Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Join us as we journey the Commonwealth in search of outdoor adventure.

This week we're going to take a look back at one of my favorite turkey hunts from 2025.

Next.

It's been ten years since I joined Kentucky Afield.

Let's take a look back at some of our most memorable experiences.

But first, we're headed to Nolin River for the spring spawning run in hopes of catching white bass.

And who knows what else.

Well, it's March and I'm down here at Nolin River, close to Bacon Creek boat ramp.

One of my absolute favorite things to do in the spring, that's for me.

It's like, okay, winter's finally turned loose.

It's time to get down here.

And experience is white bass run.

Now talk to a couple people in the parking lot.

Said the fishing is a little tough and the water is lower than I expected.

But you know what?

I made the trip down.

I'm going to go make some cast.

What a beautiful day to be out.

And what a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

Hopefully catching some white bass.

Well, I started walking down.

I was up there on the trail looking down.

I can see there's a rock shoal right here.

So I'm going to try to find this deep pocket right before you get to that shoal I walked down this tree to try to get closer to this bank.

I realized, hey, it's still only about six, eight inches deep all the way out here, ten yards off the bank.

So jump off this tree, stand on the bottom, start making some casts.

Here we go.

What do we got here?

Very first cast.

I got all the way on to that bank.

We got a bite.

What do we got here?

A crappie?

What?

I'll tell you what.

I've caught a lot of crappie down here on the Nolin River.

But this is not exactly what I was expecting today.

But I'll never pass on white crappie.

That'd be a keeper fish too.

It's this crappies Lucky day today.

Here we go.

That's what I'm looking for.

Uh Oh... There we go.

Again, right on that bank.

Now, is this going to be a white bass or is this going to be a crappie?

Nothing beats hard fighting river fish.

Man, what a white bass.

This is a beauty.

This is the reason I'm here.

Right here.

This is the fish I'm after.

What a beautiful white bass.

Look at that.

That's why you come to Nolin River Lake.

Right there.

Hard fighting, white bass.

But man, Right on that bank.

I mean, as close as I can get to that bank.

I have to get out in the water to even get there.

And that's where they're at.

Nice fish.

Oh, maybe another crappie.

Look at that.

I'll tell you one thing.

And no idea is going to be down here catching keeper crappie one right for the next.

You know I'm here for the white bass, but man, when it comes to putting meat on the table, it doesn't get much better than that right there.

White crappie.

Oh, I missed him.

The fish are right on that bank.

I mean, as close as you can get to that bank over there.

Must be.

That's the deep area since the water is low right now.

Look at that.

Not only did it tear my bait down, it took my paddle off.

I got to go back and get some more tackle.

So when I'm out here doing this type of wade fishing, you know, I bring a rod.

In this case, I have actually brought my second rod.

Stuck it in that knot there.

But what I like to do is because these little soft plastics get hung up, sometimes you lose your baits.

I like to come down here.

I use more soft plastics than anything else like this one is destroyed.

So what I like to do is put my plastics.

I brought a couple different colors in one pocket.

Look at that.

And then I take my jig heads and I stick them in the other.

Because the last thing you want to be doing is running back to your tackle bag, tromping back in and out of this mud, stirring it up.

So I got hooks in one side, soft plastics in the other.

And when I get out here and I need a new piece of plastic right here in my pocket, ready to go, you don't have to stop fishing.

Got him!

This is getting good.

Now, guys.

It's feast or famine.

You may come down here and fish in the water.

Conditions not be right until the water temperature is right for spawning.

And then they'll move up real fast.

We are on them.

Man, this is so much fun.

You know, these are the one of the hardest fighting fish you'll ever pound for pound you'll ever try to try to catch.

And then when you get in this current on super light tackle, it just makes it a blast.

What we got this time, it was like a smaller white bass.

Listen to the on line singing with that wind.

That's not a bad fish.

Not a bad fish at all.

Oh, I tell you, there's a million ways to catch these.

And everybody's got their own favorite thing.

People will tell you certain colors.

I like something bright with on a white and silver.

A little bitty bitty swim bait.

This is a little two inch swim bait.

