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're going to meet up with sportsmen and women as they put on an archery benefit to support the tornado victims in London.

Then we're going to learn a little bit about a fishing knot that you need to know the next time you hit the water.

But first, we're headed out to Hodgenville, Kentucky, to fish for a hard fighting fish: The common carp.

Look, there's quite a few fish coming up hitting the surface over here.

This morning we're out here in Hodgenville, Kentucky, at Salem Lake.

And I'm with the gentleman, Erik Taylor, who taught me every single thing I know about carp fishing.

How are you doing this morning?

Good.

You?

Hoping to get on some today.

I know that you are an avid carp guy.

You have all the equipment and all the gear.

Carp is your favorite species of fish to target, is it not?

Yes.

I've been targeting them now for about five years.

The first time I came out here with you, we caught quite a few fish.

And I realized pretty quickly why a person would want to target carp.

They are hard fighting fish.

It takes a lot of skill to land one because that little hook.

You got to be careful with one.

If you try to power one in you're not going to win that battle.

You're going to either tear that hook out of that fish's mouth or lose it.

Yep.

And there's a multitude of ways I had no idea all the different lure and bait combinations that you have to target carp.

So you brought some cicadas.

And so we're going to try that.

And then some of your normal rigs and gear that you use.

Yup.

And if you're a type of person that you catch and release 99% of your fish anyway, why not fish for a fish that's readily available at a lot of lakes?

A lot of fun to catch.

Hard fighting.

I see why carp fishing is so popular in other parts of the world.

And you're bringing it right here to Kentucky.

Yup.

And I absolutely love that.

So let's get rigged up, get some lines out, see if we can catch fish.

What do you think?

It sounds good to me.

This one's oats, bread crumbs, corn and orange Jell-O.

I tell you what, if you think carp fishing is just dough balls and a hook, Erik will show you that you're wrong.

The number of rod reels and things that he'll be putting out, the different techniques, all the equipment that he uses, the technology that's involved in it.

Blew me away.

It seems like we're not paying any attention to rod and reels at all, because we█re not.

He's got these alerters of some sort to where the line goes through.

You█ll hear it ding ding ding.

So he'll know when he's getting a bite.

I have accidentally caught carp quite a few times fishing with crickets, bluegill fishing.

Closest thing I know to a cricket is a cicada.

So Erik this lake's been here for quite a while it looks like.

Does this have boat ramps on it?

It█s got two boat ramps.

It's about 90 acres.

A lot of bank access on this side.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, there he is.

It looks like you got a good fish.

They're all good, but this one seems good and exceptionally big.

Oh, he is in the weeds.

You might doing me a favor?

I'll be glad to do whatever you need.

Grab the dip net right from the back of the truck.

Yep, yep.

I'm gonna open this bale up and set it back down here.

Thank you.

Sir.

What do you think, Erik?

He's definitely a carp.

How big?

Hopefully a nice one.

Look at the fight.

They're incredibly strong species of fish, aren't they?

Yes, they are.

And they can be found in almost any lake in Kentucky.

I mean, look at that thing.

Dogging that.

Dogging that line.

I mean, and you have it on a really, really, really small hook.

I mean, not small by trout standards, but by bass fishing standards it is a super small hook.

So you can't just horse them right in can you?

Sure can█t.

What a pretty fish.

What do you think that fish weighs?

He's under ten.

Probably pretty close to it, though.

There you go.

And what type of carp are we looking at here?

A common carp.

This is a good size one for this lake.

Okay.

They get to be about 60 pounds.

Think 58 is a Kentucky state record.

Okay.

And they're absolute freshwater fighting machines.

Well, it's just a thick, strong fish.

I mean, look, look how thick.

And you could tell it's as strong as it can be.

And you had that little hook and you could see that it just went in right there.

Once you got that hook out, this fish is going to be released as healthy as it can possibly be.

Live to fight another day.

Oh, here we go.

Got a screamer.

Got him?

Yep.

Got him.

There you go.

Look at here.

We got another one hooked up here.

Way out there.

There he is.

Something beautiful about coming out here and catching exactly what you're targeting.

The absolute scale pattern on that.

Just.

Just the way his scales join together, he's going to be a very unique fish once he hits 20 pounds.

I hope you're here to catch him.

How do you think this fish is?

Well, he's probably about a year.

Year and a half.

Okay.

Maybe two.

Hooked him right there in the corner of the mouth.

Now he is healthy and ready to go back.

There he goes.

There he goes.

There you go.

Get ready.

Yup.

If that drag feels too loose at the top you feel free to play with it.

Oh, look at that rod bent.

I'm not going to rush him.

We're going to let him mess around for a minute.

Whoa!

Just let that bait keep that hook in that roof of that mouth and let him wear himself down a little bit.

Just enjoy the fight.

