Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Good things sometimes come in small packages. That old cliché can, in many cases, be very true about fishing. Sure, there are huge reservoirs with an abundance of bass-fishing opportunities, but that’s true on many of our state’s smaller lakes as well.

Lots of our small lakes have excellent populations of bass and provide great opportunities to catch respectable fish away from some of the more crowded and noisy conditions often found on the big lakes. Some overlooked lakes actually have the potential to produce some really trophy-sized largemouths. Let’s take a look at five of those smaller lakes, which can be excellent fishing choices this month.

WOOD CREEK LAKE
The largest of our five featured waters is Laurel County’s Wood Creek Lake at 672 acres. The lake is nearby to the town of London. Wood Creek Lake has a good population of largemouth bass with decent numbers of quality-sized fish in the 12- to 15-inch range. Biologists regularly sample fish in the 3- to 5-pound range, so catching fish of this size or larger is very likely. The lake has a 15-inch minimum size restriction on harvesting bass.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) fisheries biologists have sampled Wood Creek Lake each spring for some time. In 2004, the KDFWR began sampling the lake in the fall. Biologists complete their fishing survey on bass in the fall to get an indication of the spring’s year-class.

It will take at least two to three years of fall shocking before biologists can get an index of bass at the lake. They will be attempting to predict the strength of year-classes and other factors. Wood Creek Lake is being looked at as a possible candidate for future supplemental bass stockings. By developing an index, fisheries personnel will be able to make informed decisions regarding size distribution, strength of individual year-classes, and potential stocking needs.

Spring and fall sampling so far indicate similar numbers of fish throughout the lake. Spring sampling will sometimes indicate larger bass toward the lower end of the lake. In late summer, anglers may want to concentrate on the upper end of the lake.

There are two arms at the upper end of Wood Creek Lake. One starts near the boat dock. There is a lot of timber in these arms and bass can usually be found close to this and other woody structure.

Largemouth bass really relate to the thermocline during summer and will usually hover just above it. Anglers can have the best success by fishing right above the thermocline, which probably will be somewhere around 15 feet deep at this time of year.

Anglers can usually find bass much shallower during the early-morning hours. As the sun intensifies and penetrates the water, bass will move deeper. Many anglers switch to night-fishing at Wood Creek Lake during the hottest time of the year.

Spinnerbaits and plastic worms are favorite choices in and around the timber and woody structure. Deep- water anglers will often throw crankbaits that resemble shad. The main forage base for largemouth bass at Wood Creek is gizzard shad.

Although largemouth bass are the most prevalent, there is also a small population of smallmouths in the lake as well. The density of smallmouths at Wood Creek is fairly low, but usually those fish caught are of decent size. It’s not uncommon for seasoned anglers to hook smallmouths here in the 18- to 20-inch range.

GUIST CREEK LAKE
Shelby County is home to Guist Creek Lake, which covers some 317 acres. The latest KDFWR fishing report indicates there are good numbers of bass over the 12-inch size limit with many that are 15 inches or larger. Biologists have sampled as many as 50 bass per hour that exceeded 15 inches. There is excellent potential at this lake to catch trophy-sized largemouths. There are also a few smallmouth bass caught occasionally at Guist Creek Lake.