Hello, and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Tonight's show is one of my favorite.

It's all about fishing.

Even though the weather may not seem like it's time to go fishing.

You know, this is a great time of year to start hitting the water.

Now, this season, we've had a lot of cold weather, and we've also had some rain.

We'll talk a little more about that here in a little while.

But joining me tonight, I have a panel of guests that should look familiar to you.

First off I have Jeff Ross, who's the assistant director of our fisheries division.

How are you doing?

Good.

Right beside him, I have Jeff Crosby, who is the central fisheries biologist.

How are you doing this?

And then we have a new face tonight answering all of our law enforcement questions.

We have Lieutenant Bryan Dolan, and you are out of the fourth district.

Yes, sir.

Nice to have you.

Hey, speaking of weather, man, we have had a lot a lot of rain.

And it does affect fishing.

But more importantly, it also affects people that are trying to live in areas of low grounds where the rivers are coming up right now, the Department of Fish and Wildlife has many law enforcement officers spread across the state, mainly in eastern Kentucky, though dealing with flooding.

Tell me a little bit about that.

Yes.

Are, so as game wardens, you know, we have resources and other agencies at the state level.

So, a lot of times when situations or disasters happen like this, we get called in for assistance, to render aid, provide relief, evacuation efforts, just whatever is needed of us, we do.

So you█ve got quite a few officers, and boats and all those resources right now down in eastern Kentucky.

Actually rendering aid?

Yes sir.

Well, you're a fantastic resource, and we're glad to have you.

Thank you sir.

Now, tonight's show is all about fishing.

So if you have a question, please reach out to us.

We have a few questions that have already came in, and we're going to go ahead and get started very first question is from Wayne Stearman.

He wants to know if they are still stocking walleye in Green River Lake.

I know the answer to this.

Who wants to help us out?

I'll start out, so yes, we are still stocking them.

People have noticed that we've had a couple of years where our production hasn't been as good from the hatchery, and the stocking numbers have been down.

And just like in, you know, natural situations, if you have several poor year classes in a row, the anglers start to see it.

So our our priority is to get those numbers and production back up.

And they should start seeing more fish, you know, when they're out fishing.

But I know people have said they thought the numbers were down a little bit.

Next question Chris Childers.

What lake in Kentucky would you give the best chance at catching a double digit bass?

So he's talking 10 pounds or bigger.

What do you guys say?

What lake would you go hit?

I'd probably recommend like Kentucky Lake.

Okay.

This could be a pretty rare fish anywhere, but Kentucky Lake, I know there's been a guy, several years ago he caught a 10lb plus six years in a row.

Down at Kentucky Lake.

So, that would probably the best option.

Really, they kind of show up just about anywhere, potentially.

And we've got some places where we've had state records.

I would say, like Wood Creek, Greenbow, High Splint.

You know, always potential places.

Again, that's a fish of a lifetime.

Oh, yeah.

No doubt.

I've never I've never caught or actually even seen a ten pounder in the state of Kentucky.

I know they're there.

I've heard of them, but, that is truly a fish of a lifetime.

The only one i█ve ever seen was, actually out of Guist Creek Lake.

Guist Creek.

It was caught in February.

Okay.

It was just over ten pounds.

I was going to say, that you want to target trophy largemouth bass in that class, your pre spawn.

And the bass usually starts spawning in Kentucky about when?

Generally you're looking at, April.

Yeah.

It could be in late March if the weather's good, but generally April█s probably going to be the prime time.

So you need to catch a fish prior to that to, to get into that 10 pound class.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Next question here is from Kathy Mattingly.

Can you log into your online profile to show proof of your fishing license if you're checked?

This is a good question.

So you have to show proof of having a fishing license in the state of Kentucky.

What forms are acceptable now of showing proof?

So, our reg, you know, requires that your license be in person, and kind of a paper copy.

However, you know, with the technologies that we have today, online license and stuff like that, majority of the people that I check is by cell phone.

Where they're showing a screenshot of their license.

I do occasionally run up on people who, you know, have to log into, you know, their profile and pull it up.

And I normally allow enough time for them to do that if we have services.

For me personally, technology fails.

So, a paper copy is the most sufficient way of showing your license.

I always keep a paper copy on me.

Of course.

You you know, I fish in a lot of bad weather situations.

They get wet and I try to keep a paper copy on me at all times.

But you can screenshot your profile.

That way you don't have to actually have the internet to log on.

You still got to have a battery.

Your phone battery can't be dead.

So that's, it's a little bit risky.

And, you know, a lot of people have screenshot it, you know, they'll have, like me, thousands of photos in their phone.

So you█ve got to be a reference it pretty quick.

Because we█re not going to stand there for ten Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I hope that hopefully that answered your question.

It's a little risky.

And most officers, game wardens will accept it.

But you better, better make sure that you can get to it pretty quickly.

next question here is from Jimmy Joslin.

What's your favorite springtime lure?

And why?

I don't know what species of fish we're fishing for here, but, for bass for me probably throwing a jerkbait.

Yeah.

Early season█s fun.

Still, you know, as you get more towards the spawn jigs.

You say sinko█s.

Wacky rigged type stuff.

Right.

What's your favorite bass lure?

I do like jerk baits but spinner baits you know something.

You don't have to be all fancy and you know your technique and all that.

You just get that thing out there and get it in the right spot.

Oh yeah.

You cover a lot of water.

Yeah.

Power fisherman.

Do you fish quite a bit?

I do occasionally, but mostly it's wade fishing creeks.

I like rooster tails, hard to beat.

I do fish the Cumberland River below wWolf Creek Dam for trout, occasionally.

Okay.

