Where is the best place to fish if he wants to chase a muskie in Kentucky in a 50 inch plus range?

This week on Kentucky Afield, we went live on social media to answer all of your spring fishing questions, and we're bringing you those answers right now.

It's all next on Kentucky Afield, Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

Tonight, we're coming to you live from the Salato Wildlife Education Center.

And this is one of my favorite shows of the year.

We're here to talk all about fishing.

We have a panel of experts here to answer all of our questions.

First up, I have Jeff Crosby, who is our central district fisheries biologist.

How you doing, Jeff?

Doing well, thank you.

Right beside him, we have Jeff Ross.

You've been here several times doing this with us.

The assistant director of fisheries.

How you doing?

Great.

And answering all of our law enforcement questions, we have Sergeant Rufus Craven's, conservation officer right here in Frankfort.

How are you doing, Rufus?

Doing well Chad.

Thanks for having me.

First up, we're going to get right to our questions.

We have Reid Hennessy, wants to know if the smallmouth bass population on Floyds Fork is being monitored and wants to know if the land development around the Watershed could be hurting it.

Yes, we are sampling small mouth and rock bass on the on the Floyd Fork.

We try to do that on a every other year basis, but sometimes the weather plays a part in that, whether we get it done or not.

But it's usually done by the district.

We also have a stream research branch that may also do it for us on various times where we can't get out there.

But yeah, we do have concerns about, you know, impacts to any streams and, and definitely development can lead to impacts through siltation, you know, on our fisheries.

Floyds Fork is an interesting stream and the fact that much of that has really the access has been opened up a lot.

Yeah it's it's great because now we've got about 20 miles with the parklands of the Floyds fork, there's a lot of access within that watershed and whether it be, you know, boating, kayaking or canoeing, also with all the trails, you can walk in and fish a lot of areas.

So does that additional pressure being put on it, does that affect the fishery very much or the way the limits are set?

Does it?

I think we're fine with the limits, the way they're set, and it probably gets a little bit more pressure these days.

But, you know, we're trying to monitor it.

You know, we are doing a little bit of trout stockings during the winter months to open up a little bit more fishery opportunities in that area.

Floyds Fork is near and dear to my heart.

I was raised right on it.

walking distance as a child.

So, next question.

Adam Kapowski What is the where is the best place to fish if he wants to chase a muskie in Kentucky in the 50 inch plus range?

50.

Well, reservoir wise would probably be Cave Run.

That seems to be the lake that produces the biggest.

But we have seen some big fish come out of the Kentucky River as well, which some people may not be aware of but that's another potential spot to catch a big muskie.

If you were going to fish for Muskie and you wanted to go target a 50 inch fish, what month would you target?

I would probably Look at that August, September timeframe.

Okay.

Probably on the river.

But I think you could do that again in the fall.

On Cave Run also, when they move back in those creeks.

We have other bodies of water that are also, Cave Run█s what everybody talks about.

The Green River also has a good musky population.

Buckhorn, Dewey is a newer one, and that's actually a good time to mention that the size limit now is going to be 40 inches across Green, Buckhorn, Dewey and Cave Run.

So they'll be the same.

Okay.

And Dewey now that stocking has been going on for several years now, and I noticed last year there was some larger fish than what had been previously shocked up there.

We're getting, we're seeing some bigger fish, right?

Yeah.

They keep continuing to grow and people are catching them with the 40 inch limit.

They may be probably just below that right now, but that's a good way to protect them and get them up to that bigger size.

So that's fantastic.

Next question from Paul Richardson.

Wants to know if if it's legal to use crappie as either live bait or cut bait for catfish?

No, it is not.

You can't use any sport fish for bait other than redear sunfish less than six inches.

Okay.

So pretty much if there's a limit on them, on length or or creel numbers, then it's probably a good idea to not be using that, right?

That's correct.

So.

All right.

All right.

Next question is from Rodney Holt.

Can you share creel limits at fins lakes?

So tell me what a sharing of creel limit is for people who don't know.

So that would be like, for instance, at a Fins Lake I believe it's five trout.

If you were out there trout fishing, sharing a limit would be you and I are fishing together, so we would be allowed ten that would be like you catching seven me catching three.

You cannot do that.

Once you hit your creel limit you can continue to fish, but you just have to release yours.

You can't.

You can't help someone else catch their limit as well.

Got you.

Penny Hurst question, have you stock blue Catfish and Herrington Lake?

And if not, are there any plans?

No.

We have not stocked blue cats in the Herrington and currently we don't have any plans right now.

Right now it's got a a good population of channels and flathead in the lake and we are stocking hybrids into that lake right now.

It's a pretty good fishery right now.

So blue catfish, what is what what's the criteria for stocking them in a lake?

You know, we want to definitely have a lake with shad in them.

And the other problem that I think we have a little bit of is that, you know, a lot of these fish come out of our hatcheries and we we only have so many fish that we can put out into lakes and we've already got lakes that are set up to receive.

So expanding that can be a little difficult.

That means we got to give up something else and another, you know, and another lake.

One of the that the blue catfish have done very well in Taylorsville Lake but that that that like really had a shad overpopulation issue and the blue catfish was it was a was a great way to try to help control that.

Right.

Yes.

Next question is from James Milby.

Besides a lifejacket, what is required on a kayak and what do you need to know before or after sunset or sunrise?

So I guess I won't know what's required of the kayak other than a life jacket.

And then also for fishing after dark.

Gotcha.

So pretty much the the life jacket.