You got to adjust the head weight to the current, as well as how far you need to cast it.

So right now I'm making real long casts.

These weigh one-eighth ounce.

Just a little bitty bitty swim bait.

That's a really all it takes.

Some people throw a bobbers with saying some people throw minnows.

There's a million different ways hair jigs are super popular.

Flies on a fly rod.

Literally anything that will imitate a baitfish or a small minnow is perfect for this.

Not caught a copy that would not have been big enough to be a keeper yet.

Beautiful.

A bat flying out here in the middle of the day.

Look at that.

Here we go.

Looks like another crappie.

It looks like a good one.

Oh my gosh, I'm still amazed.

Up here in this river.

All this moving water and these numbers of crappie that are piled in here, and they're just beautiful big thick fat crappie crazy.

You guys keeping fish?

White bass or crappie?

What do we got here?

Whoa, is that a crappie?

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

Check out the size of that crappie.

That is a solid 13 or 14 inch crappie.

Look at the size of that crappie.

You talking about a big healthy Nolin River lake white crappie.

There you go.

That is a good one.

Here we go.

What we got this time?

What have we got today?

This thing is going to break my line If this is a crappie.

It is a good one.

This must be a white bass.

White bass man, they they fight so good.

I get it up here in this shallow water.

That's a good one right there.

Now that's a good one.

Okay.

There.

What a beautiful, beautiful, hard fighting fish.

Man.

Doesn't get any better than this.

Today really was more of an exploratory trip.

More than anything.

I haven't been down here this year.

Water flow is way down.

But I know it's the time of year is right for white bass and apparently crappie as well, to come out here and catch a limit of white bass and a limit of crappie.

Well, it's a small white bass, but it's a white bass.

Lets me know spring is here.

Kentucky's spring turkey season is now in, and it runs all the way out until May the 10th.

Hopefully you're making plans to get in the woods.

What a way to start the 2025 turkey season.

I just got dive bombed by an owl.

That thing got within a foot of my head.

I was listening to him call thinking, man, this may be a great locator.

Then he got closer and then he dove right at my head.

Well I'm awake.

That's better than coffee.

Well it█s the opening morning of spring turkey season.

Got set in plenty early.

Got my decoy out.

Beautiful morning.

I still have not heard the first gobble, but I feel very confident about my set up.

It's a spot I have hunting in the past.

Last year I hunted this spot.

We had some birds roosted directly across this field, probably 200 yards.

They flew down, but they made theirselves way on the other side of the pond.

And were sitting down here about 80 yards 90 yards strutting and never could close the distance.

So this area I'm sitting got a river.

I have a feeling this year, due to the high water, it's going to press those birds just a little bit closer to me, putting them right in range.

Sounds like I've got two birds.

Both about 300 yards away.

That way.

I was hoping to have them up on the ridge.

That doesn't mean they're not there.

I just haven't heard them yet.

Man, we need those birds to come this way off the roost.

Hopefully, they'll come off that hillside and fly into this field.

If not, it could be one of those situations where it's 10, 11, 12, 1:00 before they get here.

But that's okay.

It's going to be a beautiful morning.

Little crisp, start off around 32 degrees, but it's going to reach the 50s and full sun.

These birds have had a lot of rain.

They're going to want to get out, shake the dew off, do a little strutting in the sunshine.

That's when I should have my best chance.

Well, have a bird gobble that doesn't sound like it's more than about 120 yards away.

This is definitely the closest gobbler I've had all morning.

I think he's getting closer.

There he is.

Right there.

Oh, here he comes.

Here he comes.

He's about 80 yards.

Exactly where I saw a turkey last year and never got a shot.

He's looking right at the decoy right now.

60 yards, almost in range.

Oh, man.

He's locked up.

Now he is turning away.

He's walking away.

Hit that mouth call one more time.

You stopped him.

Here we go.

He's turning.

He's turning.

Come on, come on.

Here he comes.

Here he comes.

Lets see if he commits all the way this time.

Get ready.

Now.

Wow!

I tell you what, I about gave up on that bird.

Came all the way up, turned to walk away.

A couple of yelps later, he turned and committed.

Let's go up there and make sure he doesn█t fly away.

