Spring 2003 Issue

Kentucky has many overlooked small lakes perfect for a Sunday afternoon family outing. These public lakes offer excellent fishing opportunities for anglers in canoes, small johnboats, float tubes or just walking the bank.

Each lake has good fishing, and is a manageable size. Good numbers of bluegill, largemouth bass, crappie, catfish and even trout abound in these lakes. For this issue, Kentucky Afield profiles McNeely Lake in southern Jefferson County, Bullock Pen Lake on the border of Grant and Boone counties, and Carpenter Lake near Owensboro.

McNeely Lake, with its rock- and stump-lined shallow bottom, offers good fishing within Kentucky’s biggest metropolitan area. "McNeely is a lot better lake than you would think, being in such an urban area," said Jeff Crosby, assistant fisheries biologist.

Although the bluegill fishing is good, McNeely also gives anglers a chance to catch a trophy largemouth bass. "You can go fish there and catch a 4- to 6-pound bass," Crosby said.

McNeely is a mature, L-shaped lake built 50 years ago. "It is a good lake for bass, bluegill, redear sunfish and catfish," said Fisheries Biologist Kerry Prather. "McNeely gets bank fished on one side, but it doesn’t get fished out. There is enough cover to harbor the fish."

It wasn’t long ago that anglers would scoff at fishing in the lake.

Shad, which compete with bluegill and other sunfish for food, caused problems when they were introduced into the lake through an unauthorized stocking. Competition with shad results in very small bluegill.

Shad eradication efforts in 1997 helped solve the problem. Prather said the bluegill and redear sunfish populations increased as a result.

Sampling of the lake revealed an excellent number of 6- to 7-inch bluegill and good numbers of 7- to 9-inch redear sunfish. A Popeye jig tipped with a mealworm or wax worm is a great bluegill rig for McNeely as well as the traditional red worm or night crawler.

Lake sampling also revealed good numbers of largemouth bass over 15 inches, with the occasional fish over 20 inches. Bass in the 12- to 15-inch range are common.

Since the lake is now devoid of shad, largemouth bass feed mainly on crayfish and baby bluegill. Smaller 4- to 6-inch plastic worms in junebug, purple and plum glitter, as well as 3- to 5-inch grubs in the same colors, imitate baby bluegill. Crankbaits with hues of green, purple or orange also mimic baby bluegill.

A crayfish-imitating bait is best for largemouth bass in the spring, when crustaceans emerge from their winter hibernation. A skirted double-tailed grub — or a jig-and-pig in black and blue or black and brown — may produce the biggest bass of the year when slowly crawled along mud bottoms in early spring.

A large minnow drifted under a bobber near shoreline vegetation is another productive method for bank anglers targeting bass.

Bullock Pen Lake

Crosby believes Bullock Pen is one of the best bass lakes in the northern Kentucky. "It’s not quite on the caliber of Kincaid Lake, but it’s pretty close," he said. "You are pushing 8- or 9-pounders in there."

Crosby said bass anglers can easily eliminate the lake’s unproductive water. "Fish points and banks with a lot of vegetation and overhanging trees. On the banks that are mowed down clean with no trees, there are no fish," he said.

Bullock Pen has numerous shad and small bluegill. Lures should match this forage. Plastic worms or grubs in shades of purple, blue, green or orange mimic baby bluegill. Shad imitators include crankbaits and floating minnow baits in chrome with a blue or black back. A white or white and chartreuse spinnerbait is deadly on lakes with shad, especially in spring, or fished at nighttime in the summer.

Minnows fished underneath a bobber along the vegetation or cast to the edge of weeds with a small split shot is a good bet for bass on Bullock Pen.

Bullock Pen Lake is best fished from a boat, canoe or float tube because of the steep banks and private property surrounding it. Bank fishing is possible near the public ramp on Violet Road.

Carpenter has a reputation for bluegill, but the 65-year-old lake near Owensboro now has an outstanding crop of crappie.

"It’s had a heck of a crappie population since 1996 or 1997, and it’s developed into an outstanding crappie lake," said David Bell, northwestern fishery district biologist. "Day in and day out, it blows away any lake from Peabody. It has a lot more pounds per acre in it."

Carpenter Lake is broad and shallow with a maximum depth of 15 feet. Crappie stage along drop-offs in early spring. A live minnow fished along these drop-offs scores on these pre-spawn crappie. As the water warms, crappie move into the little coves and cuts along shore into water less than 5 feet deep. A small curly-tailed white grub, small safety pin spinners like the Beetle Spin, and live minnows worked in shallow cover produce limits of crappie.

Like McNeely Lake in Jefferson County, Carpenter Lake once suffered from a weed problem that hurt the fishing.

Curly leaf pondweed infested Carpenter Lake until grass carp stocked in the mid-1990s cleaned up the problem. An aeration system installed later also helped keep the lake free of noxious weeds. Crappie, bluegill and bass populations have boomed since.

"We did a creel survey on the lake and it was real eye-opening how many bluegill and other sunfish are coming out of that lake," Bell said. "It is a good producer of bluegill and it always has been."

Carpenter Lake gives anglers a good chance to land a trophy bluegill. Crickets cast into brush or fallen tree limbs are prime producers of big bluegill. These panfish can’t resist a juicy cricket cast into their midst. Other good baits for bluegill on Carpenter Lake include red worms, bits of night crawler, wax worms and mealworms.

The largemouth bass population in Carpenter Lake is also going through the roof. In the last two years, the number of 12- to 15-inch bass nearly doubled. The numbers of fish more than 15 inches increased six-fold.

For bank anglers, good access exists along KY 405 and on some of the lake points. Disabled anglers can reach big bluegill, crappie and bass by using the handicap-accessible floating pier. 

Copyright 2003 Kentucky Afield Magazine.  All rights reserved.