Kentucky measures success of alligator gar restoration
August 27, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is beginning to restore the alligator gar, a fish not seen in the state in more than half a century. We measure the success this weekend, August 29 and 30, on “Kentucky Afield” television.
A popular sportfish in areas of the South where it still thrives, the alligator gar will eventually grow over 6 feet in length and weigh in excess of 150 pounds. Today, 12-inch fish are being released into backwater streams of western Kentucky that flow into the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, where they swam historically. Host Tim Farmer follows the journey with the department’s fisheries experts, who made the reintroduction possible.
With October’s bull elk season fast approaching, we take aim on questions of hunters. Big Game Coordinator Tina Brunjes will discuss zones, weapons, terrain, calling techniques and more.
Produced by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, “Kentucky Afield” 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. You may also view “Kentucky Afield” online 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.
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Three simple tips for catching largemouth bass in Kentucky
July 28, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Larry Williams of Murray, Kentucky used a Carolina-rigged watermelon with red flake straight 5-inch worm to catch this largemouth bass in early summer on Kentucky Lake. Williams uses a Carolina rig to fish both shallow heavy cover such as a brush covered flat or weedbed, but also to fish deep humps and ledges.
Terms such as “Texas-rigged worm,” “Carolina-rigged lizard” or “wacky rig” are part of a bass angler’s everyday lexicon. But to a beginner, the experienced anglers might as well be speaking Chinese.
The Texas rig is probably the most popular fish-catching innovation in the evolution of bass fishing. The term stems from Nick Crème and Crème Manufacturing, the company given credit for inventing the plastic fishing worm. Crème created a double-hooked plastic worm with a straight tail. He tied the hooks to a leader, and then added a couple of red beads and a propeller out front. People called it the “tourist rig” because it was so easy to catch bass with it.
The rig worked great in open water, but snagged logs easily. Crème introduced an improved version of this rig in 1964. He replaced the propeller with a slip sinker and a bead, and the double hook with one large hook. Crème imbedded the hook point into the worm to make it weedless. He called this the Texas rig.
The basic design hasn’t changed much since.
The Texas rig shines for bass around stumps, submerged trees and in weeds, because the hook is nearly snagless and the sinker punches through the cover. A medium to medium-heavy rod with a stiff tip is needed to drive the hook point through the worm and get the fish out of heavy cover.
A Carolina rig is an evolution of the Texas rig. It employs a ½- to 1-ounce egg or bullet-shaped slip sinker slid onto the main line from the reel, followed by two red glass beads. Brass is the preferred material for the weight. Brass makes a better clicking sound than lead when it contacts the glass on the retrieve.
The main line is tied to a barrel swivel. An 18- to 36-inch leader of monofilament or fluorocarbon line goes on the other loop of the swivel. The leader material is usually a lighter pound test than the main line, such as a 17-pound test main line with a 12-pound leader. A wide-gap offset worm hook goes on the business end.
This rig is versatile because it presents soft plastic worms, jerkbaits, lizards, creature baits and even live bait to hungry bass. The heavy weight of the rig allows the angler to follow contours of the bottom while covering water quickly. The Carolina rig is highly effective for fishing large mud flats, channel drops, ledges, sandbars and submerged humps. It is the go-to bait for many bass anglers fishing deep water, especially in summer and early fall.
You can also toss a Carolina rig onto a brush-covered flat or in the middle of a large weedbed. The heavy sinker on the front of the rig punches through the weeds and brush down to the bottom with the soft plastic bait hovering just above it. This method works wonders for bass on Kentucky Lake.
The wacky rig is a departure from both the Texas and Carolina rig. Several theories abound on the origin of the wacky rig, but one of the most often cited involves two novice anglers bass fishing one of the large reservoirs in Texas. They didn’t know how to thread a plastic worm onto a hook properly, so they impaled the middle of their Crème Scoundrel worms and let the ends dangle. The worms hung on the hook like a clown’s frown.