So , I do enjoy that.

Yeah for me if we're talking bass fishing, I, man, I tell you, I do like to jerk baits, on ponds and things like that.

That early, early bite.

I want a lot of commotion, as slow as I can move it.

And it seems to me like an old chatter bait is a hard bait to beat in a pond with some stained water.

That's probably my favorite, because you can move it so slow and get their attention, you know?

So I'd say that might be one of my best, but that and a swim bait.

I'm a swim bait junkie.

So next question is from Jack.

It says, what is the best crappie lake in the state of Kentucky?

Now.

Wow.

There's several candidates for this, What do you guys think?

What's your best crappie lake?

I think over time it's probably Kentucky and Barkley.

You know, they tend to switch back and forth based on the year classes like right now, Kentucky's doing really well.

Barkley is a little off just because of some poor, spawns, but I think those two for sure are probably, you know, your best bet.

What do you think?

Yeah.

I mean Barren I think has kind of stepped up a little bit.

It's it's forecast has improved.

Taylorsville still hanging in there.

It's amazing.

I'm not sure how that happens, but it does.

You know, we're still getting excellent catch rates of those ten inch and greater fish, it's always steady.

Which is great.

We've got a few small lakes that are doing pretty well.

Beaver, Boltz, fup in northern Kentucky is a really good option.

The spring.

You got one thing that a lot of people don't think about is some of the embayments on the Ohio River have really good crappie.

I have actually, experienced that several years ago.

We went to a little bitty spot off the Ohio River and went back in, feel like I was literally fishing in a cornfield, almost.

And a lot of crappie back in there.

I'll tell you what, crappie fishing is almost like, if you know what body of water you want to fish, you can you can have luck, but you just kind of kind of know how they set up on that lake.

Like, I'll tell you, people think about crappie fishing.

They're thinking about shallow.

A lot of structure.

You'd be surprised how many good limits a crappie are caught out of Dale Hollow and Lake Cumberland.

Crystal clear water, deep.

But you just how you want to fish for them.

You know, it's, you got to know how the how the fish are setting up on that body water.

But there's a lot of good options for, for crappie fishing in the state of Kentucky, isn█t there?

Definitely.

There is, you're working in the fourth district.

What do you what lakes are you seeing the most limits of crappie?

Dale Hollow is a good lake as well.

I live really close to Lake Cumberland they█re notorious for big crappie.

Kind of hard ot fine, but of course Livescope has changed the game..

Yes.

About any lake you go to, you can find them.

Yeah, yeah.

We got a question from Edwin here.

Does a small boat for a pond with a trolling motor need to be registered?

Yes.

In the state of Kentucky any vessel that has a motor on it has to be registered through the state.

Okay, and if it's your pond, it doesn't matter It still has to be registered?

Correct, that█s any private or public body of water.

Okay.

Is it legal to have your license laminated so it doesn't get wet?

Asking for all kayak anglers out there.

So I don't see anything wrong with it.

It helps preserve our license.

You know, as far as as long as it's still legible where it can be read, validate that it is your license and stuff.

However, you know, I know this is a fishing show, you get into issues with being hunted related, you know, where you have to complete a harvest log.

Then you have issues completing your harvest log.

So fishing license I█m perfectly fine with that, as far as hunting license, I wouldn█t recommend doing that.

Yeah.

It's kind of hard to write on that laminated sheet and, put your confirmation number on there.

Exactly.

Dry erase wont work really well.

For a fishing license, though it might be okay.

Yeah.

So, Garrett here wants to know what is the best time to fish the white bass run at Lake Harrington, and what lures work best?

Well, right now, well right now it█s probably flooding out pretty good.

Generally, probably the latter part of March into And April is a great time as water starts hitting 55 into 60 is the prime time for fishing.

For the white bass and hybrids over there.

The white bass population right now there on the Dix should be great, this past fall█s samples, we saw some really fish.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Really nice fish.

So looks really good for for this year.

As long as we don't have issues from the flooding.

I think the bait wise, anything's going to imitate a shad, your swim baits.

Like you were talking earlier.

You know, small crankbaits I think would do well, a jig with a minnow.

Know anything that's going to cause that flash and vibration would probably be great to catch a few white bass, especially in the spring time.

Hard fighting fish.

There are a lot.

There are a lot of fun.

That's one of the first fish species, you know, in spring that, that white bass run kind of happens early.

You know, I went out and did a show with one of our old biologist, Charlie Logsdon on the on the, Nolin River years ago.

And I was asking him about when you start fishing and he's like, white bass run changes a little bit, he said.

But as a general rule, pretty sure of the date he told me was Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday.

He's kind of early, but if you start going, you know, a couple times a week, you won't miss it.

If you go start going that early.

And that's kind of what he always told me.

He goes, the good thing is, even if you're little early, you can always start picking up the walleye that time of year.

So, that came from a very good fisherman and an old friend.

Charlie logsdon.

I agree with all the lures you were saying.

You know, white bass are interesting because you can catch them, with a multitude of different lures, from little bitty flies to crankbaits to, rooster tails, I mean a little bit of everything.

They're an interesting fish.

How they kind of move in and move out when you start catching them.

You can catch those fish one right after the next, and then all of a sudden they might be like where they go and you can't see them.

They're right at the bank.

A lot of times when they're hitting and you look down the water, you think you can see them, but you can't.

And then 20 or 30 minutes later they move back in and you'll catch 3 or 4 more.

And then you just got to you just got to wait them out, don't you?

Just wait them out, yep.

Next question is about blue catfish wants to know if there are blue catfish in Yatesville Lake.

We just started stocking them 2 or 3 years ago.

So yes, there are they are in there.