What a beautiful bird.

This morning's hunt was super exciting.

But I'll tell you this.

It was a roller coaster.

After getting set up in the thick, thick, heavy fog and listening and doing some calling.

Finally started hearing some gobbles.

But they were way off.

It sounded like they were on the other side of the river, which I thought was going to pretty much end my hunt for today.

But as the sun came up and started burning the fog off, I could tell that the water has receded quite a bit.

And now I thought, I have got a chance a bird may cross that river.

It may just fly over.

Well, after calling and calling and calling, all of a sudden I was like, oh my gosh, that gobble sounded a lot closer.

I finally laid eyes on the bird and it was 90 to 100 yards away down below me.

Here comes the bird.

He starts to commit.

It sees the decoy.

It's gobbling to the decoy.

It's strutting around and then starts walking up.

Right before the bird gets into range, he turns and is moving away.

I look over at my camera guy who I know had a mouth call in and I said give me some light yelps.

Yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp.

And that bird full strut gobbles, turns, and you can tell he's committing.

It went from thinking this hunt was over to that bird turning, walking, coming right into range.

And wow, I could not be more happy and more grateful to be able to take this beautiful eastern wild turkey.

What a fantastic opening morning to the spring turkey season.

Now join me as we take a trip down memory lane and look back at my first ten years here at Kentucky Afield.

It is truly been a great experience.

Good evening, and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Do you smell that bull?

Yeah.

Looky there.

Good one.

That's a little bit bigger than that last.

Yeah.

Well, I'll do a lot more with the meat than just turtle soup.

Have you ever done that before?

No.

Never in my life.

Oh.

You got him that time.

Thank you.

What a nice fish.

Look at those long legs.

Built to run.

Leo, yeah.

Hey, sometimes catching the baits more fun than catching the fish.

You make all kinds of crazy lures out of cedar.

What's this canoe going to weigh once it█s done?

Around 48 to 50 pounds.

You've helped us take one of them out.

And wow, is that a big one.

Nice.

Look at the belly on that thing.

Barn owls mostly screech.

It's like a banshee scream.

My favorite places are on very, very small pieces of property in urban areas.

We talked about how quick it got dark, and it's getting light incredibly fast.

Holy cow.

Lord have mercy.

Hold on.

Big one.

Is it a big one?

Yeah.

Today is opening day.

Opening day.

Ha ha ha!

Awesome.

Got a rainbow there.

Smell like puppies.

Look at that crappie.

This is your deer, isn't it?

This is, my deer.

Oh, I got him.

This is how you really get bunches of them.

Wrap them around and hook them up.

There we go.

Looky there.

There you go.

Boom!

Oh!

This is a little bit of a bigger one.

That's a nice fish.

Spin it around this way.

yep yep yep yep.

This could be a way that you could effectively treat large amounts of property.

Ruby is so excited about this tree.

She's actually chewing on it.

You got it.

State record largemouth bass.

And you broke it last week.

We got plenty to go.

Yes.

Good job.

Good work.

Oh, we caught him a saugeye.

Look at that.

I got the first shot, and you got him when he is right out there.

There we go.

Obviously, the very first thing is going to get your attention is the green and the purple.

That's a good one.

That looks like a good one.

That's a 12 inch frog right there, I think.

Yeah.

Daddy i got one.

Oh my goodness Leo.

You told me this bait was fairly new when you started fishing.

It is a Fox squirrel.

Got a grey and fox sitting side by side.

Turned a September doe hunt into a beautiful smallmouth bass.

Must be feeling good today because you guys are biting.

Partly cloudy and 80.

That is a really good crappie.

That right there is what the Ohio River is all about.

Look at the belly on that fish.

There's another crevice right here that is completely packed.

Nice one too.

Oh, man.

And thank goodness this joker gobbled.

Got a good nose and is probably going to be a good dog.

There's another one talk about lot of fun.

Oh my gosh.

Woohoo!

First deer ever.

And I can't believe it man my first time out.

We got a good one right there.

It's a fish of 10,000 casts.

Does it feel like a good one?

Yep.

That's a spot to catch a fish if I ever seen one.

