A 13-year-old boy died beneath a low-head dam on Elkhorn Creek at Great Crossings in Scott County this weekend. Low-head dams such as this one on South Elkhorn Creek in Franklin County are some of the most dangerous water structures in existence. Just a drop of a few feet creates dangerous water turbulences below the dam that few escape alive. These types of dams are commonly called "drowning machines." Show this picture to your children, and please be overly cautious any time you're fishing near dams on Kentucky's rivers.

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We will meet at the Salato Center in Frankfort at 8 a.m. We provide transportation to the outfitter, Canoe Kentucky. The trip requires about two hours of paddling and is 6 miles long. This section of creek is good for beginners or intermediate paddlers. Please bring a sack lunch, water and sunscreen. Small coolers are allowed for food and drink items. Wear water shoes and clothes that can get wet. A waterproof bag is ideal for items you don’t want to get wet.

We will provide a few field guides and binoculars, but feel free to bring your own. Canoe Kentucky is providing life vests, paddles and canoes. The cost of the program is $35 with a limit of 15 people. The program may be cancelled due to bad weather. Registration and pre-payment are required.

The Salato Center has a variety of native animals for the public to see, including 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.

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Similar in size to those used for cigars, the small tackle box came with five compartments: one filled with funny-looking leadheads and the other four filled with small, 4-inch straight-tailed worms. Black worms filled one compartment; grape worms lay in another, while brown with an orange tail and motor oil filled the other two.

He bought the new gear from a man at the boat show who told him all about this new system that caught bass in the toughest conditions. The man said this new technique would excel in the weedy, shallow and clear distillery lakes near our home if he just stuck to it long enough to learn it.

The author, Kentucky Afield Magazine's associate editor, with a big largemouth caught in a pond on a Slider worm.

The legendary Charlie Brewer Slider worm

My dad caught many bass with his new gear, but soon he could not find the small tackle box and rod because I had them on the shore of one of those distillery lakes. I learned to consistently catch bass year-round using light line and 4-inch worms and profited from it enormously. The knowledge gained provided the foundation for my later writings about bass fishing.

The man at the boat show was Charlie Brewer and he died 9 years ago this week. In the mythology of bass fishing, finesse techniques of using light line, subtle lures and spinning tackle to tempt spooky clear-water bass belongs to the deep, crystalline lakes of California. In reality, these techniques belong to Charlie Brewer.

He developed the Slider system to fool black bass in what he called the “tough, mean” reservoirs of east Tennessee, southeast Kentucky and the Highland Rim of middle Tennessee. Brewer’s Slider Worm launched the finesse revolution 20 years before most heard the term.

Brewer returned from World War II to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and opened a radio and TV repair shop with knowledge gained in the South Pacific. A natural-born tinkerer, Brewer grew weary of the long, fishless hours throwing a baitcaster spooled with black nylon line and a crankbait such as the Heddon River Runt. He figured there had to be a better way to catch bass more consistently when they aren’t active and chasing lures.

Brewer developed a unique leadhead designed to plane in the water, not fall to the bottom like a smooth rock. He also poured his own slender 4-inch ringed worms with an egg sack that tapered to a paddle tail. He cast these worms on short graphite or graphite composite rods with a Tennessee handle for increased sensitivity. He removed the bail from the reels to increase casting distance for his 1/16- to 1/4-ounce leadheads and diminutive worms. He founded the Crazy Head Lure Company in 1970, now known as the Charlie Brewer Slider Company.
The key to Brewer’s system is presentation. The Slider method is designed to find bass suspended in the water column or hanging just above the bottom. Bass in clear-water lakes such as Lake Cumberland, Laurel River Lake and Dale Hollow Lake suspend most of the time during the day, especially in summer and winter. Suspended bass represent one of the toughest bass fishing situations.

The original Crazy Head was a flat-bottomed leadhead that came through the water in a straight line on the retrieve. Brewer later developed other styles of flat-sided heads and bullet shaped ones, but the basic concept remains. The heart of his Slider system is manipulating the speed of the retrieve and the weight of the leadhead until you hit the combination of depth and speed bass want that particular day.

This may require cutting some weight off the Slider head till it weighs just 1/32-ounce or flattening it to slow the rate of fall. Find a likely fish-holding structure, such as a channel point laden with boulders or stumps. Cast parallel to the structure and count to ten. Reel the Slider worm with a rhythmic, but slow cadence and watch your line intently. Keep counting down and reeling slowly until you get a rapid peck or nip from a bluegill, baby bass or crappie. This is the activity zone. Count down a little more on the next cast and you’ll be in bass.

