This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're enjoying one of our best fishing trips of the year on Dale Hollow Lake.

Next, if you like to hunt and fish, we'll show you how you can combine the two.

Then, with this year's bull firearm season underway, we thought we'd take a look back at one of our favorite elk hunts.

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.

Everyone knows that the fishing in the fall can sometimes be great.

But don't overlook nighttime fishing.

Fall nighttime fishing provide opportunities for good numbers and big fish.

Well, if I seem a little more excited and a little more giddy tonight, it's because I'm on one of my absolute all time favorite lakes fishing with one of my lifelong fishing partners, Jarrod Swift.

How you doing?

Great.

Wonderful.

Dale Hallow what's this lake mean to you?

I've been fishing a long time since I was nine or ten years old.

And a lot of memories and just a wonderful fishery and get down here with you and chase some brownies around.

I█m pretty stoked.

Oh, yeah.

It's going to be.

It's going to be a fun night.

you know what?

The plan is to be here until daylight, maybe even get on the top water bite.

If everything lays down, We're going to try to get our line Stretch.

Let's go make it happen.

Find some brownies.

Let's do it.

That wasn't a good hook set, but he█s on there.

oh he come off right there, literally right there.

Here we go.

That's two bites.

Yeah.

I found that little bit of grass.

He hit it pretty good.

Yeah.

Oh, that's a quick release.

You're already going with the nighttime color in the daylight, so.

Hey, it's working.

Right?

There you go.

They█re playing tricks on us Cha I ain't set the hook hard enough Playing tricks on us.

Oh, come back.

Oh, he got him that time.

If I had to set the hook any harder, I'd throw my back out.

Largemouth.

Well shake that thing off.

What do you know now?

I know the first one I have was a smallmouth.

We saw yours.

It was a small mouth.

Now we finally get one to the boat, and it's a large mouth.

Hey, I'll take it.

There we go guys!

Well, you know what I love catching the largemouth bass, but I believe that's two bites in a row have been the wrong color.

We're being invested by the green, the green fish.

Enough of that.

Oh, Got him?

well.

You got another green one.

Well, this is becoming a problem.

We usually come down here for the other color bass.

But they're all fun to catch aren't they?

They are.

Oh, Got him?

small mouth Sure is.

There you go.

The old Blue Bug.

Actually I Switched up to a little Rattling Jig.. Blue chatter bait It looks like that.

What you got?

Yeah.

There you go.

First was our first smallie in the boat?

The first one in the boat.

There you go.

Nice job, buddy.

Thank you.

That█s what we came down here for?

Yeah.

Oh, is it google eye magic?

It is.

By George.

Old google eyed John come to visit.

Wow.

Tell you what, He just kept all those that were that tells you to at least have a fish sandwich.

Google eye John.

Uh oh.

It█s the old google eye magic.

Told you.

That right there is then reason you come to Dale Hollow.

you come to Dale Hollow for the old google eye fest.

That█s a eater there.

Yeah, he█s a little one.

Oh, wow.

Look at that giant.

Break out the circle hook.

I'll tell you what it's like.

It's got a bunch of these in here, and they like that grass, too.

They'll get in there and they'll hit a little jig like that coming across the top.

Get you excited Here we go.

He ain't big, but I got him.

we didn't know what was hitting this.

We just knew we were getting bites.

It is a small mouth.

There you go.

He hit it as soon as it hit the water.

And that's what they're coming out of.

Yeah.

Yep.

Right out, right out of that grass.

That's.

I mean, that's the grass you want right there with that in there.

That's exactly where they're at right there.

And Oh my gosh.

Yeah, yeah.

That boat enjoys our spot, dude, he is that that pontoon right there is in four feet of water Welp, I think we can move now we probably are done fishing was good right there until this guy decided to go in four feet of water between us and the bank.

Well, you know, takes all types, huh?

It does.

Here█s a good fish.

Maybe I'm crazy.

I don't know.

Oh my goodness!

I think that fish is, That must be a large mouth.