The only other thing would be if you're going to have any type of like if you were going to fish at night with a lantern or something like that, then if you have any type of combustible petroleum based like propane, Coleman fuel, anything like that, then you would need a fire extinguisher on board as well if you had that.

And then as far as the requirements for lights at night on manually propelled vessels such as kayaks and canoes, you have to have a white light that you can turn on to avoid.

It doesn't have to stay on all the time, but you have to be able to turn it on in time to illuminate the vessel and the occupants to avoid, you know, avoid a collision, to let others know where you're at.

Well I know on the boat you obviously got your nav lights and then you have your what they call an anchor light.

Right.

So on a kayak would a flashlight would that account for that.

If you had a flashlight like white light, even though it's not a part of the boat, that would also work?

Right.

Correct.

All right.

Yeah.

Well, there you go.

That's what that's what's required on a life, on a kayak.

How often is Lake Kinman stocked?

What species are stock and when?

Lake Kinman, now Lake Kinman For those that don't know, tell us where liake Kinman is.

Lake Kinman is in Henry County.

It's part of the Kentucky River WMA, along with Kinman.

You've got three other water bodies up there.

They're a little bit smaller but Kinman being the bigger one.

88 acre lake named after one of our past fishery directors slash deputy commissioners.

But currently we're not doing a lot of stocking there right now.

We we normally do catfish stockings, but right now we're doing a catfish study.

We've actually installed some, we'll say some cavities or some boxes basically spawning boxes in order to try to see if we could get those fish to, the catfish in that lake to spawn.

And and if we can do that, then we may not have to stock as often, we can let nature kind of run its course and and but right now we're not doing a whole lot of stocking.

The bass reproduction is great, bluegill reproduction█s great.

Nature's taking care of a lot of the numbers of fish reproduction and fish in that lake right now.

Okay.

Now that that lake is not that far from the river, does that lake ever, ever get flooded with river water?

Yes, it did, actually, last year during one of the floods, it got about, I█d say, five, five, six feet over the dam.

So, you know, we got a lot of rough fish back into the lake.

We've been trying to get out.

So, yeah, sometimes the river stocks it for us.

Yeah, or destocks it.

We█ll have a few move in, a few move out.

Well it's one of those things it's you can't it's where it's where it's at where's that.

We actually acquired that whole tract where the lake came with it there and it's where it's at.

I remember fishing there can be really good at times but we river and it, it, it might take a little bit of us research to figure out exactly when the best what best fish to target at that watershed.

But yeah, crappie bass Bluegill are good.

Okay.

Pretty really nice fishery.

All right.

Next question is from George Andrew Fiege, are redeared sunfish and hybrid bluegill stocked in any of the fins lakes?

So we used to stock both of those.

We did recently stock redear and we're kind of waiting to see, they're growing really well and some of the fins like to get some really big red ear, but we put a good number in and now we're just letting them, we don█t want to overpopulate it, but letting those go.

We have done hybrid bluegill in the past, but right now we're not.

Okay.

Okay.

I'll tell you what, everybody want to know how to catch and where to catch a redear.

I get more questions in the summertime when when the bluegill spawn starts, where can I go and catch Red ear?

That's everybody wants to catch those.

That and sauger, or saugeye.

Everybody wants to catch those two species.

I think.

And it may have something do with table fare.

They're all we all know they're pretty good, pretty good on the table.

Next question is from Amanda McDowell.

What's the best time of spring to fish for stripers on Lake Cumberland?

Is it at night?

And what's the best bait?

So when you want to go catch stripers on lake Cumberland?

Generally, I'd say that would be late April into May, because usually they're coming up at night to feed on the spawning shad in the lake.

And so that's generally that time frame.

It could be as late as June possibly.

I think we've got them from April to June.

We've always used the top waters, always the fun using a thunder stick or red fin on the surfaces.

You know, that's there's a lot of adrenaline that goes with that in the middle of the night with a large fish blowing up on it.

Slivers has also been a very good bait.

Anything like that that's going to imitate one of those shad that are up.

But top water is really good.

That's a pretty particular fishery and style fish.

Then when I was in the office every day, I always knew when the fish was pretty good because you pull in, there be a couple of boats here, there'll be people going after work to head down to the Cumberland and people falling asleep in their office.

And so that, you know, that's that's all you're right on there.

At that time frame, it was April and time frame, Right.

The new moon's pretty critical.

The darker the better.

Yeah.

And people it's it's really interesting that that that you would think that when a really, really dark night that it wouldn't make a difference but although a lot of people that do have some success not on a full moon but on not necessarily a new moon, there is a shadow on the bank, even when it's dark, and the moon will have some banks will be darker than others.

I'll tell you what, when you're nighttime fishing, fish the darkest bank you can find seems to be the most productive.

Yes, very bizarre.

But this seems to be how it works out.

Next question is from Carly Smith, on trolling motor only lakes are outboard motors allowed as long as they're not turned on.

And do they need to be completely trimmed up out of the water?

I guess it would depend on if it's, you know, an owner or managed lake.

if it's something posted by us or if it's like a lake or, you know, a large pond that's owned by like a city or something like that that we don't own or manage.

Like, for instance, the one in Madison County, Owsley Fork, that is actually owned by the city of Berea.

They don't allow any gas motors on there whatsoever.

But I believe most of the ones that we that fish and wildlife owns or manages, I believe you can have the gasoline motor on there.

You just can't use it.

Can't use it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't think there's anything in reg that says you can't have them on there.

But again they just need to double check the what the, the you know, the water that they're fishing and who actually owns that, that water whether it's us and managed by it.

And most of them will say, you know no gasoline motors allowed.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Next question is from Lain Piate.

