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.

“That winter water stored in the lake is the habitat for the trout in Cumberland tailwater and for the striped bass and walleye in the lake,” said Dave Dreves, fisheries research biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “There is a finite amount of this winter-stored cold water after April.”

Fisheries biologists are concerned about the amount of winter-stored cold water that remains in the lake this year. Heavy rains in May and June have drained a significant amount of cold water from the lake, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers siphoned water from the Lake Cumberland’s colder lower reaches in an effort to prevent the lake from rising too high.

Corps officials are keeping the lake at an elevation of 680 feet above mean sea level to relieve pressure on Wolf Creek Dam while repairs are underway. The normal summer pool for Lake Cumberland is 723 feet.

The lower water level effectively reduces amount of important cool water being stored in the lake. Releasing colder water and replacing it with warmer water compounds an already delicate situation.

John Williams, southeastern fishery district biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, said fish are already reacting to the change. “According to the fishing guides, the striped bass are already moving down toward the dam – where there is better water quality in the summer,” Williams said. “This usually doesn’t happen until August.”

This situation worries Williams because the worst part of the year isn’t here yet. “We are still two months away from the critical time,” he said. “That deeper, oxygenated, cool water gradually depletes as you go through summer. Fish and other organisms consume it.”

Typically, September is the critical month for maintaining oxygen levels at the temperatures preferred by trout, walleye and striped bass. These fish cannot survive without enough dissolved oxygen in the water. Fish also prefer a certain temperature range. If the water grows too warm in the lake, the walleye and striped bass could seek deeper water that does not have adequate oxygen. In the tailwater, trout can overstress if the water temperatures climb too high.

Williams fished earlier this week for striped bass in Lake Cumberland and did well. The fish he caught were in good condition.

The rainbow and brown trout living in the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam also utilize similar water temperatures as striped bass in the lake.

During the past two summers, water temperatures in the lower section of the Cumberland River from roughly Burkesville downstream to the Tennessee line warmed to the point of stress for trout.

Water temperatures are better so far this year. “The water temperatures recently were 56 degrees at the dam and 62 to 63 degrees at Burkesville,” Dreves explained. “If it stays like this for the rest of the summer, it will be good for the trout. It was above 68 degrees at Burkesville at this time last summer.”

Trout stress in water greater than 70 degrees. The warmer water in the lower part of Cumberland River pushes trout upstream toward to dam to find cooler water. This concentration of fish is good for anglers, but bad for growth of trout.

“There are some skinny fish in the river right now, and some that look okay,” Dreves said. “We are doing really well on catch rates, but growth rates and body conditions are down a little from 2006.”

As the weather becomes drier, water temperatures in the river could become a problem. Dry weather increases water temperatures in Cumberland River because less water is released through Wolf Creek Dam.

“If we continue to have a cool summer, that would help tremendously,” Dreves said. “Everything is good right now. We just hope it holds out.”

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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courier-journal.com | Gary Garth blog | The Courier-Journal.

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While fishing at Cave Run Lake with my father-in-law, who happens to be a great guide, I had my first run in with the fish of 10,000 casts. As I bumped a 1/4-ounce spinner across a log — boom — suddenly, a lanky creature appeared. Two seconds later I was fighting my first Muskellunge, albeit a small one.

I dragged the 12-inch fish into the boat (no net or pliers required) and safely released it to fight another day.

About 45 minutes passed and I switched to a half-ounce Rat-L-Trap as we continued to fish the cover along the south shore in Scott’s Creek Marina. Since my first strike came along a tree line my thought was there were more where that came from.

As each cast drew closer and closer to the shore one particular cast actually skipped from the water onto a rock and back into the shallow, 56 degree, water. Five cranks later and I had one! I could feel his head move back and forth as he dove and the “zzzzzzz” of the drag let me know I was not snagged on a limb.

He fought me for about 5 minutes before he surfaced. The excitement rushed over me as he thrashed and rolled at the surface. It took a few tries to net the whale in an obviously undersized trout net (my father-in law would rush out the next day and buy a big game net.)

Our next task was making the photos for posterity – which actually turned out to be a difficult task as well. Posing with a 38″ fish with sharp, one-inch teeth is not easy, but we finally got a keeper.

