This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're on the Nolan River, throwing both fly fishing tackle and conventional gear for hard fighting white bass.

Next, we'll take to the hardwoods with avid outdoorsman Kenton Bottoms in search of squirrels.

then we'll see how law enforcement is using technology to keep the state's lakes clean and safe.

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 every spring here in Kentucky, the white bass run provides an opportunity for all anglers.

Whether you fish in the bank, a boat, or what your tackle preferences are.

Well.

It's April.

You know what that means.

It's time to either be in the turkey woods or chasing white bass.

If you live here in Kentucky, and I'm here with good friend and former third District commission member Ralph Swallows.

How are you doing?

Doing great.

Chad.

It's great to be here today.

Nothing I'd rather be doing.

Since you've retired, you spend a lot of time chasing these white bass.

I love the white bass run.

This is peak time to be out.

And, spend as much time as I can on the water.

I've seen you out fishing.

You know, we've ran into each other quite a few times, and several times it's been white bass fishing.

But I'll tell you what.

I've never seen you fish without a fly rod.

You gonna be throwing a fly rod today, too.

That's absolutely correct.

but, that's that's that's me.

And you're actually gonna be throwing flies that you hand tied yesterday, right?

Yes.

That's correct.

there you go.

Oh, there you go.

So this is like a little, little wooly bugger looking thing with no weight on it.

That█s right.

I tied that last night.

And that I call that a white bass bullet.

white bass bullet, because that's what you target with them predominately, white bass.

That's it.

No weight.

And, they this they just love this color.

Just white.

Speaking of chasing turkeys.

Look at that right there.

See that hen turkey right there?

Oh, right.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah That's the first one.

I haven't heard any gobbling here.

Well but it's that time of year to be chasing turkeys.

Yeah it is, but, I'll tell you what I'd rather be doing.

We're doing right now.

Yeah.

have you using the fly rod before the end of the day.

you won█t have to twist my arm too hard, I█m fast stripping.

They seem to like that motion.

there was, I had another one and.

they seem to like that I let it sink a little bit and just pop it.

There you go.

There you go.

Well, you've got something there with that.

With that little fly in that, fly rod there.

Yeah.

Just the presentation keeps the bait in the strike zone so long, doesn't it?

Yes, it does.

And that's one of the keys to to this, I believe at least it█s proven itself to be true.

This is a sinking line.

It'll keep the bait at the same level for a long period of time.

There's not much to it.

These are.

I tried these last night.

I had a dozen last night.

Didn't take hardly any time to tie them.

And, they just work really good.

Just all it is is a little a lit tail, It's a really, really slow presentation you know, a lot of times people think, well, you can't cast as far and it takes you longer to get your bait into the strike zone.

Well, it might take a little bit longer, but once you get it there, it stays in the strike zone for a long period of time.

Right.

I'll do the same.

type of presentation.

With a, floating line.

but with the, heavier leader and the same bait and the floating line, using fluorocarbon with on a leader will keep the bait in about two feet of water.

So if you're fishing over grass, if you're fishing in a lake and you're fishing for bass, it's a great presentation.

Gives you a suspending bait.

You know, you can make it.

You just don't have any weight on your fly in.

The fly just stays in the zone for a lot longer.

Here we go.

Good one.

Pretty good fish, There you go.

pound for pound.

They're.

They're close to the top of the charts for how hard they fight aren█t they?

Yeah.

look there.

That one's a good enough size.

We'll take that one home.

Thank you.

Look at that.

That's a good one.

It's a really good fish.

There you go.

Yeah, that's what we're after.

That is a trophy size white bass.

Yeah.

In it?

And so we've been I've been catching those all week.

So a little bit of, we put in everybody's chasing the front end of the, of the bass run.

So we put in we hadn't seen a boat this way yet, and 3 or 4 boats were coming, and they're all going to go upstream.

They're all going to go upstream because everybody's getting on the leading edge.

But the problem is, is that the females.

And now I don't know for sure, but I'd bet $10 and that's a female.

So you look like she might be spawned out.

These females fish tend to be, this is a little behind the males, but right now we're more for looking for quality and not quantity.

So you were like, let's go toward the lake.

We should get both today.

We should get all we want.

And we should be able to find a lot of these.

That's a great fish.

Well, I tell you what, that's a perfect, perfect size white bass for the skillet right there.

Isn█t it?

They're fantastic.

Oh, there he is.

Oh, nice one.

