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 be taking a float down the Cumberland River in search of trout.

Then we're hitting the field to use a fawn distress call in search of predators.

But first, we're headed up to northern Kentucky to join in on a fishing derby that has some unique history.

Well, today we're here at the annual Special Olympics Fishing Derby.

This is sponsored by the Fifth District Federation League of Kentucky Sportsmen.

We're very proud of that.

And also in conjunction with the Special Olympics up in this area.

We have families from all over Northern Kentucky, Greater Cincinnati area that come and take part in this to enjoy the fishing.

And it's just a good day of fellowship, and it's a way for the sportsmen and women to just reach out and make an opportunity for fishing available to people that normally wouldn't be able to enjoy this.

Right now, we're just going to take a walk down to one of the lakes here and let's see how the fish are biting.

The League of Kentucky Sportsmen.

Each year they stock the fish.

They pay for the fish to stock these lakes for this event.

They load up these lakes with fish.

This year is very special because it's our 50th year we're celebrating this year.

It started out very small.

Our first year was at Boone Lake Club down in Walton, Kentucky, and now we're to Campbell County Lake alone.

We love coming to Campbell County.

There's plenty of room for everybody.

There's plenty of room around the lakes for the kids to fish, not have to trip over one another or things like that.

Special Olympics are anyone with a handicap or a special need.

And they can enjoy sports at their own pace, enjoy events at their own pace.

Special Olympics in Northern Kentucky we do multiple sports and fishing is one of the extra thrown in.

And any age.

Wow, that's a big one over there.

It's just a great opportunity to get everybody out, catch some fish, have a good time and, kind of see what the outdoors is all about.

There you go.

It's really special to the sportsmen and women up in this community, and also the people that take place with this event to have our game wardens here with us.

They involve themselves not only with this event, but our federation, our club meetings, our club activities.

These officers are always there.

The people that come out here, they just have a ball.

You'll hear them hollering and and screaming all morning.

Having a great time.

We'll continue to come to this event and participate as long as they have it.

Brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, teachers.

We open it up to families.

It's very much family oriented.

So my brother, he goes fishing a lot with my dad and he said, Sissy, I bet you're not going to catch a lot of fish like me.

I'm like, I doubt it because I'm probably going to catch more fish than you.

There's actually three lakes here at Campbell County Game and Fish.

There's one large one and then two smaller ones, and they even built a special dock for us where the kids in wheelchairs can have access to get closer to the water.

Well, we're here right now with Amy Lemker and her son Steven.

Yes.

And they are longtime Special Olympics fishing folks.

How many years, Amy, can you tell us?

28.

He was seven when he started coming.

And so he's 35.

So we've been here a long time.

That is great.

So what have you gotten out of the event year after year?

Just seeing everybody again and seeing the families.

Has Steven won any ribbons, prizes, awards?

Yes.

We've got three shelves full of trophies.

So now we're.

Three shelves?

Yes.

Well.

It's fun.

This is something that he's always enjoyed.

I tell him a couple of weeks ahead of time and he's just on cloud nine every day.

He's counting down every day.

So it's great.

We've appreciated it very much.

Everyone's so good to us here.

This means a lot to us too.

We enjoy it.

Thanks.

So, Haley, what do you like about this derby?

What do you like about this?

That we like to catch the catfish and bluegill.

Okay.

And what do you do with them when you catch them?

They're going to have them filleted.

And then what do you do with them?

Eat them.

Do you have a favorite fish to eat?

No.

No?

You like them all?

Yeah.

Okay.

And how have you done today?

Have you done any good?

Can you show us what you've caught today, Haley?

Yeah.

Oh, my.

You didn't catch all these?

Oh, yeah we did.

No way.

You've been going around the lake asking people to give you fish.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah.

You caught all these?

Yeah.

That's incredible.

After the fishing is concluded, all the contestants come up with their fish, their stringers and their baskets.

They weigh their fish, and they measure them, and they'll record biggest fish, most fish.

39 fish.

32 pounds, one ounce.

Once the fish are weighed, they go to the fish cleaning station.

Folks down there, they clean the fish and bag them up so the families can take them home to eat, so nothing goes to waste.

Lunch is free for everybody.

We got plenty of volunteers.

We got people on the grill over here.

This is another part of what we do here every year.

And then we'll also have the awards.

Everyone wins something.