The pair threw their worms over weedbeds and caught large bass after large bass. When they returned to the dock, a couple of onlookers asked how they did. The two anglers opened their livewells and showed off some huge bass. The onlookers asked what they caught them on and the anglers held up their funny-looking worm rigs.
After some mighty guffaws, one of the onlookers exclaimed that it was the wackiest looking rig they’d ever seen. This was the birth of the wacky rig.
The wacky rig is great for fishing docks and up and under overhanging or flooded trees because you can skip it across the water. The undulating action of the worm drives a bass hanging under a dock or in a flooded tree crazy.
Soft plastic jerkbaits such as the Senko work great for this technique. They also draw strikes fished over weedbeds or stumps by pulling the worm up and allowing it to flutter back down.
Don’t let terminology stand in the way of learning to fish for bass. Get out this summer and toss one of these rigs in a lake near your home. You’ll soon become addicted.
—Story and photo by Lee.McClellan
Fly Tying Basics at Kentucky’s Salato Center August 1
July 28, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Frankfort, Ky. – Join members of the Frankfort Fly Fishing Club for a basic introduction to fly tying and techniques of fly fishing from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1. Fly tying can be a challenging art, but few things are more rewarding than catching a fish on a lure you made yourself. Tying your own flies is fun and can save you money on your next fishing trip. All participants will take home the flies they make and get a chance to try their hand at casting a fly rod. The cost of the program is $35 and is open for ages 9 and older. Registration is required. Read more
White bass frenzy on the flats
July 24, 2009 by admin · 4 Comments
If you’ve never experienced it, you’ll think someone is messing with you.
You’re alone in your boat on one of the hottest days of the year. The water is still. Then, a splash behind you. You turn and find only ripples. Next, a kerplunk in front of you. You look to shore in search of rock-throwing kids. Nothing. You look up for the birds that must be making a bombing run on your fishing trip.
Fishing guide Rodney Hairgrove showed off a typical white bass. He and a client each caught the 15-fish limit within 2 hours on Kentucky Lake.
Striped bass sometimes gather with their smaller white bass cousins to mob baitfish in what’s called the jumps. On Kentucky Lake, boats line up at Eureka Flats during the summer to take advantage.
Before you know it, you look down again and the water’s boiling all around you. And you begin to see the culprits: white bass.
Biologists worry about water temperature in Lake Cumberland
July 19, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
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Because of ongoing repairs to Wolf Creek Dam, temperatures in the river rose to the point of stressing trout over the past couple of summers, but conditions are much better so far this summer.
Frankfort, Ky. – The cold air that blankets Kentucky each December, January and February is uncomfortable for most people. Few of us enjoy pulling on extra clothes, driving in snow or being cooped up inside during winter.
Although we might not like winter, the cold water being stored in Lake Cumberland at that time of year is important to the health and survival of trout, striped bass and walleye in the lake and its tailwater the following summer.
This time of year in Kentucky, fish deep points for success
July 18, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
The meeting of the land and the water often points out the fish for us.
This was, it seems to say, its earthen or rocky digit extended from shore outward, “Out here.”
Rodney Hairgrove knows that straight bank is never quite as attractive to bass as one with a wrinkle on it. The irregular shape of a point, a protrusion of the shore toward the deeper recesses of the water, is a double dose of fishing fortune: On one hand, it attracts and congregates the bass; on the other, it constitutes an often glaring feature that should flag the attention of the angler and usher him to where the fish wait.
Read more
A Frankfort man’s 52-pound, I-64 striper
July 14, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
By Carleton L. West
A fly fishing friend in Virginia Beach pestered me for some time to take a crack at striped bass, one of America’s great sport fishes. We’d met in 2002 on New Mexico’s San Juan River where big rainbows and browns thrived not far from the duplex cabin we rented near the little town of Navajo.
