When the morning topwater bite has waned, the angler decides to make a move.

In some ways, it's just like the moves that bass anglers regularly make. He'll fire up the engine, run for 15 minutes or so and pull up on a long point at the mouth of a major bay, then start fishing the main lake before working back into the bay.

In other ways, his run is unlike almost all others. This angler will run to a totally different lake in hopes of finding clearer water and more current -- and he'll do so without having had to go through any locks.

Kentucky and Barkley lakes are linked by a canal near the dams that impound the two big reservoirs. And together, these lakes in western Kentucky offer an amazing amount of opportunity for largemouths and smallmouths alike. Kentucky and Barkley both begin in Tennessee and flow roughly south to north through Kentucky. Together, they offer nearly 100,000 acres of fishing waters within the borders of the commonwealth. Largemouths clearly dominate the black bass population in both reservoirs, but smallmouths are well represented in the lakes' lower reaches -- and the smallies sometimes grow to super sizes.

The two lakes, which impound the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, flow side-by-side from south to north through their Kentucky portions, which make up the lower ends of each lake. In ways the lake are alike, but from looking at a map, you might expect their personalities to be more similar than they actually are.

Kentucky Lake is steeper-sided than its easterly neighbor and has more rocky cover. In addition, it is older and generally has clearer water. The makeup of the black bass population is also distinct and sometimes more varied than anglers would expect. Both lakes tend to offer great bass fishing, however, and both are currently in very good condition. Water conditions also affect fishing dramatically and sometimes, because of power-generation schedules and resulting differences in current flow, one lake will fish completely differently than the other.

Let's take a look at these two lakes, considering they are similar to one another, how they are different and the state of the fishery on both lakes. Most significantly, we'll explore some of the types of areas that promise the best late-spring action and the best approaches for fishing those waters at this time of year.

KENTUCKY LAKE
Kentucky Lake largemouths earned a "good" rating in the most recent fishing forecast put out by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resource (KDFWR). However, biologists are always quick to point out that even a "poor" year on Kentucky Lake is better than an "excellent" year on many other lakes. This lake's size, fertility and variety of quality habitat allow it to support tremendous largemouth stocks along with a good smallmouth population.