I think last year we may have added the, 15 fish limit one over 25in to Yatesville.

And that's the same for all the lakes we stock them in, like Dewey and Carr Creek and Taylorsville and Barren and fish trap.

And there's a couple of others.

Okay, but yeah, they're in there.

I'll tell you what.

You start putting those fish in there and, you know, they're pretty small when they get stocked.

But man, those fish grow fast.

And you're talking about potential for big fish.

How long have we been stocking blue catfish and and what are some of the numbers that we've seen out of lakes have been stocked for a long time?

Taylorsville we█ve probably been stocking since the early 2000█s.

I've seen a picture of a 72 pounder.

We've seen, sampled, you know, 50 pounders.

So there's a potential that, you know, for trophy size.

Oh, yeah.

Fish in these lakes.

Yeah.

So that's you talk about a real fight.

You, you hook into a 50 pound blue and, and, you're going to be in for a ride, that's for sure.

You█ve definitely hooked something.

Next question, is what would be the best water body to target 18 plus inch smallmouth near Louisville.

You get that in Floyds Fork?

We█ve seen 18 inch fish in Floyds Fork.

That█s got some potential.

Green River Lake, I think would be a good potential, I believe the Green River itself would be a very good potential, I think they see them up over 20, inches.

There's some in Otter Creek.

I don't know if the 18 plus, but, yeah, you might happen into one.

There█s a chance in the river, the Ohio River itself to find, just not the numbers.

You have a better chance probably in Green or Green River Lake.

How big have you seen the smallmouth get in Bershear Creek?

Because I've seen quite a few smallmouth that come out of Bershear Creek.

Yeah.

I still think you would be in that 18 inch size range.

Maximum.

Not to say, that there█s not another one, you know, 18, 19, maybe even a little bit bigger show up.

Yeah.

Generally a lot of the stream that you see up to 18in fairly common.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So there's quite a few options.

But you start talking about those the bigger fish, you green River, green River, green River Lake might be your, your best option is close to Louisville.

Yeah.

If they if you call Elkhorn Creek close enough here in Frankfort.

That's a good one.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, that's too bad.

What, 45 minutes, depending on where you live.

Yeah, depending on where you are in Louisville, yeah.

And we've caught fish in in the Elkhorn Creek.

I mean, you catch a lot of smallmouths, but we've seen some fish in that, in that, in that range.

Yeah.

Next.

Question is, is the 15 inch size limit only for large mouth and small mouth are 12 inch spotted bass keepers specifically asking about Yatesville Lake?

Yatesville has a 15 inch size limit.

I think it's for large mouth and small mouth or and then spotted bass.

Don't have a size limit.

So?

So yeah, they're thinking that, the 12 inch on spotted bass, but there's no there's no size limit on spotted bass.

So make sure you can tell the difference between a large mouth and a spotted bass.

But there are not there's no size limits on.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure the 15 is large mouth and small mouth, but they can error check me by looking in our fishing guide.

Yeah, yeah.

So no no limit on the spotted bass.

Do we have any bodies of water in the state of Kentucky that have special rates for spotted bass?

No, no.

So it's, it's no no size limit.

Now, still have the creel number of six.

Right.

But you can keep spotted bass anywhere in some of the reservoirs we have that tend to be a lot of spotted bass.

It's probably good every now and then to keep a couple.

I think that, yeah, that like cave runs got a ton on the lower end.

And you know they already has a crowding issue with bass.

So, you know, keeping spotted bass would help as well.

Oh yeah I know Nolin has got a large number of spotted bass and sometimes you certain times of the year seems like you're catching way more spotted bass than largemouth.

So probably wouldn't be bad every now and then to, take a couple.

Next question is from Dale.

What central Kentucky lakes are best for big bluegill?

I knew you had to get the big bluegill question in here.

Soon.

A man after my own heart.

Yeah.

But no, right now our four main panfish lakes, that's bluegill and red ear, is going to be Elmer Davis Lake, right now.

It's really good.

Correnth, McNealy in Lousivlle.

And then also beaver there in Anderson County near Lawrencburg, those are the four main ones that I would recommend people go to.

However, I would start adding Boltz to that.

Okay.

Because the bluegill are starting, we█ve been seeing really quality bluegille, and we've been stocking red ear there for several years.

And we're starting to see them show up in there, some fair sized ones too.

Okay.

I think you got about five lakes there that would definitely be worth your time on.

And that central Kentucky area, that's obviously your district.

So that's what they're asking you about.

So the other one I guess maybe Reba.

Reba█s kind of come up.

If you█re over, if it's close to Madison County.

Okay.

Lake Reba is doing very well these days also.

Okay.

There you go.

There's some great options and you name some lakes that have got some interesting, not only, boat fishing opportunities, but that some of these lakes have pretty decent bank access as well.

So, yeah, a lot of them do, some of them have fishing piers.

Some opportunities to fish off the bank and, so, you know, it's they're, they're really nice little lakes.

Yeah.

They█ve got some quality fisheries, especially on the panfish end.

There you go.

So there's some great recommendations there.

Next question.

This is a teenager.

Now.

He wants to know when he needs to start buying his license.

And can he fish on his own without a licensed angler if he█s license exempt.

So I guess he wants to know.

Hey, can I go fishing by myself without a licensed Angler with me?

If their exempt.

Does it state his age?

Because i█m kind of hesitant.

It just says teenager.

So let's assume 13.

Yeah.

So, so as far as the first part of the question, you know, as soon as he turns 16 he█s got to start buying a fishing license with the state of Kentucky..

So and of course, as far as fishing on his own, we don█t hav any regulations that said he can't fish on his own.

