Think topwater for Kentucky smallmouth during summer

I just about need a rope tied to my belt loop any time I work a Zara Pup. It looks so enticing darting side to side that I almost want to go in after it. Thankfully, a feisty smallie often beats me to the punch, especially during June.
Smallmouth waters often have warmed enough by June to have the fish fired up. However, the same waters have not gotten toasty enough to turn the fish lethargic or drive them deep. In addition, hatching aquatic insects, misdirected terrestrials and shallow schools of minnows tend to keep the fish looking up for meals this time of year.
June is an outstanding topwater period in streams and lakes alike, although the nature of the bite tends to be a bit different in each. In moving waters, the surface action sometimes lasts all day, and it’s apt to be best through the middle of the afternoon.
In lakes, which are generally warmer than smallmouth streams by June, surface action clearly peaks very early and late in the day. Good topwater fishing can occur during midday – and wise anglers pick up their topwater rod occasionally throughout the day – but mornings and evenings definitely bring the most predictable action.
For stream fishing, most fishermen favor fairly small topwater plugs, like Tiny Torpedoes, Zara Pups, Baby Rattlin’ Chug Bugs and Spit’N Kings. Chrome and bone are favored colors for average conditions, with black working quite well when the water is stained or the skies are very dark, and clear is tough to top for very clear water and bluebird skies.
As summer progresses, a Rebel Bighopper, twitched or slowly wobbled across the surface, can be deadly on small streams or near grassy banks. When walked on the top with occasional pauses, a Bighopper nicely imitates an out-of-place liver ‘hopper skittering across the top.
Small buzzbaits and soft-plastic jerkbaits also can be productive some days when plugs won’t do the job. Soft-plastic jerkbaits are great baits to turn to when smallmouths are busting on plugs but not quite getting them. Buzzbaits work great for working a lot of water and figuring out what kind of spots the fish are using.
Some summer days, stream smallmouths will be everywhere they should be and will hit any topwater offering that invades their space. More often, anglers need to experiment. Areas that commonly hold topwater-feeding fish include pocket eddies along the bank, waters beside current-breaking cover and swift rocky runs, where fish hold beneath submerged boulders.
Stream fishermen sometimes overlook swift areas for topwater fishing, but large runs that have good current pushing through them sometimes hold the most aggressive fish. A Tiny Torpedo, which draws attention with its spinning propeller and can be fished fast, is among the best baits for swift-water fishing.
Many of the same lures that work well on streams also will draw smallmouths to the top on reservoirs. However, with bigger fish on average, far more water for anglers to cover; deeper waters and a greater likelihood of waves to contend with; lakes also bring in a need for larger plugs. Larger “walking” lures, like Super Spooks and Sammy plugs, are favorites among reservoir smallmouth fishermen.
Like on rivers, buzzbaits work really well for covering water and locating fish. Even on days when plugs will drum up more action or attract strikes from bigger fish, buzzbaits help anglers find hot banks or types of banks that are holding fish.
On glassy-calm mornings or evenings, one of the best ways to bring big smallmouths to the top is to slowly wobble a floating jerkbait like a Bomber Long “A” or a Storm ThunderStick across the surface. This “finesse” topwater approach, which sends out a subtle but distinctive wake, is especially good in very clear water.
Early and late in the day, many types of areas are likely to produce good topwater action on reservoirs. Bluff banks, tops of points or humps and waters near specific cover features, like boulders, docks or brush all offer good prospects.
Prime spots generally will be close to deeper areas that have been holding fish during the day, often on the lake’s main body or in the far lower ends of creeks. Anglers generally work a lot of water until the fish reveal themselves, whether by hitting a lure, breaking the top or spooking some baitfish.
Through the middle part of the day, the bulk of the topwater action that occurs on reservoirs is over main-lake structural features like humps, ledges, saddles and major points. The same fish most anglers target with Carolina rigs and crankbaits will sometimes hammer surface plugs, especially if a lake has some current running through it.
Occasionally these bass will push baitfish to the surface, making the call for topwater obvious. Other times, the only way to find out whether they will come up is to throw a Spook or a big popper from time to time and make some noise on the surface.
Whether the smallmouths have been busting on top or not, veteran anglers always have a topwater bait or two tied on during June. It’s hard enough to maintain the composure to make a decent cast when smallmouths are scattering baitfish, let alone trying to find the right plug and tie it on in the heat of the moment.

By Jeff Samsel

Everything but tartar sauce this weekend on “Kentucky Afield” TV

Fishing, fish, and a fish dish combine to make “Kentucky Afield” TV a keeper this weekend, May 16 and 17.