That's like a good one there.

Yeah.

Let me grab the net.

That's a good fish.

Now that is another giant white bass.

This is the reason you come to.

I tell you what, I have caught a couple at, Taylorsville that size, but they're few and far between.

Unless you catch a hybrid.

you can catch some of those up there.

That is a really, really nice sized white bass.

How long you think it is?

yeah, he's 15, maybe.

we're getting right in there.

Here we go.

Yeah, yeah.

I did not tie my fly.

This is a Charlie Brewer slider grub.

Little bitty bitty 1.5in one.

And I use it quite a bit because I can cast it a long way with this.

I've got a 32nd ounce weight on it and cast it a long way.

Yeah, that's a pretty good one there.

We'll keep that one.

right in here.

This is a pretty good spot usually, right in here.

There he is.

Got him.

That's a good one.

Wow, that's a good one.

That is a good one.

Thank you.

if someone said, when's the white base run going to take place?

You know, there's so many factors and variables you know, water temperature being one, water conditions being a second, how much water you've got.

I gave them an early date, but I tell them, you may have to make 2 or 3 trips to hit them.

Good, because I've made trips where I just didn't catch a whole bunch, but that's part of it.

There he is.

That's a good Oh, yeah.

There you go.

Those are the ones we want.

You are smashing them on that fly.

Look at that beautiful fish on that little bitty fly doesn't have any weight.

Just drifting it through there real nice and slow.

Looks like a pretty good fish right here.

There we go.

That's a pretty good one.

Oh yeah.

Nolan River, white bass.

I'll tell you what.

Kentucky offers a whole lot of excellent fishing opportunities throughout the year.

You know, from wintertime fishing at Dale hollow, like for smallmouth and stripers and some of the trout fisheries.

but as far as some of the most fun days I've ever had fishing in the state of Kentucky, the white bass run has to be up there close.

Because when it's on, it's a nonstop, hard fighting fish and you can just catch so many of them.

There he is.

Yeah.

Well keep him.

First cast.

Got him.

Yeah.

Right there.

Nice white bass right there.

Oh, you got one?

Yeah, buddy.

Nice.

You got a nice one.

Ooh.

You want him for the live well.

you put that one in there.

That's a good one.

This was going down river.

I█ll tell you what, If you don't like that, you don't like fishing.

Plain and simple.

If you can't get excited about catching a wide body hard fighting fish in the current, then you don't.

You don't like to fish.

So much fun.

Look at that.

I tell you what, Ralph, these are nice fish.

Oh, look at that.

That was a walleye with it.

yeah.

That's Walleye or sauger.

Trying to get that, isn't he?

Yes.

You see that?

Trying to eat that out of his mouth.

Right now it's just one fish after the next.

Just almost every cast.

Oh.

You got one too.

Oh my, do you see that one going under the boat?

You got one too?

Yeah.

I'll tell you what.

These are good fish.

Oh, yeah.

They are.

Thick, Healthy fat, white bass.

Doubling up, fighting them in the current.

Getting ready to have fish tacos.

It doesn't get much better than this, does it?

It doesn't.

Doesn't get much better.

Absolutely.

yeah.

Here he is.. Look at that, How bout that?

Look at that.

Look at that.

That is so cool.

are those shad or those?

No, those are white.

Looks like it.

Are those males that are spawning?

That is really cool.

That's a dandy.

They're nice.

Yeah.

I mean, I'd put down on the board that right there.

It might be the fish of the day so far.

you want to come back here and try this fly rod?

Sure.

I'd like to catch one on the fly rod.

All right, You look like a pro already.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, that's a good one.

How about that?

That's great.

That thing came up and hit.

He come up and got it.

Yes we did.

we're gonna net that one.

I'll tell you what.

That's about as much fun as you can have with a rod and reel in your hand.

You know, and I'm not a fly fisherman.

I do a little bit of fly fishing, but I've been seeing you catch them.

And look at this bend in this rod.

Right.

And I find these things and it's.

Yeah.

Look, that's a good one.

That might be the best one today.

I don't know.

We might have to measure that.

See?

I mean, that's a good one.

That's a really good one.

This just goes to show you, you know, every single time we come up here, people tell you, you got to throw a white, you got to throw pink, you got to throw this.

You got to throw this weight.

The simple fact is, is you can catch them.

They're wanting to eat any piece of bait or minnow that comes by.

That's exactly right.

