This week on Kentucky Afield, we are breaking out the kayaks for the first time this year and we've got big bass on our minds.

Next, we'll watch some of the nation's top dogs compete at the 2023 UFTA Nationals.

Then, It█s nearly April so we're on the hunt for white bass.

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.

Bass fishing from a kayak takes a little bit of practice.

But when you get it figured out, it opens up a whole lot of fishing opportunities.

One of the questions I get all the time is “what's your favorite type of fishing to do?” I'm very fortunate that I get to do a lot of different styles of fishing, but today this is probably my favorite and that is bass fishing in the late winter / early spring, for bass.

This is the best time of year to go out and catch a really good fish.

So what type of conditions are you looking for?

I look for two or three days of fairly stable, warm weather.

The first two or three days that we get.

That's when the bass come from their winter hideouts in the deeper water, and they move up into the shallower flats, looking to feed and looking for a place to nest.

This is a really good time to catch a big fish.

If I can find a body of water, a pond or a small lake that doesn't get a ton of pressure, these are the perfect locations to catch big largemouth bass late in the winter, early in the spring.

Type of lures I like to use.

I like to start out fishing spinner baits, chatter baits, things like that.

Rattle traps.

A lot of vibration.

We're trying to create a lot of commotion.

Bigger lures.

If that doesn't work, then I'll start moving into a slower presentation.

Jerk baits.

They work really, really, really well.

Or bigger soft plastics like Senkos or maybe a brush hog or something like that that I can move at a slower pace.

I fished this place one time before.

I caught a really big fish.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness.

Seven pounds, six ounces.

Let's get the boats out and let's try to see if we can't catch a nice largemouth bass today.

I'm so incredibly excited.

I'll tell you what, I don't think you can beat starting off with a chatter bait in these conditions.

It's a pearl white color.

It's going to create a lot of vibrations in this stained water and I can move it really, really, really slow in and around cover.

Here we go.

What do we got here?

This thing hit the second that bait hit the water.

Oh, it's a big fish.

It's a good one.

It's a... this is a four or five pounder.

Oh, man.

Look at that.

Early March.

And this fish is plum full of eggs.

Oh, my goodness.

That thing was sitting in about less than a foot of water.

And it hit that chatter bait as soon as it made contact with the water.

This is probably pushing four pound fish.

I do have a scale.

Might want to weigh it.

See what we got.

Four pounds, one ounce because of that big fat belly.

Let's get it back in.

Turn it loose.

All right.

I'm going to pick up and move about another 30 feet.

We're going to kind of do that all the way down this bank.

Here we go.

Small fish.

I█ll tell you what a little bitty fish there.

I've got this small spinner bait, and it's in a gold, which is really good in stained color.

I never throw a spinner bait on a spinning reel, but I'm doing this today mainly because it's a very light spinner bait.

So it's working pretty well with this lighter line here.

So that's the reason I'm throwing a spinner bait on a spinning reel.

Here█s one.

Tell you what, these are fun to catch.

It█s amazing a body of water that's got so many fish in it, they█re really spread out.

All the small fish are down here where the wind is blowing in this shallow flat.

And it seems like the two really good bites I had were back that way.

So I'm going to sit down here and play around with these little more, try to catch a big fish down here, but if I don█t have any luck we█ll go back down there and fish that bank and try to pick up a big, pre-spawner.

Another ten inch large mouth.

Man it is amazing how they are choking that spinner bait down to be such a little fish.

I mean, when they hit it, it's gone.

Better watch out, buddy.

There's bass in here that█ll eat you.

Here we go.

Feels like that other fish.

Man they're stacked in here.

There's a little deeper water.

And it actually might be the creek channel that comes through here.

And these fish are sitting right in that deeper water, right on the edge.

Everything around them is stick ups in less than a foot deep.

Let's get this one back and make a move for some big ones.

There we go.

Oh man, not a big fish like I was hoping for, but it's in the big fish territory.

This bank right here has produced some really nice fish.

So I was hoping when I felt that strike, it was going to be a giant.

It's about four years away from that.

Or longer.

