Willisburg

by John Kirkland

8/18/2012

I decided to head down to Willisburg Lake on a pleasant, 80° Saturday  afternoon in August. I’ve seen this lake on maps and have thought about  checking it out for several years. Located a couple of miles south of  exit 42 of the Bluegrass Parkway and lying along the “Triple Five” (555)  highway, Willisburg is a 126 acre reservoir with a marina and decent  launch ramp. Launch fee was $5 (2012). I was able to make it there in under an  hour from the southwest side of Lexington, even with construction on the  Parkway.

Willisburg is a pretty lake and even though I was there on a prime  Saturday with good weather, it was very quiet on the water. I saw only one other boater on the water, trolling with multiple crappie jigs rigged with live minnows (available at the marina). He was just  finishing up his 30 crappie limit, catching one every couple of minutes.  He said that there are lots of crappie, but they don’t have much size.

I took my kayak out and went up into the cove directly opposite of  the launch. I paddled into the wind, to the mouth of the little creek in  the end of the cove. Allowing the gentle breeze to push me back, I cast  a chartreuse rooster tail, with no luck, followed by a shakey tail tube  jig [no luck], a nightcrawler on a slip bobber [couldn’t get anything  to even steal that from me], and finally a yo-zuri pin’s minnow. I  managed to catch one 10″ largemouth, casting into about a foot of water  in the creek mouth.

I threw a variety of other lures, but no connections. What surprised  me was a lack of bluegill and other panfish that typically hit spinners  and steal bait. Not sure how the populations are set up. There are shad  in the lake, which can affect panfish…

Others on the lake said that 5-lb bass had been caught recently. I  believe this, given the buffet of shad that covered the surface in the  hour before dark. I guess I’m still working out a successful approach to  catching bass in a shad-filled lake. I know it can be done, and that  the bass that are caught can be very nice.

Willisburg seems like a lake with promise. Crappie are abundant and using minnows under a slip bobber seems to nail them pretty well. The  lake is close to Lexington, Frankfort, Lawrenceburg, and other towns in  the area, and is one of the easier lakes to find and get into. Good  highways all the way there—none of the winding little paths that are  usually required to reach water.

There is a little bit of shoreline that a person could fish from, but it is limited. Accessibility might be troublesome for wheelchairs. The ramp is steep and drops off immediately—good for a trailered boat, but a  bit more challenging for a kayak (getting out, especially). There is a convenience dock available.