My mother-in-law loves that photo of me and the musky, and quickly declared that I was the Greg Norman of Musky fishing, thanks to my stylin’ hat. I’m not sure about that, but I am sure that the next time we hook a Musky; we’ll be ready with our huge net.

Jonathan Palmer, a freelance photojournalist, is an occasional contributor to www.kentuckyfishing.com.

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I love to fish so much that I’ve nearly trashed our van on Interstate 75 because I was gazing at South Elkhorn Creek instead of watching the road. I store fishing gear in my car, I’ve raised night crawlers in my kitchen, and I’ve stayed up for 24 hours straight because fish were biting.

I tell you this only because I want you to know that I’m serious when I offer one important piece of advice about taking kids fishing:

Leave your own rod at home.

If you don’t, it will be impossible to follow the second rule of fishing with a kid:

You only have 10 minutes.

Let’s start with the first rule, the one most painful for many anglers. You know who you are. Since your kids were infants, you’ve dreamed of putting all those baby years behind you and heading out to the lake for hours of quality outdoor time. You’ve imagined teaching your young fry about wildlife, sharing a joke or two and engaging in the kind of in-depth conversation you’ve longed for since they were born.

Dream on.

The conversation, at least from my experience, is more likely to go something like this: “Is that a bee, can I step in that mud, I’d really like to go swimming, who put all of these rocks here, can I touch those things, ouch, those things are sharp, can I pee outside, are we going to McDonald’s, I bet there are huge eels in this creek, if not eels then some swordfish, do fish bite people?”

And then you’re 30 seconds into the trip.

In the real world, children have attention spans shorter than a back cast. So the key to a successful outing is making sure the action is focused on your kid. That means handing the rod over.

What will you do? Lots. Think of yourself as a mild-mannered coach. Or maybe even Andy Griffith. (I shoot for Andy Griffith, but usually wind up acting more like Barney Fife.) Warn them about the dangers of hooks. Show them how to cast without tangling. Fetch their line out of trees and assure them that although that’s not what they should be trying to catch, it’s OK that they did.

Most important of all, it is your job to focus on Rule No. 2: You only have 10 minutes.

Think about how your kids typically spend their days. Everything is broken into 10- to 15-minute segments. A few minutes at recess, a few at lunch, reading time, nap time. There’s no reason you should expect a fishing trip to be any different, so plan accordingly.

The best way to ensure happiness is to ensure a constantly moving bobber. That’s not as difficult as it sounds in Kentucky if you remember this: Don’t think big fish; think many fish.

Without a doubt, the best bet is a farm pond. If you don’t have a friend or relative who lives on a farm, ask around. You’ll be surprised how many people in Kentucky have friends with farms and don’t mind asking if your kids can fish there. If all else fails, ask for permission yourself. Many landowners don’t mind sharing their ponds as long as their livestock are in another field and the children are courteous.

If you don’t have access to farm ponds, don’t give up. There are still hundreds of places to fish in Kentucky. Virtually every state and city park has good bank fishing. And any stream in the state with at least knee-deep water is bound to be teeming with fish.

After all of your preparation and planning, it’s important to take one other step. Tell yourself, over and over again if need be, that you won’t get upset if your child loses interest quickly.

I always tell myself that, but on a day like the one I spent with my son, Emery, now 6, and daughter, Meg, 3, last August, I was slow to remember.

My wife, Lee, and I planned for the day; we packed lunch and water and sunscreen, as well as all the bait we needed, which included hot dogs, a favorite bait of farm-pond catfish.

A co-worker had gotten permission for us to fish in her neighbor’s farm pond, a small but perfect fishing hole in Clark County. When we got there, I practiced everything I preach. I encouraged the kids to play with the worms, showed them where I thought some of the fish might be, put a hot dog on a hook and helped them cast it out.

The bobber sank immediately. Emery started to reel the fish in, but the line broke.

I knew he had lost a big fish. So for the next cast, I grabbed a rod with stronger line. We cast it out and again the bobber sank. This time, Emery was not going to lose the fish. He put his head down and cranked the reel as if it were a winch. He didn’t stop reeling until the fish, a big, ugly, 6-pound catfish, was sliding up onto the bank.

