This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're headed to the Ohio River just outside of the city of Louisville.

And we're just going to see what we can catch Then we're headed to Kentucky Lake, and we've got big fish on our mind, but we aren't using a rod and reel.

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.

Here in Kentucky, we are very lucky that we have so many different rivers that we can fish.

And there's one thing that's always true about fishing a river you never know what you're going to catch Well, it's Derby Week, so of course, we're headed to Louisville.

But we're not here to watch the horses.

We're coming to the Falls of Ohio, and we're going to walk in and see what we can catch.

That's the beautiful thing about fishing here in the Ohio River.

This is a great time of year.

A lot of fish are migrating upstream and they get to this lock and dam and throwing any type of imitator of a small bait fish can produce good numbers of fish.

And you never know what you're going to catch.

When I come here, I like to bring a lot of tackle because getting hung up and snags is part of the deal.

And I'm going to throw predominantly small swim bait, soft plastics and vary the weight of the jig head to keep myself right off the bottom and see what we can catch today.

We're right here at the Upper McAlpin Dam.

And I usually like to try to start pretty close to the dam and just look for the right amount of flow and the right depth of water.

So we'll start here.

And if we have to move and find some fish, then that's what we'll do.

Well, the deep water is way out there farther than I can cast, and I'm very close to the bank.

The plan is to see how close I can get a cast to right on the edge of that riff So that bait comes through there.

It's all disoriented of course there's a bunch of oxygen in the water and the predator fish are going to set right on the edge of that and they're going to catch everything coming out.

That's easy prey.

So I'm going to try to find a location where I can safely get out there, cast out on that on that edge and make my lure look like that distressed prey coming through there.

Let's head down and try to find us a deep pocket of water You know, this river obviously flows from Ohio, Pittsburgh area and then goes south all the way to Mississippi.

So the river's flowing really hard this way, but it's coming through the fossil beds through that channel so fast right now that it's creating a backwash it's coming back around this way.

When I make a cast, my lure is very quickly going upstream, not downstream.

That tells you how much current is in here right now.

I mean, I'll tell you what, at any point in time, you end up in this water.

It could be very dangerous.

That's why you see, I definitely have my life jacket on We're probably about a quarter mile away from where we started and here we finally found a bend where it looks like we got a decent amount of water Here we go.

The mystery of the Ohio River.

What is it?

Well, look at that.

Never would have thought in a million years come down here.

And the first fish I would catch is a small mouth bass.

Hah!

That's a beautiful thing.

I'm here in the Ohio River and everybody talks about how the bass population is really bad.

But in these rock beds where you got really good water quality you never know.

Looky there small mouth bass, beautiful!

All right.

Thank you, buddy.

Little 15 inch smallie.

Not what I expected.

My first fish of the day to be.

I will tell you that.

I was thinking maybe white bass, maybe hybrid potentially catfish maybe a drum, smallmouth.

Oh, look, we're not alone.

We got another gentleman here who just joined us.

You've been fishing down here for quite a while now.

Several years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're from Bullitt County?

Not that far away.

Right.

You said your son's down here with you somewhere.

Yes.

He's down at lower end What do you love about fishing the Ohio River?

I just love fishing all together.

Oh, it's cool.

You know, you can come over here and see different things in the rocks.

And this and that and the old cottonwoods.

And you said you were here yesterday.

Yeah.

And you were catching what?

We was catching white bass stripes.

Well, what I call stripers, one guy did catch a big hybrid.

It's amazing to me what type of fishery this is.

And you look right there, and the county to the south of us, right here in Louisville has got a million people but there's always a spot on the bank that you can come in here and try to catch a fish.

There is.

Well I was sitting here on this point, kind of casting out, and I just had caught a, you know, a little 15, 16 smallmouth.

And I saw that you had something that I thought, man, I hope we get to see this fish.

He's got something really, really big on there.

Hah!

Stripping line!

I would like to see him come up.

So we know what you're dealing with.

