Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire KY: Land Between The Lakes..Camp, Fish, Hike???

Thinking about going down there for a week with the wife to do some tent camping, hiking and fishing. Any body ever been? If so, do you have any specific recommendations? Is there somewhere else in KY or TN that you think would be better?? Already been to GSMNP a few times so that's out. Thanks! Steve

I've been there many times.

Camping opportunities are very good there.

My two favorite camping areas are The Energy Lake campground and the Ginger Ridge backcountry camp.

The Energy Lake campground is situated on the shore of a large bay that comes off of Barkley Lake. A jetty has been constructed that separates it from the main body of Barkley Lake, essentially making it a lake of its own, and it's a good sized body of water with good fishing for largemouth and catfish. The campground is large enough that you're not cramped in.

The Ginger Ridge backcountry camp is located on a bluff overlooking Kentucky Lake. It's very secluded and each campsite is totally separate from the others.

The last time I was there I was the only person camping in the entire area. But understand, Ginger Ridge is *real* backcountry camping. There's no facilities at *all*. It's just some slightly cleared flat spots to pitch a tent. As for fishing, there's fishing all over. Kentucky and Barkley Lakes combine to provide an enormous body of water. I'd guess that the Crappie are starting to get pretty active right now,..as are the Largemouth, but it's so much shoreline that you'll need to spend some time finding them.

It's probably best to get some information from the locals or read the fishing reports to see where the most activity is occurring.

LBL is a great place. It's not over-run with people and it's still quite primitive if you get down into it, but if you want to find some amenities, there's places to eat and buy groceries up around its northern entrance.

Here's this:

http://www.lbl.org/CAMPEnergy.html

Here's a pretty good read,...a bit dated but probably still relevant. LBL doesn't change much from year to year.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/..._1_campgrounds-lakes-unspoiled-shoreline

Thanks for the info, Bristoe.

Also,...the Land Between the Lakes area is as developed or as primitive as you want.

It's a big place.

The northern entrance and the surrounding areas have some nice resorts, cabins,..that sort of thing, but like I said previously, if you drive down into it, it's pretty much a wilderness with occasional campgrounds and attractions.

There's plenty of room for people who want to get away (most of it is that way, actually) but if you get tired of roughing it, it's not much of a drive to find some civilization.

It's a good place to spend some time if you're an outdoors kind of person.

Bristoe, I read that KY has a spring squirrel hunting season, have you ever squirrel hunted LBL?


maddog

No,...never hunted the place, but they have a deer season too.

It's the only place in the area with a population of fallow deer.

My son lives in Clarksville, not far from LBL's and I've been doing a little research. Tenn. has a 30 day spring squirrel season, don't know about Ky.

I know there is a very scary bridge there to drive on with a Semi.......

I don't want to camp, don't want to fish, and the only hiking I'd do is if HUNTING!!

Tell me about that! I'd almost bet NO HUNTING! Firearms are bad!!

You'd loose that bet. http://www.lbl.org/hunting.html

There are some big deer in the LBL area. Some of my friends have done well there. I will probably hunt there this fall for the first time.

Great place to camp, hike, and fish. Great hiking and world class fishing. I'm heading to Red River Gorge this weekend and the next to do some climbing. Great camping, hiking, climbing, and fishing there as well.

I grew up on the other side of Barkley lake from LBL.

I ran around there all the time. My family owned farmland over there before the lakes were flooded. So, 20 years ago I still knew ever road and camping spot over there. There is some wonderful hunting and fishing there.

If you are going to fish from the bank, I would stay on the Barkley side. Maybe around Energy or Hematite lake. My grandfather used to catch a bunch of striped bass off the west side of the KY lake bridge in the rocks.

F&W started the spring squirrel season after I moved so I have never hunted in the spring.

Make sure you have tick repellent. They used to be pretty thick.

Have fun.

Dave

Might be a good idea to carry.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/06/29/1327571/gorge-closes-after-bear-attack.html

I carry everywhere I go.... But I think that guy was getting a little close to the bears on purpose. The biggest hazard at the gorge is watching where you are walking at night. People routinely take the express elevator to the bottom floor at night...

Yeah,...I've spent a lot of time hiking and camping in the gorge back in the 70's and 80's.

It's a bit surreal to think of it as being black bear territory now.

I had heard that black bear had been moving back into eastern Kentucky, but until I heard of the attack, I had no idea that they were 60 miles east of Lexington.

I camped a lot back there in high school in the 90's. Its a pretty good place to get away from things. Yeah we've seen a good amount of bear activity here in London-Laurel County. We had on pair of bears running through town several years ago, ended up catching them in the wal-mart parking lot IIRC. I've been thinking about trying my hand at bear season out in the far east end of the state, but haven't got around to it yet.

Camped at Kenlake State Park for a couple guy camping/fishing trips 20 years ago. Hired a guide and went after sauger and caught a bunch. Facilities at the park were very nice. Of course this info is very old, but I'd say go for it. And try a guide if it's in the budget. I've found that to be a useful thing especially on new waters.

Have a great trip.

Good info, thanks! Didn't know about the Spring squirrel season. Adds another item to the list....let's see, camp, hike, boat, fish, hunt, cycle....that should keep us busy! I'll try to report back with some pics.

[/quote}The biggest hazard at the gorge is watching where you are walking at night. People routinely take the express elevator to the bottom floor at night... [/quote]

Agreed. No way I'd hike there at night for that very reason. Even during the day you have to watch your step, particularly when going around fallen limbs that are across the trail. One mis-step and you're gone!