An Official Website of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Click the Quick Navigation links for more information about Fishing in Kentucky.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife regularly creates and maintains fish attractors and habitat structures in lakes across Kentucky. These structures vary in material and benefit sport fish populations while providing anglers with productive fishing areas. GPS locations of many of these structures are found here.
As a voluntary program, fishing event organizers are strongly urged to use the Tournament website at fw.ky.gov/tournamentschedule.aspx to register and report on their events. Tournament planners can avoid space conflicts with other previously registered events by adjusting the date, time, specific launch areas or weigh-in site for their activities.
Other recreational anglers and boaters can check the website to see when and where fishing events are scheduled. This will assist them in planning their activities and also help avoid potential space conflicts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Forest Service or Kentucky State Parks may require additional permits.
If the launch site for your tournament involves using a marina ramp, please get in touch with the marina operator before scheduling your tournament.
There are over 1,000 fishing tournaments held annually in Kentucky waters. These can be valuable sources of information for our fishery biologists. Following each scheduled event, tournament organizers are asked to report their catch data directly on the tournament website or on forms that can be sent via postal mail. Voluntary cooperation from tournament organizers will be used in making fishery management decisions. At the end of the tournament season, a summary of tournament results will be sent to all providers. If not provided with one, contact your local fisheries district office. They will provide a packet.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife recommends tournament anglers and directors follow some simple procedures to keep bass alive during summer tournaments that run from June through August. Summer tournament fishing places great stress on bass due to high water temperatures. You can view a list of these procedures here.
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The Kentucky Departments for Environmental Protection, Health Services and Fish and Wildlife Resources jointly issue a fish consumption advisory to the public when fish are found contaminated. Trace contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), mercury and chlordane are found in some fish in Kentucky. An advisory cautions people about potential health problems that may result from eating fish caught from a particular area. An advisory does not ban eating fish; it is a guide to reduce your risk. This guide provides information on how often fish may be safely eaten. Most fish are healthy to eat and are an excellent source of low-fat protein.
Women of childbearing age, children 6 years of age or younger, pregnant and nursing women and women who plan to become pregnant should follow the advisories in the "Sensitive Population" category.
All waters are under advisory for mercury. Women of childbearing age and children 6 years of age or younger should eat no more than six meals per year of predatory fish and no more than one meal per month of panfish and bottom feeder fish. The general public should eat no more than one meal per month of predatory fish and no more than one meal per week of panfish and bottom feeder fish.
Organic mercury can occur naturally in the environment and does not affect swimmers, skiers or boaters. Fish can accumulate low levels of mercury by eating plankton and other small aquatic creatures.
A new method for reporting fish consumption advisories has been adopted. Consumption rates for specific fish have been developed based on a meal of ½ pound of fish (before cooking) eaten by a 150-pound individual. Following these guidelines and spacing your meals of those fish species will limit your health risks by reducing your total exposure. See the table below for fish consumption advisories.
Due to expanded testing on more waterbodies and additional fish species, the fish consumption advisories changed this year due to a wider presence of organic mercury than previously found.
Fish consumption advisories now delineate between predatory fish, bottom feeder fish and panfish. Predatory fish include black bass (smallmouth, largemouth and spotted), white bass, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, sauger, saugeye, walleye, muskellunge, flathead and blue catfish, yellow bass, chain pickerel and all gars.
Panfish include bluegill, crappie, and rock bass as well as green, longear and redear sunfish. Bottom feeder fish include the bullheads, buffalo species, channel catfish, common carp, redhorse species, shovelnose sturgeon, drum, and creek chub as well as the white, spotted, northern hog and carp suckers.
For the most up-to-date consumption advisory information, visit the Fish Consumption Advisory page.
Risks from eating contaminated fish can be reduced by the following:
Kentucky anglers will occasionally clean a fish and find a white or yellowish color worm in the fish's flesh that is about the size of a grain of rice. Or, when stream fishing, an angler will encounter a smallmouth bass or sunfish with small black specks on its belly or across its body.
This is a parasitic fluke that requires different host animals to complete its life cycle: a fish-eating bird, a snail, and a fish. The grub matures and produces eggs inside a host fish-eating bird such as a Great Blue Heron. The eggs enter the water from the bird's droppings or its mouth. The eggs hatch and tiny larvae of the parasite burrow into a snail. After a time in the snail, the parasite changes form and swims to its next host, a fish. Inside the fish, the parasite changes to a grub form and waits for the fish to be eaten. Then, the cycle repeats.
The angler's first instinct is to discard any fish with either the grubs in the flesh or black specks on the body. Grub-infested fish are safe to eat. Grubs do not infect people. Remove any grubs found and prepare the fish as you normally would.
Blue-green algae are a type of bacteria found in lakes in Kentucky and throughout the United States. They occur naturally, but if their numbers get too high they can pose health risks to humans and animals. Anglers, hunters, boaters and all others who might use these water resources should be aware of the potential risks associated with these blooms. Both the Kentucky Division of Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have initiated testing of lakes in Kentucky to document these blooms and provide updated information to the public.