That's a big fish.

Whichever turkey is on the far right.

Nice shot.

Yes, sir.

It's so good.

You got a family deal.

Yes.

You'll never, ever forget this.

Man, that is some great dog work right there.

This is 40% of your costs?

It can be.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

You know how to pick these.

You want to show us?

That's a good one there.

Fire in the hole.

What do we got?

Oh.

Oh, is that your biggest squirrel ever?

Oh for sure.

The very, very, very first time I've caught a carp while targeting carp.

You brought a handful of lures that you made.

See if we can't catch a fish.

That's a great shot.

I think we got 11 male turkeys on the ground right now.

And you going to start the whole process over It looks like.

That's what we've been looking for.

Nice job buddy.

It is a mad dash to try to get these birds out of the net.

I'm sure there'll be some teasing going on because I don't plan on hitting them all to you.

Gosh.

And it doesn't hardly stretch.

Trophy buck never showed up.

We did see a couple small bucks.

Hopefully throughout the deer season I will stack this 30 or 40 high.

Really good to eat.

You want to take a couple of these home?

The best way to access this lake is by kayak.

Hey, we double up right there with two really, really good fish.

These could be producing offspring for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

He didn't like that pinch on the tail.

That is two fish sandwiches right there.

Oh, 19.

This hen right there.

She sit right behind me for an hour.

I have no idea where that deer came from.

I believe that going to make it.

I think he'll make it.

So I always know I'm going to learn something.

It's a sturgeon.

We got a sturgeon.

He was trying to go up the river.

What is the benefits of a reef ball?

That dog, when it barks the rabbit's up, it's right in front of us.

It will literally give them a shot.

I heard a bark.

They fight, don't they?

I've never caught one of these.

It's fired up and ready to go.

He was.

What do you know?

I know I bounced him.

You're willing to give it a try.

Absolutely.

We get him.

You got him?

We got him on top.

We are not the first one who has been hunting out here.

Obviously.

What a beautiful, beautiful fish.

Throw some diesel out and set it on fire.

Got his mating colors out.

The range on this pistol is very similar to a bow.

That's what we're after right there.

Look at that.

Bam!

Nice job.

Oh my gosh.

It's too big for the net.

It wasn't a headshot.

Well, then it don't count.

Yes it does.

That's worth the price of admission right there.

When it got out here and then got in the current and took off, it got real big, real fast.

And most of it has been out of timber just like this.

I ended up putting it.

There you go.

Oh.

Shoot.

Oh.

My goodness.

First squirrel.

Alright Raylin.

May have some cubs, right?

What are you finding out?

Oh my God.

What a rush.

And that was so much fun.

Awesome.

Nice job.

This fish was put in here.

Why don't you stay in here get yourself a good shot.

And if it comes through the woods here, I'll get over on this side.

Okay?

You got him Chad.

Sweet.

I tell you what I about gave up on that bird.

They are the delicacy of the river.

Now they got to be 14in long.

Bringing them in two at a time.

All right.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

Pretty fish.

Nice flathead catfish.

Nice job.

All right.

Three bucks and a spike running all around me.

Male pintails.

Male pin tails.

Looky here.

All right.

It's a big old tom.

Get ready.

Looky there.

Don't get any better than this.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week, I'm your host, Chad Miles, and hope to see you in the woods or on the water.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check this out.

Abigail Coir went fishing for her first time and on her very first cast ever, caught this giant largemouth bass in Lincoln County.

Wow.

Nice job.

Check out 15 year old Camden Johnson as he shows us the gobbler that he took in Franklin County.

Nice job.

Check out Lincoln Hayden.

He took advantage of the youth turkey season and got out and took this beautiful 25.5 pound tom with a ten inch beard.

Here we have eight year old Eden Smith with her first turkey.

She took this on the opening morning of the youth turkey season.

Nice job.

Check out this great picture of Seth Fox who caught this nice largemouth bass using a spoon at his home at Bright Life Farms in Caldwell County.

Nice job.

Turkey season is in and the fish are biting.

Make plans now to get outdoors to experience everything Kentucky has to offer.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week, I'm your host, Chad Miles, and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.