Taking a trip to Kentucky to visit my mom's parents before they buy the farm. Looks like we will get a day or so on Kentucky Lake. My dad has already arranged a couple boat rentals, so the only question becomes: where do we fish? Kentucky Lake appears to be ginormous, and I think my dad passed up the $200 a day bass boat rentals for more reasonable jon boats, so we won't be able to cover a lot of water. We are staying at Ken Oak Resort in Aurora, KY and our boats will make berth somewhere near there.

So, have any of you fished Kentucky Lake? Any advice on warmer southern waters? We are going over Memorial Day weekend, so its a safe bet the temps will be up. Id like to target large and smallmouth mostly.

Just in general, though, how do you prepare for fishing trips in unfamiliar territory? Know any sites where you can pick up local recon?

#1
go at sunup, fish topwater baits until about 9am.
hit the rocky shorelines.
get the bait within a foot of shore before you work it back.
skitter pop, chugbug, popr, anything shad collored.

#2
After 9/10am, try a 4-5" twin tail grub on a 3/8 jig standup , rootbeer or dark green colored.
same rocky shorelines.
work it back slow.
I bet KT lake is about 70 degrees right now.

there was a crappy partial early spawn but like many lakes in that
region another final bass spawn is predicted very soon.

Damn. That is some really awesome intel. Thanks man.

Didn't find much of what we were looking for, but caught a bunch of species new to us over the weekend. I am waiting to get pictures from my brothers' cameras and trying to finish up what will be a hugely long writeup over on my blog, but for now, here is as much of the tally as I can remember.

Largemouth: 3/4 (lost mine at the boat)
Smallmouth: 1
Channel cat: 2
Flathead cat: 1
Yellow Perch: 1
Green Sunfish: ~5
Bluegill: ~10
Drum: ~10
Striped/Hybrid Bass: ~30

In all honesty, those numbers may be higher and there may be a species I forgot about. Once we found a pattern that worked, we were pulling them in hand over fist. It was a blast. As I mentioned, full write up to come hopefully this week, before I have forgotten all the details.