A Fishing Guide to Kentucky's Major Lakes by Arthur B. LanderJr

Author:Arthur B. LanderJr. [Lander, Arthur B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Debbie Wiener with a largemouth bass she caught from Herrington Lake.

Herrington Lake’s bass population is closely monitored. “We check the population each spring,” said Prather. “There’s a lot of catch-and-release bass fishing; we don’t see the harvest impact [found at other lakes].”

Herrington is one of only four major lakes in Kentucky (the others are Dale Hollow, Green River, and Martins Fork Lake) that still has a 12-inch minimum size limit on largemouth bass. “If we go to a 15-inch minimum size limit, it will be because of added tournament pressure brought on by the lower size limit,” said Prather.

The best fishing is in the upper lake, above Gwinn Island. “There’s more nutrients, and bass are more accessible to anglers [in shallower water],” said Prather. “Numbers increase as you go up the lake. There’s a higher density of bass.”

Several lower sites are also particularly good for largemouth bass. Some of the best bass fishing embayments in the lower lake are Rocky Fork, Cane Run Branch, McKecknie Creek, and Spears Creek. The mudflats immediately above and below Chenault Bridge (Ky. 34) hold bass in the spring, and “The Hogback,” a rock hump on the north end of Dunn Island, is a postspawn bass magnet.

In the spring, Lexington professional angler Alex Thomasson fishes spinnerbaits. He also uses a suspending Smithwick’s Rattlin’ Rogue, a 5 1/2-inch crankbait with a blue back, silver sides, and an orange belly. “I put some Storm SuspenDots [adhesive-backed lead strips] on the belly of the lure to make it stay down longer,” said Thomasson.

Other good lure choices are the jig and pork rind combination, topwater lures, plastic lizards, and tube jigs. “I like to swim the lizards and tube jigs back to the boat rather than bouncing them off the bottom,” said Thomasson. “Topwater poppers such as the Rebel Pop-R are best when the fry are in the bushes.”

During the summer, most of the bass fishing occurs at night when Texas-rigged plastic worms are fished with success on shelf rock banks. There is some submerged timber left in the lake on deep, main lake points. Bass suspend over this cover in deep water and are very difficult to catch.

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