Hopefully he stays buttoned.

If you like to just fight big, heavy fish and you typically turn your fish loose, you need to come out and give carp fishing a try.

Because this fish is fighting like a ten, 15 pound fish and it's I don't think it is, but they just fight like crazy.

Here he comes.

Fish landed.

And, you know, I think yours is bigger than all of them today.

You think so?

That's a very nice one.

A lot of time and effort went into prepping and learning the game, but you can get started relatively cheap for under a hundred bucks.

You can be out here fishing.

Nice fish.

Let's get it back.

What a pretty fish.

Here we go.

Fish on.

That might be the fish of the day.

There we go.

Another good size fish.

Appreciate it.

All right.

You may take the rod.

Yup.

Eric, you are a fisherman that beats to your own drum.

And I can honestly say that it's an opportunity that's a lot of fun.

And I see why you enjoy it so much.

It's an absolute blast.

I mean, you tell me you've had days where you've caught over 20.

You know what I love how you're sharing your knowledge of carp fishing with other people here in the state of Kentucky.

And there's a lot of places to go.

And you choose to come here because it's close.

But there are places, either big lakes or small municipal lakes like we're at today.

Many of the department owned lakes.

Carp are in every one of them aren█t they.

Yep.

We thought we were going to catch some fish on cicadas, and we kept two cicada rods out the whole time.

Just didn't happen today.

It just tells me that, the gear that you've got that is specialized for this, you know, some of it is homemade.

It definitely works.

There he goes.

Nice.

That was fun.

This spring, a tragic tornado hitting London, Kentucky.

Bringing many sportsmen and women right here to Kentucky to show their support.

The pictures don't do it justice.

It's just you can't describe it.

And so it made me really excited to do what we're doing here today, because I know that we're going to help some people.

This is a benefit shoot for the folks in London, Kentucky, and Laurel County who were affected by the tornado that come through about two weeks ago.

In about ten days, we've put together a shoot, and we'll probably have 400 people here this weekend that are here for one purpose, and that's to raise money for to help the people in London.

You know, we all sit there and we watched the television, and we saw the devastation and we knew we had friends and family members and people we hunted and fished with that were there, being affected by this.

And now to be able to come together and to raise a significant amount of money to put back into the London and Laurel County community.

What a great deal.

Well, I'll tell you, I was there.

I visited along with the the national ASA organization, the the head people there, and we toured some of of the devastation.

The fairgrounds were just wiped out.

We had our national tournament every year and its been at London for the last several years.

It was just heartbreaking.

We decided to put together a small benefit shoot.

Well, then the National ASA organization jumped on board and donated a bunch of targets.

We've had numerous companies jump on board and donate money, and we're hoping to raise at least $50,000 to go directly to the folks affected in London, and Laurel County, by the storm.

You guys have been around here for a long time.

Long time.

1965.

Tell me a little bit about Chickasaw Archery Club and your role in this.

Chickasaw Archery Club has a lot of members that travel and compete at the national level, and one of the events that a lot of us travel to every year is in London, Kentucky, due to the tornado damage that came through the weekend before last, they had to cancel the event.

And obviously the whole community is trying to recover from the tornado.

So when we heard that that had happened, you know, our board of directors got together and said, hey, we'd like to do something to raise some money for the for the folks in London and do what we can do just to help out.

As the word got out that we were trying to do something.

It began to build and gain momentum.

The support has been tremendous.

It's not just Chickasaw.

The whole community has is really pulled together to support what we're doing here today.

The money we raise here this weekend, it's not going to- its not going anything that ASA does.

It's not going to the fairgrounds.

It's going to the people who lost houses and loved ones.

So I want you to know the money is going to a good cause.

So sportsmen and women get to come out here today, do something that they love.

Generate some revenue and put it back to help other sportsmen and women right here in the state of Kentucky that definitely need their help.

And here they are.

They showed up in huge numbers.

Nice shot.

Just right of it.

Good shot.

Almost.

So, where are you from?

Arkansas.

Arkansas.

Well tell me, what brought you to Kentucky to shoot today?

Your dad brought you, huh?

So, were you guys planning on being in London?

Correct?

Yeah.

Yeah, we were going to go to London and, you know, we practiced hard for it.

And when everything happened, I said, well, we might as well go ahead and go up there and see the Ryans, Ryan Reed and Jeffries and and get to shoot, shoot our bows a little bit.

Okay.

Well, we appreciate you guys coming.

Obviously, this is for a great cause.

Good shot.

Nice job.

So we just watched you shoot.

Nice shot.

Thank you.

So you came all the way from Florida to participate?

Yes, I did.

So tell me a little bit about what brought you.

Well, originally, I kind of was going to go to the London ASA, unfortunately, that did get canceled due to the tornadoes.