We got the biggest fish and our most caught.

All right our first age group is age six through 16.

Our winner is Ashton Hardek.

Where is Ashton Hardek?

20 fish.

Nice job Ashton.

Just to see the joy on their faces to get a trophy, a ribbon or something like that.

And everybody claps.

Their picture is taken.

It's so special to them.

We thank all the volunteers and everyone that participated in this but most of all, we want to thank Campbell County Game and Fish for being the host of this.

The volunteers, so many people showed up.

Without them, of course we couldn't do it.

But Campbell County is one of the greatest sportsmen clubs in the state of Kentucky, and we're proud of them.

And I'm personally proud to be a member.

So thank you Campbell County Game and Fish.

Good job bub.

All right.

Now we're going to the ones.

These people come back and talk to each other every year.

And they might be from different counties that aren't anywhere close, but they know each other from Special Olympics.

So it is a big family.

I hope in the future that it continues to grow.

It continues to be an event that the kids and the parents and the sportsmen of Northern Kentucky enjoy.

When folks leave here, they're looking forward to the next year.

And I know every time participants know that this event is coming, they can't wait to get here every year.

I think that's a credit to how well this whole thing is organized and put on.

It's always fun.

It's always good for the participants.

So it's just a win win for everybody and it's been going on for 50 years.

We hope it continues.

And I think it will.

The summer heat is warming up, but the Cumberland River is staying perfectly cool, making it a great destination for some summertime trout fishing.

Well, today I'm out doing one of my absolute all time favorite summertime activities, and that is floating the Cumberland River.

I'm out here with Micah Smith.

Micah, this is something you spend a lot of time doing, isn't it?

Yeah.

This is, this is actually my fourth day in a row out here.

I love being out here on this river, middle of summer.

You know, the temperatures are hot, but the water's cold.

And the fish bite all the time down here.

What type of species do you tend to catch?

You can catch it all down here.

I mean, you're talking four different species of trout.

Small mouth, large mouth, Kentucky bass, striper, white bass, walleye, saugeye, sauger, sturgeon, paddlefish.

You know, it just the list goes on and on.

There are endless possibilities down here.

You never know what you're going to get into.

Water conditions are ideal when?

Tell me the ideal water conditions.

I like to get down here and fish when the water's as low as it can be.

No generators or if possible, one generator is really good.

Today we're actually fishing with the sluice gate on.

That's actually really good.

The water stays cold, and the fish just stay active all the time down here.

Trout predominantly.

What we're going to be looking for today.

You can catch trout on fly rods, but you can also use spinning or any other type of tackle you'd like to use as well.

Or as far as rods.

Right.

Yeah.

You can catch trout a lot of different ways down here.

You can come down here and catch trout on nightcrawlers, power bait, rooster tails.

And then what we're doing today, which is these marabou jigs.

And I've really enjoyed using down here for them.

Trout are pretty hard fighting fish.

People who haven't trout fished don't realize that you get a 20 inch trout on a light or an ultra light rod wow you're in for it.

Oh yeah.

We'll head on down fish some little bit better stuff.

Oh.

There's one.

Looks like it's a rainbow.

It's a rainbow.

Hopefully we can find some big ones.

Well, you know what, though?

That was, a good start.

Yeah.

Good start.

Oh, you got one.

That's a little better fish.

Nice.

It's just a little guy, probably a ten inch rainbow.

And he█s off.

Here we go.

Oh, yeah.

Looky there.

What a beautiful fish.

We got a brown trout here.

First one of those of the day.

Look how pretty.

And they want this bait right on the bottom.

And it just spiraled down there, and he popped it.

What percentage of browns to rainbows do you catch?

I would say if I catch 20 fish, I would say 15 of them are rainbows.

25%.

That's our first one today.

Nice one.

Oh, there's one.

Got him?

Yep.

There you go.

Pretty rainbow.

That might be the biggest rainbow of the day so far.

Who do you think you got there?

13 or 14?

Yeah.

13 or 14 inch fish probably.

How old do you think a fish like that is down here?

I'd say this fish was put in here... Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Right now I'd say let's put it there right now.

Oh.

What do you think though?

2 or 3 year old fish?

Yeah.

Maybe.

I think I might go with something a darker color.

I don't know why I'm changing really.

I just caught a fish.

Here we go.

Hooked up.

I saw him eat it.