Being around water and stuff, you always need to be cautious.

So I think it's always a good rule of thumb and, and a pattern to get into to have somebody with, you never know what's going to happen, what could happen.

Also, if you can█t swim have a lifejacket with you too.

Like I said, water can be dangerous..

So I recommend, having an adult or somebody, a guardian present.

Or somebody else where if something does happen, they can help.

But the law does not require that.

Okay.

And then I'll tell you what things happen fast, don't they?

Especially if you're in moving water and that type of situation or, I mean, just walking around a pond, I can█t tell you how many times I've been wearing rubber boots and the the bank side just starts giving away or you start to sink in, you're like, man, you can get stuck pretty fast.

So it's always good to have have a fishing buddy with you in, in, in a boat, a wave hit.

A lot of things can happen.

You're standing up on a deck of a bass boat.

Have you ever fallen in on accident on the deck of a bass boat?

Several times I bought I borrowed a buddy's bass boat one year out in this in southern Illinois when I was going to school, and two of the bolts on one side were loose, and I set on it, the hook on it, and the whole seat fell back and I hit, went in with my rod.

Some other lady was in a boat and she couldn't stop laughing and finally said, oh, are you okay?

You know, I've done that.

And I also reached over to grab a crankbait out of a bush that I had hooked it in.

I stepped on the trolling motor and sent it that way and I just went straight in.

I have done that.

So have you ever been in on accident?

I have been in on accident.

Have you ever been in an accident?

Yeah I was checking people one time and on the way back out, slipped off a rock and went in.

I've been in a couple times.

And you know, if you mess around water long enough, I don't care.

Especially if you're in a kayak or a canoe in a bass boat on a pontoon.

And if you're bank walking, if you're pond, if you're just stream fishing, you will end up at some point in time.

It's part of the game, so just be ready for it because you will end up in the water at some point in time.

Next question we have is there still a white bass run at green River Lake?

I've never, I've never targeted them at green River Lake is there a white bass run there?

There will be because there's white bass in there.

The population had dropped down pretty low, naturally, and I'm not sure what had happened, but this was a while back and we've been stocking it, and it's come back up, but there are white bass in there, so there's pretty much got to be a run.

I don't know where you know, the best headwaters for it or the best tributaries for it, but you know that that that four lakes that are there and the, you know, you got Barren and and green and Nolin and rough River that are all kind of in the same watershed water system.

Right?

They all have the little characteristics are a little different.

I mean, if you got some small mouth and Barren, you've got some small mouth at green, nice small mouth at green.

Nolin River█s got them.

The lake.

I've never seen one caught there.

You got muskie at green.

You've got white bass at Nolin.

Yeah.

Those four lakes, even though the water is kind of shared water, they're different when it goes to fishing.

And all four of them, all four of them offer a unique opportunity.

Yep, yep.

Next question here is, from Brent wants to know if he needs a hunting license to Spearfish.

So spearfishing he can get by with just a fishing license.

Okay.

That is what is required for spearfishing.

Okay.

I've not done a lot of spearfishing, but we went out, with a biologist and there's several people that tell me that certain times of the year that spearfishing for, like, white suckers or for even gar, that, that it's a pretty good way to get fish.

And they, they eat those fish that way.

So have you ever tried that?

I█ve never.

Never.

It's another one of those times where get ready because you will get wet because you're in the water.

Well I have my diving certification, would probably be fun to do.

It is it is really fun.

You do it at night and you kind of move up and get those waters where they're coming up and doing their spawning runs and you, and you spare them and, it it is an interesting way to go about harvesting fish.

I'll tell you next question.

What impact have the invasive carp had on the Ohio River, specifically, on the lower dam.

So the fishing below the some of the dams, what impacts are you guys seeing?

We, you know, we hear about them.

You know, when they really crowd up against those dams, they kind of displace some of the sport fish and such.

So they do have an impact for sure.

But we've been ramping up the game against them, you know, working with commercial fishing fishermen and trying to get them out.

In fact, last year or this last year, I think they got pretty, roughly 16 million pounds out.

And that's been like 73 million since 2000.

I can remember when it was.

But we we've taken a lot out.

Yeah, they reproduce fast.

But, you keep taking numbers like that and we're more of the efforts been in the two big lakes cause, you know, just that really draws tourism and it's a big fishery.

It's hard to, you know, really get them.

You can get them, but they're always moving in the, in the rivers.

So.

Why do you want to get them out so bad?

This gentleman is asking about impact.

What impact does that have on sport?

I mean, there could be, they eat plankton, which is the same food source that young sport fish and shad and such.

So it can have a huge impact on the food chain.

The food web.

So keeping their numbers down helps that way.

The silver carp jump, which becomes a danger.

Oh yeah.

I mean, you see a lot of videos on that.

And then just, you know, their densities even below the tail water, in the tail waters like Kentucky and and Barkley, they push up and just displace, you know, there's just so many of them.

So.

And it's a it's an invasive species are never good.

They outcompete, you know, invasive species always outcompete.

You know, that's the way they're built.

But it's a it's a battle for that plankton.

It seems like the fish like to sometimes group kind of by size, and I don't it seems to me like you get a huge school of these, of these big silver that, the bass and crappie, they may still be some around there, but they kind of.

Yeah, they kind of separate sometimes.

Yeah.

And the commercial fishermen are saying it's getting a little bit harder to catch them now in the lakes, which is a good sign.

It's starting to knock them down.

And, you know, the fishing's good.

I mean, people shouldn't be avoiding either.

Kentucky or Berkeley for fishing because it's it's good that, you know, there was rumors that it wasn't good because of them, but it's good.

Next question is from RL.