But hey, I'll take it.

Well, I didn't get my trophy today, but you'll never hear me complain about a day on the water where you catch a four pound plus fish.

And we did have one fish over four pounds.

Caught several other fish, had a great time.

And hey, we've got a lot of fishing left all Spring and spawn to go.

I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time this year on the water.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife has quite a few individuals across the state that are private lands biologists.

And that's something that you kind of work with those individuals to help the habitat of individual landowners for wildlife█s sake, right?

Yes, Chad.

The state of Kentucky is 95, 94% privately owned.

And it's important if we're going to manage wildlife across the state to ensure that we're managing the private lands.

So we have 17 biologists across the state to provide guidance to the private landowners, and what the hope is that they can write a plan for you free of charge, to incorporate wildlife management practices into their everyday operation, not to take their land out of production of any type of farm aspect, but to incorporate wildlife friendly practices into their operation for sustained populations.

Every one of those land uses have an option that you can incorporate wildlife management into it and not only provide wildlife habitat, but increase your profitability of your farm by doing certain practices.

So that's what the key to our program is not to take away, but to add by by implementing some of these practices into your everyday management.

So if you're a landowner and you thought, man, I'd like to do a few things different without affecting my productivity to help wildlife.

It's a pretty easy way to get started, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you simply go to our web page, go to my county contact, select your county.

It's usually about the bottom line of the private lands biogist and all their contact information is there for who you can contact to start the process.

And once you reach out to them, they're going to help write a plan based on what you want to do on your property, right?

Yes.

Correct.

It's not our objectives.

It's your objectives that we're trying to meet.

Again, if you're not happy with it, you want to sustain it.

Therefore, you'll take away all the gains we made.

The idea behind this is to make wildlife a byproduct of how you manage your property.

So that every day you're doing something, you're actually helping wildlife.

That's the idea behind what the biologist is hopefully going to provide.

The great news is, is that there are some programs with some additional funding that you may qualify and you have some focal areas that have some additional funding that's available that you can actually help individuals maybe meet their goals and help fund it a little bit as well.

Yeah there's, well, we have funding across the whole state.

So if you're in one of those areas, look for some mailings and some outreach material that may come to you letting you know what's available.

But again, across the state, there's opportunities for funding to help you with practices.

I'll tell you what, I appreciate everything you guys do.

I get out on a lot of land in the state of Kentucky, and I can always tell when I'm on a piece of property that they're working with the department.

There's more wildlife and it just seems to be more productive land.

So I appreciate everything you do.

Thank you.

Yeah, Thank you.

It makes it great for an outdoorsman, I'll tell you that.

For more information on how to improve your land for wildlife, visit FW.KY.GOV Click Wildlife and then scroll down and select Improve your Land for Wildlife.

Or call 1-800 858-1549.

People from all over the United States know that Kentucky has many hunting opportunities, but we also have a lot of great dog handlers.

And that's one of the reasons why UFTA decides to do their nationals right here.

Where do you go if you want to see over 150 of the nation's best pointing bird dogs?

Well, in this situation, we don█t have to go anywhere.

They actually came to us.

We're here today at the Cedar Creek Quail Club for the UFTA nationals.

Today is the open division so this is the best of the best.

So what we're watching here today It's a timed event with a dog and a handler who also is carrying a shotgun.

And there's three different zones and there's a bird that's going to be placed, a lot of quail, in each of those zones.

The dog has to come up and find the bird and point.

They walk up to it, flush the bird.

If the bird is shot, The handler has to stand still until it's retrieved and repeat the process.

After you've secured all three of your birds, that's when your time stops.

You want to make sure you hunt clean, shoot clean, and you want your dog to point that bird as fast as you possibly can and retrieve it back to your hand as quickly as possible.

I'm here with Kyle.

You're about ready to take your dog out into the field here.

Yes, sir.

What dog you running today?

His name█s Rip, he's a two year old little Britney spaniel.

Should do good today, we'll see what happens.

I like his odds.

What type of time are you expecting?

I hope two or three.

So how do you like to run dogs in Kentucky?

I like it.