And it's all about getting the presentation that you're the most comfortable with and the most fun to you.

But if you get hung up a lot, you need less weight.

You know, if you're fishing in an area where the currents moving and you're and you're baits not getting deep enough, you need a little more weight, that█s right.

This technique with the weighted line and this little tie, this fly with no weight is a perfect presentation.

Yeah, I, it works well.

Thanks for teaching me a thing or two.

You█re welcome!

That was awesome!

Awesome.

The spring squirrel season is now in and it's a great opportunity for new hunters and experienced hunters alike.

Oh.

They're here.

I mean, we just we just got to run into the right ones.

I don't know that I've ever been skunked here before, we're in Anderson County and we're out.

a little bit past Beaver Lake so we're going to be hunting a mix of hardwoods with some cedars thrown in.

I mean if you look here on the log you can see squirrel prints.

We know they've been active today because the snow fell last night.

So we know that they've been around.

There's also a few nest around here.

So we know this there's been activity here.

we're just trying to catch up with them.

it's pretty cold, so I don't know how well we'll do, but.

Sun's starting to try and peek out a little bit.

The wind's not as bad as we thought it was going to be, so I think we might get lucky and be able to get a few.

I'm actually from a nontraditional hunting family.

Like, I always, I don't know what it is, I always wanted to hunt from the time I can remember.

I think the first hunt I ever when I was a deer hunt, and I pestered my dad, guy he worked with took me out on a youth hunt, and I was able to be successful and harvest a doe.

And from then on, like hunting is.

It's my favorite.

My favorite thing to do, really.

So it's, the farm we█re on today.

doing this squirrel hunt is actually a guy that I grew up with, and his dad taught us a bunch of stuff about hunting.

that's kind of the way it blossomed is, you know, I met some guys I went to school with and their dads were pretty big in the outdoors and stuff, and we're teaching them, and I kind of fell in with them and, got taught a lot of good lessons that way.

Oh, I see one.

It was up in that biggest cedar tree right there.

And he kind of got on that limb that kind of jets across right there.

he was kind of moving this direction.

So I think he's over this way somewhere, but it's just so thick in these, cedars that it's hard to see through there to, see where he's at.

There█s one.

Can█t get around.

Alright, we got them treed up.

We█ve got them treed up now.

Here we go.

daggum.

We got one.

We saw three squirrels go up this tree right here, we got one, but we're trying to see if we can.

If we can get another one.

They're still up there in this tree.

They█re just not showing theirselves, Sometimes that'll get them to show, but.

Oh, I see one.

Oh, gosh.

Oh, Should have shot.

That was a good one, too.

I should have shot, Those squirrels are just so fast that it's hard to when they're running, it can be hard to get on them.

we got a nice big squirrel.

Like I said, there's a couple more up here, so.

Put him in the pouch and.

That's a big tree.

They can be anywhere in that tree.

They█ve clearly got some kind of food source.

that they've probably buried or something.

And that█s probably where they're living in this tree.

So Can always swing back and check it.

It's not the fact of actually going hunting or anything that makes it so daunting.

It's you know, what do you do afterwards?

How do you how do you process that animal?

there are resources out there like, hunters of color, which I'm affiliated with.

I'm actually the state ambassador.

You can reach out to me about something like that, but also Fish and Wildlife.

They do the field to fork program.

I mean, it's awesome.

I mean, it teaches you everything you need to know to go out there and be successful.

Now that's going to take effort.

I mean, it doesn't happen easily every time, but it's like, you know, it█ll teach you.

What do I do if I am successful and I do harvest this animal?

And so, you know, I think that's a very important barrier to kind of break down.

It█s important to me because, being a minority.

if there weren't people that took the time to kind of show me things, then I wouldn't be where I'm at And so more representation, maybe more younger kids seeing people that kind of look like them out there doing that, could get more people out hunting.

And plus we just need more hunters.

We need more people that are there to pass on the pastime because, I mean, it's it's a great hobby, a great sport.

And, can keep kids out of trouble.

It's, it's good, wholesome fun.

I mean, you can provide a little extra food for your family.

I mean, I've seen so many back in here.

it's just a, it's a good.

Right there.

dang it!

Here he just come.

He's going up, up, up, up in that tree.

He█s on the back side of that one, I just seen his head.

He█s kind of got himself in a pickle there.

Here we go.

How in the world?

He's up there, he's on the.

All right, here we go.

There he is.

Now, you ain't got to tell everybody I missed like that.