With 10 lb test on a light wire hook like that, you can't bare down and just drag them in.

hook like that You got to just l you got to let them be the boss Yeah.

Oh I think I just saw it.

It's a shark.

Yeah haha, spoonbill!

Had you caught a spoonbill before?

I have.

OK, I have.

Oh, he's hooked right there on the side.

You see that?

I caught some up at Taylorsville, there at the spillway.

OK. And I actually caught because I was fishing in the trough.

Yeah, and it actually bit.

Yeah, yeah.

So it was pretty cool.

Oh, he didn't like that pinch on the tail.

I couldn't get my hand around the bend of it, The tail, I don't think, flexes, you know, it stays.

Yeah.

So that's why I said, you know, if we get him by the tail, you pretty much got him.

We got him.

If I can grab that rostrum we're in good shape.

Look at that, I can't hold him it's too slick.

Look what you got there isn't that pretty amazing that, that lives right here in the river.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

That's like stepping back in time, you know, that's a dinosaur fish so I say, you know.

When you see them and the really slick skin and the way the tail is forked, they do kind of look like a shark until you see the rostrum.

Yeah.

Let's go catch another fish.

Let's do it.

I got one.

He ain't much whatever it is.

Oh a sauger, yeah.

Well, you go from that to this.

Well, I tell you what, these sauger are really good table fair.

I ain't kidding I love them, but he needs to grow up about two years That's good though.

I like to see a lot of small fish as well.

So that means your fishery is good, you know, that's what keeps us coming back.

Here we go.

There we go!

What have we got here?

You never know.

Oh, a catfish!

Can you believe that now there is a catfish on a swim bait.

Now, that is.

We have sat here in a few minutes and caught four different species of fish.

That is awesome.

That's what I like about the river.

You just never know.

My arms still aching.

(Laughing) He may be bigger you may catch it again one of these days.

I might do it.

Lieutenant McQueary how are you doing?

Good, sir.

Good to see you again.

Today we're gonna talk about something a little different.

Hunting from a boat.

This can be a lot of fun, especially for small game hunting.

In counties that have a big river system, we see that a lot.

People tend to love to hunt from a boat after small game squirrels in particular.

I know that when I was a kid, my dad would take me out fishing.

And when squirrel season was in, we would be fishing down a waterway and hunting at the same time.

And it just.

It doubled your chances.

It really is a good way to keep a kid active.

It sure is.

You can stay active all day long.

The things we have to avoid is and you need to know is You can't hunt big game from a boat, so your deer, elk turkey and bear can't be hunted from a boat.

But again, it's a perfect opportunity to fish and hunt squirrels.

What species can be hunted from a boat?

it's your small game species and your furbearers.

So hunting squirrels from a boat, what else you need to know.

Even if you're hunting, you have to.

your boat has to be legal.

You have to make sure you've got the throwable device, your fire extinguisher, everything.

You got to make sure your boat is legal, right?

Sure.

All your proper safety equipment.

And the next thing is you have to make sure there's permission to hunt on that property and retrieve that animal.

OK, that's something that you really need to remember.

So Army Core of Engineer Properties in and around lakes and rivers and streams where there's no houses behind you.

Perfect opportunities.

This is the perfect opportunity if it's open to hunting and wildlife management areas as well.

You're exactly right, Chad, for example, Green River WMA, it's a perfect opportunity.

So you can come out here, do a little fishing, keep a kid active, and it's a really fun, safe way.

But you got to make sure we're only talking about small game and furbearers.

No hunting of any type of big game turkeys, deer, elk, none of that can be done from a boat.

You're exactly right.

And we have to make sure when we talk about furbearers that you are not allowed to harvest raccoons or possums from a boat casting the rays of light.

The thing is some people do use boats for waterfowl hunting.

Now, that is that gets a little bit a little bit more dicey because that boat cannot be under power.

What we're trying to avoid are people using a boat to motor ducks up and shoot them while they're on the move.

OK, so they're allowed to use a boat to get to their spot and hunt from the boat, but they can't be under power while shooting.

That's exactly right.