I work at a preserve every day, guide for a living and tarpon fish in the summertime.

But I'll tell you what, Kentucky is a beautiful place.

We love when they have the Nationals up here.

So I tell you what, tell me a little bit about what it takes to win this.

I mean, I know it obviously take a really good dog.

That█s right.

It takes shooting clean, right?

That█s right.

And it takes a little bit of luck.

It does.

It does.

And the luck comes in when you're watching these fields.

If you can get a safety bird up front that's going to help you where you don't have to cover the whole field, well, good luck.

Thank you.

We hope you get it time better than you expect.

I think so, we'll see.

Good luck.

here.

Let's go.

Whoa, whoa.

Here, here, here, here.

Let's go.

Whoa, whoa.

Gun█s clear.

Rip, here, here, here, here.

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, Let's go.

Here, here, here, here, here.

Time.

That█s what I'm talking about, son.

Yeah!

Ah, we had a four.

We get to play more tomorrow.

It█s fast.

I'm out of breath.

Front and back, four.

That's about as good as we're going to do today in this mud.

Happy with him though.

Pretty good for a two year old.

So I'm here with President Brett Biel of the UFTA.

How are you doing?

Oh doing good.

Pretty day.

Getting more ready to run.

UFTA, tell me what that stands for for those that don't know.

United Field Trialers Association.

This is your second year in Kentucky in a row?

Second.

Yeah.

It█s actually our third year of having nationals, my second year of being the president.

All right.

How do you like coming to Kentucky?

Oh, we love it.

It's a good central location.

We have people come from all over.

I'm from Alabama.

You█ve got a lot of good, strong clubs here in Kentucky.

Cedar Creek is a strong club, got great members.

They got facilities.

It's just a great place to come to, as you can see.

Look at some of these fields, the venue that you can oversee the fields and watch, and that, your know, allows people to learn how to play the game and just enjoy watching dogs run.

Hey, Joey, I've been out here and spoke to you before here at Cedar Creek Quail Club.

Man, what a big event you guys have going on here today.

Huge.

A lot of dogs, a lot of folks.

Probably 15 states, just a lot of friends, hunting dogs.

The great thing about this venue is that it's rolling hills and you can stand up and kind of watch all the action as a spectator.

Yes, it's a great place to actually be able to stand and watch all the fields.

You get to watch the dogs work, which is what we all love to do, to be able to see what those dogs have been trained to do throughout the year or years to get to this point.

This is a huge event.

It's not just your average dog here.

How much time and effort have you guys taken to get these fields and get everything set up?

We've actually been preparing for this for the last year, but true efforts it's probably since July.

So six months, a lot of hours, a lot of help, a lot of members.

But we pull it off every year, so.

Well, you've done a great job.

I can't tell you how much I just appreciate the habitat and all the camaraderie out here with hunting dogs.

It doesn't get any better than that.

No, better than that.

That's for sure.

Thank you.

White bass fishing is something that every Kentucky angler should experience.

But sometimes it takes a couple of trips until you get the conditions just perfect.

Well, it's mid-March and here in Kentucky that means that it's time to catch crappie.

And you know what?

Also, white bass.

It's a little bit early.

They're not really pulled and staged into areas really tight.

So we would like to do it a little different today.

And that is bring a boat.

You know, you don't have to have a boat to white bass fish.

Matter of fact, usually I prefer it from the bank, but when the fish are moving like they are now, we're going to try to use the electronics and move up and down the river and find them staging on these shoals.

The water is falling and a little bit stained It's a little bit early in the year, but because of some really warm rains that we've had, we're already almost 52 degrees.

So the temperature is right.

Hopefully today we can catch a couple of them because, man, it sure is fun.

Maybe pound for pound.

One of the hardest fighting fish we have here in the state of Kentucky.

We came up the river here and there's a little inlet with a waterfall on it, fresh, clean, clear water.

And it's probably just due to the fact that it's supposed to be 70 degrees, probably a little warmer.

So we're going to set out here, see if there's any fish here.

Here we go.

A little bit of fresh water.

The question is, what have we got here?

