Boating fatalities to date lowest in 5 years
August 31, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Five people have lost their lives so far this year on Kentucky’s waters, making boating fatalities for 2008 the lowest at this point of the season in the last five years.
“These lower statistics are what we love to see,” said Sgt. John Anderson, boating education coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “This trending toward a historically low accident and injury fatality rate is the kind of information that makes law enforcement professionals happy.”
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For Kentucky smallmouth in the heat, turn your back to the banks
August 29, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
“We’re going to live or die on one hole,” Lynn Lane had told a tournament partner. By noon, the latter was looking more likely, with neither a bass in the livewell nor a missed hit to lend hope. Lane stuck with his guns, however, and at 12:30, after six hours of fishing, he got his first bump. By 2:30, when he and his partner had to head for the weigh-in, they had an 18-pound limit in the boat.
The difference?
Current.
Tennessee Valley Authority began running enough water to create current over the bar that Lane was fishing, and the fish turned on as if someone had hit a switch. Such is the nature of summer smallmouth fishing on Kentucky and Barkley lakes, where Lane guides and competes in tournaments and has fished all his life.
Lane, who typically fishes for largemouths and smallmouths together more so than he targest one species, does most of his summer fishing with his back to banks. “Out on the deep structure near the main river channel is where you’ll find the most fish — and usually the best fish — on these lakes,” he said.
Pursuing Musky on Eastern Kentucky’s Buckhorn Lake
August 25, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Gentle release: Guide Gene Smith releases a 37-inch musky caught on a Cobbs jerk bait very close to wood cover.
By Chris Poore
Guide Gene Smith was only a few hundred yards from the marina, racing his boat down the center of Buckhorn Lake, when he abruptly took a 90-degree turn into a small cove. He turned with such suddenness and at such speed that I assumed he had seen someone in trouble back in the cove. “He’s going back there to help them,” I thought.
Turns out he was looking for somebody.
Over the past few weeks, Smith had been throwing his oversized jerkbait at one particular tree submerged in the water. Several times, a three-foot-long fish rose from the depths to take a look at it.
But each time, the fish sank back down.
Smith had remembered that fish, and he wanted another crack at it.
A Connecticut Yankee on a Kentucky Trout Stream
August 23, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Stephen Wrinn hooks into a trout during his first trip on the Cumberland River tailwater.
First published in the Kentucky Fishing Journal August 2002. This essay has also been published in Of Woods and Waters
By Stephen Wrinn
Among the many myths that outsiders have come to believe about Kentucky is that it has no outstanding trout fishing. Despite 13,000 miles of rivers and streams, and more navigable waterways than any other state except Alaska, it is still widely believed that only bass, catfish, panfish, and the occasional musky lurk in the Commonwealth’s depths. Until very recently, I too shared this fiction.
This is the story of my enlightenment, and of the knowledge I gained after one trip to the Cumberland River. I now believe that Kentucky is home to a river that ranks as one of the best trout fisheries on the continent, period. Not just in the South, or in the midwest, or west of the Appalachians, or east of the Mississippi. Period. Below the Wolf Creek Dam, the Cumberland is a river that, in both natural beauty and trout population, rivals any I’ve encountered. And I’ve encountered more than my fair share.
Kentucky Afield, Tim Farmer, get 2 Emmys
August 23, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
The Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored the “Kentucky Afield” television show with two regional Emmy awards during a presentation at the Cincinnati Westin Hotel Aug. 9.
Stories focusing on the work of Kentucky conservation officers and Tim Farmer for the varied hats he wears as host and moderator of the program add two more Emmys to the program’s mantel.
Finding lazy summer bass in Kentucky
August 22, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Along with warm temperatures and long days, summer brings topwater action to bass anglers. Now is one of the best times of the year to catch fish on surface presentations.
“When fish are more active because of warmer temperatures this time of year, they are more likely to feed on the surface,” said Dave Dreves, a fisheries research biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “A lot of people think when it’s hot, the fish don’t feed as much. Well, their metabolisms are higher, so they have to eat.”