Emery screamed with delight until he actually saw the fish, which was more than half his size. He backed up to let Dad and the pond’s owner take the hook out. After we put the fish back in the water, Emery ran up and down the bank, strutting and proclaiming to anyone who could hear that he had caught a huge catfish.

My mind raced. “A 6-pound catfish,” I thought. “Emery’s going to love fishing.”

I was quickly putting more bait on the hook, hoping to get the line out again so we could catch another big fish, when Emery walked up beside me and tugged on my shirt. He was looking up the hill at a little boy playing with his toys.

“Daddy, can we go play now?” he asked.

My mouth gaped open, and then I realized: My 10 minutes were up.

As Emery and Meg ran up the hill to play with the little boy, I quickly packed up all of the little-used gear and bait. I looked at the pond and wondered about the fish we were leaving behind.

Then I caught up with my children so I could enjoy the next 10 minutes of fun.

—By Chris Poore, editor of www.kentuckyfishing.com. This story was first published in 2004 in the Lexington Herald-Leader

8 tips for fishing with your kids

Here are a few tips for fishing with kids, from the writer and from Lonnie Nelson, program manager for recruitment and development with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

Have fun, be flexible and be patient.

After a few minutes of fishing, having fun to a kid might mean throwing rocks, looking for bugs or getting wet. Go with it. The main goal is to have your child associate fishing trips with fun.

Use live bait.

Your chances are always better with live bait. Hooking the squirmy, slimy critters can be half the fun. For tips on bait, see below.

Bring food, sunscreen, sunglasses and plenty of water or beverages.

A hungry, sunburned kid is not a happy kid.

Use simple fishing tackle, but not cheap tackle.

Every kid wants a Scooby-Doo fishing rod. Avoid the temptation. Most toy rods are too flimsy to actually catch a fish. Find a regular-size rod with medium action, and buy a push-button reel. Most bait shop owners will be happy to help you find the right rod.

Pick a sure-fire place to go.

Ask around. You’re not looking for big fish; you’re looking for constant action. You’re more likely to find constant action at a nearby city park than you are in big water like Kentucky Lake or Lake Cumberland.

Go to a fishing camp or seminar.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources assists groups such as the YMCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and schools with more than 400 fishing programs every year. All summer long, there are likely to be fishing programs near you. Call 1-800-858-1549 for locations or information.

Bring a camera.

Good options are the waterproof disposable cameras you can buy at most groceries and drugstores.

Go early.

Any time is a good time to take your kids fishing, but you’ll have better luck if you go in the morning, when the sun’s low and the fish are less likely to be spooked.

Watch kids squirm with delight over live bait

To increase chances of success with kids, live bait is always best. And it’s more fun.

If you’re going to buy bait, make sure you take your children along with you. Let them get the worms out of the case or point out the minnows they want.

If you’re going to find the bait yourself, you’re in for even more fun. For worms, dig under rocks or in compost, or go outside at night with a flashlight after a heavy rain and snatch night crawlers out of the yard.

For more adventure, consider catching crawfish, and hellgrammites, the scary-looking larvae of the dobsonfly, which most fish consider a delicacy. For this, you’ll need to go to a bait shop and buy a seining net. (Read the state’s fishing and boating guide at www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/ to make sure you’re following state regulations.) Attach sticks or posts to each end of the seining net, hold it upright across the current, and then have your child go upstream and kick up as many rocks as possible.

Spread the net out to see what you’ve caught. The fun comes in watching your kid squeal trying to avoid the critters’ pincers.

To avoid the pincers, which can draw blood but are generally harmless, teach your child to grab them behind the head.

You also might consider raising your own bait. There are countless Web sites that offer tips.

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Berea's Terry Moberly decided at the last minute to enter the FLW Fantasy Fishing Game Contest. The decision won him $100,000.

To win FLW Fantasy Fishing, or any contest for that matter, you have to enter.  And entering at the last minute counts just as much as if you entered days, weeks or even months before.

That’s what Terry Moberly, 45, a resident of Berea, Ky., a small town near Lexington, Ky., learned. Last Wednesday, Feb. 11, with less than four hours until the closing bell on FLW Fantasy Fishing picks for the first tournament, Moberly registered at fantasyfishing.com. Using Player’s Advantage, an online tool that provides “inside” information about FLW Tour bass pros, Moberly picked 10 bass pros from among a field of 157 that would be competing the very next morning in the first of six tournaments that make up the Walmart FLW Tour, professional bass fishing’s largest and most prestigious tournament circuit.

