This week on Kentucky Afield, we're learning from our mistakes and hoping to be successful as we're giving public land Crow hunting a try next.

We couldn't be more excited that spring fishing is upon us.

We're river fishing for big bass and western Kentucky and then breaking out the kayaks and searching for pre-spawn small and large mouth and a watershed like 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.

Predator hunting is growing here in the state of Kentucky, and one of the more overlooked species is the crow.

And a wildlife management area is a perfect place to try your luck at crow hunting.

Well, I'm out here on a cold February morning.

Trying something new for me: predator hunting for crows.

Now, I've done this in the past, but I've always went with some people that have a lot of experience.

And for me, this is something kind of new.

I went out yesterday morning, you know, didn't have a whole lot of luck.

For me It was a major learning experience.

Made some very basic, simple mistakes.

I didn't adjust my call.

My shot bang came on and started doing coyote yips.

Well, that doesn't help when you're crow hunting.

The next thing I did was turn the call on, had crows coming in immediately, but I couldn't get them low.

They stayed up real high.

So I thought, Man, I need some decoys.

Went back to the shop, my camera guy and I sat down and he made some decoys up we're going to put to use today.

So some basic mistakes that anyone can make.

But I came back out and made some changes.

We're going to try it again.

And I'm at TN Sullivan Wildlife Management Area here in Central Kentucky.

Let's give it a try.

Hey, you know what?

Trying something new, getting outdoors is what it's all about.

You're not always going to be successful, but hopefully you either will be successful or you'll learn something.

Yesterday was definitely a learning something experience.

Today we're hoping to get some birds.

Check out these crow decoys.

Literally, some felt, some foam and some black tape.

These ought to work really good.

You know, you can buy these.

I've seen people use black garbage bags as well.

We just used what we had and we'll see how these work.

There you go.

You know, crows are really smart and they can see very well.

So I'm camo█d up like I would be on a turkey hunt.

I can hear the birds out there.

My decoys are set.

Let█s give some crow calls and see if we can't get some birds in.

Finally got one low enough to get a good shot.

All right, well, turn the call on and immediately had birds.

Now, they were a little higher than I wanted.

The issue is, is that where I can get a good camo set here, They're flying right into the sun, making it really, really difficult to see.

So rather than to really educate these birds, turn the call off, let everything settle down for a few minutes, round up my decoys and move.

Now I know the birds are coming from that direction.

I got to get it in a way to where I'm not looking directly right into this completely unobstructed sun.

Also, maybe make it a little bit easier for me to get a shot.

But hey, the birds came in, got a crow down.

I do think the decoys worked so.

Let's move and get set up and try it again.

I've only moved about 20 yards to reposition my decoys and now I'm not facing the sun.

So let█s camo up.

And give it another try.

Don█t know how I missed that one.

So you may ask yourself, you know, why go out and shoot crows?

I can tell you there's a couple of different reasons why it's really good to shoot crows, and a lot of it comes down to nest predation.

You know, crows can be really, really hard on not only duck eggs but fledglings.

Also, you know, if they're egg eaters, you know, they have to be impacting our turkey population in some form.

So we start thinking about why get out and take take advantage of this opportunity.

There you go.

Well, this was a successful hunt.

After failing miserably yesterday and making some adjustments for today- not only to my call, but my setup and including decoys.

Turned into a good day in the field, this is going to be a perfect opportunity to use for a coyote set.

Hopefully I can bait some coyotes in using these crows.

And I like to think too, that maybe, just maybe, I saved a couple of ducks, maybe a turkey, maybe some quail.

These are nest raiders.

They're predators.

Hopefully I did my part today to get out and take a few out.

When the weather starts to warm.

The creeks and rivers here in the state of Kentucky come alive and you never know what you may catch.

Today is one of those days I really look forward to, and that's hitting the river down here in western Kentucky with Jim Doom.

How you doing today?

I'm good.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

You know, this is the time of year that you just told me a date and we said, let's make it happen.

But you know what?

Any time you come to the river, you've got to be ready to catch whatever whatever the river will give you.

Right.

Yeah.

We'll throw some swim bait.

And if I don't work, we'll catch some live bait and try that.

Let's go give it a try and see what we can't luck into.

I noticed you brought your fishing buddy with you today, too.

Yeah.

She wouldn't let me leave the house without her this morning.

I mean, look at that face.

Who could leave that at home?

All right, well let█s roll Which way we going here?

That way?

Yeah.

Just start fishing.

Here we go.

I don█t know what it is.

I believe that may be a small mouth.

You think so?

If not, It could be a striper.

No its a smallmouth.

Well, what do you know?

Oh that█s a good one.

Look at that, smallmouth bass.

I'll tell you what, people travel all over the place to try to catch them a three and a half pound smallie like that, huh?

Look at that beautiful fish.

Now, these are some of my absolute favorite fish to catch.

But I'll tell you what.

I couldn't bring myself to eat one of these for $1,000,000.

This one█s going back.

Here we go.

Another smallmouth.

It█s what it looks like.

Smallmouth.

Man, and he wanted it.

Look at that, spittin█ up shad.

Another good fish.

Look at there.

What a beautiful fish.

What do you want?

Want a treat?

Here we go.

