Kentucky Lake levels remain stable, with current and predicted levels at New Johnsonville, holding in the mid 355ft level. Flow has picked up as the upper Tennessee River has seen some influx of rain. Average flows this past weekend were in the 50,000cfs range, but I do expect flows to diminish this upcoming week if we don’t see much rainfall in the system. Over the next few months, TVA will continue to draw the lake levels toward winter-pool levels of 354ft, which usually will be by the first week in November. The Duck River is low, with current levels this past weekend at 1ft off Dyer Rd. The Buffalo is also low, with a level of 3.1ft at Lobelville. The Cumberland River at Dover is at 55.7ft. Kentucky Lake water temperatures continue to fall, and as of Friday, was at 80 degrees. (DO) level was at 6.99mg/L with a pH of 7.4
With the cooler nights and days, hopefully we will see fishing improving, as cooling water temperatures will encourage the fish into feeding more often. I still haven’t had many fishing reports this past week, with the cooler temperatures in the picture. Often the wind will pick up out of the north, and create large swells and white-caps on the river, keeping many fishermen ashore. As the water temperatures fall into the 70’s, crappie and bass will move shallow, in what many call the “fall spawn”. Although the fish aren’t actually spawning, they will often move shallow, into areas that bait fish concentrate, and often the fish will be in the same locations and depths that they are found during the spring spawn. Look for active feeding fish chasing bait on the surface, also look for cover just out from the shallow water for resting bass and crappie. The catfish bite continues to be okay, with many catches coming from the middle of the river, suspended in water depths of around 30-40ft deep.
Upcoming fishing events; Kentucky Lake Bass Anglers on September 23rd at the Carroll Co. 1000-acre Lake, and the ABA division 40 on September 23rd out of Lucas Harbor. There will be a Classroom Hunter Education Class on October 6th and 7th at the Humphreys Co. Sheriff's Range off Secpter Rd; per-register by visiting TWRA’s Web site; TnWildlife.org, and looking for the class under Hunter Education.
We are a week away form the opening of archery deer season, which will open on the 4th Saturday in September, which this year is Sept. 23rd. Hunters are reminded that we are blessed in Humphreys Co. and the surrounding areas, that we have a lot of public hunting ground available to hunt. Nearly all of TVA grounds are open to all types of hunting, as well as the Federal Duck River Refuge (an additional refuge permit is required to hunt on the refuge, type 064 $15 permit). Archery hunting isn't as popular as it once was, but this early deer season is a great opportunity for hunters to harvest a deer before the oaks start dropping their acorns, changing the habits of the deer. Last year for the opening weekend of archery season , Humphreys Co. had 23 deer harvested, of which 8 were antlered. Often early in the archery season bucks will remain together, but as the days continue to get shorter, the “Rut” changes the deer's behavior, as the bucks no longer will tolerate each others company and become much more solitary, and start looking for Doe’s.