Once you find the depth and speed they want, you can fish similar areas all over the lake and catch fish all day. The Slider worm resembles a minnow more than anything and fish can’t help themselves. It is simple and ingenious. Plus, light to medium-light spinning rods and 6-pound line make 2-pounders feel like trophies. It is simply a fun and relaxing way to catch bass after bass, plus the occasional trophy bluegill, crappie, walleye and even freshwater drum.

Brewer also believed bass anglers do way too much running and gunning instead of fishing. He felt folks should pattern their fish close-by and focus more on technique than covering water. Brewer relates in his touchstone book “Charlie Brewer on Slider Fishing” that some of his best fishing days stemmed from engine trouble that forced him to scour the fishy-looking areas near the ramp. This also saves gas and wear and tear on the big motor.

All you need is a small box or a paper bag with a few colors of Slider worms, some Slider heads, a pair of sidecutter and needlenose pliers and knowledge. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass gobble them up with the same abandon now as they did when Sliders first hit the market 30 years ago.

By Lee McClellan, an award-winning outdoors writer and associate editor of Kentucky Afield magazine.

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Lexington angler Billy Elkins lands a smallmouth bass from central Kentucky's Elkhorn Creek. Fishing for smallmouth bass in Elkhorn Creek and other Kentucky streams should improve in 2009. Photo by Lee McClellan

Frankfort, Ky. – Elkhorn Creek, one of the premier smallmouth streams in Kentucky, produced fantastic smallmouth bass fishing from 1998 to 2002. Anglers could expect to catch a few dozen smallmouth in a day’s fishing. A couple of these fish were usually longer than the 16-inch upper limit of the 12-16 inch protective slot limit in effect for largemouth and smallmouth bass in the creek.

Fishing flattened out on the Elkhorn in 2003 and the downward trend continued through 2006. It isn’t pollution, disease or development that caused this trend. It’s rain.

“When we have really wet years, it impacts the spawn in a negative way,” said Jim Axon, former assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Drought years are good years for smallmouth spawning on streams.”

Fishing on the Elkhorn flourished from 1998 to 2002 because drought years in the late 1980s and early 1990s encouraged great reproduction of smallmouth bass. The better smallmouth bass breed, the better the future fishing.

The same positive development that created the good fishing is taking shape again. Smallmouth fishing on the creek began to pick up in 2007 and improved again in 2008 until last summer’s drought made the fish lethargic. This coming year should be the best year for fishing on Elkhorn Creek since the 1998 to 2002 boom.

“In our sampling last spring, we saw lots of smallmouth in that 15-17 inch range,” said Jeff Crosby, central fisheries district biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “The fishing on Elkhorn should be good this year.”

Population evaluations of smallmouth bass by fisheries biologists for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife show excellent smallmouth spawns in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994. “Those fish born then are at the top of the slot or above now,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “You need a time lag of 5 years or longer to see the benefits of a good spawn. It takes about 5 years for a smallmouth in the creek to grow to 12 inches.”

The same phenomenon that created the recent good fishing on Elkhorn should occur throughout the state. “The same weather patterns that impacted Elkhorn should have done the same throughout the state,” Buynak said. “It should be a good year for stream smallmouth fishing all over Kentucky.”

In southwestern Kentucky, the Gasper River, Fallen Timber Creek and the Barren River downstream of Barren River Lake offer good smallmouth bass fishing.

The Green River downstream of Green River Lake Dam, the Little Barren River and Russell Creek in south-central Kentucky all have quality smallmouth bass to catch. The South Fork of the Kentucky River, the Big South Fork and the Little South Fork of the Cumberland River, the Redbird River and the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River give southeastern Kentucky anglers overlooked smallmouth bass fishing.
The South Fork and main stem of Licking River, the Little Kentucky River, Slate Creek and Eagle Creek in north-central Kentucky are good places for smallmouth bass. The Levisa, Russell and Tug Forks of Big Sandy River, Kinniconick Creek, Tygarts Creek and the North Fork of Kentucky River grant eastern Kentucky anglers a place to stretch out a light action rod and 6-pound line with a hard-fighting stream smallmouth.

Anglers fishing for smallmouth bass in these streams in the next few weeks need to find the smallmouths’ winter holes. Smallmouth bass migrate in late fall to the deepest holes in the stream that also possess good structure such as boulders, stumps and fallen trees. Target the flowing ends of these holes in March and early April with a purple hair jig, 4-inch pumpkinseed with green flake lizard or 1/8-ounce white spinner bait.

If the water is dingy to muddy, pound any current break in the same areas such as a large rock or log with the white spinner bait. Also try the slack water pockets next to flowing chutes in these areas as well with the spinner bait. Some anglers like the Beetle Spin type lures in this situation.

For a complete list of Kentucky smallmouth bass streams, call 1-800-858-1549 and request a copy of the Stream Smallmouth brochure. You may also access this brochure at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website at fw.ky.gov.

—Lee McClellan, KDFWR

Author Lee McClellan is an award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.