Moberly, an avid bass angler, was urged to enter FLW Fantasy Fishing by his
two sons, Tyler, a student at Eastern Kentucky University, located in nearby
Richmond, Ky., and his 19-year-old son, Brandon.   Both sons are avid bass
anglers, too, having competed in regional bass tournaments sponsored by FLW
Outdoors.

The rest they say is history.  Because today, Moberly is $100,000 richer,
proving once again that old adage, “you need to enter to win.”

“This is fantastic,” said the even-keel Moberly, a production worker at the
Tokico USA, a manufacturing plant in Berea that makes automobile shocks and
suspensions.  “I had never played any sort of fantasy sport before, but my
sons said to me, ‘Dad, you just gotta try this,’ and with the additional
resources Player’s Advantage offers, I was able to enhance my picks.”

Married for 24 years to his sweetheart, Debbie, Moberly says that fishing,
along with other outdoors activities such as camping and hunting run deep in
his family.  Born and raised in Richmond, Ky., Moberly frequently fishes
nearby lakes and reservoirs, including Cumberland Lake, from his Ranger bass
boat.  And while he’s fished a few tournaments himself, Moberly and his wife
especially enjoy watching their sons compete in fishing tournaments. Son
Tyler competes on a bass fishing team representing Eastern Kentucky
University in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Tournament Circuit, and
son Brandon has competed in the Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain
Division Tournament Circuit.

“With the economy as it is, the extra money will allow us to shore up our
finances and help us pay college tuition,” added Moberly.  “And maybe I’ll
treat myself to a new Ranger bass boat.”

Now Moberly is setting his sights on the $1 million grand prize that will be
awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing player who accumulates the most points
over six tournaments.  Moberly, like many FLW Fantasy Fishing players, will
continue to tap the powerful online tools of Player’s Advantage, available
for only $10 for the entire season, to help give them the edge they need to
enhance their fantasy team picks.

“I’m going to continue to rely on Player’s Advantage, a great resource for
only $10, to give me an even greater edge in the race for that $1 million
grand prize,” Moberly said.  “I’m off to a great start and I want to be in
the winner’s circle in Pittsburgh on Aug. 1 when FLW Fantasy Fishing
announces the $1 million grand prize.”

The Winning Combination

To win the first FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament, Moberly earned 12,744
points based on the performance of the pro bass anglers who fished the
Walmart FLW Tour’s first four-day tournament, the Chevy Open, on Lake
Guntersville, near Huntsville, Ala.  The first FLW Tour tournament was won
by TUM’s bass pro David Fritts, a resident of Lexington, N.C.  Starting in
sixth place on the last day of the tournament, Fritts’ crankbait assault
catapulted him into first place and the tournament’s $200,000 prize.

Moberly scored three exactas, earning him additional points on top of the
points he accumulated based on the fishing performance of each of his
individual fantasy team members.  He picked Fritts to finish in first place,
David Dudley, who finished in third, and Craig Dowling, who finished in 10th
place.  He also selected another angler, Scott Canterbury, who finished
within the top 10 (8th place).   Moberly’s bass pro picks, in the order he
thought they would finish, included:

1.  David Fritts
2.  Randall Tharp
3.  David Dudley
4.  Andy Morgan
5.  Greg Pugh
6.  Dan Morehead
7.  Jerry Green
8.  J.T. Kenney
9.  Scott Canterbury
10. Craig Dowling

“I’m not as familiar with all of the FLW bass pros as my sons are, but
because of the insight Player’s Advantage offers, I deliberately picked Dave
Fritts to win because I thought his style of fishing would work really well
on Lake Guntersville,” said Moberly.

Race On for $1 Million Grand Prize

Established by Irwin Jacobs, the creator of FLW Outdoors and the Forrest
Wood Cup, FLW Fantasy Fishing is rapidly growing in popularity. There is no
entry fee to enter, but for an added edge, participants can purchase
Player’s Advantage for only $10 to assist them in trying to win a $1 million
payday, plus six $100,000 payouts, one for each qualifying tournament.

