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'll be jumping in a kayak to do a little fishing and some frog gigging.

But first, we're headed to Lake Cumberland at night in search of stripers.

Well, it's May.

You know what that means?

It's time for our annual nighttime Lake Cumberland striper fishing trip.

This is about as good as it gets when you get a topwater blow up with fish that are going to range from 6 to 25-30 pounds.

It doesn█t get any more fun than that.

Really kind of starts.

Think about the end of Turkey season on into mid-May.

This elwife spawn is taking place and it's when you want to do this.

Yeah.

Tell me a little bit about what you need to bring to come down to do this trip.

It's I think it's pretty simple.

I'm no expert.

You've turned me on to it more than I knew, but, a nice seven foot seven and a half foot rod.

What I would call maybe a spinner bait rod is some tip in it.

Parabolic and, 15, 17, 20 pound test monofilament and then whatever topwater bait you like to throw- a thunder stick.

You want something with a little bit of wobble at the slowest possible speed, and there's a million different lures.

You don't want anything that goes subsurface, something that will stay on the top at a real slow speed and just make its way back and forth, be jointed or not jointed.

Literally.

That and a headlamp and some patience and you're pretty much ready to go.

Yeah, absolutely.

And if you think you're reeling it slow, slow down, slow down.

Yeah.

It doesn't make sense that these big, huge fish are seeing this little bait going across top of the water, but they can tune in to it.

And this is a little bit of a mixture of hunting and fishing.

Because you may pull up on a spot and if you don't hear the bait- you're listening for it, you're not going to see it.

You hear the bait, and if you don't hear the bait, you move.

Yep, yep.

And you got a window.

Usually on a night like tonight, you.

It may be.

Now at this time of night, it might run from 11:00 to 2 or 3.

It might go from two to 5 or 6.

Let's hope not.

I'd like to be back in the truck by 3:00.

But you█ll have a window of a couple of hours where that bait will come up.

And those predator fish could be walleye.

It could be smallmouth.

We're hoping for stripers.

Four fish would be our limit.

Let's go get it done.

Let's get it.

Yep.

Well, we're probably about an hour and a half early, but I'd rather be an hour and a half early than an hour and a half late.

So they like it good and dark.

And I love these overcast skies.

Very little wind, which is going to make this bait stand out.

Net.

Got the fish.

You got it?

Yeah I need a net.

Oh, yeah.

It is a striper.

Well, not exactly the the Giants we're looking for, but, hey, this.

It ain't even getting dark yet.

Now, we kept talking about Topwater.

The fish, we haven't heard any bait up yet.

So you've elected to hold this A rig at them to try to entice a bite before they come to the bank.

You want to talk about a greedy fish?

Look here.

He got him.

He's one, two, three in the mouth.

Yeah, there you go.

That one there's probably about 18 19inches.

Yep.

You got to be 22 to keep them.

And this early in the night we're hoping for a bunch of fish over 26in but we'll see what we get.

Yup.

Hey fish number one.

Nice.

Aint even dark.

Don't even hear bait yet.

You already got one.

Yep.

Okay.

What?

He keeps eating three at a time, he█ll be big enough before you know it.

Oh, yeah.

Fish on.

Coming up over you.

I might just throw him in the boat.

I don't- I think it's a walleye.

Think it's a walleye?

What do you got there?

Oh, no.

Striper.

There you go.

Nice job, Bub.

thank you.

Fun to catch, though.

Yeah.

You got him?

Fish on.

Monster.

That is a monster.

Fish on.

A big█n.

That's a great big one.

Come off.

You got to be kidding, dude.

That was a monster.

Did you hear him burning drag for, like, about 15, 20 straight seconds?

I could see them out there.

Dad gonnit.

I'm telling you.

Right.

That was a 25 pounder.

Yeah, that was a huge fish.

Yep.

Fish on.

Oh, it's that top.

It might be a small mouth, actually.

You need a net?

Yeah.

Where is the net?

Nah Its a small mouth.

Sure is.

Pretty good one.

No.

Everything.

Walleye, small mouth, large mouth, stripers.

They all come in for a bite.

There you go.

A little topwater action.

Unexpected fish.

Yep.

That's a beautiful smallmouth.

Oh, nice job, nice smallmouth.

Got it, got it, got him, got him.

You got him.

Good one.

He just sucked it.

Really didn't slam it.

Oh, striper striper.

I don't believe he's going to make it.

Is he?