It looks like, can Kentucky college students who live out of state purchase a Kentucky residence license if they already possess a resident license in their home state?

As long as they've been enrolled as a full time student in an educational facility here for I believe it's six months, then they would qualify to be able to purchase a resident license here as well.

So they're asking about whether they can buy a resident license.

So they if they've already bought a license in their state, say, Indiana kid who owns has a resident license in Indiana.

And long as they've been in Kentucky for six months, they can also have a Kentucky resident as as a student, as long as they've been enrolled in a full time student in an educational facility for six months, then they can purchase one here.

There you go.

I did not know that.

That's interesting.

All right.

Brian Baker, is a lower lake level at Rough River Lake going to interrupt the crappie spawn?

Tell us a little bit about what's going on at Rough River right now.

So they're doing some work on the dam and it's actually going to be extended period of time.

I can't remember, I heard at one time maybe eight years or something like that.

Remnants of, reminiscent of like what happened at Lake Cumberland, yeah.

Obviously it's going to put the crappie in an area where it's probably less structure.

Depending on where the water ends up.

They'll still spawn, but you know, it may not be what they're really looking for, but the fish will find a place to spawn wherever it's at.

If it stays stable, that's the probably the biggest thing is not having it going up and down while their spawning, because they can find a location for sure.

I know there have been a lot of talk about that, a lot of talk about what's going on at Rough River, and this has happened in several other lakes, like most recently lake Cumberland.

But it seems like we've had some other lakes that have been shorter periods of time, maybe one summer or but Rough River, we don't know the exact length of time, but you've heard you've heard potentially eight years.

I heard that at one time.

I don't, don't quote me on that.

But I don't think anything has been set in stone.

I think there's still a lot of questions.

Yeah, exactly what's going to happen.

But it sounds like something will happen.

There is one benefit to come out of it is that all those areas that have been de-watered are going to grow up in terrestrial vegetation and then the water is going to come back up into it and yeah, that'll help things out down the road.

Obviously, you know, not right now, but.

We are we have obviously, we saw that in some of the other lakes.

But Lake Cumberland, what incredible spawns that we have the years after the lake level came back up because I mean, those sycamore trees and those trees and bushes and things around, they grow pretty fast.

You give them four or five, six, eight years and you've got a ton of spawning habitat.

Yeah.

So hopefully they see a little bit of that.

But you have to check with the Army Corps of Engineers on how long that's going to be down, because that's actually one of their projects right.

Next question.

Is there any chance that Kentucky Department of Fish Wildlife would consider stocking Florida's strain or F-1 largemouth bass anywhere in Kentucky waters?

This question is from Bobby Mahan.

I get this question a lot.

So F1█s or Florida strain bass.

People want to know if we're considering stocking those in Kentucky waters.

Yeah.

So the Florida bass is a separate species from the large mouth and it's native to like peninsula of Florida and up the coastal drainage, I guess Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Down south.

It has some performance benefits, it grows faster than like a northern.

But as you move north the the pure strain Florida and the F1 is a cross between a pure strain Florida and a pure strain northern okay and that's what we have native to Kentucky is pure strain northern.

As you go north and it get colder rougher winters and less growing season they tend to not have those benefits.

They grow slower, they have higher mortality rates and their reproduction is less.

The problem is, is they hybridize with the northern.

So if you bring those fish up, put them in our waters, they're going to cross with our northern and all sudden you're just mixing in inferior genes and it's irreversible.

So you can't go backwards once that happens.

So it's, we've done some genetic tests in the past and found a very low percentage of Florida genes 5 to 10%, and that's still 90% northern.

So that's still considered a northern population.

We're retesting like 25 reservoirs across the state to see where they're at now.

If we all sudden find that it's 50% Florida genes and that's pointing towards illegal stocking.

So we're hoping we don't see that.

It's illegal to stock them now in the public waters.

So we just ask the people, do not do that.

And speaking of illegal, there, there's another species that actually were equally, if not even more worried about, the Alabama bass, which is also a separate species from down south.

And those grow better down there.

But they are moving this way with people, moving them, and they don't do as well up here.

And the big thing is they outcompete large mouth.

So you lose your large bass population.

They hybridize with small mouth and spotted bass.

So your great fishing trip, you talk about the Dale Hollow, if they end up in there.

You won't be able to fish for small mouth.

What small mouth bass.

It'll be a smaller hybrid and it can happen in like ten years.

Lake Norman in North Carolina, pretty much its entire large mouth bass population taken over by Alabama bass and some of the premier smallmouth lakes in Georgia have all hybridized.

So another one would do not move those.

It's not going to be a good thing and and how would a person if they if their intentions are really good but they may have very bad unintended consequences.

A person that fishes just passively or might may even be tournament level fisherman, how would they be able to tell a difference in an F1, an Alabama bass?

and a 1 pound or a 2 pound range?

So usually when you're doing the identification, it would be a difference between like an F1 and a northern strain, large mouth.

And you really you can't tell.

You have to genetically test them.

Yeah.

Alabama bass and or Kentucky spotted bass are very similar as well.

There's a few little differences, but most people aren't going to catch it.

So really that's a genetic test as well.

So I don't take up the whole show talking about this.

We do have our black bass management team has put together, frequently asked questions on Florida F1█s and then also on Alabama bass.

And they're really detailed.

They have answers and the scientific basis for why how our answers came about.

And they those should be up on our website fairly soon.

They're finishing it up.

But anglers will be able to read every little bit of information that they want to read about.

So it's a really confusing topic because we do have some agencies just to the south of us.

Yeah.