Fantasy Fishing is sponsored by FLW Outdoors, which brings the world’s
richest bass fishing tournament, the Forrest Wood Cup, to Pittsburgh this
summer from July 30-Aug. 2. The Forrest Wood Cup is the final event in the
Walmart FLW Tour, and just like fantasy football and fantasy baseball, you
can follow the leading money winners on the FLW Tour all season long and win
America’s richest fantasy event when the Fantasy Fishing winners for 2009
are announced here in Pittsburgh on Aug. 1, 2009.  Highlights from each
Walmart FLW Tour are broadcast to more than 79 million households weekly on
the FLW Outdoors television program, which will premiere on April 5, 2009 on
VERSUS.  “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is also broadcast
internationally through agreements with World Fishing Network (WFN) and
Matchroom Sport to more than 500 million households in such countries as
Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary,
and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor
sports television show in the world.

In addition to the $1 million grand prize, and the six $100,000 tournament
prizes, FLW Fantasy Fishing players are eligible to win prizes such as a
$54,000 Ranger boat, a brand new Chevy vehicle, a $25,000 gift card, or one
of more than 1,800 additional prizes. Fantasy Fishing also offers $3 million
and $5 million exacta bonus games by correctly ranking the top five
finishers in the Forrest Wood Cup or the top seven finishers in a
tournament.

FLW Fantasy Fishing players can increase their chances of winning the $1
million grand prize by entering all FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments
throughout the season and accumulating a greater amount of points leading up
to the Forrest Wood Cup.  The next tournaments in the Walmart FLW Tour
professional bass circuit include:

Tournament 2: Table Rock Lake, Branson, Mo., March 12-15, 2009
Tournament 3: Lake Norman, Charlotte, N.C., April 23-26, 2009
Tournament 4: Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark., May 14-17, 2009
Tournament 5: Kentucky/Barkley Lake, Benton, Ky., June 11-14, 2009
Tournament 6: Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y., July 9-12, 2009
$1 Million Grand Prize Announcement: Forrest Wood Cup, Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug.
1, 2009

The Richest Fantasy Sports Game

In its first season, FLW Fantasy Fishing took the fantasy sports world by
surprise by offering the first $1 million guaranteed grand prize for a
fantasy sports game.  And with that announcement, FLW Fantasy Fishing soared
to the top of the fantasy sports world, gaining fans from 123 countries
attracted to the game’s $7.3 million in overall cash and prizes, the highest
payout of any fantasy sports game in the world.  Last year’s million dollar
winner was Michael Thompson, 34, of Minneapolis, a stay-at-home Dad.

This year, FLW Fantasy Fishing once again sets a new standard, offering a $1
million grand prize again along with 1,800 other prizes for a total of $10
million in overall cash and prizes, the highest payout of any fantasy sports
game in the world.

First Tournament: Second and Third Places

Finishing behind Terry Moberly in second place, with 12,389 points, was Nate
Rose, a resident of Addison, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, who won a $5,000
Walmart gift card. Rose is an avid angler and fantasy sports gamer, who
learned about FLW Fantasy Fishing from a fishing buddy.

“Our basement was flooded last fall during a nine-inch rainstorm,” said
Rose, “so this gift card will come in really handy in helping us re-decorate
our basement.”

Clarence “Junior” Hillyard, a resident of Winchester, Va., a suburb of
Washington D.C., came in third place, with 12,259 points, winning a $1,000
Walmart gift card.  Hillyard, a technician with Rubbermaid, and his wife are
the parents of a 15-day-old baby girl.

“This is great! I can’t tell you how useful that Walmart gift card will be
for our new baby,” said Hillyard, a self-proclaimed fishing geek.  “It’s
going to make buying all of those diapers and formula a lot easier.”

International Winners

FLW Fantasy Fishing players representing four countries outside the United
States earned prizes in the first FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament in 2009.
Winners represented Australia, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

The highest placing player was William Martin, a player from Wingham, New
South Wales, Australia, who came in 123rd place to win a $50 Walmart gift
card.

In the first year of FLW Fantasy Fishing, participants from 123 countries
played Fantasy Fishing with prizes awarded to players in the United Kingdom,
Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Estonia and a number of
other countries.

