Tennessee/Kentucky Guys...

[nofearengineer]

I'm curious about some of the lakes on the way to Dale Hollow from Evansville, IN.

Since I'm basically taking a whole week off work to come down there, my buddy Mark and I were considering hitting a couple of lakes along the way. He's mentioned wanting to maybe fish a local tourney or two, and I figure if I have at least fished once or twice on all of the nearby lakes, we'd certainly have a better shot.

With a quick look at Google Maps, I found several that I've heard of before, but know next to nothing about.

Kentucky:

Rough River State Park

Barren River Lake

Nolin Lake

Green River Lake

Lake Cumberland - I've heard the lake is way, way down because they lowered it to keep the dam from failing and repair it...so this one is probably out.

Tennessee:

Old Hickory Lake

J Percy Priest

Cordell Hull Reservoir


Are any of these lakes worth a visit? Worth only fishing Dale Hollow 5 days instead of 6 good? We may hit Kentucky Lake or Barkley regardless, but I'm all about discovering new fishin holes. As with wanting to catch a big Smallie, I've always wanted to catch a big Striper too, so if these lakes have them, the more the better.

Let me know what you think.

[MallenManson]

I'm really starting to not like you, nofear. Haha. Actually, I like the way you think

[paul]

ky lake / tn river is off the chain. 50+ fish days are a real possibility any time you put a boat in the water there. the fish are fat and sassy from living in the current. they are usually very cooperative, easy to pattern and catch. just find the bait and the grass and you're in business most of the time. there's no mystery where the fish are a lot of times as they will just come up and bust shad all over the place when you're on 'em. lots of times you'll get a nice bonus fish like a white bass or a striper. i just started fishing there last year, so i am still learning. but the fishing was good enough to make me forget about several of the little honey holes i've had for years. and that's saying something.

[BassBandit]

Nofear, sent you PM.

[everettvet]

Nofear,
You are about an hour or two from Kentucky Lake as you pass most of the lakes you listed in Kentucky. I would go to Kentucky lake and fish. As far as tourneys, you can go to the state of Kentucky website and they list all the tournaments on all the lakes in the state of Kentucky. I do not know if Tennessee has anything like that on thier website.

[nofearengineer]

Thanks, Everett, but I have already been to Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake. Great fishing obviously, but this trip would be more reconnaissance.

[JB]

bryce,
denny has gone to percy priest and loves it, we are hitting it right before the forums dale hollow trip, then the next week we are going to fl. I am going back to clearwater and denny and netra are going to Miami.
I've only fished dale hollow out of the lakes listed, I've fished it probably six dif trips, most in the fall but once in the summer. Caught LM most of the time but didn't know what I was doing back then (early 80s) We used a minnow on a jig. Its still one of the hardest lakes I've ever fished.
The guy I went with had family in Livingston and they ran a marina, and each day I saw monster smallmouths brought in for fish fries, but I never hooked any.
Percy Priest sounds promising, I flew over it in oct. and got a good look at it on the way to tampa, can't wait to hit it.

[Mensa]

I live 3 minutes away from old hickory lake, dock right down the road from my house. It's a pretty good place, catch plenty of bass, bluegill, catfish, etc.

[lilmule]

Im 6 min away from Ky lake at Paris Landing,the fishing is good.Ky lake is exempt from the 18 in smallmouth length ,here its 15 in,across the board.The exception being spots.
Stripers and whites main channel around the 79 bridge area,smallies(not as big as on dale) on points and steep rock drops,largemouth about anywhere.
Old Hickory and Priest are both near Nashville,and offer decent fishing.

[Justin2729]

Barren river is by far my favorite lake in Kentucky! I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to anyone.

[walkeraviator]

Im resurrecting the dead thread here as my frst post, but Justin is dead on. Barren is a killer lake. I do 1 tri a year to Kentucky lake in teh spring, but I see Barren a couple times a month when teh schedule permits...