This week on Kentucky Afield, we're exploring a blue water trail and fly fishing the beautiful South Fork of the Kentucky River.

Next, we'll stay east and join biologists in the field as they check in on the state's newest elk.

Then we're headed west and we're using invasive carp to catch catfish near Grand Rivers.

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.

Whether you're a fly fisherman or a traditional angler, the Blue Water Trails is a great way to find a new fishing hole and see some of the most beautiful sights in the state of Kentucky.

I love Kentucky, i█ve only been here about four years.

From smallmouth, to hybrids, to musky.

There's all kinds of fly fishing opportunities across the state.

It's just a ton of fun.

Where we're at today, we're not going to be catching trout, but we are going to be fly fishing.

Yup.

Flyfishing for smallmouth, yup.

we're going to be fishing some lower profile stuff today.

we've got some tan baitfish patterns here.

In this low, clear water, Chad, tan in the summer tends to work a little bit better than white.

We█ll fish those in low light situations.

Once the middle of the day sets in, we'll throw some deer hair frog patterns on top.

You just create a ton of commotion.

the fish can see them really well in the sun when the sun gets high in the sky, and man when they come up and crush the deer hair frog: better be ready.

Yeah, yeah.

That is amazing, there's actually some art right there.

That's a beautiful, beautiful fly.

These take a long time to tie, but, it's completely worth it.

you know, from streamers to, you know, more complex stuff like this.

it's definitely worth it.

And, you know, the fish will respond well to them.

Fantastic.

We're going to use some kayaks.

We're going to try to get into some spots.

Sometimes we'll be in the kayak.

Some areas where we have public access we█ll be out.

Let's go get a fight on our hands.

Let's go do it.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I really want to fish in this pool.

I don't think we'll catch a fish in here, but I'll at least show you the presentation here.

Are you throwing a very similar?

Yeah.

We're throwing the same fly this morning to start off.

All right.

This is a minnow changer, a really popular pattern, and it's got some incredible action to it.

We█re going to kind of target, Chad, back eddies like this and right in here as well.

Any slow moving breaks in the water.

So I'll kind of aim for the other end of that pool.

Yeah.

Just like that.

Oh, you already got one.

We got one.

We█re hooked up.

This is a decent little fish.

Yeah.

You're talking about a 13, 14 inch fish right off the bat.

That was fantastic.

Let█s see here.

All right.

Yeah.

I can't imagine a better way to start.

Good stuff.

Awesome.

That was great.

Yeah.

All right, let me make a practice cast here.

There we go.

Good stuff, dude.

There we go.

Got one on.

You saw that fish, didn't you?

Yeah.

Lookie there.

Probably about a 10, 12 inch fish somewhere in that range.

To go in and to hand-tie your bait and go out and catch something on it, there's got to be something.

It's very rewarding.

Like, whenever I tie, like, a new pattern or something I make myself and is not already on the market, come out here and catch fish on it.

especially on a deer or turkey I killed.

that's cool.

It's super cool.

That's a great cast Chad.

Yep.

Oh, did you feel that?

I didn't feel it.

No.

Oh I was bring it in and he smoked it.

Oh man that was a nice fish.

I don't think he felt that one either.

I think I pulled it right.

Why don't you put that one back there.

It was like right in there and I went to pull.

Oh he got it!

Yeah.

He got it.

I'll tell you what.

This fish wanted it because he came up and I literally when I ended my cast and jerked the bait up.

Yeah, that's bigger than the last one.

Yeah.

A nice little southeastern smallmouth right there, Chad.

Beautiful fish.

Oh.

Got him.

Chad, you█re tearing them up now.

Oh, man, that was awesome.

You obviously came here knowing how to flyfish.

You've been doing that all your life.

Right.

Tell me a little bit about how you gathered so much knowledge in just four years.

Right.

Like today, knowing where to go in, where to go out.

Anything from from blue water trails, information on public access points, put-ins, take outs.

Oh, it's just so informative.

I mean, if you go to Blue Water Trails on Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, you'll see 3 or 4 different floats on the South Fork like we're on today, you know, a million on the green, great fisheries like the Barren and Elkhorn and it's just it's just a wonderful resource for, for anglers of all kinds.

you know, of course, you can always, you know, stop in your local fly shop.