White bass.

My first white bass of 2021.

Hey, these are great to eat.

If I can get enough of these to make a mess, be pretty happy.

You see that right there?

This here is a male, and the males will actually run up this river before the females.

They get a little bit excited.

This is this is milk from a fish.

So this is this is definitely a male fish.

So, you know what?

Hopefully we find some females.

As with most fish species, the males are the small ones.

So the females will be bigger.

We fished this spot, made several more casts with no luck.

Time to move.

We're moving up to the next shoal.

Skinnier water, more current.

Hopefully that's where they█re at.

Need a spinner bait?

This is such a great walking opportunity.

Looks like he's throwing something that█s got a little pink on it and has got a nice white bass.

I do like that sheer rock wall.

It might have some depth right on the edge.

Here we go.

A little bitty one.

Is this a crappie?

Sure is.

A little crappie this one is not going to be big enough to keep.

That thing█s about six inches long.

Not quite enough.

Sometimes it█s the smallest amount of influx of water can just change the oxygen in here.

And so you see, here's a little bit of a drain coming in.

So this is a spot that we're going to want to give a try.

And there's another one.

See, they're in there.

You never think that that little bit of water right there would be enough.

This is a better fish.

I don't know what it is.

Hope it lets us know.

White bass.

There we go.

Just a little bitty spot with some inflow of water and two casts in a row.

Two fish.

Need about ten of these.

Here we go.

You can tell it's got this rod just doubled over how hard these things fight.

So it's not a huge fish, but they're just so incredibly strong.

Another male fish, you know, the females are obviously the ones hauling the eggs.

So you really can come up here and catch your limit of these males and you're not really hurting the population much, but it█s definitely a male.

Here we go.

Another white bass and that is sitting right against that rock wall.

So we█ve floated a lot of this river today.

And it seems like the spots where we're getting fish held up are either where there's an influx of water or where you've got a little bit of just a sheer drop where the water is a little bit deeper and there's not as much current.

That seems to be where they█re at.

Here we go.

Right at the boat.

Nice fish right there.

Again, it's just putting that pattern together.

And for whatever reason, every day it changes.

You might have it where you got a lot of flow and it just drops into a pool and they'll be right in the middle.

Today, they are right on the edge of the banks in these little areas where you got a slight bit of slack water and a little bit of depth right on sheer rock.

Hey, we're going to mess around here and get us a limit of white bass.

You know, it's early, so this is usually, you know, you're you're looking right around the last week of March to April is really when this starts to happen.

This year, we've had some warm weather.

Matter of fact, when I get this fish in, I'm getting this jacket off.

It is getting hot.

There he is.

Right on this sheer rock wall again.

Little joker there but still fights like crazy out in this current.

I tell you what, we just made about a two or 300 yard float trying to fish everything.

Not a bite, next sheer rock wall There it is, caught a fish.

This one's a little smaller.

Is a male, though.

Big enough to clean.

I tell you what, coming here and floating this Nolin River is a great way to spend an afternoon in March.

We're a little early, but everybody's catching fish.

So we talked to a lot of people and it seemed like everyone had caught either crappie or white bass.

Just not big numbers yet.

But you know what?

I bet you about the last week of March, first week of April, it's going to be the place to be right here.

Now, let's check in and see who else has been out having fun.

in this week's Ones that Didn't Get Away.

Here we have Amy Vallene from Webster County with a nice turkey.

Congratulations.

Check out this beautiful crappie caught by Rhett Andres.

This big crappie was caught in Floyd County on a slider grub.

Nice job.

Here we have Jackson Gillam and David French, who doubled up on some coyotes.

Nice job.

Here we have eight year old Gage Preston with a nice buck that he harvested from Harrison County in 2022.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful 23 pound gobbler that was taken by Brandon Baiess in Jessamine County.

Here's a fish you don't see every day that was caught by Sean Dickey, a spoonbill catfish at Meldahl Dam Nice job.

Well, it's that time of year again.

It's time for our live question and answer show all about turkey hunting.

Please join us live on Facebook.

Monday, March 27th at 7:00.

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.