Think i█m going to have to steal one of those little green baits.

Hey, I got a pocket full of them here.

What do we got this time?

Looks like another small mouth again.

Oh, a buffalo.

Maybe I don't want one of them green baits.

That's not exactly what we were going for, wasn't it?

He ate it.

Ellie, that's more your style right there, girl.

All right.

See you later.

I tell you what.

Man, this is small mouth here.

This is a better fish here, giving this reel a workout in this current.

Oh, looky here.

Now what?

That's a striper.

What do you know?

Sitting here, four casts in a row, three different species of fish, and now we've got a striper.

What do you think, Ellie?

Jim, What's the length limit on these?

15 inches?

I believe this is going to make it.

I think he'll make it.

Uh oh.

What do you got?

Don't look, found another rock.

So, you know, the length limit for striper changes on different bodies of water.

But here you say it's 15 inches.

And what are you allowed?

What are you allowed?

Five.

Five of them?

Five striper.

We'll see what we got here.

Because if that thing is a keeper, I'll tell you what.

It doesn't get much better eatin█ than this right here, does it?

Some good stuff.

22 inches, I believe that's a good one.

You think we'll keep it?

If you don't, I will.

Small mouth and stripers?

What you got going on down here?

Living the dream.

You are living the dream.

Catching some prize fish today as far as species go, that's for sure.

Oh, here we go.

Look at that.

Oh, that's a good smalley.

Here we go.

Oh, that there is a good fish.

That's a beautiful, beautiful smallmouth bass right there.

I think we've caught more small amounts than anything else.

And, hey, this is a really, really good one.

Oh, you got one?

I got a fish, yeah.

Okay.

Think it█s a striper?

I think so.

There you go.

Need a net?

There you go.

Thank you, sir.

Hey, this is getting.

This is getting good.

No, we're not on Lake Cumberland, we are out here on the Tennessee River catching stripers and small mouth off a rock pile on swim baits.

Oh, no.

I don't want any sugar.

You might█ve eaten something bad.

Oh, bite.

What do we got here?

Here's what they are.

Hey, I'll tell you what, If there's a bunch of them in there, we'll have a good time, too.

You ain't kidding.

Look at that.

That's a big old bait that is completely gone.

This is a white bass, kind of a small one.

But you think we'll catch a bigger one or you think we ought to keep that?

What do you think?

You clean them that size normally?

I do.

Well, let's go.

That's good, I'm good with that.

Uh Oh, got him.

I think they're just all over this point.

If these were probably a pound and a half apiece, we'd to have a mess of fish, you know?

Oh, you ain█t kidding.

The bigger fish could be out just a touch further.

Here we go.

A little better fish.

Hey, now we're white bass fishing.

This is what█s its supposed to be like right here.

A little better fish, we█ll take that.

Rods bending a little more on that one.

That's a good one.

Big enough.

Ellie, you want to get a bite of that?

Little better fish, isn█t it?

Yep.

There we go.

That's what we're after right there.

Look at that.

That's a pretty white bass right there.

Tell you what, it doesn█t get any better than that.

They fight way bigger than their size, and they taste way better than you think.

And when you catch a couple, usually you get on bunches.

We've had a great day of fishing so far, and we were about ready to call it quits, and we're like, “you know?

we've got live bait in here.

Let█s make a couple of drifts to see if we can't pick up another big fish.” That felt like a bite.

Got it?

Yeah.

Sweet.

Hold on.

Look at this, we have doubled up.

Think we█re tangled together.

Uh oh, I have a feeling that you hooked that fish and I ended up getting wrapped up in here.

That's a good assist.

You were like, How come my fish just got lighter?

I'll tell you what, though.

That's a beautiful fish, isn't it?

It is.

Wow.

There you go.

Hey, what a nice fish.

We're right here under the highway, below the bridge.

Very first drift.

Wham!

Nice striper.

We'll take that every time.

Well, Jim, I know you told me that fishing had gotten kind of slow, but there was nothing slow about this.

It was a pretty good day.

It was a good- Hey, we caught lot of different species of fish.

We had a lot of fun.

Caught some of my favorite fish, some small mouth, and got a cooler full to go clean.

I appreciate you having us down.

It's always a great time to get down here.

Let's go clean some fish.

All righty.

Hey, nothing beats a good fish sandwich after a day on the lake like this.

Do you know of a place that is too small to launch a boat from but too big to walk around effectively and fish it?

Well, those are perfect opportunities for fishing from a kayak.

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.

Here we have a beautiful picture of a nice eight point buck that was taken during the youth season in Marion County by Liam Hafley.

Nice job.

Eight year old Houston Carroll is figuring out the fly rod.

Here he is with a nice rainbow trout that he caught while fishing at Otter Creek.

Nice job.

Terry Finnerty was having a good day fishing.

He was catching two at a time on one single cast.

He caught these two bass and Nolan like.

Nice job.

The weather is warming up and so is the fishing.

And you know what that means.

It's time for our annual question and answer.

Show all about fishing.

Make sure you join us this Monday night, February the 19th, at 7:00 Eastern time.

And you can watch us on YouTube, Facebook, as well as FW.KY.GOV.

And remember hunting and fishing on private properties.

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.