We're a little bit shorter fish, but you know what?

We're catching him on top water.

That's what we came to do.

There we go.

That is, probably again, about an 18 to 20 inch fish.

Got to be 22.

So not a keeper, but a lot of fun to catch.

Fish on.

Got him?

Good one.

Yeah.

Good one here.

Good good good.

Yeah.

Get out of your way.

Yeah.

Good one here, boys.

All right.

There we go.

There we go.

Got you a ten pounder.

All right, now, here you go, buddy.

Put that one on the skillet.

Let's take a look at him.

Get him.

There you go.

Nice.

Nice fish.

Hey, hey, let's start it.

Let's go.

We got three more to go.

We've caught enough stripers to be done.

We just haven't caught them this size.

What we've been looking for.

That█s a- that's a walleye.

You got one on him?

Yeah.

It's a long well.

No splash, no nothing.

No nothing.

Here, walleye.

There you go.

I've never even heard that fish.

No., I didn't either.

I just nice, nice walleye for the skillet right there.

Yep.

Lookie here.

Feel like a good one?

walleye.

Sure is a walleye.

The double rig.

That's plenty big to eat, too, isn't it?

Yeah.

Nice walleye.

There you go.

There you go.

I don't want to stick my finger in there.

Here you go.

Nice walleye.

That's a perfect eating sized Walleye right there.

Probably, what, 23in or so?

You know, people ask all the time, how do you catch these walleye?

Nighttime is how you catch them no matter where you go.

These are pretty much nocturnal eating fish.

Now you can catch them in the daytime up north.

But here in Kentucky, night time█s the time to catch them.

Good eating fish.

I'll tell you what, it's been a pretty good night.

I've had a blast.

We got some rain that's moved in on us.

We had to put our rainsuits on.

I say that, after this, we call it quits and, get this boat on the trailer before we get soaking wet.

What do you think?

Good night, man, and just a lot of fun.

I enjoyed every second of it.

Frog gigging season is in.

So on the next warm night, grab yourself a frog or an air rifle and have some fun.

We're sitting out here waiting for it to get dark.

The anticipation is getting pretty serious.

It is.

It is.

So what are we doing tonight?

We are frog gigging Beaver Lake tonight.

We are here at Beaver Lake.

Now, this is a state owned lake, and I don't know how big Beaver Lake is, probably 100 acres or so.

It's it's round 150.

Something like that.

150 acres.

And the best way to access this lake is by kayak.

I think so.

Now, there's a couple other ways you can get around this lake because the department of Fish Wildlife, like many of the state owned lakes, has a buffer.

So you need to check your local rules and regulations.

But here, getting in a kayak and moving around and navigating it with with a gig pole is probably the way to go.

I think it's ideal.

And one of the other things like you talking about it being thick.

If you're respecting people's property and not climbing over everything, you can slide right up and pick up the frogs.

A lot of fun.

Yeah, I tell you what.

So I have frog gigged, hundreds of times.

I mean, when I was a kid, it was anywhere I could walk to to potentially get a frog.

That.

That's what I was in for.

Yeah, right.

Absolutely.

Never from a kayak.

This is new to me, so I don't know why I've never went with a kayak, but a lake this size where you can kind of get in and navigate the lake its tailor made for it is perfect for it.

It really is.

It's almost kind of lazy.

You're not walking through the tall grass, getting ticks on you and fighting willow bushes.

I really enjoy it.

I think you're going to like it.

I'm excited that you reached out to us and said, Hey, man, I got an opportunity.

Let's go give it a try.

The frogs are here, aren't they?

Oh, they are absolutely.

We've already heard them.

Yeah, they're right over here right now.

Yeah.

I'll tell you what.

Let's get on the water and kind of get out of the way a little bit where we can hear and see if we can start finding some.

Let's do it.

All right.

Let me help you get your kayak and you can help me.

We'll get rolling.

All right.

Thank you.

One right underneath the walkway.

Yeah, I see that one.

Oh, yes, we got one.

Boy he's barely on there.

Well Ryan we finally got one I, I didn't- I wasn't too sure in this moss we were going to be able to ever get close enough without pushing the moss and scaring them under.

But it's a pretty good frog.

It is.

Ready?

Man the bugs are out, that's for sure.

Absolutely.

Oop, there's one.

Oh.

Is he on there?

We're just pushing them under water.

I'm acting like a rookie.

I got a big one right here.

Oh, right.

Oh, my goodness.

That's impressive.

