This week on Kentucky Afield.

Wave 3 anchor John Boel does much more than report the nightly news.

One of his many hobbies.

Catching walleye after walleye from the Green River.

Next, we're on the water, but we're not fishing.

We're trying to gig frogs from a kayak.

Then we'll join biologist in eastern Kentucky to learn about the benefits of fire.

It's all next on Kentucky Afield.

Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Join us as we journey the Commonwealth in search of outdoor adventure.

Walleye is a fish species that I get asked quite often where and how to catch them.

Recently, we went out with a TV personality out of Louisville to find out how he catches walleye from the bank.

Well, it's very rare for me to be sitting on the banks of a river at 1:00 in the morning waiting to go fishing.

But this is a kind of a special day.

I actually have a gentleman coming with me today to fish the Green River because he has a ton of experience here.

And it's Wave 3 anchor, John Boel.

Now, John, he fishes a lot, but he has the 11:00 news.

Doesn't get off until 11:30.

That's in Louisville.

So by the time we get here and get geared up and ready to go, this is going to be fishing right in the middle of the night.

I'm really looking forward to it.

And I know this is one of his favorite ways to fish.

I have a feeling, tonight we're going have a good time.

You've been in Kentucky for how many years now?

Since late 88.

So all the places that you all the opportunities fish in Kentucky.

I mean, this place really holds a little...

This place is better than Canada.

This place is better than Wisconsin.

A viewer turned me on to this couple of years ago.

Said if you like walleye fishing in the rivers of Wisconsin, we got walleyes down here in Green River and I couldn't believe it.

Like, once I started learning it, I got 51 walleye as my last seven trips.

My dad came to me when I was a kid and I was so busy doing everything hunting, fishing, sports.

And he comes to me one day and he says, You got a lot of stuff going on.

You need to, like, pare it down, pick something.

And he said, I suggest fishing.

I said that's a good suggestion.

So we didn't even go hunting anymore.

We just fish because the fall's best for fishing in Wisconsin.

So yeah, it's been ever since.

I played travel baseball, probably about 13 years old.

I'll never forget sitting there at all-stars one time and I remember sitting out there and going, man, I would much rather be at the lake right now.

You know after you've played 40 games of the year and it's August, so I literally dropped baseball as a kid because I want to be out there with dad, fishing.

Yeah, that's me too.

Worked out well.

Okay, we can wade out here.

It's pretty shallow.

You'll be able to see what type of depth are we looking at?

Three or four feet.

Okay.

Okay.

And you'll want to do a almost a wounded minnow thing.

A moderate to a slow retrieve.

Yup.

Just.

Just breaking the surface because you want to keep it up high.

Just keep it a wobbling.

You know what?

It's a beautiful sound of nothing sitting down here just every now and then here in a lure hit the water.

Chad, that's the whole thing, man.

Like, even on nights when I don't do very well, just the ability to get away from the mayhem of news and hear the owls communicating with each other across the river and hear the coyotes firing up in a pack and a beaver swims by once in a while.

I mean, that is the most relaxing serenity.

Oh, here we go.

Got one?

Told you.

You weren't kidding.

That thing just absolutely annihilated.

Yeah, That bait.

I will tell you.

That's a good one, too.

We got him.

He's barely hooked.

I barely got him cooked.

Take him right on up.

Just what I do is walk him right on up.

Slide him on shore.

That is a good idea, because he is he is barely hooked.

Literally, you're on the set at 11:35.

Here we are, what time is?

1:40, two hours later and the walleye's a coming.

2 hours later and we have already got our first fish.

It's a good one.

A beautiful walleye right here out of Green River.

With this cold water we have.

You can fish for these things, ten months out of the year and had luck catching them?

I mean, yes, it's today was 98 degrees.

98, we're standing in nice, cool, 67 degree water.

You've been an avid fisherman.

You were telling me that even in college you tinkered around with a little fun project.