Chad, you've never tried hunting from a boat it's a lot of fun and it can be done very safe.

You just got to make sure that you prepare, have your permission lined out and make sure your boat is safe.

Here in Kentucky, we have catfish in about every body of water across the state, and there are many different ways to try to catch them.

Here's a way you may or may not consider trying.

Alright, For me, I don't like I don't like the water you don't see me in too often.

Not that I'm afraid of it.

I just think it's cold.

You can swim, right?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

We're down here on the banks of Kentucky Lake.

this is the place that I've done a lot of fishing, but the type of fishing we're doing today is brand new to me.

We're going to be jumping in the water and hopefully grabbing some big flathead catfish by hand.

Some people call it a hogging, and then some people call it tickling, and then some call it hand fishing.

But it it's all the same thing.

So I believe I believe he's sticking his foot in there and locating that hole, and he's kind of positioned himself and getting ready, getting a good good lungful of air and diving down and literally going all the way to his feet and then running his hand up in that hole.

I'm sure that people that you've told you'd like to go out noodle or hand grab catfish, they're probably like, Oh, my God, aren't you scared?

Oh, it's it's a defining characteristic.

I mean, you tell people you catfish noodle and it's one of the things they always remember about you and they always ask and yeah, I mean, that's that's one of the appeals of it.

He's been down there awhile.

Oh, there he is.

There he is.

He's got it.

Little guy.

What do you got there?

Just a little channel cat.

And you can see where they get skinned up under those rocks and things.

Oh, yeah.

That's way to get started.

You just gonna turn him loose?

Yeah turn him loose and find his way right on back down.

Maybe we can find something bigger.

I've been noodling catfish, I guess, sixteen years.

As a matter of fact, my very first assignment as an outdoor writer was to go down to Mississippi and and try to noodle a catfish and write a story about it.

Those guys were pretty intense, pretty serious about it, but I learned how to do it.

I caught a nice flat head, and I was like, Man, this is cool.

I like big catfish.

I always have.

I've always been intrigued by them.

And, you know, I grew up catching snakes and frogs and lizards and like a lot of country kids do.

And I just like being outside doing that sort of thing.

So we've been doing it about 15 years now and kind of a crew of family and buddies.

And we just we have a great time we go every summer.

Oh, yeah.

I feel him.

I feel the pad get ready.

There he is!

Kentucky actually has a season.

It opens June 1st.

It really gets going when the water temperature hits about 80 degrees.

That's when the flat heads kind of start moving up into the holes and and stays good for a few weeks there.

And honestly, by about the middle of July, we're, we're skinned up and worn out and ready to hang it up for the year.

Anyway, check his gills and make sure nothing is bleeding and it's not.

The fish is in good shape.

He's in good shape.

He got a little skin up there on the rock.

That's kinda part of it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you can see on their back a lot of healed stuff.

Yeah.

And even his dorsal fin, he's he's wallowed that down, you know, where he's gotten up under there and dug, you know.

I tell you what flathead catfish are so cool.

Look at that mouth.

look at that big old mouth and these little bitty eyes.

They are prehistoric looking fish.

He'll find his way right back up.

Find his way right back in here.

But I guarantee you can catch him in there tomorrow.

So I want you to catch one about three times that size.

Your wife actually enjoys doing this.

She does.

My wife and my son, Anse.

We're an outdoors family.

We hunt and fish for anything that's in season.

Year round, So we we've been going out and doing this for a long time.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

So Anse is getting up here.

This is a really shallow spot, which is absolutely perfect for a first timer or a young fella like this.

Oh, yeah, he's in there.

All right, you got to get down in the water.

Belly down there you go.

Remember, get your face in the water to see my arms there in the hole.

He's been going out here with us since two years old.

You know, we've been putting him in the boat and then taking him along.

And if it's a catfish.

It might bite his hand but it's not going to hurt him.

He'll be OK.

He just came up, bit Anse's hand Did he bite your hand?

Yeah, you OK?