About FLW Outdoors

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger
Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world and is
offering anglers the chance to win more than $33 million through 231
tournaments in 2009. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW
Fantasy Fishing <http://www.fantasyfishing.com/
<http://www.fantasyfishing.com/> > , 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
<http://www.flwoutdoors.com/ <http://www.flwoutdoors.com/> > or call (270)
252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s
Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com <http://www.fantasyfishing.com/
<http://www.fantasyfishing.com/> >.

FLW(R) is a registered trademark of FLW Outdoors, Inc.   For a complete
list of rules and prizes for FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit
http://www.fantasyfishing.com <http://www.fantasyfishing.com/> .

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Terry and her stepfather, Scott Salchli, were fishing the edge of a weed bed near the Claylick Boat Ramp late in the afternoon when the fish struck. Terry caught the record muskie on a Double Cowgirl in-line spinner with two size 10 gold blades and a purple skirt.

The 54-inch fish succumbed as Terry made a figure eight in the water with her lure. Muskellunge that follow a lure but don’t strike often fall for this old trick.

“She did the figure eight perfectly,” Salchli said. “She made really good, wide circles. The fish struck just as she was making her second figure eight.”

The new state record is only the third muskellunge the teen has caught since she started fishing for them last September. “It didn’t fight that long, but was still unbelievable,” she said. “I was running around the boat ramp. I felt like doing jumping jacks. I could’ve run laps around the whole lake.”

Salchli, who works for a soft drink company, also guides anglers for muskellunge on weekends on Cave Run. He is also a member of the Professional Musky Tournament Trail.

“This is the first Sunday I’ve had off in a while,” he said. “This was the only fish we saw all day.”

Terry won the in-line spinner that caught the record at a Muskies Incorporated banquet earlier in the year. The teenager realizes the significance and rarity of her catch. “I’ve been to Muskies Inc. banquets and saw older people who fished for 50 years trying to catch this kind of fish,” Terry said.

Her record muskellunge surpassed the previous state record by nearly three pounds. Lexington resident Scott Flatt caught the former record, a 44.38-pound fish, from Cave Run Lake in 1998.

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Terry, a 14-year old freshman at Montgomery County High School, and her stepfather, Scott Salchli, went through the proper steps to make sure her catch was certified as the official state record. If you catch what you think is a potential state record fish, you must follow the correct instructions to insure your fish makes the official state record fish list. This list is on page 33 and 34 of the 2008 Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide.

First, you must catch the fish by pole and line. Fish taken by commercial gear, trotlines, gigging, snagging, limb lines, hand grabbing or bow fishing are not eligible for state records.

Secondly, a fisheries biologist must verify the catch. “We have a fisheries biologist verify the fish to make sure it is identified correctly,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “We have 14 fishery biologists and several research biologists.”

The phone numbers for the fisheries biologists are listed on page 33 of the current fishing guide.

Next, you must have the fish weighed on scales certified for trade by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and witnessed by three other people. The three witnesses must sign the application for a Kentucky State Record Fish. Official applications should be supplied by the fishery biologist or you may print an application from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s web page at fw.ky.gov.

Anglers who catch a state record often want to release the catch. It is not necessary to kill the fish, but can be difficult to follow all of the steps to certification and keep the fish alive.

“If they can keep it alive while taking photos, having a biologist identify it and weighed on certified scales, then more power to them,” Buynak explained. “It is not a short process. The chances of the fish dying are pretty good.”

Salchli knows how tough it can be. “It was a three-hour ordeal,” he said. They took the record muskellunge to a grocery store, but the scales weren’t big enough for such weight. “Then, someone contacted Southern States and the manager drove from the other side of Flemingsburg to Morehead on a Sunday evening,” he said.

It is possible, although difficult, to keep your record alive. Bruce Midkiff released his 104-pound Kentucky state record blue catfish after he caught it in 1999.

So, if you catch a potential state record, follow these steps and bask in the glow of catching a rare state record fish.

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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.

At Buckhorn Lake, a narrow, 1,300-acre impoundment a few miles from Hazard, this submerged tree is like hundreds, maybe thousands, of others. And it’s one of the reasons this lake can be such a great place to fish.

In the spring and early summer, as gizzard shad nibble algae growth off of underwater limbs, muskie camp out below and wait for the perfect opportunity to ambush. (Later in summer weed growth will emerge and the shad and suckers will move toward it for food; the musky will follow.

