Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

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

This week we headed down to Kentucky Lake to meet up with some high school bass fishermen who took advantage of a great fishing camp.

Then we're headed to Wolf Creek Dam to do a little fishing for a unique fish species that could use your help.

But first, we opened up our Fish Boat Kentucky app and hit the water to take advantage of a beautiful morning for some fishing.

Today started out with me just wanting to go kayak fishing.

It's the time of year.

It's a great time to get out and catch bass.

Really didn█t have a game plan.

So I opened up the Fish Boat KY app and just look for something close.

And I realized that there's a boat ramp right here on the Salt River that goes to the Brashears creek that I have never fished this stretch of water.

I fished the salt River all my life.

I fished Brashears Creek up in Shelby County, but I've never fished this area water.

I know there's smallmouth largemouth bass on here and who knows what else.

So I decided this is close.

I can make a good morning float of it and hopefully catch a few fish.

So you know what?

If you like kayak fishing, it's one of the best ways to get access to very unfinished water.

They're just not that pressured.

This is a great way to get out, spend an afternoon, get a little sun, little exercise, and hopefully catch a few fish.

Got something here.

What's it going to be?

First fish of the day.

Could be a multitude of different fish.

Smallmouth bass.

Salt River smallmouth bass.

Not very big.

But you know what?

It's a good start right there.

I love catching stream smallmouth bass.

And I█ve not caught a bunch in the salt River.

At least below the lake.

I've caught some above, but right up here is Bashir's Creek, and I've caught a bunch of them out of there, so I figured they'd be in here.

Another little small mouth.

Salt river, small mouth.

Who would█ve thought it.

Spent a lifetime as a kid fishing this river.

Caught a lot of crappie.

Tons and tons and tons of catfish.

Caught some pretty good bass.

I█ve actually caught about a four and a half five pounder years ago.

But the area that I fish, you don't see many of these.

So kind of refreshing to get on the salt River and smallmouth.

What we got here?

This thing hit right at the boat.

There's a large mouth.

All right.

Another species of black bass here.

Largemouth bass a little bit better.

Uh Oh.

Not a bad little fish right here around this stump.

Hit me right at the boat.

Here we go.

Another deep pocket, large mouth bass, shallow pockets, small mouth.

Man, that has been pretty much the story of the day.

You know, when I come in, fish in a body of water or a stream like this that I've never fished before.

I always like to bring at least two rods, and I'll throw one with the minnow imitating bait, which today is a three inch swim bait.

And secondly, some form of, on the bottom, slow presentation.

A lot of times it's a jig or a crawfish.

Today it is a net rig, and a lot of times if I'm smallmouth fishing, I want to be in the riffles, the shallow moving water in and out of the cut.

Now, if I'm got a long run and I want to fish some of the what I call slack water or more dead water, I will fish just like I was bass fishing.

I look at the rock piles or brush or timber like this and I'll flip and pitch little baits, kind of like this little net rig and try to bass fish.

Well what we got there?

another large mouth.

Man it just ate that ned rig all the way down, just inhaled it.

You wouldn't think a fish that small can eat that bait that easy.

He smoked it.

Well, today was very much an experimental float, you know, caught enough fish to make it worthwhile.

I learned a lot.

I'll tell you, the water flow here at 50 cubic feet per second is a little light.

So I think I'm going to try this trip again with a little more water, a few more pieces to tackle, and maybe even a different take out location.

But you know what the great thing about this is?

It's right up the street.

And it has one of my favorite species of fish to fish for.

And that's a small mouth bass.

Major League Fishing is located in Benton, Kentucky, and every year they bring high school anglers from all across the nation right here to learn about competitive fishing.

Today we're down here at Ken Lake State Park, and I'm with Scott Ellison.

Scott.

Major league fishing, based right here in Kentucky has a really cool event going on this week, don't they?

Yes, sir.

Chad, we appreciate you being here.

This is the eighth year we've done the high school fishing camp here in western Kentucky, right where Major league fishing is headquartered.

And we have 130 students and adults from all over the United States here to, just learn fishing and soak it up from some of the biggest names in the sport of bass fishing.