Yeah that is a large mouth.

Like, am I sleep or am I?

What are going to grab this for me chad?

Yep.

That█s a wake up call.

Look at that.

That's a good look on that little.

That little hair jig, a little jig that notoriously you had it hooked really good.

Notorious for small mouth fishing.

But you know what?

If it looks like a shad, large mouth eat it too.

That's a good one.

You know, this fish came in like a log or a stick.

You didn't even know for sure if you had a fish.

very nice.

There you go There we go.

two in a row.

Another largy?

I don█t know.

There you go.

Cool deal.

You know what that was back to back cast.

We have been kind of struggling the last a little bit, and we moved more shallow, which might be why we're catching large mouth.

But the fact is, we're not finding in small mouth, out in the grass mats on the main lake.

So we came in and low and behold back to back cast cut to pretty good large mouth.

Hey, tonight, beggars can't be choosers.

We█ll take it, we█ll take it.

Hey, thank you Got him that time.

large mouth, stinking large mouth.

What do you know?

Catching to many large mouth today.

This is a spot I thought maybe, just maybe, would get in here, catch a smallie.

Oh, do you get bit?

You know, not a bad fish, though.

large mouth, small mouth eat the same thing.

Apparently, the blue blue trigger crawl.

Stretch your string.

There you go.

Not bad.

Oh, got him?

There you go still not the size we█re looking for, but it█s the It's the action we're looking for.

You know, we kept saying last night, you know, if we can make it till morning, there's a chance we may get a top water bite.

It█s that time of year.

There you go.

What do we got here.

One of those.

That might be the smallest small mouth I've ever caught on top water.

But you know what?

They're all fun when you see them blow up on a lure like that.

A lot of fun.

There you go.

Quick release.

lot of bait here.

Got him.

could be that fish that just jumped.

Nice.

Big old Brownie we█ll take it.

Big Brownie.

There█s a double.

You got him?

Yeah.

Another big one out here.

There you go.

Little double action right here.

Morning time and mine█s poorer.

But, uh, long.

But it looks like he's on the decline.

Looks like they need a meal, huh?

But they were hungry.

Yeah, but you know what, though?

That's why you stay till daylight had a little bit of a lull last night all of sudden it's pick back up and the old brown fish are biting again.

Hey, look at that bait pod right there in front of us.

Get ready.

Here we go.

large mouth.

Look at that little bitty bitty hooks I got that thing on.

There you go.

Now, that's a healthy fish.

Those smallies is were a little thin, they got a little size to him.

Little pretty thick across the back.

That's pretty good fish.

uh oh, uh oh Brownie.

Big old brownie.

I think I got it.

Look at that.

What a pretty fish.

I'll tell you what.

This helps scratch my itch a little bit.

I█ll probably have to come down one more time and night.

Fish.

Maybe go to Cumberland and try to do the same thing.

But you know what?

November will be here before you know it.

Hopefully I have a deer or two in the freezer and get down here and really target some big, big, fat brown fish.

Deer season is now in and if you're a deer hunter and a fisherman, consider keeping your deer tail.

Using it to tie your own jigs can be very rewarding.

So today I'm out trying to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and that is take a tail off a deer that I've harvested, tie my own lures and then go out and successfully catch a fish.

Back in September, on a archery hunt, I was able to take a doe and I immediately noticed that the deer had a bunch of different colors in its tail.

It had white.

It had a lot of brown and red.

It had some black.

And I immediately thought, Man, those are very natural colors that would make a perfect bucktail jig.

Perfect.

I love to smallmouth fish, I love the bass fish.

And I thought if I could take those and tie those myself later in the year, I'm going to take it out and try to catch fish.

Well, we took it down to Cumberland Pro Lures, and I had a lady by the name of Chrisma Shelton teach me how to tie a buck tail jig.

So you've been making Buck tail jigs for how many years?

23 years.

23 years.

And you're going to show me today.

You're going to show me today how I can take my own deer tail and make a lure out of it.

A small mouth are what I'm going to try to target using this bait.