Michelle and I have always hunted and fished together, and we just decided when he was born, we're just going to take him with us.

And, you know, when he gets big enough to decide he doesn't want to go that's fine.

But he sure likes it.

He loves it.

Good job.

So what that feel like, buddy?

What's it feel like doing that?

I think it's pretty fun.

Did you feel the fish bite your hand?

yeah.

He bit you one time.

I know.

Did it scare you a little bit?

No?

you're not scared of anything, are you?

we release 99% of the catfish we catch doing this, and we almost always have.

And, hey, we we like to catch big catfish, too, so we have an interest in not killing them, you know, it's a misconception that noodlers are going out there and cleaning everything they catch.

They're sport Fishermen, just like everybody else.

A lot of people sink boxes for, for catfish noodling or drums just like sinking structure for crappie.

But it's, you know, it's for a single catfish.

First time I've ever tried this.

So we're here at this box and I got my feet right in the opening where I'm going to go down and stick my arm in there and try to feel around, see if there's anything in there.

what's the biggest thing you have to really watch out for.

Everybody asks about the beaver snakes and turtles.

Every time I take somebody new, that's the first thing they ask when you see turtles everywhere, you see some snakes on the bank and stuff.

But so far as a turtle backing up in the holes.

I mean, these holes that we're checking, they're they're well underwater.

They're under rocks and things.

You feel anything?

No didn't feel anything.

sweep that stick around in there, a turtle has to breathe.

And it's not a place that a turtle is going to back up into.

Do I use the hook end?

Yeah the hook end.

and so the thing that we stress, like, we always go in groups.

We never have somebody dive alone.

And I mean, the the biggest real danger is obviously drowning.

There's always a chance that you're going to get stuck underwater.

I don't feel anything.

Nobody home.

So we always have somebody right there next to us when we dive, most of the holes that we check you can you can stand up.

But there are a few that are over your head.

And those you need to you need to be particularly careful so a lot of what we check, honestly, are holes that we found in the banks under rocks.

It's taken us 15 years of looking and we look continuously every summer.

We've kind of built a circuit of areas that we check.

Some days this one will have a fish in it and that one won't, and vice versa.

But it's, it's, it's still fishing.

Getting ready to check another hole this is completely different than the last one.

It's not actually a manmade box.

It's up under the bank.

It's got some concrete in and around it.

So we'll go see what they've got.

They said this hole has been known to hold some pretty good size fish.

She already got one?

She gets real quiet.

I'll tell you what this is.

This is something that you probably wouldn't want to do by yourself for safety concerns, but it also takes some teamwork sometimes to manipulate these fish in the best way to get them out.

That's what we're seeing right here.

But if you come to the left, I got to push him back in.

Yeah.

Is he a mean little sucker momma?

He is baby, he's biting the front of my hand.

Oh, I lost one on camera.

That's a pretty good channel cat.

He was biting biting biting, His little mouth wasn't big enough for my whole hand.

Nobody home?

Nothing I feel, but I. I heard something.

Did one of you guys?

I had a stick right here it may have been raking or something.

You wanna try this one or?

Yeah, I'll double check it.

The other day, there was a fish that kind of layed over to the right, which was kind of hard to find.

This is hard to get a feel for what you're feeling for with the.

Fish?

When you go in, take that stick and turn it to the right.

OK, you hit the stick?

It's a flat head, so we'll try to locate where he's at with the stick.

Then I got to manipulate.

Yeah.

Yeah, you kind of have to manipulate him a little bit.

And you might he probably bite that stick and you might be able to just kind of pull him, and as you do, swing him out and I would have your left hand in there ready to get him.

But you'll you'll know it if he gets on that stick.

But yeah, go in there and go straight.

Right.

Straight right.

Yeah.

Oh, I heard it thump.

Yeah.

OK, we heard all that.

He's got the stick.

Oh.

Did he take it away from you?

No, I got it right there at the mouth and we didn't even have patent on that stick.

He's on that stick.

He should have him.

oh, yeah.

What do we got?

Hahaha.