That are stocking F1█s in waters that we share.

Yeah.

So there is some confusion stuff, but I think that the department's research on this topic, the fact that it's all going to be made available for every fisherman to look at because everybody wants to catch a big fish, Right?

So I think that's really good.

That'll be located on our website.

Right.

What where are they going to put that on the website?

We haven't decided yet, but I think we'll probably have a news release or something letting people know they're out there.

One thing I failed to mention, we talk about F1 and pure, pure Florida strain.

You can have F2, F3█s where they start crossing back in with each other and those get worse and worse.

So just it's, it's not good.

And hopefully when we get those FAQ█s out, a lot of those questions can, can get answered.

They can still anglers can call and we can still help them out with any questions they have.

Yeah, but at this point in time, if you're really interested in this, make sure you read the information, the study that's going on and and please don't don't accidentally bring in.

Yeah, accidentally or bring in with with some good consequences.

Right.

And you're going to have it's a it's a risk reward thing and the risk far out because you can't go backwards once they start mixing.

Yeah.

So some of the Alabama bars you once they're in there, you're in trouble.

So this Lake Norman issues going on where they're getting very small bass that are not growing.

I mean what what's the answer?

A complete kill off and a restart?

What do you do?

I'm not sure anybody come up with what they're going to do about it.

Wow.

We do not want that.

Yeah.

All right.

Next question is from Jake Hall.

Does a John boat need to be tagged if you are not using any form of the motor, including a trolling motor?

Good question.

So if you use a like a John boat paddleboat kayak, canoe, as long as you're using manual propulsion such as, you know, oars or paddles and not using any type of gasoline or electric motor, then you can use that on public waterways and it does not have to be registered.

Okay, There you go.

And the foot pedal drive is it's considered pure manual as well, right?

That's correct.

I know they're getting really popular right now.

Now, you can use on private waters, you can use a John boat or a small boat like that with an electric motor on it, on private waters.

And it does not have to be registered.

But if you put that with that electric motor on it, if you put it on a public waterway, it does have to be registered.

Okay.

There you go.

Next question is from Tristan Brooks.

How do I enter a fish into the Master Angler program in Kentucky?

I know we've had some questions about the Master Angler program.

And is that still going on?

Well, that's that's partly on us.

And we've made it where this is a very high priority.

It's going to require our system and databases are going to require some i.t programing that us fisheries people have no idea about.

And so we just need to make it happen.

Right now, you can, you can enter in for like the trophy category, but the master angler where you catch three trophies.

Yeah, it's not working.

So that's where people they, they probably have caught three trophies and want to get the master angler and you can't do it right now.

So we promise we're that high priority this year.

All right.

We're going to so we're going to get that up and running.

Yeah.

Technology and fishing man, I'll tell you what you're talking about a hot topic.

There's all kinds of questions that evolve around technology being used in fishing right now.

But I tell it, there is a there is a piece of technology that is going to be available and it may be available now or if not, it's going to be really soon.

And it's being offered by the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

And I know that they've developed a fishing app.

It's going to be utilized here in the state of Kentucky that really compiles all the really useful information that you may need to know about where to fish and what's the best way to fish there, including all the data that you guys put together as a biologist on the fishing forecast, all in one location.

Right?

And that's the what's the new the new app called?

Fish Boat.

K-Y, Fish Boat, K-Y.

So it's available on Apple and Google, right?

If you go pick this up, it it's operated and owned by the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

But if you download this app, it's got all the information you guys put in as far as where to fish and boat ramps and is there a fee and I think you can actually buy a fishing license on there.

You can actually once you buy your license, you can download the license directly to your phone so that it shows up on the screen.

So if you're outside of Internet access, you still have it.

Now, if your phone goes dead, you've got a problem.

But yeah, but it also incorporates like Google Maps and your location.

So you can be at a restaurant and but you got your fishing pole in the car and it's like, I wonder if there's anywhere to fish around here and you just click one button and it'll show you the from nearest the furthest away, the distance to different places.

You hit them and I'll give you driving directions, see the species that are in there.

So it's pretty cool.

It ties into fishing forecast, areas to fish.

What the rules and regulations are creel and size limit.

Everything's available right there, right?

Yep.

So, hey, if you're if you're trying to plan a fishing trip, that might be a good spot to start.

So take your phone and download fish Boat Kentucky.

And it's the new fishing app that's going to be available.

A lot of great information in there.

So you can start a fishing trip right there, can█t you?

Yup.

All right.

Next question is from Jimmy Wilson.

Can Walleye survive if they're put in a farm pond?

I would not recommend walleye in farm ponds.

Okay.

Over the years will be we're doing farm ponds.

We actually checked several where they had stocked walleye, and I don't think any of the ponds we looked at we ever found a walleye.

So it's it's just not the right habitat for the walleye.

So it's not a fish that we would recommend.

So when people ask, there's always the two tone answer when someone say, well, this fish survive in this waterway, surviving is one thing and repopulating is completely another thing.

And so if you did put a fish in there and it's not going to hit the water belly up and be dead in seconds, it might swim away, but it's probably not going to make it.

And then it's definitely not going to reproduce, right?

Correct.

Yeah.

It again, you may live for a period of time, like you say, and then, you know, it's just not the the conditions and it's those real stressful conditions or that, you know, that the certain conditions they need during a period of time, you know, of the year may not be available.

And, you know, either they die or they starve to death.

Yeah, because the food's not there.

Yeah.

All right.

So not a good idea to put a walleye in a pond?

No.

Like I said everybody wants to know how to catch these really tasty fish and walleye is on the list.

It is very much on the list.