Man, I about threw myself out of the kayak.

Oh, man.

You had a good jab on him.

Oh, there's a big bullfrog right there.

That raccoon would eat that bullfrog Given the chance.

You got that one.

Finally.

Nice job.

I'm sorry, Mr. Raccoon, but that was mine.

You see him?.

Yeah, yeah, I see him.

That sounds pretty promising.

You get him?

Oh, no, come off the end.

Went through all that and grabbed his leg and he jumped off.

Oh, oh.

I poked him right under.

Nice.

Got one.

That right there, is a gig.

Good job.

What do you know?

My goodness.

Nice shot.

Oh, man.

We'll take it.

All right.

Nice job.

Thank you.

Well, Ryan, this was definitely a lot of fun.

It was a learning experience.

It was a lot of fun.

Yeah.

This is one of those things where, you know what?

The debris and the algae in the water can definitely make this much more difficult.

Yeah, but, you know, we saw a good number of frogs maybe on a little warmer night, a little sharper gigs, and wait till the department comes out.

They're going to spray this lake really soon and makes it a little more navigable.

The frogs are here.

They are absolutely here.

The frogs are here.

And you know what?

Going by kayak is a really good way to get at them because you can cover so much water, you really can you slip right up to them.

Just unfortunately tonight we had some obstacles.

Hey, you know what?

You got enough frogs to fill a skillet.

We sure do.

So you're going to be, we're in good shape.

And, hey, thank you so much for showing me this.

Yeah, thank you for having me on.

I appreciate it.

Definitely a lot of fun.

Many of our Department-owned lakes and our municipal lakes throughout the state of Kentucky are the perfect size to fish from a kayak.

We're out here today in Rock Castle County.

What a beautiful morning to be fishing here on Linville Lake Oh, yeah.

Gorgeous morning.

You know, you fish out of a kayak quite a bit.

And I was told that you catch hybrid striped bass here on Linville Lake out of your kayak.

I absolutely I've had a troll for em.

I've caught some of chicken livers, but recently I've been trolling for out to kayak, and I've had phenomenal days.

Hybrid can get really big and Linville even though a it's Small Lake has a good population of hybrid striped bass that are stocked.

So, I mean, this kayak is really set up for this.

Now, you you actually have a drive system on yours.

A troll motor.

Yeah.

Our power source is a little different today.

Mine's Gatorade and Snickers bars.

Your's is a lithium battery with a Minni Kota and I might need some Bengay before the day.

is over.

Mine is easy way out but you know, there's this going to be a lot of fun.

So we're going to ease up this bank Let's go see if we can't locate a fish and maybe get hooked up.

All right.

Yes, sir.

All right.

We'll follow you.

All right.

Maybe way behind you.

We'll we'll see.

All right.

We'll see.

Here we go.

Fish on.

Does it feel like a pretty good fish?

I don't think it's a giant Sometimes you never know about these fish.

I'll tell you what though?

He's got that rod bent over it.

A small one.

So that fish probably, what, eight inches?

Yeah, something like that.

Next year, about this time, it could be 14 inches.

Oh, yeah.

But you know what?

When you're trolling these fish still hit so hard, it had your rod bent over.

Yeah, well, that's a good start.

Yep.

Good start.

That's promising.

That is promising.

Look at them.

All the marks No, I believe I got one I believe, Got a fish.

Think so is that a little bass.

Yeah, it looks like a spotted bass.

Sure does.

Not exactly what you're after, but.

Hey, no, nothing wrong with an accidental catch, especially with kayak fishing.

Right?

It's always a plus in kayak aint it?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Pretty fish.

There you go.

It;s supposed to be 80 degrees today.

Yeah.

Are those hybrids that may be hybrids hitting top in the jumps?

Yeah, sure.

Is.

We may have to go over and try to hit those.

That's where we turn.

We'll go that way.

Here we go.

I'll tell you what.

This is not a very big hybrid, but there's still a tussle in a kayak.

Oh, yeah.

That's the fun part about it.

Oh, yeah, that's good.

Look there what's that about 14 inches?

Looks like a 14 incher right there.

Yeah, it sure is.

Yeah.

Now, the crazy thing about these is that that fish right there could be a year and a half old.

That's how fast they grow.

Yeah.

It's just amazing.

And that's why they're put in here.

They're pretty voracious eaters.

Yeah.

They have fast growth rates.

They're fun as they can be the catch, and they're really good.

Really good.

You want take couple of these home?