It's fun because, I mean, it's always good whenever you know that you've made something to get out there and catch supper.

Oh, yeah.

Show me what I need to do to get this process started.

You see, you're too little weight guards.

We want to push those forward to get them out of the way.

And we're using these.

These heads.

These heads.

Are you called your pro caster?

You guys actually pour these here on the hooks.

But you can go to a taco store and buy whatever size jig heads and hooks you want, right?

Already prepoured and done.

Right.

All right, now, let's go from here.

Tell me what's next.

We're going to start with the thread.

And what I like to do is just I don't waste anything, so I've just put just enough to cover towards on there.

Good enough.

You can get some glue and then your hair going.

Okay.

I like to have a tie that's tight enough that it's not going to come loose, but you use the glue just as an extra bond.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Because when them fish hit them, they hit them hard.

Oh, yeah.

So we're going to use your tail and we're going to do one what I like to call the color of natural and that█s the backside of the deer tail.

Smallmouth seem to like it.

Oh, yeah.

I always like to get it as close as I can so that you have your lint.

And I usually get a couple good cuts because I like for it to be a good thick jig.

And then here's the the hardest part of tying is making sure that you hold your hair good.

And I cut as close as I can to my fingers.

Okay.

And then what I like to do before I even start is put a drop of my glue on here.

So this looks like fingernail polish.

This is actually glue.

It's actually a glue and it's a waterproof glue.

And see how I put that on there?

And I spun it around.

That is what makes it to where it's good and full all the way around consistent.

And then once I've got it started like this, I like to go ahead and just do what I call cosmetic.

Gotcha.

And all you're doing is you're going to cover all this that█s sticking out from the front there.

Gotcha.

Okay.

So you cut you a big, thick piece of it.

You popped it on on the shank of the hook, and then you wrapped it and spread it around so that it completely covers that shank.

Yes.

And now you're just securing it on there with them.

Beautifying it.

Yeah.

And now what we're going to do is make a knot.

Okay.

And whenever you pull your thread back, you want to wrap your fingers around it, and you're coming around the head.

Okay.

And I like to do that a couple times.

Okay.

And then I break it off into the bait.

So it's in there.

And then anything that's sticking up, I like to go ahead and cut that.

Snip it off, and then I'll take my glue and go all the way around it.

And that way you know that you've got a really good time.

I go ahead and push my little weight guards back.

You got something holding it, so you might.

And then here we go.

Now, that is a beautiful, beautiful jig.

The main thing is just getting that hair on there and holding it and getting everything in place.

Once you get into place, it's easy peasy.

I'm telling you right now, this will catch fish.

You know, the lake is up about 20 feet from where it would normally be at winter pool out on the main, like we're about 48 degrees.

As I go back to these creeks, I'm looking for inlets of water.

It's coming.

In the last couple of days we've had it's been a little bit warm.

So as that water comes in, you get pockets where the water temperature could be two, three degrees warmer.

I'm at 50.2 right now as I get to the back of this creek and I can hear the water coming in.

So I know this is a spot where the bait should come in and this is the spot where these fish are going to hang out until they spawn.

I'm going to give this a shot.

Come on, fish.

Here we go.

Try to sling him in the boat.

Oh, he might be a little too big to sling.

Hold on here.

Oh, well, you know, I should have had the net ready.

I'm back here casting this little hair jig that we hand tied off my deer and should I had the net ready.

Actually, I had my cooler setting right in the middle of my net, and I had about a 4 lbs smallmouth Come up and eat this thing on me and couldn't get the net out.

Lesson learned.

Big fish swirl right there.

Here we go.

All right, let me grab that net.

Actually, I'm just going to throw this one in.

There we go, man.

This is a fish that's just come out of super cold, cold water.

You ought to feel how cold this fish is To the touch.

I got back in here, hooked a pretty good small mouth, got right up to the boat, And now this fish.

And this fish here is a you know, it's knocking on.

It's over three and a half pounds.

Let's see what we got here right at 20 inches long.