What area in Western Kentucky is best for bow fishing?

I guess they're looking for bow fishing for invasive invasive fish as well in western western Kentucky.

Yeah.

Well yeah definitely in the tail waters are good.

And you can you can do them in the lakes too but the tail waters.

You know, that's a good one.

Either Barkley or Kentucky, tailwaters.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

We've been down there on both of those.

And there's no there's no shortage of, Asian carp right up there against those dams.

That's a great that's a great place to go.

Next question.

Bill, besides the Ohio, where is a good place to catch sauger?

Sauger are in the Cumberland River, a few.

Yeah, they still have any in the salt?

We do see some in the salt, Kentucky River.

Yeah.

Probably be a really good place to go.

We actually stock, sauger in the Kentucky River in the pools.

We're up on the up in those, forks.

We stock the the native walleye.

But down in the, we█ll say the Kentucky River proper where all the locks and dams are, we're doing sauger stockings annually, so there's always a potential, there.

You kind of name the ones that, that I would have suggested.

I'll tell you, as soon as this water goes down.

It's time.

It's time to go out there and catch those sauger.

I mean, it's right now is a good time to start catching those fish, but the water is rushing way too hard on the Ohio and the, and the, Kentucky River right now.

We were getting some great reports, on the river on the Ohio as well as the Kentucky as it's really good pictures of people with some of their catches.

It was they were having some quite a bit of success before all the rain.

Yeah.

We've got a lot of reports.

You know, the sauger fishing on the Ohio had been down a lot of small fish, but nobody catching them over 14.

And it seems like in the last year people are starting to catch them.

We're hearing a bunch about it.

So I think they've they've had some good spawns and there should be some good fishing.

And I'll tell you what the Ohio River offers.

We have a lot of area of the Ohio River.

And Sauger can be caught below those, those locks, dams on most of it, all the way from up and up north of Cincinnati, all the way down to the you know, where the Cumberland River runs in.

There's opportunities all up along through there.

As a matter of fact, we were supposed to be doing a sauger show.

We had a gentleman that was catching a bunch of them up in Northern Kentucky.

And, the only thing is, is when the river conditions change, the fish move.

So you got to if you're on them, you better you better stick with them, because when the river changes, they move.

And, our river conditions have been changing every other day this spring.

Every other hour at the moment.

Yeah, exactly.

Next question.

What is going on with the muskie stockings?

Look like we lost three of the last five years, so we had some.

We've had some issues with Muskie.

A lot of it.

It started with Covid, where we had social distancing and couldn't produce them.

And then unfortunately, we had blue green algae issues one year.

And then last year, we when they come off, we put them in ponds and they have minnows that they can feed on.

And the minnows are raised in our ponds with, you know, broodstock minnows.

Well, the minnows spawned earlier than they ever have and got bigger than the walleye could eat.

I mean, the muskie could eat like that.

So it it's it's like farming.

Everything's got to match up and then, you know, temperature dependent and everything else.

We are making some changes in the production, to try to ensure that we get some more numbers.

And, you know, we addressed it and had meetings about it and whatever.

So we feel pretty confident that we get those numbers back up and, you know, get it going again.

But we we have had some off years for sure.

Well, I've got I've been asked that question a few times and we have some pretty avid muskie anglers that are part of this stocking crew.

They want to see these muskie in there as much as anyone.

It's not like it's not like a situation where they're like, well, I just don't want to get out there.

And it's, they want to see those monster numbers, those guys out there and everything, you know, that are depending on it and such.

And, you know, we're doing our best.

We're not, you know.

Yeah.

We're not trying to to lose them.

It's, you know, unfortunately there's a lot of things that come into play environmentally and forage and everything else.

But we we got a little bit of a new plan to try to try to get that going.

When will those stocking start taking place?

And then I guess for a muskie, you're looking at a fish that's probably before it reaches the size you're going to be targeting to fish for three, four years, I'm guessing.

We put them in a for the reservoirs.

We put them in at 13in for the streams that we start.

We put them in at nine inches.

So yeah, it's going to be several years before I mean you can catch them.

Yeah.

You know especially catch a keeper is going to be several years for how long for them like to get to like 36in or three, three years, four years.

It's a pretty fast growing fish then.

I think they're 20 something.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

There you go.

There's the opportunity.

So hopefully the muskie stockings resume and, all the muskie fishermen can get out there and start catching muskie.

Are trout being stuck in fins lakes?

And how would you go about catching those?

If you live close to a FINs lake there is a truck, a trout stocking schedule that goes on there, and it'll tell you when they're going to be there.

It's on our web page.

We we stock in February and March and then November to October, November.

So the a lot of the February stockings have happened, although some got delayed because of all this rain and everything.

So there's still some to happen to come about.

And then we have stockings in March as well.

So there's another stocking coming for most lakes, some lakes only get one month or depending on the pressure on the lake.

But yeah, that's a, that's a good fish to take the family out.

You know, not too hard to catch them one right after we stock them.

That's what one of the things they're asking is how would you catch them?

Tell me some of your techniques for catching trout.

My kids, when I took them, they we throw a little white spinner.

Oh, yeah.

Kids will have a ball.

Yeah.

Of course we catch bluegill and other things doing that.

You know, that was just a simple way, especially for a kid, throw it out, reel it in.

It's great opportunity to to kind of work on your cast and retrieve if you're throwing something like that, because you got to kind of keep it going fast enough that it doesn't get down low enough that it gets you snagged.

But, you we start off the show, they ask about your favorite bait.

You said, rooster tail.

So we're talking kind of the same.

Same thing with a spinner and a rooster tail.

Pretty similar with a spoon or something, anything reflective.