Resource of the internet and looking at spots on google maps, you know, especially at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Come on Got one looking at it?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You got him.

That's a good fish.

Yeah That's the best one of the day right there so far.

Yeah.

Nice fish.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Got it?

There you go.

This is the one we want.

Oh, yeah.

You can see it from here.

Stay budd█n It looks like a really good fish, what you got 16inhes or better?

You know, let me get him in.

It looks like it.

He█s fighting a lot harder than he.

He looks like a good one.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

He's a great fish.

Look at the vertical bars on him.

beautiful fish.

We've been crushing them on streamers today.

Just caught of big one on the streamer.

It's the middle of the day, though.

I think it's time to catch a big one on topwater and we've been seeing some frogs.

So we're going to put our deer hair frog on and, see if we can get a big one on this one too.

Oh, yeah.

Nice fish.

Nice fish.

Yeah.

Nice fish.

Oh, that looks like a great fish.

Yeah, a great frog fish.

Fish on a frog.

I'll tell you what.

I can't tell you how cool it is to sit here and watch you on a fly rod with the frog pattern that you tried, that looks absolutely beautiful.

Fish it the exact same way that I'd fish a frog on a bait caster and catch him out here on the river.

Yeah, look at that thing.

that's a great fish.

Yeah, that's a that's a 17 inch fish.

Yeah.

Wow, what a small mouth.

What a beautiful fish.

Doesn't get much better than that.

Congratulations.

And I tell you what.

That's got to be rewarding.

Yeah.

You said it took you 40 minutes to tie that frog.

Yeah, it's cool to, you know, kill a deer, right?

And then use that hair, tie a frog pattern and catch a fish like this.

It's really rewarding.

I tell you what, Ryder, I've never been on the South Fork, and I can't tell you how stunningly beautiful it is.

I have been just amazed at the beauty and the smallmouth fishing quality.

It's unreal.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a gorgeous fishery.

I mean, when I tell people about this place, you know, I talk about the fishing, but, you know, you always forget about the scenery.

It's it's pretty unbelievable.

Well, hey.

Thank you.

Congratulations on catching that great fish on your hand tied frog.

It's been a blast.

We got to do it again.

Monitoring the overall health of a young elk calf is one of the best ways to ensure a healthy herd for the future.

Elk have been in Kentucky now for 23 years.

So we're transition from the restoration phase to the management phase.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife and the University of Kentucky are involved in a collaborative effort.

What we're working on today is a calf survival project to kind of help us update some survival estimates that we need to perform every few years to make sure we're on the right track with the elk herd.

As University of Kentucky graduate student, it's been an amazing opportunity to be down here in southeastern Kentucky studying the state's elk herd.

We started this project back in January.

We identified 25 pregnant females out on various landscapes in the eastern area of the Elk Zone.

Each of those females was given a vaginal implant transmitter that tells us when a calf is born.

So today our crews going in to locate these calves.

So what we're trying to do is hone towards the cow signal.

So our caller emits a VHF signal and we can hear it through these receivers.

You can hear kind of the beeps.

Where they sound louder that's closer to where she is.

So we're trying to get a good idea of how close she is to where the birth site is, because we have a transmitter there, too.

So it sounds like they're a little bit in two different directions.

But this thing was born yesterday, so that's what I would expect.

We're just going to kind of track to her first to see if we can get eyes on her and maybe she has a calf behind her.

It sounds like she's that way.

This study is a nice follow up to previous calf studies.

The last one was done about a decade ago.

We have new technology now with these transmitters that allows us to get to the calf as soon as it's born.

A lot of things have changed over the last decade.

We have changes to the habitat.

Mining is decreased.

We have a lot of woody growth coming back in.

We have changes in the way people use the landscape and we have changes in predator compositions.

So it's really important to try to update these estimates as we go through time.

So we're keeping up with the changes that we're seeing here.

So the cow took off because we were following her signal and got louder and then all of a sudden it got really, really quiet.

So she probably took off over this hill.

So we'll track to the birth site and look around there and search for the calf.