Owen Pepper first got my attention with his tales of a guide on Arkansas’s White River by the name of Dave Lewis. I’ve lost track now of all my trips there for ho-hum 60-70 daily trout outings Lewis guided on the fabled Ozarks tailwater. Like a stockbroker with a practiced eye for a hot deal, Pepper knows the path to fish. He’s worth listening to.
So he kept up his campaign with e-mails and phone calls. Attached to the electronic messages were color photos of Pepper and his striped bass catches. He escalated a year ago or so when he bought a boat, a 19-footer, seaworthy, with 100 plus horses and a center console. But it was a late night phone call that produced the clincher when I casually asked where he was hooking all these stripers. Under the Chesapeake Bay bridges – at night. Which bridges specifically? The Interstate 64 bridges.
Anglers wake up to bluegill bedtime
June 2, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
Last year was my first trip to Kentucky Lake and it was centered around the Spring Crappie spawn. I have never caught so many fish in one trip. For that matter, I’ve never caught that many fish in a season. So, when my father threw out the idea of going back this Spring for the Bluegill and Red Ear spawn, I jumped on it. It was unlike any fishing trip I have been on. We weren’t on the water just before sunrise. We soon found out that we didn’t have to be. Read more
The Bream Reaper
June 2, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
Fishing Kentucky waterways is both a joy and at times can be frustrating. Especially for the fly fisherman. The Dix River is one of the best Trout Streams I have ever fished and the Cumberland River is a bonanza of structure and plenty of trout. Thing is during the rainy season of the year, which we are currently in, it is hard to fish these bodies because the water is too high. We fly fisherman must find other ways to satisfy the fly casting jones. Bream fishing in farm ponds is a great way to both practice casting and timing the setting of the hook on smaller fish. Practicing barrel casts and fishing in tighter spaces rather than wading in a river are good skills to have as a fly fisherman.
Editor’s note: Jonathan Palmer is a frequent contributor to www.kentuckyfishing.com. He’s also a terrific photojournalist who manages to shoot great pictures while he’s fishing. Check out his work in a publication near you, or at www.jonathanpalmer.net.
Time for big Ohio blues: Catfish like these are by no means out of the question right now in Ohio
May 28, 2009 by admin · Comments Off
It’s time for big blue catfish on the Ohio River.
Mike Marchand has the evidence.
Mike, his brother-in-law, Ronnie Ramsey and a couple of cousins were fishing on the Ohio River near Stephensport in the Cannelton pool. Other than a couple of nibbles, the fish weren’t interested in feeding.
Suddenly, something hit his line. And Mike’s fishing line isn’t your ordinary 10-pound test stuff. He uses 65-pound test on a big Penn reel and an Ugly Stick Rod.
A week before when he was fishing in the same spot something big twice broke the heavy test line.
It was about 1:30 a.m. when Mike realized he had a fish on, and it didn’t take long to determine it was a dandy. “It took 20 to 25 minutes to land it. It might have been longer,” explained Mike. “Next, we had to get it up a 10 to 12-foot bank.”
Marchand said he didn’t have scales that would weigh the fish. “The scales I had only went to 55 pounds and it pegged it, so I took the fish home and put it in my pond until I could get another scale the next morning. When I weighed it, it went exactly 75 pounds.”
After Marchand weighed the fish, he drove it back to his hole and released it. “Who knows, maybe one of us will catch it again some day,” he said, smiling.
He caught the fish on a live bluegill. He fished the next night, but didn’t catch a fish.
Marchand says blue cats are seasonal, biting best in spring and fall. “This is about the time for them to be hitting,” he said. “They should be starting now.”
The Ohio River is known for its huge blue cats.
The Kentucky and Indiana state record blue catfish was caught in 1999 below the Cannelton dam by the late Bruce Medkiff of Owensboro. The monster weighed 104 pounds; it also was released back to the river after being officially weighed.
By Phil Junker