Next question.

Darryl Stone wants to know, when should I start fishing for white bass in the headwaters of Dix River?

Soon, I would say I'd be watching water temperatures.

I think we're still in the forties right now.

As we started hitting those in the fifties.

Want to start watching generally is going to be mid-fifties, which is going to be April ish.

And this goes for Taylorsville Dix River.

You know, the salt.

But about April water temp hits 55, males move up.

As you get into the upper fifties sixties, the females move up.

So that's the time frame you're looking for, probably mid April is going to be the time.

White bass are one of those species that everybody, because it's one of the first really, really good fishing opportunities, especially for bank fishing, We're talking about Nolin, Dix River, Salt River.

But I'll tell you what, if you go there and you catch them really good, your first trip, you probably were late.

And if you go there and you fish them the very, very, very first time early and you really, really catch them, you're probably too early.

It takes a little bit of time.

You're not going to probably do it in one trip, unless you got a buddy that's a really good friend that goes, Hey, today, let's go.

I caught them there yesterday.

I usually make a couple of trips to try to find white bass and not every trip is great, but if you go enough, you're going to have some really good trips and then you got to fight around all these weather systems that seem to come in every four days.

Oh, yeah, that's the problem.

It's great and all of a sudden the water changes a little bit.

But I tell you what, though, hard fighting fish, they█re are a lot of fun to catch, when you're on them.

It's one right after the next isn█t it?

White bass fishing.

I'll tell you what, that's that's one of the things that get you excited about Springright there.

It█s a great way to start Spring.

Oh, it is, absolutely.

Next question is from Ronnie Brock.

What is changed to allow the dams on the Elkhorn and Green River that were once needed to be to be removed?

So we've done some dam removals.

Some dam removals have been done through private entities.

I know that Elkhorn Creek, that was actually done by Jim Beam distilleries.

Right.

So what has changed to allow them to remove these dams?

I don't know if anything's changed.

I think a lot of them are just, you know, are older and older.

They potentially pose a hazard.

But also, you know, there's a big push to get rivers and streams back to their historical flow and things like that.

So, you know, a lot of them, if they're not being used for what they were designed for and potentially pose a hazard or, you know, the funding's there to be able to take them out, you know, that's that's how they come out.

I know that particular dam down on the Elkhorn near Jim Beam, initially they were needing a large volume of water for potential fire suppression.

Right.

Right.

And they tapped into the city water, had plenty of water available for fire suppression.

It was a hazard.

It wasn't being maintained.

And they decided to take it out.

Some of the Green River projects that the dams had been taken out there, I'm not sure why they've been taken out, but I know one thing, the long term navigation of those waters and the spawning ability for having more riparian waters, upsides there, right?

And it's not dangerous.

Right.

I think some of those were in disrepair and they didn't want to have to rebuild them.

But it's just when you those dams can serve as barriers for fish.

And so when you remove those dams, you go back into more free flowing, which is actually better for small mouth and rock bass.

Okay.

You need that that flowing sections the the those those areas that are impounded are probably a little bit better for your large mouth and your bluegill, but when you talk about stream fishing you know removing those dams is it's much better habitat.

Have that free flowing stream having those pool riffles and they'll have a little bit more complex habitat there.

Very good.

Let's see, Will Kayla Crawford want to know how the crappie fishing is out on cave run?

It's actually not too bad.

You know, I talked to our biologists not too long ago about that, and he said earlier in the spring, you want to go up lake And then as the year progresses, come back down lake.

And we've got a lot of habitat that we put in there.

The one thing he did say is that there's a lot of fish like eight, nine inch that are still legal to keep, but a lot of people are just, you know, throwing them back because they're going for the big ones.

So there is a big block of those fish.

And actually, if people would keep some of those, it may speed up the growth on the rest of them.

And get them a little bit bigger.

So there's there fish in there.

Maybe the bigger fish is down just a little bit because there's a big pod of 8 to 9 inchers.

I fished Cave Run for crappie last week and we did really well.

Good.

And I'll tell you, we caught some fish up to 15 inches, so we caught some really, really good fish.

Now we did see and catch some smaller fish and the guy that I was fishing with was saying, Hey, if you want to take home, you know, ten of these, 15 of these for the skillet here we were catching some eight, nine, ten inch fish.

He was like, these are perfect for that.

But we were catching good numbers of fish up to 15 inches.

So I have some firsthand experience on this question.

I'd like some more firsthand experience.

That was that was a good day on the water.

We went out and I don't think we've even aired it yet.

So that be looking for that.

If you're interested in fishing Cave Run for crappie we█ve got something coming for you real soon.

Next question is from Gabe Stallcup, Wants to know what's the best method for catching largemouth bass in the 40 to 50 degree water temperature range?

There you go.

What's your best technique for catching them in cold water?

Jerkbait.

You like a jerkbait?

I like the jerkbait.

it's just my preference.

Jerkbait works great, works great in the spring and it works great in the in the fall.

That's a really good, really good bait to throw in because in jerk bait, you know, you're throwing it out there and you're bringing down and you're allowing it to suspend and sit there.

And I think that's the number one thing to fishing cold water.

Don't move your lure too fast.

right.

And you're letting it sit there and sometimes it's four, five, 10 seconds pauses.

And so you're like a jerk bait.

I like the jerk bait.

What about you?

I think, I think once you start getting towards 50 degrees, you can probably work it, get a little more active, you know, slow roll a spinner bait or, you know, some kind of blade bait or something, you know, a little more action to it, cause that's getting close to prespawn.

Yeah.

You know, where they're starting to move.

crankbaits are good to.

