As any regular reader of this space may have noticed: I like to fish. I always have. I learned early and am still learning. I haven’t fished all the waters in Kentucky, but I’m working on it. I’ve lived in Kentucky longer than I’ve lived anywhere else so, statistically, I’ve probably fished in Kentucky more than I’ve fished anywhere else. This is a blessing, as we have some extraordinary and varied angling.
According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky is home to 245 native fish species, along with an additional 24 that have been added (some intentionally, a few accidentally). About 25 of the state’s 269 fish species are regularly targeted by anglers, the most sought after probably being the largemouth bass followed by crappie, bluegill, catfish and smallmouth bass.
One fish we don’t have is the steelhead trout—at least not officially. While you can’t catch a steelhead in Kentucky, you can catch a rainbow trout, and according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they are, scientifically, the same fish (Oncorhynchus mykss), with steelhead trout being an anadromous form of rainbow trout, traveling from fresh to saltwater then returning to freshwater to spawn.
Steelhead are native to the West Coast but, like rainbows, have been transplanted and prospered beyond their native range, including the Great Lakes, which puts them within a day’s drive of many Kentucky anglers. Rainbow trout (one of Kentucky’s 24 added fish species) are regularly stocked in more than 70 Kentucky waters, including the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam, which is considered one of the region’s finest tailwater trout fisheries.
A few years ago, I was invited with a group of other media types to Western New York to fish the Niagara River below Niagara Falls, an area I had never visited before. The trip was in late April. The weather was miserable, rainy and cold. The Niagara is a splendid fishery, weather notwithstanding. Our first morning on the water, while I was pulling on my raingear and wishing I’d brought another layer of wool, I ask our guide for the day what he had in mind.
“We might still find some steelhead.”
“What do you mean, ‘still’ find some?”
He explained that Great Lakes steelhead, having adapted to freshwater, move out of the lakes in early/late fall and into the various rivers, streams and tributaries, where they spend the winter before returning to the big waters for the summer. Typically, by late April or early May, most lower Niagara steelhead have moved back into Lake Ontario, he said. “But not all. And,” he added with a grin glancing at the sky, “it’s steelhead weather.”
I caught a few fish that day but no steelhead. I hooked one fish that stayed deep and pulled like a bulldog. “Probably a steelhead,” the guide said when the line went slack. My partner in the boat later landed a steelhead about the length of his arm.
We returned to the dock around mid-afternoon, wet and shivering cold.
“How’d you like it?” our guide asked.
“I loved it,” I said, through the teeth-clattering cold. “When is the best time to come for steelhead?”
“Depends on the weather and water conditions,” he said. “We’re usually seeing pretty good numbers by November through March. Sometimes into April.
“Be careful, though,” he said with a smile. “They’ll get into your dreams.”
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Seasonal catch-and-release regulations for 14 trout streams across the Commonwealth, including a 20-mile stretch of Jefferson County’s Floyds Fork, end March 31. Statewide regulations for these waters will be in effect April through September. Details, including a full list of the waters and their locations, are at fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Seasonal-Catch-and-Release-Trout-Streams.aspx.
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Kentucky’s spring turkey hunting season opens in mid-April, but now is not too soon to start scouting. Get out and find a bird. While doing so, look and listen but don’t use a turkey call. It’s illegal, although it’s OK to sound like an owl, crow, coyote or woodpecker to try and get a pre-season gobbler’s attention.
Confusing? I’ll let the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resourses explain. From the KDFWR website: “A person shall not mimic the sound of a turkey in an area open to turkey hunting and where turkeys are reasonably expected to be present from March 1 until the opening of the youth-only turkey season, and from the close of the youth-only turkey season until the opening of the statewide turkey season. However, locating turkeys with an owl, crow, coyote or woodpecker call is permitted when scouting.”
The statewide spring season is April 18-May 10, but youngsters (age 15 and younger) will have the first shot during the two-day youth hunt April 4-5. During last year’s spring turkey season, hunters checked 30,661 birds. Do yourself and the future a favor. Take a kid hunting.
Gobbler details at fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Spring-Turkey-Hunting.aspx.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at editor@kentuckymonthly.com.