Bassmaster Classic has excellent turnout

By JOEL WILSON
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW July 26, 2007 12:52 pm

— Barren Bassmaster President Larry Tarry was pleased with the turnout for the 32nd annual Bassmaster Classic held at Barren River Lake over the Saturday night-Sunday morning period.
Tarry said there was an entry of 123 bass fishermen with the top prize going to Eric Baier who also won one of the hourly weigh-ins. Baier’s bass weighed in at 4.65 pounds. Jason Bean was second in the finale.
Among the hourly winners were Charles Kerney, Terry Isenberg, Tony Irvin and Chad Stinson.
Baier also won the Scottish Rite tournament that is held regularly in conjunction with the Bassmaster event.
This week’s fishing report from Ranger Bob finds bass fishing continues to be pretty good on Barren.
Largemouth are said to be fair on 10-inch worms fished along drops and on points 12-16 feet deep; Carolina rigged lizards and Brush Hogs are also producing along channel drops. Jig and pig combinations are working well in and around brush and stumps near channel drops. Nighttime fishing is good on 10-inch worms, jigs and spinnerbaits fished along drops and points 12 to 16 feet deep.
Crappie are reported fair up the creeks around brush and stumps 12 to 15 feet deep on minnows, tubes and tiny shad baits and have been pretty good at night around lights in 10 to 12 feet of water.
Hybrid fishing continues to be excellent trolling the Junnie Rig and pet spoons on flats along drop lines.
Catfish have been very good around rocks and stumps near channel drops in 8 to 12 feet of water on night crawlers, crawfish, liver and dough baits
At the spillway hybrids are listed as fair on rooster tails, flukes and minnow type baits. Good on live bait, shiners and crawfish and catfish have been good on night crawlers and liver.
The lake level was at 547.55 Friday (summer pool is 552.00 and winter pool is 525.000). The lake has risen one inch in the past 24 hours and is rising slowly. The gates at the tower are open three-tenths on the bypass.
Lake temperatures are 83 degrees at the surface to 82 degrees at 15 feet and a low of 73 at 25 feet.

Anglers who ignore size and creel limits for trout on the upper Cumberland River tailwater are subject to fines ranging from $50 to $200 for each fish kept illegally.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources recently implemented emergency trout regulations that allow anglers to keep 10 trout daily of any size caught from the Tennessee state line to a point 100 yards upstream of the public boat ramp in Burkesville. However, this regulation only applies to the lower 40 miles of the river.
Existing regulations on trout size and creel limits still apply to the upper section of the tailwater from Wolf Creek Dam to Burkesville.
Confusion remains among trout anglers as to what section of the river the new regulation includes. Some incorrectly believe this new regulation is in effect for the entire 75 miles of trout water from Wolf Creek Dam to the state line according to this week’s news package from the department.
“We didn’t implement this new regulation river wide because we have adequate water temperatures in the first 35 miles of the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam,” said Benjy Kinman, director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “We have a zone of the river where we have critically high water temperatures and we are letting people keep more fish in that zone.”
There is still a 15- to 20-inch protective slot limit on rainbow trout in the first 35 miles of the Cumberland River from Wolf Creek Dam to Burkesville. Five rainbow trout may be kept daily and only one of those trout may be 20 inches or longer.