Crankbait in the winter time.

I'll tell you what, it's really whatever bait you got a lot of confidence in just in that 40 degree water temperature.

Slow it down.

Yeah.

Really really present the bait in a slower way and then start speeding it up.

Once you start getting into the fifties.

A lot of people don't realize that if a bass could pick it's water temperature what do you think it would be?

If a bass say how I want the, I want, like me I'd take October every day, all day in Kentucky.

But a bass, they really have a preferred temperature range and they'll seek that out regardless if they can find warmer water when it's really cold, they do it.

They'll find colder water when it's really hot.

And so what's their preferred temperature range?

Oh, I think it's probably upper fifties.

Lower sixties.

Yeah.

I mean once you people talking about fifties thinking, oh that's really cold water, you're almost in a situation for a bass, you're getting right to ideal perfect water conditions in water color.

So around fifties into the lower sixties I think that's it seems to be where they to me you really catch them well.

Yeah.

That temperature range.

So don't let the fifties scare you away you might be absolutely ideal.

Don't let the 40 scare you.

Oh yeah.

Now if people ask me when they know that they see me loading up and heading now they're like, Isn't it too cold?

I go, there's no such thing.

When the water gets hard, it's rough out of a boat, but you can still dig a hole and bore a hole and still catch fish.

Those fish are going to eat.

They're eating somewhere.

So next question from Brad Waites.

Just wondering if there are smallmouth bass in Clear Creek that goes through Shelby County.

He's wanting to give it a try.

You know anything about Clear Creek?

Yes, I would say it's limited numbers.

I mean, that's Shelby Lake is an impoundment of Clear Creek.

And of course, that portion is going to be mainly large mouth.

Decent largemouth actually in that.

But you get down below, you know, it goes on down toward the Salt River, below Taylorsville, probably be pretty limited there, probably a few there, but I wouldn't call it, you know, a big time small mouth fishery.

But there's probably some there.

I've fished it a time or two and we have caught some smallmouth bass, like you say, not big, not in big numbers, and we have got some in there.

But so I know they're there.

But I think I agree with you and maybe not in big numbers.

Ronnie Brock wants to know since the department doesn't stock ponds, how do they recommend people to start a pond?

So if you dig a pond, what's the best way to stock it?

The main two fish you want to stock in your pond is a large mouth bass and a bluegill.

I would stock them at a ratio of 4 to 1, 4 bluegill to 1 bass.

So it's about 400 bluegill to 100 bass per acre.

Those are the two main fish for the pond, the other two fish that are appropriate if you want to stock them.

It's really the pond owners preference would be a channel catfish and a shell cracker slash the redear sunfish.

So those four fish are the four fish we recommend for ponds other than the grass carp.

That grass carp is for biological control of vegetation.

Those are fine too, but we're talking on the sport fish end, large mouth, bluegill, red ear and the channel cat.

I tell you what, pond fishing is something I think is very overlooked, especially early in the year.

You want to go out and catch a good fish or start catching fish early.

Those waters tend to warm up a little bit faster.

If you can get access to a farm pond.

I don't think there's a better way to teach any one, an adult or a kid or whatever how to fish is to go into a farm pond.

Farm pond is one of the first first places that I want to go in the, now.

This is a great time right now to start going and hitting some farm ponds.

That water starts barely warm.

Really quick, on our web site.

If you go to the fishing and just scroll down, there's a picture, I think, and it's managing your farm pond.

It covers every aspect, your building it, stocking it, fertilizing, fish kills, everything.

Okay, We put that together because, you know, we don't get out as much to the private ponds.

So we provided essentially the technical guidance all on one spot.

I'll tell you what, there is a host of information, maybe not the easiest to find on our Web site, but there is so, there's more information than you'd want to know about wherever you want to fish, all the information you guys pull.

I mean, you can go and look at shocking, creel surveys, and find out what how many fish were in every inch class of all the different species.

I do think that this this fishing app we talked about earlier might be a way to help make some of that more manageable to find out what are you really trying to find.

So the information is out there.

You know, it's not super easy to navigate and find, but it's out there.

And if you want to find it, give a phone call, Give us a call.

You can always reach us at 1 800 858 1549.

Call and give us a give us a call.

We'll try to help you locate whatever piece of information, whether it be stocking your farm pond or planning your next fishing trip.

There's the information's out there and there are now new tools that will also help you find that information.

Chad, also, the department maintains and I'm not sure if it's on the website or not, but the department maintains a list of licensed fish propagators in the state.

So if somebody is looking, where can I buy the bluegill?

Where can I get the bass?

The department maintains that and it's a list of people with contacts and what species they sell and so forth.

So I know there are a lot of that's on there.

It's on the web and so is a list of pond consultants if you want to bring somebody in to assist you.

Okay.

I know that sometimes I hear people saying that they're local.

You know, what's the place that sells the little chicks in, southern states or those places will have certain times where fish companies will be there to drop off fish or do whatever.

So the the the opportunities that they're available, you just got to go to the website there and you'll find out what's near you.

The next question it's from Sandy Sherring, wants to know what are some WMA█s that have fishable lakes.

so I want to go to log manager that has fresh legs.

What do you recommend?

Well you got the Kentucky River WMA we talked about earlier out there with Kinman, Like I said, there's there's three other water bodies there.

One's four acres.

One█s six and one█s fifteen.

Okay.

So that's a, it's a great opportunity.

I think that Central WMA's got quite a few ponds on it I believe.

Peabody's got more ponds than you could probably fish in a lifetime but there's a lot of a lot of lakes out on it and I've been out on they have different varieties of fish in them and yeah.

