The beginning of September is the unofficial start of fall fishing in Kentucky, although the calendar says the first day of fall is still three weeks away.
Two sure signs of the season are already here — days are getting shorter and mornings are cool and foggy.
The combination of shortening photoperiod and declining water temperatures sends fish into a feeding frenzy, to fatten up for the coming cold weather. So that’s why fall fishing can be as good as, or better, than the spring warmup. The best fishing can extend into late November, if it doesn’t get cold earlier than normal.
Let’s take a look at four of the best fall fishing opportunities in Kentucky:
* Brown trout in the Cumberland tailwaters
Even though the brown trout fishery in the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam is still in recovery mode after the six-year drawdown of Lake Cumberland that ended in 2013, fall has always offered the best fishing for big browns. That’s because brown trout are fall spawners and this time of year they become aggressive, opportunistic feeders.
The 2015 Fishing Forecast, published by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, rates the brown trout fishery as “good.” The comments read, “anglers can expect good numbers of browns up to 15 inches, and fair numbers of larger fish. The abundance of keeper fish, 20 inches and longer, remains low but should improve in coming years.”
Art Lander with a brown trout taken from the Cumberland River (John Lander Photo)
Casting crankbaits is a good tactic because you can cover a lot of water. Larger browns are likely to be in deeper water, off the banks, below islands, shoals, gravel bars or hiding under deep shelf rock on outside bends of channels.
Drift down the middle of the river, casting towards both banks, and the center of the river, especially around tree snags. The Rapala Shad Rap crankbait is a good lure choice in the fall, when browns are feeding heavily on crayfish.
One of my favorites is the SR05, a 2-inch, 3/16-ounce crankbait that dives 4 to 9-feet deep. A preferred color is the Dark Brown Crawdad.
Fly fishermen catch brown trout in the fall, casting streamers and large Wooly Buggers around shoreline timber.
* Largemouth bass at Kentucky Lake
Given a choice of where to fish in the fall, a majority of bass anglers would probably choose Kentucky Lake.
The 2015 Fishing Forecast rates the largemouth bass fishery at Kentucky Lake as “excellent.” The comments include, “during the fall, fishing around boat docks and rocky shorelines is good.”
The west bank of the lower lake is at its best in the fall. Anglers have a third cover option to fish — beds of rooted aquatic vegetation. In wet years, like this year, weed beds are much smaller or absent from many areas, but in most small inlets on the west bank of the lake there are always a few scattered beds of coontail, hydrilla or Eurasian milfoil, growing up in thick mats from the bottom, where it’s less than 10 feet deep.
The better fish come off grass-filled flats close to deep water channels. Early in the fall, the the bite lasts until the sun comes up, then the bigger fish retreat to the drop offs. As the season progresses, bass stay up shallow longer.
Weed beds are teaming with life. Plankton draws forage (minnows, shad and sunfish), which in turn brings in the gamefish, predators at the top of the food chain.
Anglers cast top water lures into gaps between the floating mats of weeds, trying to match the size of their lure to the size of the baitfish bass are chasing. Popular lures include the Heddon Zara Spook Jr. and Spit’n Image, Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow and Pop-R, and the Xcalibur Zell Pop.
Bass can also be caught by casting a sinking worm, or slow rolling a spinnerbait. Fly fishermen can catch bass on poppers and other “bug” baits.
* Cave Run Lake muskies
Autumn is a good time to hunt up a lunker muskie and there’s no better place than 8,270-acre Cave Run Lake.
The 2015 Fishing Forecast rates the muskie fishery at Cave Run Lake as “excellent.” The comments include, “trophy fish can be found in the fall months of September and October in association with gently sloping gravel banks or near channel drop offs.”
In early September fish very early and very late in the day, casting or trolling large, deep-diving crankbaits on channel banks near flooded timber. As fall progresses fish on rainy, overcast days, when big fish come up shallow to feed before the onset of cold weather.
Jerkbaits like the Suick Thriller and inline spinners like the Musky Mayhem Double Cowgirl are top lure choice in the fall. Some of the best places on the lake to fish in the fall are Caney Creek, Leatherwood Creek, Ramey Creek, and Zilpo Flats.
Cave Run has produced several state record muskies including the current record, caught on Nov. 2, 2008 by Sarah Terry. The 54-inch, 47-pound muskie was taken near Clay Lick boat ramp.
* Fish the Kentucky River for a mixed creel of species
It’s hard to imagine a more ideal fishing destination than the Kentucky River and its major tributaries. Fishing is at its best in the fall, when water levels are lowest, and anglers can catch a wide variety of species from black bass and hybrid striped bass, to sauger and muskies, crappie, catfish and freshwater drum.
Tributaries such as Elkhorn Creek, in Franklin County and Eagle Creek in Owen County, offer high quality fishing for smallmouth bass. In the upper pools of the river, above Lock 6, populations of muskies offer trophy possibilities. In the lower pools, below Lock 3, big catfish and freshwater drum can make light tackle fishing exciting.
The Kentucky River is a paradise for small boaters, offering good fishing opportunities at low water in the late summer and fall (Photo by Art Lander Jr.)
This scenic and productive waterway flows through the heart of the state for 255 miles, and access points are an easy drive from almost everywhere in central Kentucky.
Arising from three forks that join near Beattyville, Ky., in Lee County, on the eastern boundary of Daniel Boone National Forest, the Kentucky River flows past small towns, rural communities, and bottomland farms as it makes its way through Frankfort and on to the Ohio River at Carrollton.
Impounded by 14 locks and dams, the Kentucky River is more like a series of lakes, with minimal current at normal pool, and quiet backwaters in tree-shaded tributary streams.
The river corridor is rich in plant and animal life. In some of the more remote stretches of the river, where the shoreline is undeveloped, the scenic qualities of the fishing experience rival any stream in the state.
Fish populations are supported by periodic stockings and natural reproduction, but flooding can depresses spawning success of bluegill, crappie and largemouth bass.
Anglers have many cover types to fish, from sand and mud flats, to gravel bars, undercut banks, stump beds, submerged timber, vertical rock palisades, and miles of chunk rock banks. Shad or crayfish-colored crankbaits are proven fish producers (every species from bass to catfish and drum).
Fish white and chartreuse spinnerbaits, with combinations of gold and silver finish Colorado and willowleaf blades, for smallmouth and largemouth bass. In the fall most fish can be found wherever there is current, below dams, creek mouths or outside bends of the channel, where current flows through submerged beds of water willow.
Limited, but improving access, sparse facilities and cycles of poor fishing are the main reasons why the Kentucky River is by-passed by many anglers. Fishing pressure has slightly increased through the years, but it’s still possible to drift for miles, and never see another boat.
For information on boat ramps, and the lock schedule, visit the Kentucky River Authority website.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.