We've got pros, here to share their knowledge and, have a great time with these students.

What a great opportunity.

If you want to learn or compete in high school bass fishing or even the next level of college or professionally, what a great place to come.

Gather that knowledge from the people who've done that already.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, we're learning from the best pros in the game and their sessions throughout the week, and these are serious anglers that are wanting to take their skill set to the next level.

And this is an opportunity for them to do that and immerse themselves and in the sport and grow as an angler.

You guys have classes on learning about electronics, casting, the psychology of bass fishing, and then some etiquette and safety issues as well.

All that's so important.

Yeah, those are important topics to cover.

You know, some of them aren't the most glamorous, but we want to train these students up right.

And go about it the right way so that our sport can continue to grow and thrive.

And we're also going to be exposing them to career opportunities in the sport.

You know, beyond being a professional angler.

All the biology that goes behind our fisheries and our resources and all the things that go along with it.

I'm here with Tucker Walney.

Tucker, this is your third, fourth year attending this camp.

Fourth year at camp?

Yes, sir.

Fourth year at camp.

So you know exactly what these kids are in for?

Yes, sir.

This coming up week.

Tell me what you have learned or gained from the last couple of years of coming to camp.

Yes, sir.

It's a big place to make connections.

That's probably the biggest thing I brought from it is just making friends.

We have people from Hawaii, New York, Texas, all around the globe here.

And water etiquettecy is another big thing.

And then of course, fishing knowledge as well.

Yeah.

So when you talk about fishing knowledge, I know they're doing classes over there telling you exactly how to use some of the latest technologies, mapping software, all that to help locate fish.

What else have you learned here?

Like you said, latest technology.

Jake Lawrence talks about fishing a quicky with all that, new technology and stuff.

And then, of course, we have the casting class getting back into your old school fishing, flipping and pitching and stuff like that.

And I believe we have some more classes to come.

Now, I'm with Oliver Johnson.

We actually live in the same county.

Yes, sir.

We probably fish some of the probably some of the exact same lay downs and stuff.

What are you gaining from camp?

What do you feel like that?

How does this help you?

Well, I feel like camp really helps me on the perspective side of building relationships and having a good network with people like people that I had my first year at camp.

I still text them and be like, hey, how's it going up there?

I'm coming by and just still talk to them, but also learning from all the different pros.

I've learned different stuff every time I'm here from each different pro.

Yeah.

Over the years you build a relationship with a lot of people.

What do you learn here about the mental side of fishing?

Because a lot of people think, oh, well, fishing is all luck or fishing, you know, it's about being at the right place at the right time.

Some of that is true.

But being at the right place at the right time is because you put a plan together and you know how to stick with that plan until the conditions change.

And then sometimes you gotta abandon the plan and know when to go do something different.

Talk to me about your approach to that and then how you learned that knowledge here.

I really feel like fishing is probably 70% mental, 30% fishing.

You can't go fish if you don't have that mental side down.

You got to be prepared.

Have everything ready, and know you can't beat yourself up over one lost fish and roll through the day and just keep it going here at camp.

They really show us that we have a mental coach here who's been professional, done a lot of professional anglers and other people outside of the industry, and he just really shows you how it's more mental than it is fishing.

You can go out there and just fiddle around and catch 1 or 2, but if you're really locked in and in the right headspace, you can do really well in fishing.

All sports have got a major mental aspect.

Fishing is huge.

You're competing against a fish in whatever conditions mother nature throws at you, so you have to be ready for that.

Yeah, they move their live animals.

They're live animals.

One of the interesting classes that's being offered here at this camp is lure making and customization.

We have a couple of local guys here, local Tennessee, is local, that are teaching these kids how to one design and build a new lure that not anyone else has.

These are literally one of a kind style lures and allows these kids to be involved in fishing even when they're not on the water.

So Darren Bowen with creek candy lures, we've been to your place before.

We've actually used some of your tackle, and you've got a couple lures here and you're teaching these kids how to make their lure a little different than everyone else is.

Right?

Absolutely.

