Folks that bump into Sarah Terry at the grocery store call her the “big fish girl” and for good reason. The 15-year-old Mount Sterling resident does hold the Kentucky state record for muskellunge. Her smiling face and her 47-pound keeper grace the cover of the current issue of the Kentucky Fishing & Boating Guide. This week on “Kentucky Afield” TV, the mount of the fish will now grace her wall at home. She’s been anxiously waiting for host Tim Farmer to help her open the box just delivered from the taxidermist.

Elsewhere, fishing guide David Jones knows crappie fishing at Green River Lake. Oddly, he and Farmer hook a muskie, too.

“Kentucky Afield” is a production of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. It is the longest continuously running outdoor television show in the nation. The program airs Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern /7:30 p.m. Central and is repeated Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central on KET 1. Show segments also air on the Internet atfw.ky.gov. To see the latest news about “Kentucky Afield” television and view your favorite show segments from the past, sign up today for the electronic newsletter. Visit fw.ky.gov onthe Internet and click the Kentucky Afield Newsletter icon.

-30-

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources manages, regulates, enforces and promotes responsible use of all fish and wildlife species, their habitats, public wildlife areas and waterways for the benefit of those resources and for public enjoyment. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is an agency of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. For more information on the department, visit our web site at fw.ky.gov.

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »

If the winner is a participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program, he or she will receive a $2,000 bonus from Ranger Boats. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,000 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant. That’s a potential top award of $8,000 for anglers who meet contingency guidelines.

Bombardier will award $1,000 to the winning boater if the winner’s boat is equipped with a qualifying Evinrude E-TEC or Direct Injection outboard.

The winning co-angler will earn as much as $3,000 cash.

Big Bass awards of up to $1,000 and $500, respectively, will also be awarded in the Boater and Co-angler Divisions.

Anglers may register for the tournament online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held Aug. 7 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Walmart store located at 419 Market Square Drive in Maysville. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.

Maysville River Park & Marina in Maysville will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL’s 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.

The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event, featuring a top award of $1 million, is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships with total cash awards exceeding $3.5 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series™ for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour®.

The next Buckeye Division tournament, a two-day Super Tournament, will be held on the Ohio River in Lawrenceburg, Ind., Sept. 12-13.

Following the end of regular-season competition, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in the Buckeye Division will advance to the Kentucky Lake Regional Championship in Gilbertsville, Ky., Oct. 15-17 and will compete against anglers from the Arkie, Hoosier and Mississippi divisions for an All-American berth.

In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.

As the nation’s leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.

www.FLWOutdoors.com

Media Contact
Robin Thweatt, FLW Outdoors (270) 252-1627 or rthweatt@flwoutdoors.com

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »

The Salato Center has a variety of native animals for the public to see, including a black bear, bobcats, elk, deer, bison, eagles, snakes and fish. The Center has numerous indoor exhibits and miles of hiking trails open to the public. Fishing is available at two lakes. While some programs may require a registration fee, general admission to the Salato Center is free.

For more information call 1-800-858-1549, ext. 4445. Learn more about upcoming events at the Salato Center on the Internet at fw.ky.gov. The Salato Center, operated by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, is located at the department’s headquarters on U.S. 60 in Frankfort, 1.5 miles west of U.S. 127. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The Center is closed Sundays, Mondays and state holidays.

-30-

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources manages, regulates, enforces and promotes responsible use of all fish and wildlife species, their habitats, public wildlife areas and waterways for the benefit of those resources and for public enjoyment. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, an agency of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. For more information on the department, visit our web site at fw.ky.gov.

Media Contact
Kristy Stroud (800) 858-1549 ext. 4498

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »

For the rest of the story, check out the Herald-Leader:

Charges upgraded in holiday weekend Ky. boat crash – Latest News – Kentucky.com.

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »

However, many anglers may fish long hours just to catch a few 12-inch bass to show for it.

“I have trouble with post-spawn fishing because it’s transitional,” said Jeff Ross, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The spawn takes a lot out of them. Shallow water fishing declines after the spawn. You may still catch little ones, but the big females are transitioning to their summer habitat.”

