I am a beginer fly fisherman and plan on being in the Paducah,Ky area in April. Does anyone know where I could fish in that area? Guided OK.
Thanks for a great site and info.
Donat-
Do you mean Paducah, KY? If so, how far are you willing and/or able to drive?
Welcome to the addiction, by the way! 
Yes, I mis-spelled Paducah. I would be willing to drive around 50 miles.
Thanks for the welcome
Donat-
You’re going to be too far away from anything with which I have firsthand familiarity. Hopefully someone else here can contribute some local knowledge. I do know that you will be close to the Land Between the Lakes area, a real fishing hotspot for various warm water species. As the name implies, it is comprised of two lakes, Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, and both get a ton of action for bass, bluegill, crappie (I think), and others. I thought I remembered rumor of some trout fishing either below the dam of one of those lakes, or on a tributary into one of the tailwaters, but can’t find any information on that. Again, hopefully someone with local knowledge can elaborate. If you hit one of the lakes, April could be a good month, as the water and the action should be warming up by then. Good luck!
Donat,
There are numerous fishing opportunities for you in the western Kentucky area in the month of April. However, you do need to know that with a couple of exceptions, all of this fishing will be for warmwater fish species. Those exceptions are a couple of stocked trout streams that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks on a put-and-take basis. See the following website for those streams listed in Calloway County, near Murray, and Trigg County, near Cadiz:
http://fw.ky.gov/catch&releasetrout.asp?lid=1731&NavPath=C101
Additionally, you may call the Western Regional Fishery Biologist, Paul Rister, for more details on these trout streams. His contact info is here:
http://fw.ky.gov/fishbiol.asp?lid=682&NavPath=C101C139
Both of these streams are some distance from Paducah. A better option may be for you to select to fish for warmwater species in Kentucky and/or Barkley Lakes. These two reservoirs are connected by a canal near Grand Rivers, KY; about 25 miles from Paducah. The two large reservoirs total about 220,000 surface acres of water; Barkley is about 60,000 acres and Kentucky is about 160,000 acres.
Unfortunately, shoreline angling opportunities are somewhat limited. The most successful anglers utilize boats to allow access to more productive fishing spots. If this is your first time in the area, a guide is highly recommended. Again, another caveat. I do not know of any guides on Kentucky Lake who offer fly fishing guide service, per se. That is not to say one could not fly fish with the guide carrying you to a location where you can catch some fish. Talk with the prospective guide before the trip and see if he/she is amenable to fly fishing. Here is a partial listing of a few of the guides for the northern (Kentucky) portion of Kentucky Lake:
http://www.explorekentuckylake.com/lakesarea/fishing/guides.htm
Of course there are other fishing opportunities in the Paducah area, if water conditions allow. The Ohio River runs adjacent to Paducah and has a decent fishery for warmwater fish (not as prolific as Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, however). There are also some ponds just west of Paducah on the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area (see here: http://fw.ky.gov/kfwis/wmaguide.asp?lid=600&NavPath=C151C154 ; look under “Purchase Area”, Number 7). Again, success is not likely to be as great as it might be in the large reservoirs. Finally, one can fish the tailwaters of Kentucky and Barkley Dams. This is NOT wade fishing; without a boat, one needs to climb along a rip-rap lined shoreline and cast out. In April, you can expect to catch sunfish, such as bluegill and longear, white bass, yellow bass, white and black crappie, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass from the tailwaters while shoreline fishing the tailwaters.
Again, by far, your best success will likely be in the reservoirs (the Big Ponds, as they have been called locally). April is typically the time when both species of crappie move shallow to spawn. Also, this is the time of year when the reservoirs are filling to summer pool levels. This filling puts water in the shoreline vegetation; in the form of buttonbush, black willow, wild hybiscus, and water willow (known here as “bass grass”). Water willow beds are great places to fish for the spawning crappie with fly tackle! Any type of minnow fly pattern will work well here. At the same time the crappie are spawning, bass of all three species will be in shallow water feeding up for their upcoming spawning rituals. They can be found in this same shoreline cover and will hit minnow pattern flies and surface poppers. If you cast a plastic worm-imitating fly such as the V-Worm, you may get bit as well. If you find an area with some pea-gravel just off the shoreline vegetation (the guide will know where these areas are) and the water is warm enough, you may find some pre-spawn redear sunfish (shellcrackers) and large bluegill. Use a pair of beadhead nymphs, such as PTs or Bird’s Nest under an indicator.
As I indicated earlier, there are not many shoreline fishing opportunities on the Big Ponds. However, there are a few places that you might get in some decent fishing. You may wish to check out the area of Kentucky Dam Village State Park. There is a rip-rap breakwater surrounding the marina that will hold fish on occasion. Check with the State Park Ranger and see if fishing is allowed in the beach area. In April, there will be no one swimming there, and beaches are real fish attractors in spawning season.
If you will PM me your mailing address, I will send you a Kentucky Lake Recreation Map (I am the TVA fisheries biologist for Kentucky Reservoir). If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.
Gary
I live about 30 Miles West of Paducah KY. When in April are you coming here and what are you wanting to fish for.
Thanks Gary for all the great info, I will use it to make my trip successful.
Mark, I’ll be there around the last week in April. I prefer fishing for trout.
IMHO Casey Creek in Trigg County would be your best bet, but it may be a little outside 50 miles, there is also the West Fork of the Clarks River just outside of Murry KY. I have fished both for several years, and had good on both. This is the only trout fishing we have close to use, they are stockers, no wild trout that I know of. I am not sure if either of these waters was stocked as per normal because of the problems the State hatchery is having due to work being done on the dam at Lake Cumberland.
Normal stocking for Casey was monthly from April to October, the Clarks got stock October only. Both are C&R, artifical only from October to April.
I can supply more info if you like.
I haveTrips/Streets, can you give me a town/route around Casey, I should be able to find it.
Thanks
I’d like to take you up on your offer for a map. Looks like someplace I would like to try.
Donat LaRoche
11 Sunshine Terrace
North Grosvenordale,Ct 06255
Thanks
Casey Creek is south of Cadiz KY on County Road 525 about 7 miles east of the 139/525 junction.
Donat,
The map will go out in today’s mail. It is the Kentucky Lake Recreation Map TVA used to publish. It covers only Kentucky Lake. Again, if I can be of further assistance, let me know.