I had my own I had my own fishing show.

So they're feeding, and the point is to try to get to a lot of spots, with a fast bait like a spinner, and harvest the fish.

Lots of fish, all along the creek.

The hard lesson I learned was the curse of the camera.

Like the first time we went out, we couldn't catch any fish.

And I thought we should have.

We finally had to let the guy go back in, got rid of the camera, went back out and killed them.

So I was worried about tonight, that we get out here and not but I can see that's not going to happen.

That curse of the camera still lives when it comes to fishing.

Well John, interestingly enough people see you on the news all the time and they've kind of adopted you as our local Kentuckian.

But you're actually originally from Wisconsin?

Yeah, I'm from Wisconsin.

I went to college in Wisconsin.

I came down here 30 some years ago.

The first thing I fell in love with was the striped bass fishing on Lake Cumberland.

Oh, yeah, night fishing on Cumberland in May.

There we go.

Got him.

Oh, gosh.

He come off?

Yeah.

Oh, did he break you off or?

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

Lake Cumberland, May Alewife spawn, Black Pitch Black Night fishing, top water bait.

And the wildest thing is when I've been up in some of those creeks and some of those coves, when they came up and it sounded like a public swimming pool, like kids jumping in like dozens at a time, they were going so crazy.

Here we go.

All right.

Here we go.

Oh, that sounds like a good fish.

I don't know, I don't feel like I got a good hook set on him either.

That's definitely what we're looking for.

That's a walleye.

Oh, yeah.

Not as big as yours, but kind of a kind of typical.

That's a good looking fish right there.

I was just about to suggest we move because now we're running out of the good territory.

But shows you what I was saying earlier, you just kind of learn each time to go.

You probably cast right over top of this fish two, three or four times.

Yeah.

You got to have the patience right on these fish they have to be over 14 inches and we're allowed six.

But you know, you said you normally I wouldn't know that because I always release them.

Now, it's funny, I had a five pounder I caught in the middle of the day I was telling you about on a stringer just to show my wife when she came back down, game warden came down.

Said how you're doing I said, I got one went down to check it and he's looked.

He said, okay, that's the biggest one I've seen in a while.

We're not going to measure that one.

Yeah, well over 14.

There you go.

Well, nice job.

All right, let's get.

We're gone.

There you go.

Such a beautiful fish at night.

I actually don't prefer a full moon like we have right here.

The fish seem to bite better when it's pitch.

There we go.

Got him?

Is that a fish?

Yeah.

Oh, that was a nice fish.

Still on?

No.

Oh.

That might have been a muskie.

And Muskies are not that uncommon for you.

Now, you say you've already caught three this year.

Yeah, I got biggest one was 42, 36, 38.

I bring my muskie rod and I tell myself I'm going to do it.

But I'm so into these walleyes that I just don't do it.

Oh, here we go.

Feels like about the same fish.

Wait, wait a minute.

That's a gar.

You got a gar.

I think it's a gar.

It is a gar.

That is the worst, man.

You hook some huge gar down here.

He does not want to give my AC Shiner back.

He's like, Oh, no.

And he and I got to have words on keeping that AC Shiner.

There we go.

Look there, a gar.

There we go.

There we go.

There's a good one.

We're going to get that fish back out, head on out of here.

Oh, that was not good.

Lo and behold, I'm sitting over here to hear your drag burning.

And you caught this.

It's a pretty good fish.

I can't understand how sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't.

Yeah, I was five for five last week, and missed several today.

And you're throwing a, you know, a bait very similar it's got three treble hooks on this.

One's got two.

Mines got three.

I can't touch this bait without it actually hooking me, but they can grab it with their face.

That's the thing.

They're in here.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It's just you got to kind of move and get away for a little while, let them resettle.

Come on back.

It's a lot like stalking.

It's a lot like hunting.

Yeah.

Kind of get away at times.