So if you wanted if you wanted to go to Peabody WMA, which has all those lakes, is there someone down there, I mean I know a lot of the wildlife biologist, but there is there someone down there that can kind of help them decide what lake to go to based on what fish species they want to target?

Yeah, they can call our Northwestern Fisheries District.

Okay.

If you look in our fishing and boating guide, there's a page towards the back that has all our districts and their phone numbers give them a call.

They can point you into the right place.

That's probably the best way to do it.

There is a permit that you have to get for Peabody, so just keep that in mind.

I think it's like $15 permit.

You know, you mentioned the boating and fishing guide.

The boating fishing guide is something that people look forward to it coming out.

And it's we're getting close.

It's about ready to be released.

So the boating fishing guide is about ready to be out there.

So check your local retailer or go online.

You can download that.

And I think again, the fish app is trying to provide more and more opportunities for people to get that wherever they're at.

And being able to download that and have it on your phone would be nice.

But it's about ready.

The printed copies are really, really close.

We're looking at a couple of weeks and they're going to be out there and available at your local retailers.

If you're one of those people that want to have that hard copy, they're on their way.

So you be getting those soon.

Next question is from Pam Brooks.

She wants to know what the difference is between a daily limit and a possession limit.

This is a question that we get asked a lot and it sounds like the same thing, but it's actually not.

Right.

So a daily limit is basically what you're allowed in one calendar day.

A possession limit is what you're allowed to keep after two days, two or more days of fishing and does not include processed fish.

Okay.

So what tell me a reason why there would be a difference between a possession limited and daily limit.

Well, I mean, maybe somebody goes on a camping trip, they're going to fish one day and then stay the night and fish the next day.

So that would be one reason why you would have the possession limit.

Maybe they didn't have a chance to clean them, you know, the night before fishing.

Especially in the spring when you█re crappie fishing in the water temperature in your livewell or water temperature█s really, really cool.

Those fish will live and you don't want to make two messes so you can actually filet two days worth of fish at one time.

Right.

That's kind of the reason for that.

That makes sense.

All right.

Next question is from Thomas Wachtel.

Do rainbow trout hold over in any of the lakes?

And how about High Splint Lake?

Boy, High Splint Lake got all the attention two years ago?

And tell us a little bit about the rainbow trout.

If it's deep enough and has cool enough water, can they can they survive that?

Yeah, they can.

And it takes cool water that has enough oxygen in it.

So, you know, most of our lakes form a thermocline, which is a, you know, the oxygenated water█s above it and then it goes away below it.

So typically right at that level, it's probably not cool enough for for the rainbow trout.

But we do have lakes that are clear that they have cool oxygenated water and those fish can hold over.

High Splint█s probably one that that can happen because it fits that mold.

Deep, real deep probably has springs spring fed cool water.

We put them in Paintsville is another one that probably, you know could pull that off and greenbo Lake you know there's some that we put in that probably have a really good chance, and we've seen them you know you get 15 or 16 inch rainbows and we know we didn't stock them that size.

Yeah.

All right.

There you go.

So there are some hold over, but it takes a very unique body of water.

Next question from Jeff Colter What can be done to keep farm Pond from turning over due to low oxygen?

The only thing you could do would be possibly install aeration system.

Okay.

But that's not something that happens every year.

Typically for farm ponds, these events.

I generally don't recommend aeration unless you're having a consistent problem with it.

Meaning you've had you know, these events happen, you know, several over the last three out of the last five years or something like that.

Then the aeration is when I start recommending it.

A lot of those happen once every ten years and maybe once every 20 years, and the cost of restocking a few fish versus maintaining or buying, maintaining and running that aeration system over that same period of time is a whole lot more expensive.

But it comes down to what the landowner wants.

Yeah.

So if that's something the landowner would want to do to, to possibly alleviate that happening, aeration works.

But again, if you don't want to spend the money and you deal with that issue maybe once in a blue moon, then you can do that also.

Okay.

All right.

We're getting a ton of questions.

I appreciate everyone for submitting their question.

We're going to try to get to a couple more here pretty quick.

Raymond Allan, are the other jellyfish in Kentucky a good source for other fish?

So are they being eaten by other fish?

No, fish tend to avoid them.

However, crayfish turtles will eat the freshwater jellyfish that we have here.

These jellyfish are harmless.

It's a question we get a lot when people see them and they kind of freak out.

But we do have freshwater jellyfish in the state, and they're actually a lifeform of a certain, it's a hadrosaur and it's part of their lifecycle.

That and the other part, they're actually on the bottom as a little not moving organism that colonize the bottom, you know, on a hard substrate or something like that.

But interestingly enough, they were actually one, they're not indigenous here.

They're actually out of the Yangtze River in China.

And so they're introduced here and.

They were actually found back in 1916 here in Benson Creek.

Oh really?

It was one of the one of the first observations of them.

Wow.

So that's been around for a while, huh?

Yeah.

Oh, man.

I said, these are going to be quick.

Randy, here asked a question.

We could go on from this a little bit.

This is a question everybody wants to know.

Do bass spawn by the moon phase or is it water temperature?

I think it's more of the water temperature.

And I'm not going to say moon phase doesn't play in, but I think, you know, photo period, temperature, stable water are definitely factors, probably water temperature, I think probably plays more than anything into the spawning for bass.

So it's interesting.

So can fish, how long with a , how long will a bass haul eggs?

I think a female, I mean there's there's some instances where we see that they don't or you know, they don't spawn and they'll hold them and they'll actually reabsorb them.