Ohio River Cats
August 22, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Armed with stout conventional tackle and baited up with one-pound gizzard shad, Bruce Midkiff obviously had big cats in mind. An Ohio River cat fanatic who has since passed away, Midkiff found exactly what he was looking for that day in 1999. Fishing alone, he managed to land a 104-pound blue catfish, which stands as the state-record blue for Kentucky and Indiana.
Midkiff lived in Owensboro, so he did the bulk of his catfishing in the nearby Cannelton and Newberg lock-and-dam tailwaters and the Cannelton pool of the river. That said, great catfishing spots are spread along the entire Kentucky portion of the Ohio River, which extends more than 700 miles and forms the state’s entire northern border Most blue catfish are caught down- stream of Cincinnati, with the highest densities through the lower reaches of the river. Channels and flatheads abound throughout the river.
Blue catfish study underway on Taylorsville
August 20, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Researchers tagged about 1,000 blue catfish in Taylorsville Lake over two weeks in July in an effort to better gauge the impact of angling on this species.
“We’re trying to figure out how many blue catfish are being caught, the size of the fish being caught, how many are being kept and what the anglers are using to catch them,” said Fisheries Biologist Chris Hickey, a researcher who is heading the project for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
Fish tagging began July 8. Each catfish will receive a bright yellow tag placed on its back. Tagged fish will range in size from 10 inches to 30 inches or more.
Each tag will contain the department’s toll-free telephone number, 1-800-858-1549, and research numbers. Anglers should retain tags when they clean their catch, then call the telephone number with information about their fish. Anglers who do not keep their tagged catfish should clip the tag and call in the numbers. The tagging study will continue for at least a year.
Taylorsville Lake is a 3,050-acre reservoir located in Spencer, Anderson and Nelson counties. It has received stockings of blue catfish since 2002.
—Kentucky Department for Fish & Wildlife Resources
Tips for keeping heat-stressed bass alive during summertime tournaments
August 20, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Bass tournaments are an exciting and popular activity on Kentucky’s lakes. However, tournaments held during the heat of summer place a great deal of stress on fish.
“We don’t promote summertime tournaments because of the potential for increases in mortality of fish,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ fisheries division. “We recommend that tournaments not be held when water temperatures are over 80 degrees.”
Higher temperatures mean less oxygen in the water and more stress to fish held in a boat’s livewell. If anglers don’t take measures to cool the water, maximize aeration, maintain a healthy salt balance and flush ammonia from the livewell, fish can die either during the tournament or after they are released.
“If anglers cannot move their tournaments to cooler time periods, they need to learn the best techniques for taking care of fish in warm water,” said Buynak. “If you are going to have a summertime tournament, maintain aeration and use ice and salt in the livewell.”
Anglers should first fill their livewells in the morning when the lake water is cooler. Switch the livewell to recirculate so it is not taking on warm lake water, and keep it running continually throughout the tournament day. Add two 1/2-gallon frozen bottles of water to the livewell and about 1/3 cup of untreated salt for every 5 gallons of livewell water.
Going vertical for ledge cats
August 1, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
By Steve Vantreese
Lighten up and get down, but don’t expect to chill out.
Kuttawa, Ky., fishing guide Malcolm Lane isn’t offering philosophy of grooving when he advocates going lighter. He means tackle and line. And down means contact with the bottom. Any chilling, meanwhile, seems unlikely when it comes to one of his favorite endeavors — mid-sumer catfish pursuit on the big waters of Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.
Lane, who operates on the big western Kentucky waters as Hook, Line and Sinker guide service, is a 40-year pro fish finagler who more and more nowadays looks to the whiskered species for amusing visiting anglers. On the giant, canal-linked reservoirs, the headliners traditionally have been black bass and crappie, with a special summer consideration for the swarms of white bass that are popular with masses of locals and visitors alike.
