start finding schools.
But you can find some intersection areas with just your eyes and knowledge of areas and paper maps.
How to Find Better Fish Holding Areas
Here are four areas to focus your search for fish in the winter:
Swings
Channel swings refer to where a creek channel or river channel swings in close to a bank. You can see these visually by noticing the makeup of the area. If there is gravel, then big chunk rock, then big table and bluff rock, and then it goes back to chunk rock and then back to gravel, you know the creek has swung in there close where there is a bluff. You can focus on the bluffs but often the ends of the swings are the areas fish use to move in and out of deep water to forage, warm up and be a little more active.
Deep Adjacent
I call deep adjacents those areas that creek channels intersect large shallower areas like flats, points or humps. A high shallow spot next to a channel can often be the best transition areas for winter fishing. Especially if those areas have other cover like stumps, brush piles, big rocks, etc. A lot of the good fishing on Kentucky Lake is found by fishing high spots. A high spot is just something that is shallower than everything around it.
Bluffs
Bluffs are obvious deep water areas and at anytime they can hold some fish in the winter. Bluffs on our lake tend to not be as consistent but there are days when they dynamite. Look for those tall big rocky table rock and bluff rock banks and you will find deep water. You can stair step down or look for current breaks under the surface deep to find different species of fish like bass, bluegill and whites as well as catfish.
Deep Points
Deep points can offer good winter transition areas as well where a bass can move out of deep water feed for a little while and move back into deep water quickly and easily. So I will often fish a lot of points throughout the winter. And on the really nasty days, fish like smallmouth bass and stripers will actually get more active here.
What Lures/Baits Work Best for Winter Fishing
The general rule of thumb for winter fishing here is choosing baits that don’t move too far or move to fast at any given time. You want the bait to attract but stay in the strike zone. So you want it to make a small movement but then stay there. So for bass you see a lot of anglers throwing, lures like jerkbaits and jigging spoons. Where they jerk the lure and let it go back or suspend.
You can also choose lures that move slow and steady. That is always the name of the game with crappie. But even more so in the winter. And vertical jigging can be very good too.
Certain lures will catch a multitude of species. Lures like jigging raps, blade baits and jigging spoons will catch stripers, white bass, largemouth, smallmouth, sauger, crappie, yellow bass, and even bluegills and catfish. So if you just want to catch fish and aren’t really picky, those are great choices. Again you are looking for groups of fish and then choosing lures that stay around them and give them ample time to react and bite.
Slow moving lures like swimbaits, umbrella rigs, and jigs can all be fished very slowly and steadily and are good producers in the winter.
Other Thoughts About Winter Fishing
Winter fishing is always relative to water temperature. So keep that in mind. If the water temps are closer to 50 degrees a lot more fish will be active and a lot more presentations will work. If the water temp is below 40 degrees. It’s going to be very tough going. You’re going to have to fish slow and stay on top of the fish as they won’t be active and chase much.
You should also take extra caution in the winter. Bring extra clothes, bring a face cover and hand coverings to avoid wind burn which can be bad in the winter. Drink lots of water as people tend to bundle up and sweat and if you are cold your metabolism ramps up to fight of off the cold. So you may not realize how much water you burn off.
Also remember if it’s below freezing that water at the boat ramps refreeze when boaters drive their trailers out. So avoid the slick ramps on below freezing days and focus on the flatter ramps if possible. I’m an advocate of fishing with someone in the winter. You may be a strong swimmer and great angler, but one mishap can turn dangerous when the water temps dip below 50 degrees, so another person helps tremendously as a safeguard.
The lakes fish very well in the winter until the water temps get below 45 degrees. Colder than that will make fishing quite a bit tougher but you can still catch fish. Plan your days around the sun and wind more than the air temp. Sunny calm days with 40-degree air temps are often warmer that windy overcast days with 45-degree air temps.
I also advise people to explore more in the winter. Don’t live or die on one spot. Fish will not be as active but if you keep moving you should stumble on to more active fish here and there or find a good school feeding somewhere.
Don’t overlook the good fishing you can find on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes in the winter. Bundle up, pick your days and be persistent in searching for groups of fish out deep.