You kind of get back in, quietly.

Oh, oh, oh.

You got hammered again, did you?

I'm going to swap out Rapalas here in a minute because something is up.

I love how you keep this pretty simple.

You know exactly where you're going based on the amount of water flow.

And you brought a thing of tackle.

I mean, what do you got?

15 lures in there total or less, maybe.

And that's even counting stuff.

I know I won't use some twisters because I'm not going to stay daytime today.

You keep it simple.

You know what works for you.

I think that's that's very smart.

It's a lot of trial and error.

John, I watched a lot of stuff you've done on TV.

I'm a big fan.

And I'll tell you some of that investigative reporting that you've done has just been fascinating.

It's gotten kind of dangerous.

Yeah, they have a new policy where we hire a security team to go with me when I go to a confrontation on things like drug houses and all that.

I had a guy kind of lunge at us with a knife and one of the last ones we did, and I had my house graffitied up with death threats one time, after a story, and I had to have 72 hour police guard.

It's dangerous stuff.

But, you know, it's important.

It is important.

People keep asking me why I keep doing stuff like drug houses and stuff, because the people who live there need some help.

And yeah, they're not getting help.

I'm sure time flies when you're doing it, but I'm sure when you're when you come off the air and you get by yourself, it's got to be like, wow, it's interesting.

Like during those three nights of the the the bad protests in Louisville in May of 2020.

Yeah, one of those nights we had one of our news vehicles, Molotov cocktailed in the parking lot.

We did like 4 hours of continuous coverage.

And when I got off the air, I had my stuff in my car and I came straight here and it was one of the best fishing outings ever for many reasons, just, you know, to get some serenity for a moment before going back.

Just kind of nice to to have something to turn to.

When the world just you need a break from it, you know.

Yes.

And when people are mean, I can tell you firsthand.

Yeah.

Everybody is always in a good mood down here.

I'll tell you what, these walleye can sometimes be a little bit light sensitive.

Let's try to fish for them infrared real fast and see if we can't have a little more luck.

My dad taught me two lessons in fishing.

One is you don't pay for nightcrawlers, you go pick them yourself.

And the other is you don't shine a light on a water.

Scares the fish, especially walleyes.

So whether that's true or not, I don't even know.

But it's been ingrained into my soul.

There's one.

There's one, there's one.

Oh got one right here Chad on these rocks right up close.

Yeah.

There There you go.

Woah did he freak out.

Look at that.

What a beautiful fish.

Pretty typical.

What kills me is how thin they are.

Like how thin that is?

Yeah.

These are post spawn, you know, coming back up nice catch.

I didn't even know you had one hook.

He was up real close on the end of those rocks that we've been fishing.

Oh, yeah.

Just like all about the same, aren't they?

Yeah, they're all about 21, 20, 21.

And there's something really cool about just coming out here and catching walleye, sitting here in the creek that here when the sun comes up, we're gonna look like we can see all the way across this thing.

Almost walk across it.

That's really cool.

There.

There we go.

There's a good one.

Got him?

Haven't lost him yet.

Another beautiful fish.

Yeah, another good one.

So you have changed lures, but it's exactly the same bait isn't it?

Same bait.

Just hoping for sharper hooks.

We don't really seem to have a pattern here.

They're up shallow.

They're down here a little bit deeper.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

They've got really, really sharp teeth.

When they pinch their face closed down there on the bottom, man they're like an arrow.

They cut right through the current.

All right.

No big ones.

Yeah, but good ones, huh?

Oh, yeah.

The number of bites that we've had tonight has made this trip worthwhile.

Nice fish, man.

Yeah, well, it's been a blast.

I love keeping up with everything you guys are doing, and I love watching your investigative stuff.

Thank you very much.

I love watching your show and honored to be on it.

We'll have to fishing again some time.

Let's do it again.

I've enjoyed it.