And then I saw that they were hosting this shoot.

And so me and my family just kind of came up here and decided to tag along and shoot.

Have you been to the London Nationals before?

I actually have not.

This was going to be my first year going to London, and I did hear about kind of how difficult the shot, like the shooting was going to be.

So, a lot of this month was spent like preparing for that.

So what do you love about archery?

It's a great environment.

Like you can never be, I feel like, upset.

Even if you have a terrible day of shooting, like the crowd and the people are just so amazing.

But to me, it's like, as long as I hit foam or as long as I have people that can joke around about me missing a target even, I feel like it's a great day.

Well, I think that's a great attitude to have.

You know, if someone wanted to get into archery, this is a great sport.

But I've seen your focus and your concentration.

You're not just hitting foam, you're hitting small circles.

So you can't fool me.

I've seen you shoot.

People from all over the place are come to support What happened in London, and Kentucky.

And we couldn't be more thankful of what's going on here.

You know, sportsmen are notorious for coming together and helping each other out.

If it's a helping hand, if it's a couple of dollars, if it's whatever it may be.

And today it's just a perfect example of that.

And we're doing it through archery.

People in London and Laurel County need some help.

You definitely want to keep them in our thoughts and prayers, and then also help out any way we can financially.

To come out here as outdoor men and women to support Kentuckians.

It's a great event.

Now we're jumping in the boat with my good buddy Bill Hurle to learn a little more about fishing line and a knot that you might need to know the next time you're on the water.

Well, I am super excited to be hitting the water today.

Today's fishing trip.

Like most fishing trips, a lot of time starts right here and that is the planning stage of the fishing trip right now.

So I'm kind of thinking about where we're going fishing, what gear and equipment we're going to need, and what type of tackle we're going to be throwing.

Another important thing to consider is fishing line.

Man, there's a whole host of different types of fishing lines out there, different colors, different pound weights, different materials.

Really you got 3 or 4 different materials that the vast majority of the fishing lines are made from.

And each one has its own unique reason that you'd want to own it or use it for fishing.

First off, you've got monofilament line.

It's been around forever.

If you've fished a few times in your life then you probably have used monofilament line, it is absolutely great for hand fishing.

And if you're pulling a bait that's moving through the water where you'd want it to have a little bit of stretch and a little bit of give.

Great for throwing a crankbait, great for throwing something like a spinner bait, something that you want a little bit of give.

A lot of times that's what you use a monofilament line.

It also is pretty forgiving.

Secondly, now you have fluorocarbon fluorocarbon█s something that was introduced years ago for saltwater but has become super popular with freshwater fishermen.

Now what's different about a fluorocarbon line?

Fluorocarbon line is almost completely invisible.

It does not absorb any water, and it doesn't hardly stretch.

Fluorocarbon line.

If you go to set the hook, you wear it back and you hit one with fluorocarbon line.

It's not hardly stretching.

Very little stretch right to the bait that increases your hook ups.

But fluorocarbon can be a little harder to use.

It has a little more memory, kinks a little bit, crimps in there.

If you get a knot and try to pick it out, it's not as forgiving.

And then you've got braid.

braided fishing line.

It's something that most fishermen use, some form or fashion, a braid.

And the reason they use it, it is so incredibly strong.

And the pound test, meaning the weight, the load that it will hold for the diameter of the line is really, really, really, really strong.

Meaning you can make a real long cast.

It is abrasion resistant, almost no stretch like fluorocarbon, even more so when you set the hook man they are on there.

So that gives you a lot of things to think about when you go fishing next time to try to decide what's the best fishing line for you.

Or there's an option to use a combination of two.

And that is something that I'm starting to see a whole lot more out in the fishing world, especially with professional fishermen or guides.

I see them using a combination of braided fishing line to a leader, and that leader can be mono or fluorocarbon.

And I'll tell you what, that's something that's getting more and more and more popular.

One of my good fishing buddies uses this technique a lot.

I would consider him an expert at this and we're going to catch up with him.

We're going to learn a little bit more about this trend of throwing a braided fishing line to a leader, and find out exactly why it works well for him, and find out if it might be something that works well for you as well.

We're out here today at Taylorsville Lake, fishing with my good buddy Bill.

Now, Bill, I've noticed for a couple of years now, a lot of times we've got fishing in most applications.

I see you throwing a braided line to a leader.

Tell me exactly why you do that.

And what type of knot do you like to tie to adjoin the two lines together.

It took me a while to find the right knot in the right combination.

But it saves you, saves you, line it the break and last a year.

Turn it over last another year.

You may go through one quality spool of fluorocarbon a year.

You can literally flip the bail on this.

Take a new reel, run it in the eyelets and literally reel it off of one reel right on to the next.

And what you've done is you've taken the outside line that you've been casting and throwing.

