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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.
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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 This lure was originally made from a piece of broomstick with eye screws attached to either end.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 • May 19, 2022
Planning a Summer Float Trip
Summer-like weather floated into Kentucky over the past week or so. An obvious sign is when you notice people venturing outside in T-shirts and shorts still wrinkled from being stored away since last fall.
kayak
Lee McClellan • April 21, 2022
Bank fishing for spring bass
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.
bass
Lee McClellan • April 7, 2022
It’s about time to catch some crappie
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 days that bring hope that spring has finally sprung. Some of these blissful days with temperatures breaking 65 seem to always fall during the work week, but by Saturday, it's raining with highs in the mid-40s. We've even witnessed snow spitting on the waning Saturday of March.
crappie
Lee McClellan • March 24, 2022
Lake Cumberland reporting record numbers of bigger striped bass
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 shaking, or the mayhem of four planer boards disappearing at once as stripers inhale the baits.
bass
Lee McClellan • March 16, 2022
The white bass runs provide a bonanza of bank fishing
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 teams, followed by the Big Dance.
Lee McClellan • February 25, 2022
Increased trout stockings bring great fishing to Floyds Fork Creek
The incredibly popular Parklands of Floyds Fork in Jefferson County began with some small land acquisitions of a former sod farm along the creek and quickly grew into a 4,000-acre park with incredible infrastructure for paddling and fishing.
trout
Lee McClellan • May 27, 2021
Productive Fishing Options During the Summer Heat
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 weather we've had. With a brisk April followed by some of coldest average May temperatures in memory, we can finally look forward to stable water levels and predictable fishing.
Lee McClellan • May 20, 2021
Two Tailwater Floats for Early Summer Smallies
After an unusually cool April and May so far, the long-range forecast calls for normal temperatures to return as we come into the warmer months, the best time of year to stream fish for smallmouth bass from a paddlecraft.
Lee McClellan • May 13, 2021
Stick it to Dangerous Currents with aWading Staff
Those of us who wade rocky streams for smallmouth or tailwaters for trout sometimes bite off more than we can chew.
Lee McClellan • May 7, 2021
May is a Great Time for Redear Sunfish
A day spent catching fish from the bank of a pond or lake will hook a novice angler and entertain the most experienced one.
sunfish
Lee McClellan • April 29, 2021
Derby Time Brings Good Stream Smallmouth Bass Fishing
Derby week is a festive time in Kentucky. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, summer is just about here and cold winds are gone until fall. The dramatic warm-up this past week foreshadowed the gorgeous sunshine and warm temperatures of June.
Lee McClellan • April 22, 2021
Swimbaits FoolTrophy Fish
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 practically anything that swims.
Kevin Kelly • April 16, 2021
Late Spring is an Excellent Time forRiver Fishing
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 increased temperatures and dry weather in the forecast should get river systems in Kentucky in good shape for late April and early May fishing.
Kevin Kelly • April 8, 2021
Spring Is Prime Time For Trophy Largemouth Bass
A winter back-loaded with cold, snow and high water can make the season’s stay seem unusually long and especially harsh.
Lee McClellan • April 1, 2021
White Bass RunsUpon Us
Looking back at old photos from the 1950s and 1960s in Happy Hunting Ground magazine, the precursor of Kentucky Afield magazine, you see old Ford and Chevy trucks with huge white walled tires, stepside beds and rounded features parked on the shoulders of KY 52 between Danville and Lancaster on both sides of the Dix River Bridge.
Lee McClellan • March 25, 2021
The Spybait is an excellent option for spring fishing for smallmouth bass
Chad Miles, host of the Kentucky Afield television show, had a royal field day earlier this week on Dale Hollow Lake.
Lee McClellan • June 18, 2020
Wade the Lake Cumberland tailwater to beat the heat and catch fish
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 way to July. The weather forecast calls for temperatures of 90 degrees and above this coming weekend.
trout
Lee McClellan • June 11, 2020
Two good state resort parks for earlysummer fishing
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 largemouth bass lakes in our state.
Lee McClellan • June 3, 2020
Channel Catfish Spawn Brings Hot Fishing for Bank Anglers
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 the forecast will increase those temperatures, sending channel catfish to rocky banks in reservoirs to spawn. June is one of the most productive months to fish for them.
catfish
Lee McClellan • May 27, 2020
June a Transitional Month for Bass Fishing
The gorgeous weather combined with warming, but tolerable, temperatures make June one of the best months to be outside. The wonderful weather drives hordes of largemouth bass anglers to waters across Kentucky, filled with anticipation of catching a couple of five-pounders.
Kevin Kelly • May 20, 2020
Tips to encourage your young angler’s interest this summer
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 fishing momentum going throughout the summer?
fishing
Lee McClellan • May 15, 2020
Finding the best kayak for flatwater fishing
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.
kayak
Lee McClellan • May 8, 2020
Finding a Place to Fish
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 find productive waters by using the department’s website at www.fw.ky.gov.
fishing
Lee McClellan • April 30, 2020
Redear sunfishspawn upon us
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.
sunfish
Lee McClellan • March 25, 2020
April is Trophy Largemouth Time
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 Harlan County.
Lee McClellan • April 8, 2020
Crappie time is here
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.
crappie
Lee McClellan • April 1, 2020
Three things to consider for spring fishing
The temperatures rose to the high 70s last weekend and dropped into the low 50s earlier this week, again in the 70s this coming weekend. The up-and-down nature of spring weather can cause consternation among anglers when planning fishing trips. Concerns about the weather is one of three things to consider before heading out to the water this spring.
White bass spawning runs beginning
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 temperature spike this week should get white bass running into the headwaters of Nolin River Lake, Herrington Lake, Fishtrap Lake, Green River Lake and Cave Run lakes.
bass
Lee McClellan • March 19, 2020
Wading is an excellent and inexpensive way to fish streams
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 rocky bottom and hold substantial populations of smallmouth bass. Several streams flowing in the mountains of east Kentucky or streams powered by springs receive trout stocked by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.