It is really, really cool to think that you took a September successful archery hunt, turned it into a bag full of jigs and brought them down here and lo and behold, turn a September doe hunt into a beautiful smallmouth bass.

I'll tell you what, there's something kind of special about that.

Let's get this fish back in the water.

This weekend is the opening weekend to the Bull Elk Firearms season.

Good luck to all the hunters.

Right there above that bush.

It█s a 5x5.

He█s small.

Just a little on the small side.

You know, a decent bull.

Plenty of table fair, but it doesn't have the headgear we're looking for.

We'll get an opportunity at a bigger one.

Just got to get the right one.

Let's get some lunch, get rested up, and we'll be back at it.

Sounds good.

Alright.

That█s a big bull.

let's make a move.

All right this bull█s bedded down right up here.

So we█re going to sneak up here.

Be ready he could stand up at any time.

Okay.

There he is.

There he is.

Get setup.

Get on him, get on him.

Got him.

Okay.

Ready?

Yeah.

Good shot.

Good shot.

He█s down.

Get ready.

Another one, get another one in him.

He's down.

That's a good bull.

That was a great shot man.

That was a good bull.

Thank you Jesus.

This is the deal right here.

Hop in here, pick this thing up.

Let me take your rifle.

Look at this bull.

You smell him?

You smell that bull?

Yeah.

Look there.

I tell you what.

This bull is very symmetrical.

I mean, I'm telling you, there's going to be very few deductions, not that the scores matter.

No.

I could care less if it had droptines and a bunch of junk.

But this thing is very symmetrical.

Real chocolate.

Little bitty white tips on the top.

Check that out.

He█s been fighting some, you see these?

Those are scarred up some.

Yeah.

If I was as big as him, I believe I could handle myself pretty good too.

You█ve got a really, really, really nice bull here.

You ready for a new freezer?

I'm ready.

Don, I know that you, we thought this would end up this way with a big bull in our hands.

But now that it's happened, does it feel a little bit surreal?

It's finally hitting me.

I mean, probably as hard as I hit that bull when he fell.

But, yeah, this has been a dream of mine.

You got yourself a trophy bull here.

Let's go ahead and get get the truck and get it up here and try to get this thing loaded up for it gets dark.

Congratulations again.

I'm so happy for you.

This bull has got to go Tennessee.

It's going to Byrdstown.

It's going to Byrdstown.

Well, congratulations.

Thank you.

Alright, I got your rifle.

All right.

Appreciate it.

Matt█s going to be green with envy, or whatever color you get.

I don█t know what color it is.

That color huh?

Yeah, he's going to be that color.

Well, Don, I can't believe this elk hunt is over.

It happened so fast.

There's a bull out there.

We run up.

It's bedded in a waller.

We don't even see the animal.

We're going in for it.

It stands up, and we got literally seconds to put a shot on.

Yeah, and I'll tell you what, the more you stand and look at it, the more impressive this animal gets.

Yeah, it's incredible.

This has been a dream of mine.

And today it unfolded, and I want to be sure and thank you, Chad and Jamison.

You've been great to hunt with.

I wish we could do it again.

And maybe we can.

And maybe we can.

It's been it really has been a lot of fun.

Yeah, Well, safe travels.

And I want to thank the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

That█s how you won this tag.

Yes, definitely.

That's who put us together to make this happen.

So thanks again and safe travels.

Thank you.

You guys have safe travels to.

All right.

Appreciate it.

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 beautiful ten point buck that was taken in Velvet in Casey County by Micah Smith.

Nice deer.

here we have Ben dryer with a nice opening day buck that he took in Campbell County.

This buck was taken in velvet and he said it came in with nose up, but his wind was perfect.

Nice job.

Here we have Trey Thurmond with a nice buck.

He said this was his very first ever velvet buck.

Nice job.

Here's something you don't see every day.

Jeffrey Hooker took this Laurel County piebald doe during archery season.

Nice job.

Hey, if you're interested in elk hunting in 2024, the application period is now open online right now.

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.