I think she's getting close to it now.

This is a typical birth site.

Here's the transmitter that we put into the pregnant cow.

So from the birth site here, it's on a nice bench and it's pretty steep on either side.

So more than likely she's moved the calf along here somewhere.

So we're going to kind of spread out in two directions and follow the trails and see if it's off of that.

Hey, right there.

Nice job Dan.

See it right here?

See how well it█s hidden?

We█re only 15 yards from the birth site.

We'll put a blindfold on so that it calms down.

They can't see what's going on.

So they're less likely to try to run away from us or struggle during the capture process.

We'll pick it up and move it a little bit away from where it was actually hiding to do our workup procedure.

We don't really want to influence or disturb exactly where it was hiding.

So that hiding behavior is so ingrained in them that even with all these people here, and when I picked it up, it doesn't move, doesn't make a sound, it's just trying to stay still and stay alive.

So we're going to see if it's male or female.

It's a female.

So we're hoping to draw blood, kind of like when you take your dog to the vet, they draw blood and get just a standard white blood cell, red blood cell, nutritional aspect to it.

We're going to collect the hair and hopefully do some analysis on that.

So we're going to try to pull about 15 milliliters or more.

If we can get it, we'll put them in blood tubes.

This one has an anticoagulant in it.

So next thing goes on is the collar.

It's the most important thing.

This is like its own radio station.

So it has a different frequency that's specific just to this animal for as long as it█s wearing the collar.

So it's an expandable VHF caller that as their neck grows, it will grow, the loops will pop and the fabric will stretch.

It's like an elastic band and then eventually the fabric will wear through and fall off.

So ideally it will stay on for about a year.

We will take a series of body measurements and that will complement the weight.

So we'll weigh them at the end of the capture.

So this one is total body length.

So from the tip of the nose we█ll follow all the way flat to the body along the curve of the spine.

We'll go to the base of the tail.

So where the tail meets the body.

So being 105 centimeters.

So we'll do chest girth.

Next, we'll slide the tape up right under the armpits as close as we can and will cinch it tight, but not too tight.

And so that'll be 60.2 body measurements kind of help to give us better indication of are they leggier, what's their body proportions?

Measuring hoof growth.

So it's kind of the new hoof deposits since they've started to develop.

So that's one, it's going to be the incisor measurement.

So these ones have barely erupted.

So that's going to be a really small measurement.

Some of them are out a lot.

We'll take a picture of the umbilical scar that will tell us how old really this calf is and can kind of confirm the notifications that we got today.

We'll also take pictures of their hoof wear.

So if it's soft and spongy, it means they really haven't moved far, they're pretty young, and if it's harder, then they may have traveled a distance.

We're putting her in a scent-free mesh bag to get a measurement of her weight.

17.04 Once we've taken the weight, we'll put in ear tags.

And that's kind of their identification tag.

The whole capture process only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to collect all the data, and as soon as we're done, we'll take the calf right back to where its original hiding location was, pull the blindfold off and leave the area.

The cow is usually around the area.

We may see her several times during the actual workup.

She's checking on us to make sure that her calf's okay, So she'll come back in and she may nurse immediately afterwards.

So we want to get out of there as quickly as possible.

It's been a really productive spring so far and we hope it continues.

And I can't wait to see what we learn from this study.

Most folks don't understand the amount of time and work that goes into managing a particular species like this.

But we feel very fortunate to get to conduct these research projects and get out and do some enjoyable field work and take satisfaction knowing that we're managing the resource the best way that we can.

Catfish are very opportunistic feeders, and sometimes you can have the most luck by just offering them the food source that's already right in their face.

So, Jim, back down here on the Barkley tailwaters.

What are we fishing for today?

Catch an old catfish I guess.

Okay, we're running up toward the dam.

What are you looking for now?

Looking for an Asian carp that, I can get him in the cast net but they tear my cast net all to pieces.

Now we can find some that█s fresh dead come through the dam.

You were telling me that you're repurposing those fish and that they were excellent bait.

They are excellent bait.

They made our catfish fat.

Well, there are fish floating here everywhere.

Dead.

