An Official Website of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Spring is a good time to grab your fishing gear and explore all the great opportunities that Kentucky has to offer. Join writer Kevin Kelly and Kentucky Afield Magazine Associate Editor Lee McClellan as they offer the best in fishing tips and tactics from around the state for a great start to the season. Just click the photo to see more. Want a place closer to home? Find a place to fish by clicking here. Don't forget to pick up your fishing license before you go.
Can't get enough articles about seasonal fishing opportunities? Check out our Fall Fishing Festival series!
Lee McClellanFrankfort, KY
The rapid cast-and-catch of springtime white bass fishing strikes a deep nerve within Kentuckians - and has for many decades. Catching white bass during their spring spawning runs is as white hot and full of fun as any fishing found.
Kentucky’s white bass fishing frenzy inspired lure innovations such as the plunker and fly. This lure was originally made from a piece of broomstick with eye screws attached to either end.
Getting started in fishing can be intimidating for the uninitiated. Finding a place to fish then learning how to do it can be a bit scary for a newbie. Then there’s learning the terminology and the cost of equipment.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources offers a solution for where to go: the department manages 45 Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes across the state that offer entry-level anglers good locations to put a fish in hand.
Bass anglers fishing from the bank of a reservoir often look longingly at boats ripping up and down the lake. Big bass boats pull onto a point, fish for 10 minutes, and roar off. Watching these boats from shore may inspire envy - but it shouldn't. At times, a bank angler has an advantage.
After all, Mark Ward caught the current state record...
Lee McClellan Frankfort, KY
Summer-like weather floated into Kentucky over the past week or so. An obviousus sign is when you notice people venturing outside in T-shirts and shorts still wrinkled from being stored away since last fall...
Bass anglers fishing from the bank of a reservoir often look longingly at boats ripping up and down the lake. Big bass boats pull onto a point, fish for 10 minutes, and roar off...
It feels like spring is taking two years to arrive. We've experienced bouts of dismal cold rain and high muddy water, followed by glorious warm...
Few outdoor activities in Kentucky can match the explosive strike of striped bass in Lake Cumberland: whether it's a night strike in that leaves an angler...
There are old rituals each March in Kentucky. The series of prep races that culminate in the Kentucky Derby. The conference tournaments for our college basketball...
The incredibly popular Parklands of Floyds Fork in Jefferson County began with some small land acquisitions of a former sod farm along the creek...
With Memorial Day weekend on tap, the summer fishing patterns are upon us. The summer weather is a welcome relief after the spring of crazy...
After an unusually cool April and May so far, the long range forecast calls normal temperatures to return as we come into the warmer months, the...
Those of us who wade rocky streams for smallmouth or tailwaters for trout sometimes bite off more than we can chew. An eddy on the other side of the stream looks inviting and the more...
A day spent catching fish from the bank of a pond or lake will hook a novice angler and entertain the most experienced one. May traditionally offers go...
Derby week is a festive time in Kentucky. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, summer is just...
Anglers with a bit of salt in their hair remember fondly the venerable Sassy Shad, the paddle-tailed, shad-shaped soft plastic wonder that caught...
Kevin KellyFrankfort, KY
Although mired in an unusually long dogwood winter, a folklore term for a mid-April cold snap when dogwood trees bloom, the extended forecast calls for it to break early next week. The...
The first warm days of the year never come soon enough. But when they do, a feeling of euphoria sweeps over anglers because springtime offers...
Anglers lined the bank of the Dix River in Rankin Bottoms in Herrington Lake’s extreme headwaters, casting minnows suspended under brown cork...
Chad Miles, host of the Kentucky Afield television show, had a royal field day earlier this week on Dale Hollow Lake. "I caught about 10 pounds of smallmouth bass in two casts," he said. "One was over four pounds and the other weighed 5.2...
The dog days of summer slow everything down. The heat and humidity along with the long days make outside work sweaty and arduous as June gives...
Largemouth bass are one of the most popular sport fish in Kentucky. Two of Kentucky’s excellent state resort parks, Barren River Lake State Resort and Lake Barkley State Resort Park, lie on two of the best...
Water temperatures are 75 degrees in Kentucky Lake in west Kentucky and the same at Lake Cumberland in southeast Kentucky and the hot weather in southeast Kentucky and the hot weather in the...
The gorgeous weather combined with warming, but tolerable, temperatures make June one of the best months to be outside. The wonderful weather...
The summer temperatures predicted for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend bring the perfect environment for taking some kids fishing. If they like the experience, how do you keep the...
A vehicle with a couple of kayaks on the roof with fishing poles visible through the back window is an increasingly common sight on Kentucky highways. Sales show kayak fishing and related kayak...
One of the age-old quandaries concerning fishing is finding somewhere to go and catch fish. Over the past several years, the staff of the Fisheries Division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources upgraded a Kentucky angler's ability to...
It is just about the time of year when the big “bull” redear sunfish move shallow to spawn, sending a shiver of excitement through many Kentucky anglers. When the big redear sunfish move up to span, they produce some of the best fishing of the...
It was roughly a year ago on Good Friday when Evarts resident Mark Ward went fishing after work with his wife and daughter at 6-acre Highsplint Lake in in Harlan County. Ward pitched a soft...
Spring has sprung all across Kentucky. Air temperatures nipped at 80 degrees earlier this week and water temperatures are over 60 degrees on many lakes. Black crappie are moving along rocky banks that have them. "With the longer photo...
The temperatures rose to the high 70s last weekend and dropped into the low 50s earlier this week...
The air temperatures will flirt with 80 degrees this week and the white bass are running sporadically in the headwaters of Taylorsville Lake. Water temperatures range from the mid-to-high 50s on lake across Kentucky and the temperatures range from...
Anglers in Kentucky often learned to fish by wading the abundant streams that course over the surface of our state. Many of these streams flow over a...