You know, they pick off up colors.

Yeah.

Of course I started out, just a can of corn, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

There's a million different ways to catch trout.

I mean, there's some stuff that you can go by and cans that are trout baiting put on a hook.

You can throw any type of minnow imitating small baits.

And then, like you said, a can of corn.

Yeah, as simple as that.

It works.

And for those just starting up, when they when the water gets warm, like probably somewhere in May, I would guess late May, maybe early June.

The trout are gone.

They don't survive the warm temperatures.

So you don't want to be trying to catch trout in August in a FINs lake, you're not going to get any.

Get out there close to close and within a month of that stocking day.

Yeah that's the best thing.

Those those fish at a certain point in time that that is what we call a put and take resource.

And I put in tank resource means it's put in and it's not going to be left in there to reproduce and be there.

The next year.

They're going to be put in for people to catch and enjoy, and then, you know, they won't live throughout the year based on the water.

If you're going to take them home, you need a trout stamp.

Yeah, okay.

If you don't if you let them go, you don't necessarily need a trout stamp unless you're on the Cumberland River and Hatchery Creek.

But if you're going to take trout home, for sure you need a trout stamp.

Yeah.

Those fins lakes, those trout make great cool water season fish to catch.

And then that█s the reason we switch over to catfish during the summer.

Yeah.

To provide that opportunity during the summer months.

Yeah.

And now catfish are not a put and take resources.

They're going to live throughout the year right.

They can live throughout the year.

But it's semi, It█s more of a put and take.

Becuase we are stocking high rates to provide those fish for people to catch.

Yeah.

And there will be people to catch harvest and that█s fine.

Again that█s kind of the idea behind the Fins Lakes.

That's a violation that we run across more than anything on the Cumberland River, below wolf creek dam all the way to the Tennessee line.

It█s required that you have to have a trout permit.

And we run in to that violation more than anything where people just don█t read up on the special regulation and realize that they have to have that trout permit.

Yeah.

Whether you keep them or not down there, you got to have you got to have it.

You got to have it.

And it's a great time to tell everyone that, the new fishing guides are actually going to be available online starting on March the 1st.

So if you have a spot you want to go fish, it's always a good idea to make sure there's not any special rules, and regulations.

Our license year for fishing license.

Tell me about when that expires and starts to back up.

Always expires the end of February, every year.

Gotta have a new one the first of March.

So it's a great time right now if you haven't gotten your fishing license and you're waiting for this water to go down first, nice day.

Go ahead and get that fishing license.

And then the new rules and regs will be online starting March the 1st.

So that's right around the corner.

You'll be able to go online and pull out all the rules and regs.

Next question is from Eric.

What relationship do mussel beds have to fishing?

I've always heard that they're good places to fish.

So a lot of your bass guys knows when they start pulling up baits.

And it's got little mussels hooked on there.

They might be in the right spot.

What?

What is the reason for that?

I think it provides a hard substrate.

That's where there's Plus you probably got a lot of fish coming in there, that, you know, on that hard mussel bed, you█ve got the right habitat.

The right habitat for those mussels to be in there is just going to probably harbor a lot of other stuff.

Insects, that█s drawing in a lot of the other fish, whether it be bait fish that bring in the bigger fish.

But generally it's just kind of the right habitat where those mussel beds are.

Okay.

Habitat is so key isn█t it?

It is key.

next question here is, any tips on fishing with the bait casters.

This is individual I guess it wants to start fishing where the bait caster I love to hear that an individual is wanting to move to a bait caster because it seems like with now with forward facing sonar, everybody's moving to spinning reels.

You know, it used to be that you see, a bass fisherman would have one spinning rod and 4 or 5 bait casters on the deck of their boat.

And over the last ten years, with forward facing sonar that's flipped.

Now it's all spinning rods, so it really has changed.

Any tips on throwing a bait caster?

Practice.

Practice.

It just takes time I think, you know, just staying with it.

If you haven█t thrown it, you're going to get a backlash.

Yeah.

If you have thrown it, you're going to get a backlash.

So it's yeah, it's just one of those things that you just it takes time and a little bit of patience.

Just working with it.

I would say for anyone wanting to pick up a bait caster for the first time, matching the weight of the lure you█re throwing to the rod, if you take a really, really stiff rod and you're trying to throw a really light lure, you're going to have a lot of problems or if you are trying to throw a light bait and you're running 20 pound test on there, you're going to have a lot of problems.

So fill it up with monofilament, don't spend a lot of money, go on the lighter end of the weight of the line, and make sure that the weight matches the rod.

That will set you up for at least good practice.

You're still going to have to spend some time with some practice on it.

And, that will at least gets you started if you have to rip the line off, that monofilament is not that expensive.

So go that route to get some practice.

And before you know it, you'll be flipping and pitching and everything else.

You'll be ready to go.

Any tips?

Are you got any tips for.

I█m still learning.

You█re taking the tips in?

Exactly.

There you go.

And you know, there's nothing on the spinning rod either.

If you're going to own one rod and reel, you can do a whole lot with a spinning rod reel, but, bait caster are for me, a lot more accurate.

When you're making real, accurate casts with a bait caster, you can be a lot more accurate.

And, you know, you can get a little more power out of a bait caster with, power fishing.

So if you want to bass fish effectively and use a bunch of different techniques, it's good to have both, that's for sure.

Next question.

What is your favorite lure for white bass?

I love that I know people are thinking about winter time and springtime fish fishing.

When you get a lot of white bass questions.

So people, it's on their mind.

So favorite lure for white bass?

I█ll go back to the jerkbait, again some type of minnow, that flash.

Really enjoy that.