With an eye on the white bass run at Herrington Lake, host Tim Farmer jumps aboard with angler Jim Duncan and his daughter, Anna. While fishing rarely gives a guarantee, incredible catches this evening were child’s play. Take note for the next time you want to get after them after work or school.

Also on the show, Kentucky’s interior lakes and streams welcome back a popular fish of yesteryear, the lake sturgeon. The indigenous species is considered critically imperiled. We visit Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery to see how specialists are working to return the fish to healthy populations.

Lastly, the Mediterranean is as close as Farmer’s kitchen. If you’re ready to add a tangy bite to your bass, try Tim’s marinade and it’s “next stop: Heaven.”

“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 web 24/7 at fw.ky.gov.

By KDFWR

Cajun Cuisine: Want to get a smallmouth’s attention? Tie on a crawfish

Served fresh on a bed of gravel and garnished with moss, a live crawfish has the same appeal to a smallmouth bass as does the last boiled crawfish on an appetizer platter at a south Louisiana festival.

Smallmouths eat crawfish – lots of ’em. In streams and lakes alike throughout Kentucky, crawfish are at or near the top of the smallies’ favorite foods list. Therefore, if you want to catch your share of smallmouths, be sure to incorporate plenty of crawfish imitating lures into your bait selections.

Because crawfish are such important forage for smallmouths (and various other species), lure manufacturers make many different kinds of lures that imitate crafish in one way or another. Most fall into the broad category of crankbaits, soft-plastic lures or jigs.

Probably best known of the crawfish lures is a Rebel crawfish. One of the best-selling lures in the nation, as it has been for many years, a Rebel Crawfish imitates a craw in its swimming posture (claws tucked in), which is when a live crawfish is most vulnerable.

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Teenager yanks 10+ pound largemouth from Tom Wallace Lake

Dana Tindall says her teenage son, who is home schooled, fishes nearly every day after school. You can bet he never before had a day like last Saturday.

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

Bluegrass State 2009 Crappie Forecast

This spring should offer up a great opportunity to go out and catch a boatload of slabs. Across Kentucky, fisheries are in great shape. With some help from Mother Nature, your success will be only a cast or two away.

Here are a few of the places you might want to target this year.

Check out Paul Moore’s summary of crappie the state’s predicted crappie hot spots by following the link to Kentucky Game and Fish below.

Bluegrass State 2009 Crappie Forecast.

Kentucky tags panfish at Elmer Davis Lake

Anglers fishing at Elmer Davis Lake in Owen County can help the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources by returning tags from marked bluegill and redear sunfish (shellcrackers).

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife employees recently inserted tags into more than 250 bluegill and 450 redear sunfish. More fish will be tagged in the coming weeks. Anglers who return tags from these fish are eligible for an award.

Researchers are trying to determine the angler catch of bluegill and redear sunfish. This information will be used in the future to improve panfish fishing in small lakes across the state.

Each tag consists of a piece of white tubing inserted into the back of the fish. Tags contain the department’s name, telephone number and a fish identification number. Each tagged fish will be 6 inches or longer.

Anglers who catch tagged fish should return the tag to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. For convenience, tags and fish information may be turned in at the lake using the envelopes located at a drop box at the ramp at the lake’s dam.

Anglers practicing catch-and-release may clip the tag from the fish before releasing it. Only one envelope should be used for each tag.

Last year, researchers ran a similar tagging study at Beaver Lake in Anderson County.

His first big musky

Growing up fishing in farm ponds for largemouth bass and bluegill was training for what happened on April 9, 2009.

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.

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When taking kids fishing, it’s not about you

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.

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March is the Month for Big Bass

Frankfort, Ky. – Several decades ago, March brought out crusty, tough men who impaled several night crawlers on a large hook and dropped the bait around any stump, tree top, log or surface debris along the shoreline of a lake or pond for big bass. These anglers used a scull paddle to move their wooden boats quietly around the water, and fished stout cane poles with heavy black nylon line to haul their catch away from the cover. This fishing technique became known as jigging.

Although Herrington Lake receives credit as the birthplace of jigging, anglers discovered the same technique also worked well in other lakes for enormous female largemouth bass.

“They would drop the night crawlers right in front of the bass and haul them out of that cover,” said “Kentucky Afield” television Host Tim Farmer. “I was once a creel clerk on Elmer Davis Lake in Owen County and I would see some really big bass come from there at this time of year by jigging.”

While most anglers nowadays have switched to artificial lures and modern baitcasting rods, the basic technique still works at this time of year because the big female largemouth bass need to eat.

“They are spawning next month and feeding up to put nutrients in them they’ll need for spawning,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “The best way to do that is to get up in the warm shallow water and feed as much as they can. This is the final push to get ready for the spawn.”

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Smallmouth fishing on Elkhorn Creek looks good this year

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.

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