And there's, there's that.

But generally you've got about a month there where those females will move up under the right conditions and have in the males that are built nest to come in and spawn.

All right.

I've seen pictures of people already caught some crappie and they've already got some eggs in them.

So right now fish are producing eggs and holding some eggs, so some species of fish anyhow.

Next question.

Paul Edwards We have an exchange student who doesn█t have Social Security number but would like to experience fishing.

What do they need to do?

I've had the same.

We hosted an exchange student so I can know this one from experience.

You just need to call up here to our, call up here the 1 800 858 1549.

They just they will provide some basic information, name, address and so forth.

And the department will issue that student that, that individual, a fish and wildlife ID number and then they can use that to purchase a license just like you or I would with our social.

Very cool.

You've told me that was a great experience for your family hosting an exchange student.

Yeah, we've had four, four so far.

And they wanted to fish here in Kentucky, while they were here?

Well, a couple of them, not all of them, but a couple.

They all wanted to go shooting.

That's very interesting.

All right.

Next Shawn Johnson, How did you get access to Elkhorn Creek?

It seems like access is really hard to find.

There are several accesses on the Elkhorn and either you can go to our website and look at the that or the new app possibly.

And, you know, because there's some there's still a few of the VPA, the volunteer public access sites where they could go in and fish.

There's also a couple other locations where they can go in like like at the hatchery, Sullivan Lane WMA.

There's again, you got several locations that you can go in and access the creek.

Again, you can float that a lot of a lot of kayaking through there.

So if you got a kayak, you could go from location to location.

Also another thing to plug is our stream.

There's a stream section to our our fishing page and you could go to like Elkhorn Creek and it will give you a lot of information about Elkhorn Creek.

It'll give you those locations that'll give you distances between each of those access points.

Now, is that the blue water trail?

That's not the blue water trails.

It█s actually part of our fishing, they are under the fishing tab.

It talks about stream.

I can't remember exactly what it says.

Another one of the things at the top that has a picture associated with it and.

There's so much information on there.

But it'll, it'll give you, you know, last sampling, it'll give you pictures of those of those access, you know, what they look like.

Okay.

That also would give you a link to the the gauge for Elkhorn.

So and it also gives you your recommendations on what the gauges is if it's, you know high, medium or low, you know when to go when not to go and type stuff and all that information is that available for other streams other than Elkhorn?

Yes.

Okay.

There's there's a lot there's several streams in there.

Then they they just added Floyd's fork on to it.

I believe that█s what they just added.

I tell you what, knowing the flow is really, really important.

Yes.

So if you can go in there and find that information and you know what you're looking for when you get there, you can why you're there.

look right on to the fishing forecast and find out what's forecasted for that body of water.

Man, you█ve got a leg up right there before you leave your house.

Right.

All right.

Next question.

Cory Williams, what are each of us mostly most looking forward to when it comes to fishing over the next few months.

What do you think?

What what are you looking forward to?

Crappie fishing.

Yeah.

Coming up in April.

Yeah.

A couple of your your areas in your district are really, really good for crappie fishing.

Taylorsville is doing very well right now.

We've got some smaller lakes that are doing pretty well to, providing some opportunities like Beaver, Elmer, Kinman is an opportunity to catch him some crappie.

But Taylorsville is doing real well right now.

Okay.

All right.

We live on a, well, here in Frankfort, Duckers Lake.

It's a small community Lake and I█ve got a little bass buggy, so I'm ready to drag that out and get out on that lake.

It's got some good fishing.

There you go.

What are you look forward to?

Crappie fishing.

I bought myself a livescope this time last year, and I got it rigged up as a portable and use it on my little two man boat and oh well I've got a couple of three pretty large ponds and I enjoyed it last year with that last couple.

Just still trying to learn how to use it, read it.

I'm shocked that we didn't get more questions involving technology and livescope, because the livescope, we've been showcasing that a lot.

And man, I tell you what, you either there's there's love or there's hate for the for those livescopes.

But I'll tell you what that's an interesting tool and it's a great tool to locate fish, but.

It amazes me how many fish your bait actually goes by that the fish you look at it following and don't take it.

I mean, it just it it is it's amazing tool I'll tell you and what I have catch myself I don't have a livescope just yet, I love fishing with one, it's an interesting tool, but one of the things that I am I'll catch myself as I get a little bit older is taking fishing back to a more simple form.

So right now I'm looking for forward to doing some pond fishing and some local ponds that I get access to get in there fish.

And if you ask the neighbors, you probably and you clean up after yourself, you can probably get access as well.

But pond fishing for me in this in the late winter, early spring is kind of where it starts.

You cannot beat going out and hitting a farm pond.

And that's what there's some really big bass that for whatever reason throughout the year that might be hard to catch.

They they present themselves and become available.

Now it's a really good time to start getting out there.

You get those one or two warm days in a row, those ponds warm up fast.

So I think that's a really good opportunity.

Well, I hope everyone out there is planning their fishing trip.

I've got a couple of weekends set aside that I can't wait to get out there and take the kids.

Remember that your fishing license here in the state of Kentucky, they expire at the end of February.

So a good place to start is go to the website, download this new app we've been talking about.

Pick up a copy of the fishing guide that's coming out and should be available any time.

Make sure you buy that fishing license and make sure you get outdoors.

Because I tell you what, there's not many more exciting fun things to do.

We've been cooped up in the house all winter is to get out and do some fishing.

So.

Hey, thank you guys for tuning in.

If your question didn't get answered, you can always call us up.

Reach out to one of your fisheries biologist or our 1 800 858 1549.

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.