Yeah I've, I've done well throwing a Mepps spinner or a rooster tail for them.

I█ve done well up in Taylorsville up in the salt River when they make those runs.

Between that, a jerkbait, rapala.

Something like a husky jerk or X rap or something like that.

IThey can be very effective.

I'll tell you what.

It's the size.

It seems like each day you go.

It could be.

It could be different.

Sometimes I want the really, really little stuff.

Like little hair jigs, little curly tails, little swim baits.

Sometimes you can get away with on bigger things like you're talking about.

Husky jerk.

That's a pretty good sized lure.

So, you know, it all depends on what they want, my white bass box that I always take, and it's something that I can carry and throw on a dirty bank because it seems like I'm walking in mud from place to place to place, trying to find them has everything from crankbaits to, hair jigs to, little flies.

One of the best days I've had, white bass fishing.

Last year, we were with one of our old commission members who brought a fly rod, and he just wore them out one right for the next, throwing weighted line in fast moving water.

It seemed like that slow presentation of that weighted line, pulling that hair jig down there, he just absolutely wore them out.

So really, how do you like to fish?

How do you like to fish for them, and put in your fishing or your lure in front of where the fish are at.

So, there's a whole lot of different techniques.

I like little swim baits and curly tails, just because I like to make a long cast across the, down the shore lines or across to try to locate them.

And that's I don't get hung up as much because it's a single hook, and that's what I like to do.

But every you ask a ten different white bass fisherman, they'll have ten different favorite lures.

It comes down to, fishing is kind of about confidence.

Yeah.

Once you have confidence in them, that's some of the better baits is what you have confidence in.

Hey one of the things a great resource out there is the, the Fish Boat Kentucky app, it's a great resource.

It's free.

I will tell you, I find myself using that app more and more and more.

The rules and regulations are on there.

The, the, areas that are being put in for habitat, look at your rules and regulations.

You can look at reports that come out by biologists talking about what█s good in those bodies of water.

You can go online, download it.

It's available for both Apple and Android systems.

Download that.

And, it's a great, great resource.

And also, I honestly think it's got a place to keep your license in there.

It does, you can upload your license to it, easy reference.

That way if you get checked you can just pull it up.

it's a great resource for locating bodies of water, planning a trip and then finding fish on that body of water.

It kind of does all that.

So there you go.

what's your thoughts on forward facing sonar?

Thumb up, thumb down?

Do you think it affects the fisheries that much?

And and, do you personally utilize it?

I do not utilize it.

I do not have one, affecting the fishery.

I think the jury's still out on that.

I mean, there's a lot of states.

We're looking into it to some degree.

You know, you got other states looking at it.

What of what we've looked at in our district, you know, we really haven't seen a, any difference between people using forward facing and not.

This year, we're actually doing a krill survey at Taylorsville.

So this will be an interesting one, because I think it does get utilized quite a bit at Taylorsville.

So we'll get to interview some people that use it and look at what they█re catching versus what people that aren't using it are catching.

So I think this will be pretty good year to look at one of our lakes.

We looked at Guist Creek last year.

People just didn't use it much there.

They used it some.

I just don█t, right now.

I don't think it's causing a major issue.

I don█t think enough people have it.

Down the road.

Maybe.

We█ll see.

The jury is still out.

Has any state, banned forward facing sonar to this point?

Not to my knowledge.

I mean, they've been talking about, you know, just what?

Essentially, when the states get together, they're asking each other.

So what are you guys?

How are you handling this?

And, yeah, a lot of them, you know, they just need more info before you just jump in and say.

It has totally changed fishing.

It is totally change fishing.

We talked about big casters and stuff, and now a lot of people are targeting individual fish, and fish are hanging out in areas that we just as anglers, we just didn't know that fish were catchable in certain bodies of water.

It opens up a lot more of the lake for people that are using this.

But you man, you really need to be cautious with handling fish, especially like you're catching fish this time of year.

If you're if you're bass angling in tournaments this time of year, there's no thermocline in a lot of these lakes this time of year, right.

You could be catching fish in 40, 50ft of water and you hook a fish and try to get it in the boat really, really fast in 50ft of water, man, you change that way.

That fish may not be able to dive down back in the water.

You may have killed that fish effectively if you don't know how to handle it right.

So just be careful with forward facing sonar.

I tend to, I do use a forward facing sonar from time to time.

We're very cautious on crappie fishing when you're out targeting breeding sized fish, with forward facing sonar.

We turn all those fish loose.

We're going to keep those ones right above the the the length limit.

Let the other ones breed and just be careful.

It is a very effective tool.

And the cat's out of the bag on forward facing sonar.

That's why it's interesting to hear how the departments are looking at that and no state to your knowledge has banned it, right?

Not that I know of yet.

I don█t think so.

And that's a question that if you get Creeled this coming year, that's going to be a new question that you'll be asked.

Okay.

Are you using forward facing sonar?

Yeah.

Because we're able to track whether what they're catching with it without it.

The differences between the two.

Yeah.

The nice thing about forward facing sonar for us is that, people are no longer saying there's no fish in the lakes.

So now they're seeing that there's a lot of fish in the lakes.

Yeah.

Whether they can catch them or not.

Becasue there█s time, you know, even though you can see them on the forward facing they still might not bite.

So let me ask you a question on the managing side.

Forward facing sonar is becoming it's getting better and better and better.

I mean, it's amazing what you truly can see now.

It's hard to tell what species they are and exactly how long and how big they are.

Do you think there'll be a day that forward facing sonar can replace electro shocking fish?

Well, we wouldn't unless you're going to be able to estimate weight and stuff.

And we do need to collect fish to get aging growth.