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Above left: By turning rocks with you feet just upstream of a seine with poles, it’s possible to net hellgrammites with only one person. Hellgrammites and crawfish, both of which will show up in seine nets in many Kentucky streams, also make great trout bait. Above right, Hellgrammites, which are dobson flies in their larvae stage, make excellent bait for various fish species in streams.

Grampus, Go-Devils, Conniption Bugs, Hellgrammites…. Call ‘em what you want. Fish think the larvae of dobson flies are candy, so I simply call them great bait.

Hellgrammites, to use the proper common name, abound in cool-water streams through much of Kentucky. Fierce-looking critters, with oodles of legs, big pincers at one end and a hook at the other, they inhabit rocky runs in cool, clear streams, spending most of their time tucked under rocks.

Hellgrammites may stay hidden under rocks because virtually everything that swims will eat them, which I’ve witnessed every time I’ve used hellgrammites for bait ina  cool-water stream. Smallmouth bass typically are the official sought-after species, but somehow the rock bass, largemouths, channel catfish, bluegills, longear sunfish and other fish never get that message (which I don’t mind at all).

My brother-in-law, Jerry Perry of Danville, grew up in Frankfort, fishing Elkhorn Creek and other streams in Franklin County. Perry is strictly a stream fisherman, and he fishes almost exclusively with hellgrammites (plus the occasional soft-shell crawfish that shows up in his seine). He catches his bait upon arrival and then wades up through the creek, drifting hellgrammites thorugh promising-looking runs.

Perry uses a seine net to catch his hellgrammites. His net is small enough (about 6 feet long) for him to manage it alone, but the bait-catching process is easier and more effective with two people. One person holds the net while the other flips rocks and shuffles his feet in the bottom substrate just upstream.

If you don’t have seine, you also can catch hellgrammites by hand by simply flipping rocks and grabbing the little critters when they become exposed. The process is slower, but it’s usually not difficult to gather enough bait to fish with. You just have to grap quickly — before the current washes the bait downstream — which is sometimes challenging because flipping rocks can cloud up the water.

Also grab hellgrammites carefully, whether out of your bait cup or off the bottom. They aren’t very fast, but their pincers can draw blood. Always grab one by the head, right behind the pincers, and you’ll stay out of harm’s way.

The best places to catch hellgrammites are swift, shallow runs that have plenty of rocks to flip. The shallower the better for hand-picking, just because it’s easier to see them and grab them. For seining, a decent current to carry bait into the net and plenty of big rocks to shuffle are the most important ingredients.

Hellgrammites may be anywhere from about 1 to 3 inches long, depending on their age. They spend two to three years in the water as larvae after hatching from eggs. Eventually, they crawl to the banks, go through their pupae stage and finally emerge as flying adults, which mate and lay eggs and then die within a few days.

If bait is ever difficult to find in a stream, especially during late summer or fall, anglers should look under big rocks or moist logs on the edges of streams for hellgrammites that have crawled out of the stream.

Perry puts his hellgrammites in cricket cage or some type of bait cut that he can attach to a belt loop. The only terminal tackle he carries is a packet of bait hooks and a few split shot. He fishes with light spinning or spin-casting tackle.

For most situations, Perry fishes with nothing but a baited hook, which allows for very natural hellgrammite presentations. If the creek is high or he needs a little extra casting distance, he might add a split shot. He’ll also put on a shot or two on the line to fish the bottoms of big pools, where channel catfish often lie waiting for meals.

A No. 6 or No. 8 bait hook works well for hellgrammites. Hold the bait with its back toward you and slide the hook tight under its collar, with the hook point facing toward teh bait’s tail as it goes through.

You can also hook a hellgrammite straight through, from the bottom up, running the hook between the collar and the head.

One of the best things about hellgrammites is that they are extremely durable, as long as they are fresh. After they die, they will begin to get mushy, but a bait hooked live commonly will produce several fish.

Defying stereotypes of live-bait fishermen setting on the banks and waiting for bites, Perry works streams much the same way that a fly-fisherman would. He wades gradually upstream, and casts to the upper ends of runs, riffles, pockets and pools that should hold fish. He picks streams apart as he goes, putting his offerings everywhere that fish should be.

Perry lets his bait drift in the current and pays close attention to his line, watching and feeling for hits. FRom all that I’ve witnessed, however, Perry rarely has to wait for long!

Seine nets

Seines are rectangular nets that are weighted on the bottom and have floats on the top. The nets, which are usually fine meshed, are stretched between poles. In lakes, anglers sometimes drag seines to catch minnows. In streams, the net is just held in place, and the current brings the bait into it.

Artificial hellgrammites

Want to fish hellgrammites without having to catch them? Check out Case Plastics at www.madtoms.com, another maker of lifelike hellgramites.

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