Like Green River, Laurel also supports smallmouths and Kentucky bass, offering wider variety and more opportunity for success. The lake itself is similar to other eastern reservoirs: It is very deep and becomes very clear when rainfall is less abundant in mid- to late summer. Doing exceptionally well, regardless of how good the fishery is, is fairly rare for daytime bass anglers. Odds greatly improve at night.

Largemouth anglers at Laurel Lake find their best success doing three things. First, those who leave at home their heavy-duty fishing equipment designed for jerking bass out of thick cover, in favor of lighter tackle, will fair better.

The “softer” approach works better for clear-water bass. You can continue to fish in cover, but the improved action of lures and less disturbance of lighter lines affords fewer spooked bass. Plastic worms and craws appear more realistic on lighter lines. And crankbaits imitate the real thing more closely, which is sometimes necessary to convince cautious bass to strike.

Look for woody cover in the upper end of the lake to hold more largemouths, and structure on points as a prime target to fish. If possible, time your fishing trip shortly after a good rain has gotten the flow up, bringing in a new round of food and staining the creeks a little. If you fish during the daytime, get on shaded banks or fish on a cloudy day.

If smallmouth fishing is your thing, stick to the lower lake points and the main lake channel to find what Williams says will be good numbers of 14- to 18-inch fish this year.

Look for large chunks of rock and pea gravel points that slope out into deeper water.

You may come up with some decent spotted bass in these areas, too. Spots look more like largemouths, but act more like smallmouths in the habitat they prefer. These fish are more tolerant of warm water than smallmouths, and you can often hook them at night in places of shoreline cover that appear to be classic smallmouth zones. Spots can handle staying closer to the surface longer. So for best results, hit the fallen trees, brush and shoreline debris with a spinnerbait or crankbait near deep-water access.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that until the KDFWR decided to reinstate the legendary 11-pound, 15-ounce all-tackle state- and world-record smallmouth caught by David Hayes in 1955 in the Kentucky portion of Dale Hollow, Coolie Williams claimed the record with an 8-pound plus fish taken in Laurel River Lake.

There are trophy-class fish present, if you’re fortunate enough to hook up with one. Laurel remains under the trophy smallmouth management approach of an 18-inch minimum-size limit. The largemouth size limit is 15 inches.

WOOD CREEK LAKE
At 762 acres, Wood Creek Lake isn’t a massive Kentucky reservoir, but it certainly carries a pretty significant reputation for largemouth bass. Kentucky’s best largemouth -- of 13 pounds, 10 ounces -- has stood the test of time for Wood Creek and Dale Wilson for over 20 years. Wood Creek is located in Laurel County.

The 15-inch size limit on both largemouths and smallmouths seems to be maintaining a very high-quality bucketmouth fishery at Wood Creek. The opportunity for a trophy 18-inch-plus smallie also exists, though smallmouth numbers are much fewer.

“We’ve seen good numbers of 14- to 18-inch largemouth in recent population checks,” said Williams.

Compared to waters in the region, Wood Creek scores well as a bass-fishing destination. Also, it doesn’t receive the fishing pressure that bigger waters do. Generally, the lines at boat ramps are shorter and pleasure boat traffic is less congested than on Laurel, Cumberland, Dale Hollow and Green River lakes.