Like, know you know, what age the fish are and such.

So and it's really, you know, you're going to have to estimate them by density.

I know I don't think so.

Probably not.

We've had something similar over the years, hydro acoustics.

And that's where we've been able to go in and do something similar, a kind of a broad sense.

And, you know, that really never replaced, you know, our way we sample fish with electro fishing and all that, even though it's been around for many years.

Okay.

So it is an interesting technique and I guess the conversation is going to continue for years.

And some bass tournaments are talking about banning forward facing sonar.

And it has changed the tackle game.

It's changed the rod and reels.

You know, some of these industries are having trouble selling hard lures because you don't use those a lot with forward facing sonar applications.

So you know what what I will tell people that, that do not use forward facing sonar is go back to some of those lures that people used to use 10, 20, 15, you know, 50 years ago, that worked really well then and now nobody uses anymore.

Bring those bring some of those back around.

Sometimes every single summer I'll grab a lure out of my box.

Like, man, I haven't used this.

And I remember that summer, you know, in the early 90s where I just tore them up on this bait, and I haven't used it for years.

And you pull it up, and they still work.

And fish haven't seen them in a long time.

And, or these fish have never seen them because they weren't alive 30 years ago.

You know what?

Try things that people aren't using.

Now everybody's head down, casting on a spinning reel.

Try something different.

Fish them a little different technique because those old techniques still work.

You got a favorite lure from the 90s that you probably haven't picked up in the last 20 years?

Probably like a, I don't know, I used to fish a hula popper or a devil's horse back then.

Yeah.

And they, you know, they still work.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Probably the same type stuff.

Yeah.

But that is you're right.

I think you go back to, you know, some of the Crow crank baits.

Yeah.

Some of those old style.

Yeah.

Would be, probably good to use.

I'll never forget the year that soft plastic jerk baits like the Sluggo hit the market in like the early 90s.

And I thought the fish don't have a chance.

This ain't even fair.

And now I know they're new kind of versions of that, but those old school hooks and soft plastic kind of jerk baits that are out there, they still work like gangbusters.

So there's a lot of opportunities out there just from dig through, dig through an old tackle box and pick out something and give it a try.

Next question here is will the flood waters affect fishing populations at all?

Flooding causes some negative and some positive, on fisheries, you know, it does add nutrients to, to the lakes and also can increase some of the complex habitat.

So it can be beneficial in that, in that aspect.

But it can displace fish so that█s negative and also can even cause changes to the species distributions, you know, in the lakes.

So, this kind of depends on the severity.

And maybe, you know, if it's a stream fishery, river fishery versus, lake fishery, probably not as much to the lakes.

The problem we have with lakes during flooding is the timing, you know, if we have it happening during May.

Oh, yeah.

During the spawn April, may during the spawns.

And, the corp has to pull the water fast, that leaves some of those nest high and dry.

That can cause some issues.

Yeah.

You don't want big fluctuations of water in these Army corps of engineer lakes, right?

When they build a spawn.

Because if it's now 20ft deep there█s not going to be enough sunlight to be productive.

And if it's dry, of course, that's not going to be productive.

So that can have a major effect on spawns.

At times of the year stability of the lake is very important, especially in that April, May.

This time of year, probably not as much, maybe for the sauger, you know, in some of the rivers with the flooding and that may kind of change what they're doing.

So it just kind of depends on the timing and the severity of that flooding.

It was weird things.

You go fishing spot and you got your perfect, spots that set up well and, you know, on creeks and streams around your house.

And then all of a sudden this you go back and look at it, what it looks like now, it's just a massive amount of water going down there.

You're like, well, every fish I was fishing for has to be in the Mississippi by now.

So but that doesn't necessarily happen.

It it's some fish will get displaced, but fish will fish will come back and they'll be in there.

It's amazing how they can sit there and fight that for day after day after day.

And those fish still be in that water.

It was amazing.

After the 97 flood, big flood on the Kentucky River, the amount of materials that got pushed out, a lot of creeks, drains.

But now you started having these shows, these rock bars, all that material that got pushed out.

Which created some fish habitat.

Oh yeah.

Which created these, really good fishing spots.

Speaking of flooding, you know, this flooding is making fishing a little bit difficult right now, but it will subside pretty soon.

And when it does, the best time, my favorite time to fish here in the state of Kentucky.

It really is March April.

So it's right around the corner.

So make sure you take advantage of this time of year.

Go through that tackle box, realign those rod drills, get on line, get your fishing license, start planning your trips because these are the best times when you can't get out there on the water just yet.

It's your best times to kind of make sure you're more productive when you can get out on the water.

And remember, when you start getting out there on that water, that moving water and cold water can be very dangerous.

Make sure you wear that lifejacket and be very cautious around moving water.

Don't be sending our officers out there to to help you out.

So This may be Jeff's last show.

He's getting ready to retire.

Are you serious?

Maybe we'll see.

We'll I█ll tell you what, you█ve been a phenomenal resource both on the show and just here in the department.

And, I got your cell phone number, so even if you retire, I'll be getting ahold of you.

Call me.

You're a wealth of knowledge.

So hopefully we have you for plenty more shows.

But, you've had a great career here with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and you've always.

Every time I call you about a question you've always given me all the time I needed, and you've always been very interested.

And, I've always learn things from you.

So I really appreciate that.

Thank you.

So.

Well, hey, this about wraps it up.

Wraps it up for this week's Show of Kentucky Afield.

Hopefully you've learned a few things.

I've learned a few things today about, about fishing here in the state of Kentucky.

And I can't wait to get out there and put some of it to use.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next time, I'm your host, Chad Miles, and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.