Artwork by Rick Hill, Kentucky Department for Fish and Wildlife Resources
SAUGER
1. Rows of dark spots on spiny dorsal fin,2. No dark blotch at the rear of the spiny dorsal fin,3. Dark saddle-like blotches which extend onto the sides of the body
WALLEYE
1. Dark streaks or blotches on spiny dorsal fin, but not distinct spots,2. Dark blotch at rear of spiny, dorsal fin,3. White spot on lower lobe of tail fin
BROWN TROUT
1. Dark Spots and orange or red spots with blue halos,2. No spots on tail fin
RAINBOW TROUT
1. Pink to red stripe on side,2. Back and sides heavily speckled,3. Spots on tail fin
BROOK TROUT
1. Worm-like markings (vermiculations) on upper body,2. Pale spots on dark background
BLUEGILL
1. Gill flap black,2. Vertical bars on side,3. Dark blotch at rear of soft dorsal fin
REDEAR SUNFISH
1. Gill flap black with orange or red margin,2. No dark blotch at rear of soft dorsal fin
WHITE CRAPPIE
1. Dorsal fin has five or more spines,2. Vertical bars on side
BLACK CRAPPIE
1. Dorsal fin has seven or eight spines,2. Irregular black blotches on side
MUSKELLUNGE
1. Duck-like bill with sharp teeth,2. No scales on lower half of cheek and gill flap
FLATHEAD CATFISH
1. Lower jaw projects far beyond upper jaw,2. Tail fin not deeply forked,3. Head is compressed on flathead catfish
CHANNEL CATFISH
1. Outer margin of anal fin rounded, with 24 to 29 rays,2. Dark spots usually on body,3. Tail fin deeply forked
HYBRID STRIPED BASS
1. Tooth patch on tongue consists of two rows of teeth, often partially joined,2. Back moderately arched,3. Most stripes are broken, many more than once
STRIPED BASS
1. Tooth patch on tongue consists of two distinctly split, parallel rows of teeth,2. Back slightly arched, more streamlined,3. Stripes very distinct and most extend fully onto tail
WHITE BASS
1. Single tooth patch on tongue,2. Back arched,3. Stripes often faint and irregular
YELLOW BASS
1. Not tooth patch on tongue,2. Second and thired anal spines nearly same length,3. Stripes distinct and broken above anal fin
ROCK BASS
1. Eye rimmed in red,2. Most scales have a dark spot,3. Anal fin has five or six spines
SMALLMOUTH BASS
1. Upper jaw does not extend beyond back of eye,2. Shallow notch between dorsal fins,3. Bronze colored with vertical bars on side
LARGEMOUTH BASS
1. Upper jaw extends beyond back of eye,2. Dorsal fins separated by deep notch,3. Tongue usually without tooth patch
SPOTTED BASS
1. Single tooth patch on tongue,2. Upper jaw does not extend beyond back of eye,3. Shallow notch between dorsal fins,4. Rows of dark spots below lateral line
BLUE CATFISH
1. Outer margin of anal fin straight, with 30 to 35 rays,2. Body without dark spots,3. Tail fin deeply forked
LAKE STURGEON (top) & ALLIGATOR GAR
Lake sturgeon MAY NOT be harvested statewide.Alligator gar are part of new restoration efforts in Western Kentucky. RELEASE caught aligator gar.
If you see or catch these fish, please report the catch or sighting to Matt Thomas or 502-564-7109.
These five species of fish are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to take these fish species and utilize them for any purpose including as live bait for fishing.
BLACKSIDE DACE
Found only in small (wadeable) steams in Upper Cumberland River Basin inluding Letcher, Harlan, Bell, Whitely, Knox, McCreary, Pulaski and Laurel counties.
CUMBERLAND DARTER
Found only in small (wadeable) steams in Upper Cumberland River drainage including Whiteley and McCreary counties
PALEZONE SHINER
Found only in the Little South Fork of the Cumberland River in McCreary and Wayne counties.
RELIECT DARTER
Found only in the Bayou du Chien River in Hickman and Graves counties.
Found only in the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River in McCreary County.
No live fish, live minnow, or live bait organisms not native or established in Kentucky shall be bought, sold, possessed, imported, or in any way used or released into Kentucky waters.
Sport anglers unintentionally and intentionally stock fish in Kentucky’s public waters. These species mainly include gizzard shad and alewives that are present in several water bodies. Gizzard shad have been illegally released in several small public lakes where they previously were not present. They interfere with the lake’s ability to support a quality bluegill population. Alewives are non-native fish illegally stocked into several Kentucky lakes. The total impact of these fish is not known, but they are known to eat young fish, including sport fishes.
Additionally, many non-native aquatic species invaded the country, particularly in the Great Lake states. These include both plants and animals such as Eurasian watermilfoil, Asian carp, hydrilla, spring water flea, and zebra mussels.
Two species of Asian carp, the big head and silver, have invaded river systems in Kentucky. Any river or large stream tributary to the Ohio or Mississippi Rivers most likely possesses Asian carp. Both of these species are plankton eaters and may exceed 50 pounds in size. Their impact on native species is not presently known, but they represent a competitive threat to other plankton-eating fish such as our native paddlefish and most of our sport fish at early life stages.
Very young Asian carp in these river systems can be easily mistaken as shad or skipjack herring. All bait collectors using cast or dip nets should never dispose of any live bait into other water bodies due to the potential threat of spreading these aquatic nuisance species.
Kentucky has zebra mussels present in our waters and are at nuisance levels in the Ohio River. They attach themselves to any solid submerged surface in a cluster, reproduce rapidly, and pose a serious threat to native freshwater mussel populations. These mussels have elongated pointed shells less than two inches long with a zebra-like pattern of stripes. Zebra mussels can live 8 to 10 days out of the water and be transported to another water body while attached to a boat.
Hydrilla is an exotic plant invading Kentucky through the transfer of plant fragments by boats and personal watercraft. All it takes is a small fragment of the plant to start a new colony. This plant forms extremely dense mats that grow to the surface of the water body making boating and swimming difficult. It literally fills shallow areas from top to bottom with vegetation.
Hydrilla also chokes out native plants and displaces fish. It is extremely difficult to eradicate once it becomes established.
In order to limit the spread of this nuisance plant, please check all trailer parts, boat motors and other equipment for mud or pieces of plant and remove them before leaving the lake.