Changing conditions at Barren Lake with fall drawdown has vastly improved fishing, especially for crappie. Even I have managed to catch a few.

That’s the gist of Bill Logsdon’s weekly fishing report, which follows:

“The Corps has slowed down the volume of water that they have been releasing for winter draw down and the fishing has improved dramatically over the past week on Barren. Crappie fishermen have been patiently waiting all year for the crappie to get ‘turned on.’ Nearly every crappie fisherman that I have talked to this past week has caught crappie. We have just come through the worst spring and summer for crappie that I can recall, but ‘the bite is back.’ Twenty-five to 50 crappie per boat has not been uncommon. Sixty degree surface temp and calm to light winds with sunshine has made ideal conditions for catching fish. Some have been slow trolling the ledges, others casting to cover and some tight-lining.

“They have all been producing crappie. Chartreuse, green and chartreuse, pearl and popsicle (green/pink/chartreuse) have been the top colors this week. Majority of the crappie are being caught in the 6 feet to 10 feet range, but on warm sunny days, they will often move up shallower as the sun warms the surface temp.

“Todd and I fished Tuesday morning and caught 25 nice crappie from 10 to 12 inches by 10:30 a.m. We were using grubs over brush in 8 to 10 ft. depths and tubes under floats 6- to 8-feet deep. Our best producing colors were chartreuse pepper and chartreuse.

“Bass fishing has been good the past week as well. Bass have moved in shallower as the water level began to stabilize. Crank baits and Hot Spots have been producing well this week. Look for the bait fish and fish the heaviest concentrations you can find. Remember, fish are feeding up to get through the winter. Now is the time to get on the water if you are not too busy hunting!

“Speaking of hunting, that is where Todd and I will be Saturday morning as gun season opens statewide for deer. Pre rut is already in progress and all we need is cooler weather to trigger the ‘real deal.’ The odds of getting a trophy buck go up ten fold when they are in rut during the gun season. They lose all their cautious instincts and get careless. The only thing on their mind is chasing females. It has been the downfall of ‘many a male.’ Good luck and make sure you know your target before you pull the trigger!!!”

As Bill noted, Kentucky’s modern gun deer season indeed opens statewide Saturday. For the state’s estimated 254,000 deer hunters, and according to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, it’s the most popular weekend of the year to hunt.

“The deer harvest to this point is up from last year,” said Tina Brunjes, big game program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “That’s partly due to good weather, but also indicative that we’ve got a lot of deer.”

The state’s total deer herd, estimated at one million animals, was not impacted by last year’s outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). Kentucky Fish and Wildlife received more than 4,000 reports of deer killed by the disease, and many hunters were concerned about its impact on deer populations.

“We didn’t see anything in the harvest that would indicate that anybody got hit really hard at a county-wide level,” Brunjes said. She added that after a severe outbreak, deer herds are largely immune to the disease for a few years. Although some cases of the disease occur every year, department biologists are aware of only a handful of suspected cases this year.

Hunters may wonder if the state’s continued drought will impact their chances this gun season. “I don’t think it will have as much of an impact as the weather and mast (nut) crop,” Brunjes said. “Weather pretty much drives harvest. It affects how deer move and how hunters hunt. And whether or not we have rain, deer are going to stick close to mast.”

Hunters should focus on white oaks this year when looking for deer food sources. Red oak acorns will be scarce, due to the late freeze in the spring of 2007. Red oaks take two years to mature, so it will be another year before hunters will see them return as a key deer food source.

“The mast crop has been mixed, but most people are reporting a pretty good white oak crop,” Brunjes noted.