You've reeled it on to the back of the spool, and now you're casting a new line that was on the bottom of the spool has never been used.

A brand new, never been used.

So you can literally get two years pretty easily out of a good, good thing, right?

Oh, easy, easy.

And you can use just instead of using multiple spools.

Very costly fluorocarbon.

One spool a year $200 spool can last you a year.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

It's unbelievable.

Plus you don't have the breakage.

If you were to use straight braid.

Straight braid█s not real abrasion resistance.

But with fluorocarbon leaders fluorocarbon is very abrasion resistant.

And you get the same feel probably better feel how the braid fluorocarbon as you would monofilament or straight fluorocarbon.

So you're getting much longer cast much longer much better hook sets.

Yes.

Let's go ahead and rig a couple up and show me exactly how you do this.

FG knot.

First I start out with my braid.

I basically put it around my pinky finger like that, and I take my fluorocarbon and I tie a knot in the end of it because it slips out of my hands.

All tags I pull up.

So on this side of line, face the side of the fluorocarbon.

You want to face you you go over to, over and under one side, over and under the next side.

You can do that 20 times this side.

This just keep switching sides, okay.

And on the sun line site you can see the light the not actually in slow motion.

So I have four wraps right there.

256789 ten I do 23 wraps on that.

So 16 to 20 some odd 20.

And I'll lay the fluorocarbon parallel to the braid.

Take my tag end put it over away from the body over both lines and just cinch it down.

Cinch it down against my wraps.

Do it a second time in the sun line schematic it says 5 or 6in.

That is, do two.

Okay?

And then I grab my line.

I wet it and I pull it tight.

I want to set the knot.

You set it almost to the breaking point, and you grab your fluorocarbon end right when it comes out of the wraps and cut it as close as possible.

Take your tag end and go over your braid twice.

Just like that.

I grab my mouth.

I pull all three lines.

Then I cut my tag end.

I cut it about a eighth to a quarter inch.

Doesn't hurt nothing.

I used to just cut it even.

But there's a little slippage in your knot.

So that little tagging gives you a little buffer.

You know, basically it'll slip just so far and that's it.

And it won't bother you.

It'll fray a little bit, but it won't bother the cast in.

How much are you going to go from your connection point?

How much are you going to use?

Okay, I'll bring it all the way about halfway between the last tie in the spool.

But right there I've got a connection point.

Then I'll grab the fluorocarbon.

I bring it right below my spool.

My real, and I'll cut it.

And she's ready to go on.

Many of these line manufacturers they'll recommend different knots on this one.

It actually says the Albright knot.

Now Albright knot works really well.

One of the things I've noticed about the Albright knot is that it has a little thicker knot then the EFG knot that your time.

What does that a little bit thicker not do to you?

The thicker the not the more it's going to hit your guides.

Yeah.

By doing this particular knot you get a little less resistance going through there.

Less resistance.

I mean I have tried all kinds of knots.

I have tried the Albright knot.

Whatever you feel is best for you and you tie and you have confidence in is a knot you should use.

This just works for me.

Well, let's go catch a fish.

Let's do it.

Oh, here you.

Second that thing hit the water.

Second you threw it out there?

Yeah.

Son of a gun.

You need a net?

No he█s little.

White bass.

Now, I'll tell you what.

That thing jumped way out there.

I had to make a real, real long cast.

Is that a- That's a crappie.

You got you a crappie.

Hey.

Yeah, there you go.

I don't believe that was going to be long enough, but you know what?

A pretty little crappie.

White crappie.

can't beat that.

1 or 2 years, right?

Yeah.

That's all you got?

About 1 or 2.

1 or 2.

Oh, there he is.

That's.

Yeah, that's a little better than the first one I caught.

Oh yeah, he's better.

He's just coming at me when he's doing that.

Oh yeah.

He's a better fish.

You need a net?

There you go.

Yeah.

There we go.

Got it.

Nice.

Its a pretty good one there though.

That's probably 13 14 inch fish.

Yeah.

Well, Bill, I have to say I've seen you tie this knot several times and I've seen you catch a lot of fish on it.

It works extremely well, I am convinced.

Yeah.

Yeah, that works for me.

And I hope it works for a lot of the people.

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

And this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check out Caden Scott Wilson of Shelby County as he holds his first bluegill that he's ever caught.

He caught this while fishing with his dad and pop.

Nice job!

Check out this monster large mouth that Gracie Miller from Todd County caught.

This fish weigh close to 8 pounds.

Wow, what a fish.

Cody Angel was inspired by our carp fishing, so he went out and tried it himself and caught this beautiful mirrored carp.

Nice fish.

Summer is here and it is now boating season here in Kentucky.

When you hit the water, be extra cautious due to the high waters we experienced this spring.

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 hope to see you in the woods or on the water.