So this is my second year here at this camp, and it's about sharing our craft with these, with these kids that you don't just have to go shop at a store.

You can, you know, if you've got the inclination, you can just do it yourself.

So I brought a bunch of mine.

I brought some blanks for the guys back at the dorm that I'm letting them.

I'm teaching them how to use the airbrush and how to paint.

And these are just a few of mine.

But I do want to give credit to, Bill Barton.

He donated a bunch of his of his baits, and he's just a phenomenal painter.

The rest of all of these, these are all handmade, a carve them out of cedar and cypress and just come up with the flavor of the day.

The interesting thing, there's never been a bass fisherman that tournament bass fished, that hasn't customized, changed the color, done something to their bait to make it run a little deeper or a little more shallow.

And that's that's the name of the game is Lure Customization on the fly.

You guys are doing it actually in your warehouses and making some of these available.

We met today.

You are doing something that I have never seen before.

And that's your hand tying some flies and you're actually turning these into chatter baits and spinner baits.

Tell me a little bit about these.

Yeah.

So my background from creating all this stuff actually came from fly tying.

So moving from Colorado I was used to dealing with very, very small things, you know.

And then I as I moved here and I'm fishing for bass, I brought that to a larger scale.

And, you know, sometimes I just drive and I'm thinking, okay, what can I do for this?

You know, and that's how something like this comes along.

We got chatter baits that, you know, this is kind of inspired by another fly pattern.

Slight differences.

But you know, a lot of times what makes this so different is not being afraid to really be creative and really just experiment and see what's what.

A big part of being able to make these as successful as you want is really knowing what your material is and what it does, but, you know, this is a it's it's a blast doing this.

Major League Fishing does a a phenomenal job.

I, I wish that we had something like this when I was these guys is age it's it's unbelievable.

Bass fishing to be successful.

If you have a high school bass fisherman, what do they need to look for to get their kids involved?

And it's boys and girls, right?

Boys and girls.

We've got a great group of girls attending this year.

And so like I said, there's over 100 students along with some coaches and parents that can attend as well.

And so every summer we do this so they can go to Major League Fishing's website to learn more.

And like I said, this is the eighth year we've done it and it's been a huge success and it's been a great way to give back and help grow our sport and put some attention on the kids to teach them.

Well you highly recommend any kid that's in high school bass fishing that, wants to learn more and see what this camp has to offer to come check it out?

Yes, sir.

Definitely.

Probably my favorite thing I've done for my high school fishing career.

The Lake sturgeon restock is well underway here in Kentucky, and fish are being caught more frequently.

But you need to remember you must immediately release these fish, and there's no take of any kind.

I almost feel like we're waiting for the moose to say park closed.

Usually there are a lot of people fishing in this area, isn't there?

Well, the flows have been up a little bit today, so it'll pick up once the flows go down later.

Right now we've got two generators running, preferably if you can get one.

That's really, really good.

Two is fishable anything over that's really hard to fish.

And where do you get that information?

There's a couple of different ways you can get it from the TVA website or you can get it from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Okay.

Well, I'll tell you what, what we've got our pick.

I think that the closer we can get down there to where the wall starts going up, where we've got some eddies is probably best.

Absolutely.

That's where we get a lot of people catching sturgeon off of that wall.

This is new to me because I will tell you that we are going to put some nightcrawlers out on some bottom rigs.

And today I'm kind of targeting whatever will bite.

If I do catch a sturgeon today, I will say it will be the very first one I've ever caught on a rod and reel.

You know what, it█s pretty cool We've got some biologists with us here that work on the Sturgeon project.

If we do catch one, maybe you guys can kind of show us what we're looking at and how to handle one.

Let's give it a shot.

All right.

Here we go.

What have we got here?

Oh, my gosh.

Look at that trout.

Oh, what, how did you get that that fast?

Now, now I got to make my way down here with him.

That█s why I wore rubber boots right here.

Nice fish.

All right, let me get my hands wet before I, before I grab him.

Oh, we got us a trout.

Probably in the 4lb range.

Something like that you think?

Yeah.

Something like that?

Caught it on the swim bait right there on that wall.