That decline in shallow water fishing is the reason Ross isn’t the only bass angler who struggles to catch fish after the spawn. Anglers fishing for bass from Kentucky Lake in the Purchase Region to Fishtrap Lake in Pike County find tough fishing in late June. The likely reason is they still fish the same areas in the same way they did in April.

Anglers need to intercept largemouth bass during this transition. “It all depends on the kind of lake,” Ross explained. “At a shallow water lake like Lake Barkley, the post-spawn transition will be different than at a lake like Laurel River.”

Creek channels, points, weedlines and other features such as roadbeds or rows of stumps along what was once a fencerow serve as arteries for fish migration. They move from the shallow spawning beds to deeper summer bass habitats such as deep points, channel drops and off-shore humps in June.

“They aren’t going to randomly swim around in open water and then dive down to their summer habitat,” Ross said. “They are going to follow something. On a really shallow lake, they may use a weedbed as a guide, but on most lakes, it is usually a channel. At a deep lake like Laurel or Cumberland, they may just move down the point closest to their spawning grounds.”

On shallow to mid-depth lakes with defined channels – such as Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, Barren River Lake or Green River Lake – a soft plastic jerkbait, or a Carolina-rigged 7- to-inch plastic worm or lizard, is a tremendous choice to fish channels in June. Carolina rigs consist of a heavy egg-shaped sinker and a swivel. Tie the hook 1-2 feet from the swivel, with the egg sinker placed above the swivel to keep the sinker from contacting the hook. This gets the rig down, but allows the bait to float above the bottom.

Sling the Carolina rig onto the flats adjacent to a channel, then work the bait over the channel lip and down into the channel. Channels with brush or stumps along their lips are the best places to try. Once you catch a fish, mentally note the location and depth and try and replicate those conditions along other channels in the lake. This may lead to a glory day you’ll brag about to your buddies for many years.

“Flats are good post-spawn areas,” Ross said, “especially if they lie near channels, stump fields or weedlines.”

Carolina rigs are also good for probing weedlines. The heavy weight of the rig plows the way for the soft plastic offering to hover just above bottom. Soft plastic jerkbaits and spinner baits are two other lures to try along a weedline during the post-spawn period.

In deep lakes like Herrington, Laurel River Lake, Lake Cumberland – or most lakes east of Interstate 75 – a 4- to 6-inch finesse worm rigged on a Shakey head and slowly worked down the point should intercept any transitioning bass. A Shakey head is a specialty jig designed to make a soft plastic bait stand up from the bottom. By gently twitching the tip of your fishing rod, you can impart a tantalizing action to the bait.

A 3/16 -ounce jig-and-pig combination swum just over the bottom along the contour of the point also fools post-spawn bass.

For soft plastic lures on the Carolina rig, Shakey rig or jig-and-pig combination, earth tones are the way to go in June. Combinations of green, brown, black, red or orange perform well on bass. For soft plastic jerkbaits and spinner baits, the reliable white and chartreuse combination is still tough to beat.

The June post-spawn transition period isn’t that hard to figure out if you intercept bass as they move from their breeding grounds to their summer haunts. Don’t fish for them in same areas as you did earlier this spring. They’ve left town for the summer.

By KDFWR

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »

Tim Farmer

Farmer will make the ceremonial first pitch then greet fans at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife booth on the main concourse during the first and second innings. As an added bonus, anyone presenting a valid Kentucky fishing license at the ticket office can save 50 percent off their tickets for the game. The limit is four tickets for each person.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife personnel will also be on hand to answer questions about wildlife, fishing, hunting and boating, plus register visitors for fun prizes of sporting equipment.

“Kentucky Afield” is a production of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. It is the longest continuously-running outdoor television show in the nation. The program airs Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern /7:30 p.m. Central and is repeated Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central on KET 1 and on the Internet at fw.ky.gov. To see the latest news about “Kentucky Afield” television and view your favorite show segments from the past, sign up today for the electronic newsletter.

Share kentuckyfishing.com content!

More »