There are a million different ways to try to catch a frog, but trying to gig them from a kayak was an experience that was completely new to me.

We're sitting out here waiting for it to get dark.

The anticipation is getting pretty serious.

It is.

It is.

So what are we doing tonight?

We are frog gigging Geaver Lake tonight.

We are here at Beaver Lake.

Now, this is a state owned lake, and I don't know how big Beaver Lake is, probably 100 acres or so.

It's it's round 150.

Something like that.

150 acres.

And the best way to access this lake is by kayak.

I think so.

Now, there's a couple other ways you can get around this lake because the department of Fish Wildlife, like many of the state owned lakes, has a buffer.

So you need to check your local rules and regulations.

But here, getting in a kayak and moving around and navigating it with with a gig pole is probably the way to go.

I think it's ideal.

And one of the other things like you talking about it being thick.

If you're respecting people's property and not climbing over everything, you can slide right up and pick up the frogs.

A lot of fun.

Yeah, I tell you what.

So I have frog gigged, hundreds of times.

I mean, when I was a kid, it was anywhere I could walk to to potentially get a frog.

That.

That's what I was in for.

Yeah, right.

Absolutely.

Never from a kayak.

This is new to me, so I don't know why I've never went with a kayak, but a lake this size where you can kind of get in and navigate the lake its tailor made for it is perfect for it.

It really is.

It's almost kind of lazy.

You're not walking through the tall grass, getting ticks on you and fighting willow bushes.

I really enjoy it.

I think you're going to like it.

I'm excited that you reached out to us and said, Hey, man, I got an opportunity.

Let's go give it a try.

The frogs are here, aren't they?

Oh, they are absolutely.

We've already heard them.

Yeah, they're right over here right now.

Yeah.

I'll tell you what.

Let's get on the water and kind of get out of the way a little bit where we can hear and see if we can start finding some.

Let's do it.

All right.

Let me help you get your kayak and you can help me.

We'll get rolling.

All right.

Thank you.

One right underneath the walkway.

Yeah, I see that one.

Oh, yes, we got one.

Boy he's barely on there.

Well Ryan we finally got one I, I didn't- I wasn't too sure in this moss we were going to be able to ever get close enough without pushing the moss and scaring them under.

But it's a pretty good frog.

It is.

Ready?

Man the bugs are out, that's for sure.

Absolutely.

Oop, there's one.

Oh.

Is he on there?

We're just pushing them under water.

I'm acting like a rookie.

I got a big one right here.

Oh, right.

Oh, my goodness.

That's impressive.

Man, I about threw myself out of the kayak.

Oh, man.

You had a good jab on him.

Oh, there's a big bullfrog right there.

That raccoon would eat that bullfrog Given the chance.

You got that one.

Finally.

Nice job.

I'm sorry, Mr. Raccoon, but that was mine.

You see him?.

Yeah, yeah, I see him.

That sounds pretty promising.

You get him?

Oh, no, come off the end.

Went through all that and grabbed his leg and he jumped off.

Oh, oh.

I poked him right under.

Nice.

Got one.

That right there, is a gig.

Good job.

What do you know?

My goodness.

Nice shot.

Oh, man.

We'll take it.

All right.

Nice job.

Thank you.

Well, Ryan, this was definitely a lot of fun.

It was a learning experience.

It was a lot of fun.

Yeah.

This is one of those things where, you know what?

The debris and the algae in the water can definitely make this much more difficult.

Yeah, but, you know, we saw a good number of frogs maybe on a little warmer night, a little sharper gigs, and wait till the department comes out.

They're going to spray this lake really soon and makes it a little more navigable.

The frogs are here.

They are absolutely here.

The frogs are here.

And you know what?

Going by kayak is a really good way to get at them because you can cover so much water, you really can you slip right up to them.

Just unfortunately tonight we had some obstacles.

Hey, you know what?

You got enough frogs to fill a skillet.

We sure do.

