Fall Fishing On Kentucky's Cave Run Lake

Football is in full swing and basketball is just around the corner. The beautiful oaks, poplars and other hardwoods are showing off their robust colors and muskies are on the prowl at Cave Run Lake. It’s fall in the Bluegrass State.

- Scott Salchli

The fall season is by far my favorite time of the year to fish. The summer heat has died down and big muskies are starting to stock up, transitioning for winter.

Cave Run Lake is a flood-control reservoir conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE.) The regulation of water levels within the reservoir helps prepare the Licking River basin that feeds the reservoir and its connected creeks and streams for upcoming spring rains. Like most southern lakes, the ACOE wants a very slow, gradual drawdown of water, starting about the beginning of September, with summer pool being around 730 feet above sea level. Cave Run’s anticipated goal for winter pool, 724 feet above seal level, is around the middle of November, when temperatures are dropping.

I recommend these resources for tracking water levels at the Cave for optimum fishing:

• Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District: Daily Lake Reports: http://www.lrl-wc.usace.army.mil/reports/lkreport.html

• Daily Water Control Reports: https://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/WaterInformation/ or call [phone]

• United State Geological Survey (USGS), National Water Information Systems: Cave Run Lake Minute-by-Minute Water Levels Gauge: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?03249498