Where To Be Gone Fishin‘

When you’re a kid, few things in life can match the sheer exuberance of the last day of school. Summer awaits. Adventure is just outside the door, and you greet it at the top of your lungs as you dash into the sunshine.

I still experience the same giddiness at this time of year, although now I’m officially old enough to be cranky (and get away with it). Call it fishing fever.

“You can catch just about anything on a warm April day,” says Jim Axon, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

April is the best time of year to catch a bragging-size largemouth bass from Kentucky or Barkley lakes. While everyone else is crappie fishing, try bass fishing in the submerged, brushy creek channels out from the bank.

Cedar Creek Lake in Lincoln County has excellent numbers of 12-17-inch fish, with a few approaching the 20-inch size limit. Although the secret’s out about the big bass in Pendleton County’s Kincaid Lake, not many people realize 24-inch largemouths prowl Pan Bowl Lake in Breathitt County.

April is a good time for panfish. The hottest place in the state is Kentucky Lake, where anglers are catching 12-inch shellcrackers on red worms and wax worms fished deep along the edges of weed beds.

As part of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s effort to bring fishing to the cities, lakes in Louisville and northern Kentucky are being stocked with rainbow trout for the first time.

Trout stocking locations in Jefferson County include Cherokee Park Lake, Miles Park Lake No. 4, and Watterson Park Lake. Northern Kentucky lakes will include Prisoner’s Lake and Mills Road Park Lake No. 1 in Kenton County, and Old Alexandria Reservoir in Campbell County. These lakes will receive 500 to 2,000 trout this month.

Trout are not only tasty, but stocked fish are easy to catch. Just thread some kernels of corn onto a small hook, add a sinker to the line, and toss your bait in the deep end.

Get giddy this spring and make a break for your favorite fishing spot. Just don’t yell at the top of your lungs as you go out the door. It might scare the neighbors.

INSIDER’S TIP
Learn the best places to fish with the 2005 Fishing Forecast. Receive your free copy by calling (800) 858-1549 or visit the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Web site at www.fw.ky.gov.