I had him there for a few minutes.

I had just got him in and got my hand under there.

Oh, man.

Well, I turned him loose obviously.

Yeah we got to see him so.

Got him up out of there.

I said wait a minute what do we got here.

If we slow that video down, you'll be able to tell that I actually did have a catfish in my hand for a second.

I got it out, and you guys told me to keep it close to my body.

Well, when I went to stand up, I was trying to show it to the camera.

Yeah, and I had it out about this far away, and it just got loose.

Oh, yeah.

We all saw it, and it's on tape.

we were going to turn it loose anyway.

But that was pretty awesome.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Pretty cool.

You know, a 50 pound flathead is a handful.

They can torque fingers and twist wrists.

You can't just grab them by the jaw and let their tail go in open water because they're going to beat you up pretty quick.

It's so far down that the pressure builds.

Try and hold your breath when you get down there.

It takes me a little while to I just can't stay down there long enough.

You've got to respect a fish like that.

But if you hold them the right way, if you can kind of get their head up close to your body and get their tail under control, that's another reason why we dive in pairs a lot.

If we've got a big fish, there's no shame in having a buddy grab his tail.

So he doesn't beat you to death.

Got one!

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my Gosh.

Got one.

Look at the tag on him.

Kind of for me own benefit of knowledge.

You know, we've started tagging some of the fish, you know, with a zip tie in the dorsal fin or something just to see.

And we've had fish that we've caught three weekends in a row.

Catch them, take a picture and let them go and they go right back in there.

What do you what do you think approximately poundage of this fish?

My guess would, Anse what's this fish weigh?

Um about let me look at it.

About 11 pounds.

Hey he's bigger than that.

Between that and catching a big flathead on a live bluegill that might swallow that hook so far as that individual fish this is not hurting him as much it's one of those things that you do with knowledge and respect to the resource you've got just a couple of little bitty spots on it but all in all it's in great shape.

Big ole fat belly on it.

You really can't understand the feeling of getting in there and feeling that fish strike until you actually use your hand probe.

Exactly.

We've taken a lot of new people.

That's that's part of the fun.

Like, we like to take people just almost universally.

It's not what they expect.

Yes.

It's not as scary, I guess, as people think it's going to be.

But also people are pretty surprised at how powerful those fish are.

Oh yeah.

There you go Finally, finally got him to hit.

It's amazing to me how you kind of work in groups as a family and as teams.

It's a team sport and it's more fun with a lot of people.

Out here.

It is.

What do you think about that?

Pretty fish, huh?

I like his belly.

I know.

Aren't they pretty it looks like a little male.

I think you're probably right.

Say, I'm going to keep an eye out for some of your articles and keep up with what you're doing.

And I'm sure you and I will find some more.

For sure.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it'd be a good time.

Well, I enjoyed it, buddy.

Lot of fun.

Yeah, a lot of fun.

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 this nice ten inch red ear that was caught by Myles Zirkelbach, who's four years old.

He caught this fish while fishing in Jefferson Memorial Forest.

Nice job.

Check out the smile on seven year old Gabby Mayes.

She's smiling because she caught this nice 3 pound largemouth bass at a farm pond in Madisonville, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful smallmouth bass.

It was 21 inches long that was caught in McCreary County.

This fish was caught by Christopher Perry while fishing with his grandparents.

Nice job.

Here we have Travis Casto with a nice large mouth bass that was caught in a farm pond in Waddy, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful eight point buck that was taken by Ronnie Greenwell.

This is one of the more impressive eight pointers I've ever seen.

This deer was taken in Nelson County, and he said he watched the deer for a full two months before he got a shot.

Nice job.

Here we have Harper Philcam, who knows how to spend some time in the summer.

She went bluegill fishing with her dad in Henry County.

And brought home this nice mess of fish for some fish tacos.

Nice job.

This is 15 year old Clark Garrett who went frog gigging on the opening night.

Nice job.

Summer is here and most of our kids are now out of school.

And this is the perfect time of year to take a kid pan fishing 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.