He broke that hook.

Look at that.

I would like to have seen that fish a little more, but he was heavy enough and flopping around that, I didn't drop the bait, he literally snapped the barb of that hook right off.

Swim bait for the win.

I was going to put it right back in anyway.

But he kept a souvenir.

That's right.

Just the very end of my hook come right off there, broke him.

Let's see who's next.

Let's try it, try it again.

See who█s next.

Hey, rip that down through there and see if you can hook one up.

I will.

All right.

I'm going to go get another hook.

Fish on.

You changed up lures, put a little green on there, didn█t take you long.

I did.

I did.

Alright, that is not a trout.

That is not a trout.

Too bad we're not catfishing, we█d have the ultimate bait now wouldn█t we?

I know, wouldn█t we.

This is a very oily kind of fish that really puts out great scent for catfish.

Skipjack, right?

Yeah.

But it's got this beautiful color.

That's a pretty good size one, too.

Like I said, if we were coming out here for bait, we would be high fiving, we would be ready.

This guy gets to go free today.

He got lucky.

He's not bait today.

Nice.

Nice and oily.

Well congrats!

Thank you.

So there are a lot of special places to fish here in the state of Kentucky.

But this has to be one of the most iconic.

We're here at the Wolf Creek Dam.

So many opportunities.

It's a great place to trout fish.

You know, you've got big species of fish like stripers, potentially catfish, lake sturgeon, smallmouth bass, walleye, sauger, literally a little bit of everything.

But actually, I'm out here with a couple other fisheries biologists and the ichthyologist They've been on this river for years studying all kinds of fish.

And right now what they're really paying attention to is the sturgeon.

This is one of the first spots that we stocked sturgeon.

So we've got a couple of rod and reels out here, taking a chance on catching a sturgeon.

But you don't come down here and just watch a rod reel in the water.

It's hard to not bring a pole and make some cast while you're here.

We may have a bite.

Got a little bit of a bounce going there on that top rod.

See what we got going on here.

I don't know if we got something on here or not, but there█s only one way to find out.

It's a fish.

We█ve got a fish on.

No idea what this is.

Just a nightcrawler out on the bottom.

Literally could be about anything.

It's a pretty good size fish.

I can see it.

It's a sturgeon.

Are you serious?

We got a sturgeon.

Look at this.

Look at that, baby.

What are the chances we come fishing with a couple of.

Of our biologists who happen to work on the Sturgeon project.

Oh, yeah.

And we hook a sturgeon.

Let's walk him over into this little shallow area.

All right.

What's your best guess on age class on that fish?

We determine age class by a marking technique which involves removing two of these scoots.

On the lateral side, we alternate left to right.

And in this case, it looks like this has had scoots removed.

That means it is one of our hatchery reared fish.

And it looks like it might be.

There's one two.

It looks like scoots left side three and four, which means this is probably at least a four year old fish.

And without going back to our database and checking.

I couldn't be more precise than that.

Now there is no legal harvest or take of these fish at this point in time.

Anything caught on rod and reel must be released.

Released, yeah.

And we asked to try to get them back into the water as quickly as possible after being caught.

You've been working on this project for quite some time.

Now, do you guys want to be notified every single time one of these are caught at this point in time?

Yeah.

And there is a number to call in the boating and fishing guide.

That's myself, Matt Thomas or email.

Actually, we probably prefer email with an attached photo.

It's easy to take a couple of pics and email us the pictures and your location, the date of capture, and that really helps us with our monitoring efforts.

It helps us track not only, you know, survival but their movements, their growth.

I'll tell you what, this has always been a place that I really enjoy coming, and now that sturgeon are being caught up here.

And we have a good enough population of sturgeon with both Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife fish, and TWRA, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency stocking fish, it's become more common to stumble upon catching one of these.

First one for me.

We were up here throwing swim baits catching other species of fish and lo and behold, look up, had a rod tip bouncing a little bit, had six ounces of weight on it.

So I just happened to have the the sturgeon biologist and ichthyologist with me.

They█re down there now taking all their measurements.