Yeah, I got a bait bag right there with ice in it.

All right.

And on the front.

And you know what?

They're put in here to eat because they're really, really good.

They serve a purpose and help in reducing your shad population.

And they're really, really good.

And they're really great to eat.

Now, pretty much down in there, Awesome.

Now they're coming up out here.

Now, this is we came down here planning on trolling, but we didn't realize they were going to be in a jumps, coming up in the jumps like this.

That's right.

Well, that's good fish there.

This is what it's about right here.

That is right there.

If I don't put a smile on your face, you don't like the fish.

You don't like the fish.

That's right.

That's a good fish.

Yeah.

That's what it's all about.

Now, the next best thing.

Taking it home and eating it.

There you go.

Yeah.

That's the resource.

He's got one.

Oh, yeah.

There you go.

There you go.

We saw some jumps.

Came out here and quickly caught a couple.

Looks like they've gone back down.

You think we should troll out here where we last saw the fish or go back to the bank?

I'm seeing some activity kind of up there a little bit.

All right, we just kind of troll round out in this deeper water and see what we get up because they are still here.

They're just went down a little bit, and that's typical when the sun gets up higher typically happens.

But that doesn't mean the fish are gone.

They're here, and they're probably still feeding.

They're just down deeper.

They're down deeper.

Yeah, well, I'll tell you what.

You start a path and I'll jump in right behind you.

Ok.

Here we go.

Fish on Man, he hit that bait and actually missed it and then came back and hit it again.

This is a much smaller fish.

Not even sure it's a hybrid.

But he's aggressive.

There we go.

Nice beautiful fish, and man.

He just inhaled that bait.

Literally.

It's gone.

We're out here in the middle.

We were trolling the banks we were throwing eight ounce bait.

Now, right here, deeper into fish and a little bit deeper.

So I moved up to a quarter ounce head.

So I'm getting a little bit deeper trolling.

A hair slower in the first hundred yards.

Picked one up.

So perfect.

Well, Bob, that sun's up now.

Oh, boy.

But, I'll tell you what.

I can't think of a better way to spend a summer morning.

I mean, to get out here.

We even saw fish in the jumps I caught a couple of trolling.

Yeah.

What other bodies of water have you had this kayak and tried this approach to catch hybrids?

I went to Dix River and been down in there, caught some hybrids out of Dix River.

Okay.

Anywhere where there's hybrid at, I would like to go and try this, you know?

Yeah.

Any.

That's that information, you know, just knowing where they're at.

Yeah, I would like to try that technique, because it just.

It's so much fun.

I'm sure this would work really good at Guist Creek and Harrington.

Yep.

Rough River.

Barren River Lake, you know, there's a lot of locations where hybrids are stock right here in the state of Kentucky that I'm sure.

I mean, a minnow looks like a minnow.

And they're voracious eaters.

I'm sure they'd eat it.

Oh, yeah.

I'll tell you what.

That is a nice, nice rig.

Thank you very much.

I absolutely had a good time out here with you guys.

I mean, I got a 21 foot bass boat, but I'll tell you, you've got live well and cooler.

Yeah.

Patrol motor and batteries, lights, electronics.

So you got more stuff on this than I got on my bass boat.

your net.

All your tackle all my tackle.

Comfortable seat.

that you.

I'll tell you what no one said ever said.

Kayak fishing had to be uncomfortable, right?

You know what?

Work around, play with your gear, see what works for you.

Yeah.

And you can you can start out as little as you want and work your way up just keep it as simple as you want to.

Yeah.

This has been fun time.

Great meeting you.

And, hey, we'll have to do this again some time.

Absolutely.

Thank you all.

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 Nikki Ryan with this mess of shell crackers that she caught at Kentucky Lake.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful striper that was caught by Kathy Williams while fishing on the Cumberland River.

Nice job.

89 years young, Jimmy Craig caught this giant bluegill, his biggest ever in a farm pond in Lebanon, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Check out this giant red air sunfish that was caught by Adam Newton at Lake Barkley.

He caught this fish on a red worm.

Nice job.

Check out this largemouth bass that was caught by Carter McGehee at Lake Malone in Muhlenberg County.

Nice job.

This year's cicada hatch is in full swing.

Grab a rod and reel and a small hook and hit the water.

Just about every fish species here in Kentucky will eat a cicada.

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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You can even save your fishing license.

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What are you waiting for?

Download it from your app store and go plan your next fishing adventure right now.