So I can imagine if you're a catfish and you're hungry right now, it█s you█re own, problem.

There's plenty of bait, huh?

You're just going to take bits and parts and pieces and, use that for bait.

Right?

Guts.

Guts, okay.

Man, those are some good sized ones too, aren█t they?

Easy as that, huh?

Does that stuff stay on the hook pretty good?

It does.

There you go.

It really is just fat.

So that ought to put a big ol█ slick down there and aught to- a catfish aught to be able to smell that from a mile away, huh?

I would think so.

Go ahead and fish.

Go ahead?

Don't wait on me.

All right.

So we're going straight down to the bottom with this and then pick it up just a little bit of that plan?

Yeah.

This new fancy trolling motor I've got here.

We're anchored.

So.

Okay.

There you go.

Bent down there pretty good already.

Where's your net at?

It's always somewhere else.

You know, blue catfish.

And he's got a big belly too.

There you go.

That's a pretty fish.

It is an absolutely beautiful fish.

Hooked right there.

Right there in the corner of the mouth.

Just like those circle hooks are supposed to do.

And this is a really good size.

If you want to keep one to eat.

What do you think that fish is?

Probably eight pounds?

Eight pounds.

Yeah.

So I figured about 8 pound fish.

Probably going to be supper tonight.

There you go.

Nice fish.

You get bit?

Yep.

All right.

I believe I got this one that is not a blue.

Oh, it's a channel.

Sure is, channel catfish.

You want to keep that one?

No.

Let him grow.

I saw that.

He's got another.

If you're going to take a couple home, these are the ones.

Not the 30, 40 pounders these are the ones right here.

To me, that's the perfect size.

Easy to clean and got a lot of meat on them.

Oh, yeah.

Good stuff right here is what I really want: Roe.

Oh, okay.

Will that stay on the hook pretty good too?

It will... enough.

Good enough.

If you want to, bring yours up.

I'll put you some roe on there.

Okay.

Here we go.

This is a little better fish here.

If that's a channel cat, he's a big█n.

Yeah.

There you go.

That's a good fish right there isn█t it?

That's a nice one.

What do you think?

Is that one going in there?

No, let him grow.

Let him grow?

I don't like cleaning them that big.

A little bigger than the ideal eating size, huh?

Yeah.

Another bite.

That's another eater right there.

I got one trying to jump.

Look at that.

That's a nice fish.

Look at him out there, rolling.

Rolling like a small mouth.

There you go.

Thank you, my friend.

That's a nice fish.

That is a good fish right there.

Oh my gosh.

He's barely skin hooked.

He won't even he won't feel a thing.

Look at that.

That's a healthy fish.

That fish is as wide as he is long.

I'll tell you what.

Coming down here and catching these fish is so much fun.

I'll tell you what.

It's a beautiful blue catfish.

It is.

Always have a good time.

You're a lot of fun with to be in the boat.

And we always catch fish.

Here we have ten year old Wyatt Montgomery with his first turkey that he took in Montgomery County using a 410 shotgun.

Congratulations.

Here we have Cole Salisbury with a nice muskie that measured 41in.

This was his first musky ever.

Congratulations.

Check out this beautiful largemouth bass.

It was caught by Candice Busan.

This fish was caught at Goose Creek Lake.

Congratulations.

James Milby caught this unexpected fish while fly rod fishing for smallmouth bass.

This is a nice carp.

Congratulations.

Here we have Bam McNeese with a nice rainbow trout that he caught in Caney Creek while fishing with his papa.

Nice job.

Here we have Seth with a nice largemouth bass that he caught in a farm pond in western Kentucky.

Congratulations!

Four year old Jackson Glass caught this bluegill at his Papa and Mama Farm pond in Carter County.

This boy loves to fish.

Congratulations.

Here we have nine year old Milam Staggs who caught this 25 pound blue catfish in Floyd County.

Nice job.

Kyle Purdum caught this nice 6 pound largemouth bass at Fagan Branch and Marion County.

What a fight.

Are you looking for a great way to beat the summer heat?

Well, check out our blue water trails.

To learn more, go to fw.ky.gov or subscribe to Kentucky Field Magazine.

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.

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