Obviously if I was not here with them, this fish would have been immediately pictured and released.

They're going through and doing a video right now about safe capture and release of these Sturgeon, because you literally want to get this fish, keep it in water as much as you can, get a little bit of data, really good pictures of both left and right side and get it out and get it released.

And I hope that's about what they're getting ready to do, is release this fish.

There he goes.

One of the reasons they're in decline and we're trying to restore them is because their habitat has been fragmented by dams.

Yeah, they're adapted to free flowing, long stretches of river.

The dams have basically interrupted their natural migratory behavior.

Right now, the department's official stance on this is we're not trying to discourage catching them.

We just want you to handle them properly and immediately release them, correct?

Right.

Yes.

Yes.

That's what we ask.

It takes lake sturgeon over 20 years to reach reproductive maturity.

And the goal of our restoration project is to have a self-sustaining population, meaning that they're going to reproduce in the wild, they're going to spawn in the river.

We're still not to that point where we're starting to document natural reproduction.

Until then, we just have to be good stewards.

Yes.

Yeah.

I hope you guys had a good time doing it today.

I got to learn a little bit.

We had a good time.

Hopefully people understand that is an opportunity to come back and catch these sturgeon.

Hopefully they learn a little bit about how to handle them and safely get these fish back out there so that we can enjoy them for many years to come.

Many generations to come.

And many generations.

Yes.

Thank you, guys.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check out Ashlyn Taylor, who went down to Kentucky Lake to target carp and caught her personal best.

Nice job.

Here's a unique fish.

Kaden young caught this bowfin in Green River and released it back to its native home.

Nice job.

Here we have Brian Howard, who went fishing at Barron River Lake tail water and caught these nice crappie.

Rhonda Fitch went out bass fishing and caught her new personal best at Nolin River Lake.

Nice job.

Check out Dennis Rice holding his first muskie.

He caught this on a small crankbait while bass fishing in Garrison, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have nine year old Brimley Fields, who went catfishing at Kincaid Lake State Park and caught this beautiful fish.

Nice job.

Here we have Andrew Moore, who went trout fishing at Wolf Creek Dam on Father's Day and caught this nice fish.

Nice job.

Cody Angel went out and spend a little time on Dale Hollow Lake and caught one of those beautiful smallmouth bass they're known for.

Nice job.

Garrett Griffiths caught his new personal best largemouth bass at Barron River Lake on a crankbait while fishing with his grandpa.

This fish was released to be caught again.

Nice job.

Summer is a great time of year to get outdoors and enjoy one of Kentucky's many waterways.

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.

The beauty of Kentucky's outdoors isn't just happenstance.

It's a legacy built by those who care.

When you purchase a hunting and fishing license, you're funding conservation efforts that protect wildlife, restore habitats, and ensure Kentucky's outdoors remain vibrant for everyone.

Your license isn't just a ticket to adventure.

It's an investment in Kentucky's future.

Buy your hunting, fishing, or sportsman's license today.

Kentucky's wildlife depends on it.

Visit fw.ky.gov.

Did you know that Kentucky is home to the largest Elk herd in the eastern US, with an elk zone twice the size of Yellowstone National Park?

Look how big it is.

I mean, this is just amazing.

And we enjoy one of the most diverse fisheries in the country.

Just ask Christine.

Very nice.

Oh.

And by the way, Kentucky is known for being one of the top five states for trophy whitetails each year.

Additionally, more than 100,000 Kentuckians have benefited from our conservation education programs like the Salado Wildlife Education Center, summer conservation camps, and our learn to hunt and Fish classes.

Or did you know about the 1.6 million acres open to the public?

These are just a few things that Kentucky's Department of Fish and Wildlife have helped preserve.

This is one of several we have on the Kentucky River.

She's got plenty of room in that nest for chicks.

Who pays for conservation in Kentucky?

Well, since the department receives no general fund state tax dollars, we rely on the sportsmen and women of the Commonwealth.

He's been waiting years for that.

So if you enjoy Kentucky's resources, help us manage them by purchasing a hunting or fishing license today.

You can do so by visiting fw.ky.gov.