So you're going to be, we're in good shape.

And, hey, thank you so much for showing me this.

Yeah, thank you for having me on.

I appreciate it.

Definitely a lot of fun.

When you hear the term "fire", you immediately think about destruction.

But if you were a wildlife biologist and you thought about controlled burns, you'd be thinking about new life.

We're on the original release site.

This is the old Starfire mine.

This is also the spot where we did the helicopter capture this winter, where we captured adult cows and put implants in them to come back later in a couple of months and try to catch calves and be part of that monitoring study for adult cow survival and calf survival.

We're going to be doing prescribed burns today up here, try to improve some habitat, try to get rid of some autumn olive, and get rid of some of the unwanted plants that we have and promote growth of native vegetation and some cool season grasses that will provide better forage for elk up here.

So we're using a drip torch today to ignite the fuels on the ground, and that consists of a canister which holds the mixed fuel, which is combination between diesel fuel and gasoline.

There's a venting mechanism that's on the canister.

This controls the flow rate of the fuel that's inside so that we can control how much fuel is being put on the ground.

In order to ignite the drip torch, you saturate the wick pour a little fuel on the ground and you can ignite that fuel, which in turn will not the wick and you're ready to put fire on the ground.

So this is one unit of four that we're going to get to today.

This is our largest unit of 200 acres.

And what we're actually doing here right now is we're getting a lot of black.

We're kind of on a downwind side of things.

So we're going to make sure we get a lot of black before we send our head fire up to this side of the unit.

And basically what that's going to do is set back plant success.

And we're trying to we got a lot of non-native species in here, like sericea lespedeza, autumn olive, and we want to make sure that we keep our open areas open.

In east Kentucky we have a lot of areas that are predominantly wooded timber and a lot of wildlife benefit from these open areas.

Fires is a necessity to do that.

Each of our rigs have a drip torch fuel for the drip torch.

We've got two hand tools.

Usually we've got a swatter and a fire rake.

Each of the rigs we have 25 to 50 gallons of water.

What we've got going on here, as you can imagine, on our reclaimed areas, there can be gas wells or gas lines that pop up out of the ground.

So what we're doing right now, as you can see, we're blacking out to protect a gas line that pops up just in front of me here.

What we're doing is we're blacking out all the way to a hard break on this side.

And then this side we're also going through a road that is a hard break this down below us.

So we want this gas line to be protected at all cost.

But as you can see behind me, see what we're trying to do is knock the autumn olive back.

You know, we've had a lot of autumn olive starting to come in.

It is an invasive species and the seed source is hard to get rid of.

So two of the things we're trying to do this spring is have a prescribed fire in order to kill what's above ground on the autumn olive.

And then they may end up having to come back later as it starts to re-sprout and do something chemically or mechanically.

This is our last unit for today.

What you saw John doing is bringing along the line and we're just laying a wet line just to kind of help us make sure we keep the fire where it's suppose to be.

We've been really happy with what we've accomplished so far today, and we're excited to see how the elk respond to habitat management we've done here to promote some better foliage for our animals.

All right.

So what we're doing right now, doing a mop up and what that consists of is crew members going around, running the whole unit and making sure that all fire is out.

Fire is good for all wildlife, and I hope that this is able to continue throughout the Southeast.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week's One's That Didn't Get Away Here we have ten year old Liam and his grandpa, who really know how to spend a warm summer day that's small mouth fishing in a stream.

Nice job.

Check out the size of this bluegill that was caught by seven year old Scarlett at her uncle's farm pond in Boone County.

Nice job.

Here we have Alex with his first turkey.

This turkey was taken at his grandpa's farm in Harrison County.

Congratulations.

Are you planning a family vacation to get outdoors this summer but you're a little concerned about the gas prices?

Well, Kentucky has plenty of places right here.

With public lands and many state parks you can get your family outdoors close to home.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week.

I'm your host, Chad Miles, and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.