Most of the best bream fishing on Kentucky Lake is found in the embayments, and good opportunities can be found in virtually any embayment. During May, the fish will be shallow, with many on the beds. Bluegill beds will be in back in pockets and coves, often around buckbrush or other woody cover. Shellcracker beds will be a little deeper, sometimes by a stump or in a gap in the vegetation. Whether an angler targets bluegills or shellcrackers (or both), it's hard to beat a cricket or an earthworm dangled beneath a small float and set to hang just off the bottom for spring bed fishing.

White bass make spawning runs every spring, moving to the heads of creeks all up and down the lake and also stacking up beneath Pickwick Dam. Most will have wrapped up their runs during May and will be working their way back down creek arms toward the main lake. Anglers can find good numbers along creek channel edges in the lower parts of the creeks, especially when the Tennessee Valley Authority is pulling water through the lake.

Jigging spoons, grubs and in-line spinners produce well when the fish are near the bottom; however, the same fish may come up schooling at any time, creating really fun topwater fishing opportunities.

The fish that pile up below Pickwick Dam won't necessarily head back downstream right after they spawn. They'll find a steady feast of shad in the tailwater and won't be in any hurry to leave the area. Anglers fishing live bait on three-way rigs or casting grubs or bucktails in the swift water can enjoy terrific action beneath the dam.

The daily shellcracker limit on Kentucky Lake is 30 fish. There is no limit for bluegills or other sunfish. The white bass limit is 15 fish. Visit www.kentuckylaketourism.com for more information on Kentucky Lake fishing, including guides and fishing lodges.

REELFOOT LAKE
Reelfoot Lake sort of looks like a giant farm pond, with its vast weedy flats, endless stumps and big stands of flooded timber. It should be little surprise, therefore, that Reelfoot's bluegills grow to farm-pond proportions. Despite heavy panfishing pressure, Reelfoot serves up fabulous bluegill action year after year, and May is prime time for fast action and jumbo-sized fish.

The spawn will hit in full swing at Reelfoot this month, meaning that where an angler finds one big bluegill, he's apt to find many others. It also means the fish will be along the lake's edges, holding on or very near the bottom in shallow water. Bream beds may be anywhere from less than a foot deep to about 6 feet deep on Reelfoot. Most beds will be close to a stump or a log or some other kind of cover.