It’s not just any wood growth that attracts musky. Smith says it needs to be wood growth near deep water; the depth gives musky room to hide, rise and strike.

This day Smith was throwing a weighted, 9-inch Cobb’s, firetiger jerkbait. The weight gave the bait a gliding motion underwater; the firetiger color made it more visible in murky water.

Casting the bait, even for the veteran Smith, was about as graceful as throwing a small boulder in the water. But the commotion didn’t worry Smith.

“You can’t scare these fish,” he said. “Nothing scares them.”

At Buckhorn, there’s not so much to scare them. It’s the least fished of the three Kentucky impoundments stocked with musky — Green River and Cave Run lakes are the others. It’s also the smallest.

Big fish, big gear: Above: A host of lures that Smith uses to pull musky off of submerged Buckhorn Lake Structure. Smith recommends the St. Croix Musky Series rods and Ambassador 6500 reels. He also recommends braided line.

It’s size shouldn’t discourage anglers, Smith says. There are a number of reasons to fish there in addition to the bigger lakes, where Smith also fishes.

“Buckhorn typically produces several large fish every year, and overall it receives a lot less fishing pressure. Buckhorn is also long and narrow and provides more cover than any oval or round lake of the same acreage. So even though it’s smaller, you’ve got a lot more territory to fish.

“Buckhorn also gives you the opportunity to fish two distinct ecosystems. The upper lake is a total river environment. The lower lake is typical of an impoundment.”

Buckhorn also has the state working hard to protect musky, Smith said. Anglers are only permitted to keep musky over 40 inches. That’s meaningful, Smith said. A 40-inch fish has been around for five or six years.

On this day it was easy to see the opportunity. We fished for five hours and never seemed to run out of wood cover to target. Jerkbaits were the lure of the day. We didn’t switch once.

“I can catch better fish on jerkbaits generally than any other lure types,” Smith said. “Jerkbaits can be fished effectively nearly year round except for the hottest part of the year. When it’s really hot, we’ll switch to a crankbait that can dive deep around the deep weed edges, when musky moved down close to the thermocline. You can’t get a crankbait down that far.”

Several times during the day, big largemouth came up and smacked the big bait. Smith rarely fishes for bass, but targeting musky has made him better appreciate the maxim “big bait, big fish.”

“These guys who fish for bass probably don’t use a big enough lure. Here and on Green River Lake, we consistently catch 4- to 6-pound largemouths. It tells me that when those fish are turned on, they’ll move on a big bait. I even think they’ll move when they’re turned off.”

On this day, the bass were more active than the musky.

With one exception. A few minutes after Smith wrenched his boat into that cove, a 37-inch musky shot up out of the tree and grabbed his jerkbait, ending weeks of anticipation.

“I knew it was there,” he said.

Gene Smith, former of Striker Guide Service, is now a guide with Redstone Outdoors Kentucky Fishing & Hunting Guides, which focuses on Green River, Buckhorn, Dale Hollow and Cave Run Lakes. He can be contacted at www.kentucky-muskie-fishing.com.

Sidebar:

Changing tactics on Buckhorn through the seasons

How you fish Buckhorn Lake depends largely on what time of year it is. Musky Guide Gene Smith offers some tips on how to change your tactics for year-round success.

Summer
In early summer, fish leave the flats and move into deeper channels around deep wood cover. Fish are caught on twitch baits, spinner baits and jerk baits.

Fall
Weed growth is heavy and fish will begin migrating to cooler water areas such as underwater springs. Use bucktails, spinner baits and large jerkbaits such as Burts and nine-inch weighted Suicks. Both work well.

Winter
Buckhorn Lake is undergoing extreme drawdown in depth. The fish are concentrated in an extremely small area in the old river channel. The lake ices up badly in winter and the water is often muddy. Fish is erratic. But big fish are caught in late February and early March using small crankbaits and musky jerkbaits. “They’re almost always caught by bass fisherman,” Smith says. Try fishing in shallow flats on warm flats.

Spring
In March through May, water levels fluctuate tremendously. Fish begin to show up on main-lake flats in a post-spawn pattern. They feed primarily on small carp, drum and suckers, and big gizzard shad. Fishing jerkbaits on the flats and twitch baits around shallow cover will produce a lot of fish this time of year.

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