With all the rainfall we had last week, the lake jumped up a couple feet and the flow increased back into the 100,000+cfs range, and the wind started blowing! TVA has been trying to keep the lake near winter pool (354ft), and it has started to fall back to the 354ft mark. Both the Duck and Buffalo Rivers came up over 10ft, as did the local creeks, and this has contributed to the lake rise. Kentucky Lake was at 356ft on Friday, and is expected to fall back to normal by mid week. The Cumberland River at Dover was at 57.14 on last Friday, and continues to fall. Water temps have been in the low to mid 40’s.
The regular gun/deer season ended on this past Sunday, but there is a ‘private lands hunt’ where hunters may harvest ‘anterless’ deer on private lands only. The private land hunt started Monday, and will continue until Friday, Jan 13th. And the deer season will conclude with the juvenile hunt this weekend, Jan 14-15th. So far Humphreys Co. has had 2,296 deer harvested this year, which is around 700 more deer from the same period last year. The statewide total is 148,089 for this season, which is 18,513 more than last season for the same period. Here are some totals for surrounding Counties; Houston-1,043, Hickman-2,178, Dickson-2592, Perry-1,749, Benton-2,013. I do expect some additional deer harvested over the next week, including the juvenile hunt.
I haven't got a fishing report this week, all the rain and wind has kept most off the lake this past week. It is winter, and conditions can be tough, but once stability sets in, the fishing can be some of the best of the year.
The cold snap a few weeks ago, pushed most of the waterfowl south, with the largest concentration being on the Mississippi river around Jackson Mississippi into Arkansas, north towards Reelfoot Lake. I’ve seen some successful hunts locally, even on the warmer days, as the Duck River Refuge seems to have had an increase in ducks over the last few weeks. The regular waterfowl hunt will continue until the end of this month, January 31st.