I don't know how missed him that one time, but, Shoot.

All right, here we go.

Little success story Oh, yeah.

Here we go.

Here's another one.

We got enough to make something out of now.

Make us some good food right there.

Good looking, squirrel.

Two is a good number.

I'll take 3 or 4, but two is enough to make you something real good to eat.

That's enough.

You can.

He can kind of put them in the crock pot.

Maybe make you a little squirrel gravy or a little, squirrel and dumplings.

Action.

Pretty good little meal right there.

So I'm.

I'm feeling really, really, really, happy that we got two.

That's a ideal squirrel habitat.

It was a good day.

You know, We went for a walk is a beautiful day.

It ended up being awesome out here.

We were able to get a couple squirrels.

So, you know, we'll have a nice dinner.

Anybody can get out here and do this man, just come out and take a walk through the woods.

It's like, you may not be successful every time, which I'm not successful every time, but, you'll get to where you start to learn things and pick things up.

Don't get discouraged if you're not successful right away.

Just keep plugging away and you know, you'll get better and you'll learn more and you'll have fun.

And it's just like it's good exercise too.

And, you know, come out here with a buddy.

You're sitting here talking.

We're cutting up, having a good time.

So, all in all a great day.

Our conservation officers here in the state of Kentucky have a lot of unique duties, some of which may surprise you.

We're out here at Cedar Creek Lake today and Lincoln County.

This is a department owned lake.

We got a call that there was a car in the water.

We're using new equipment to ultimately get the car out of the water.

There's a marker behind me of a buoy that we've marked that has the GPS coordinates of where the car has been located.

So the equipment we're using today is a tow fish sonar, which allows us to GPS plot everything and take pictures as we're going through the water and cover a bigger area.

There it is.

This program we use allows us to plot everything and it allows us to ping, put a to take a picture of each thing.

So right here, we've got a picture of the edge of the boat ramp with GPS coordinates.

And then you can see is these little red dots are each image I just took of a car.

Everything in the water puts off a shadow, so we're able to look from different angles to see.

Yeah, that is confirming that it's a car or a body or stump or whatever.

And it allows us to be able to get all these points and it gives us a GPS coordinate of it to where we can go and type in our phone and then drop a marker on it.

And it's going to get us in a real close area of that object to whether we deploy the ROV or we have to send divers down.

In this case today, we're going to send a set of divers down.

We're getting ready to deploy the ROV, an underwater drone that has multiple propellers on it and a claw on it.

It's going to be ran off a generator.

It has a big monitor on it, along with a computer that you use for the sonar equipment.

There's a process to go through.

You got to run your code to the ROV.

There's a lot of little bitty things you've got to check before you can put it in the water and make sure everything works.

We're going to try to get a picture of the car up close and maybe try to get a license plate off of if we're lucky enough and the water's clear enough.

I'm on the rope.

There's the car.

There it is.

Once Taylor County gets set up, they're going to follow that buoy marker down.

We've got it attached to magnets at the end of it.

They're going to be able to follow that line down to the car.

It's going to help us utilize not wasting so much time.

They're going to hook up some straps and then take a cable out there from the tow truck.

And that way they can hook up to it and get the car out.

This is just an easier way for us not to waste as much time with having divers constantly searching in the water.

This equipment that we're using is allowing us to get that time factor down and not have the divers in the water as long on those hot summer days.

This new equipment that we're training on and getting out in the field is going to be able to help us be able to recover cars or other objects out of the lake in a timely manner.

If we have that worst case scenario of a drowning at all, allow us to go out there and recover that individual for their loved ones quicker by using this equipment to hopefully narrow down the areas that they are and go down and recover that individual or either get the car out in a timely manner once we know it's there and locate it.

The highlight of Scotty Johnson's turkey season was being in the blind with his daughter while his eight year old granddaughter harvested her first turkey.

Nice job.

Joey Long had some great family fun on Lake Barkley as he went bow fishing with Matty and Landon.

Congratulations.

Shane Taylor caught this nice smallmouth bass while fishing on top of water at Laurel River Lake.

Cadence.

Carter caught this nice bluegill while fishing at Lake Herrington.

Nice job.

Check out these nice smallmouth bass that were caught out of the Green River.

These were taken by Wyatt Henderson.

Congratulations.

Next weekend is the kick off of the boating season here in Kentucky with Memorial Day weekend.

Make sure before you hit the water that your boat is in good working order.

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.