Oh, yeah.

There we go.

Nice one.

I saw him come up there and just inhale that bait.

But that time I waited till I felt him before I set the hook.

Yeah.

That's probably what you think?

16, 17 inches?

Yep.

That's a nice fish right there.

Nice hard fighting fish.

We're putting it right back in the water.

Yeah catch and release.

He's going to go right away and he's gone.

There he is.

Oh, that█s a great fish.

Wow, that's a great fish let me get the net here.

That there would maybe snap that 4 pound line.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

That's such a great fish.

There you go.

Nice job, Micah.

He came up and chased after it.

I just let my jig fall back down, and I couldn't see the jig anymore.

And I, you know, gave it a twitch and he was there.

So that's a really nice fish.

There you go.

Sight fishing trout on the Cumberland River.

Sight fishing.

Looks like he's got a little battle mark there.

Maybe from a from a blue heron.

Yeah, probably so.

He's in good shape.

We'll let him go.

You know, Micah, earlier you made a comment that really rings true.

And that is every time I've been through here fly fishing, you're either pulling a fly, kind of dead drifting a fly, or you're streamer fishing.

And this is kind of similar to streamer fishing with a spinning rod.

Yeah, it's same kind of concept.

I mean, you're catching these fish, these active fish that want to come up and chase bait.

That's kind of what we're targeting.

It works pretty well.

This here is the kind of spot we've been catching fish.

Like these little areas where there's some dark spots.

They've been kind of hiding down in there.

They get behind these rocks and they hide.

There's definitely certain sections where it seems like they hold more fish.

You know, the shallower sections with the faster moving water seem to be pretty popular spots for them.

Oh, yeah.

I dont want to horse it too much.

There you go.

Yeah.

Good little.

Oh, yeah.

Aerial show there.

Nice one.

Got it.

Oh, there you go.

They like laying there in those trees.

Just like bass, don't they?

Yep.

They like the cover.

That fish came by and swiped and missed.

I picked it up.

He swiped and missed again.

Dropped it back down.

Lunchtime.

Got it.

Yeah.

Oh look at this.

We're doubled up.

Doubled up.

Sweet.

Oh, it doesn't get any better than this.

You want a net or you good?

I think I'm good.

I think I'm good.

Looky there.

Nice one.

Catching them two at a time.

Two different patterns too, to these fish.

That fish that you have, it doesn't seem like it has as many spots as mine has.

Oh, wow.

Two really fun fish to catch and two very healthy trout.

There they go.

It won't be long.

We'll be sitting in a deer stand.

Deer season be here in September.

Feels a mile away in 90 degree heat doesn█t it?

Yeah.

So there's a pretty historic site there on the Cumberland River.

Yeah, that's a really neat feature there.

The rock house.

A lot of people drive down here.

Just to check it out.

But it's pretty neat seeing it from the river.

Oh, yeah.

Oh.

There you go.

Nice one.

Oh, that's a great fish.

Nice one.

Wow, I do think that might be the biggest fish for the day so far.

Yeah, that's a good one.

He's going back in.

Here we go.

Oh nice one Chad.

Man I'll tell you what.

There's a million ways to catch a trout.

But today, with a spinning rod which almost every angler has a spinning rod and a little 3/32 ounce jig, this is a technique and a method that any bass fisherman, any panfish fisherman could come replicate and do this.

Absolutely.

And man, has it been a blast.

All right, buddy, I'm letting you go.

I'm letting you go.

June is a month that many whitetail fawns can be found on the landscape here in Kentucky, making it a perfect opportunity for a predator hunt imitating their sounds.

Wow.

I█m out today on my deer farm planning on calling some coyotes.

You know, it's that time of year.

Late May, early June, where all of your deer fawns are being born and you know, if you have deer here in Kentucky you probably have coyotes.

And for me, it's part of my management plan here on this deer farm is to try to keep a control on the predators that are out here.

This farm has a lot of coyotes.

Every time we hunt we hear them.

Quite often we see them.

I like to get out here and run fawn distress and try to pick off some of these coyotes that may be coming in for an easy meal, an opportunity to take out a young deer.

So that's what we're out here doing today.

Let's see what happens here.

I think I may have missed.

That happened way faster than I thought.

Three coyotes came out.

Had a rough time picking out which one I was going to get a shot at.

I believe that was a complete miss unfortunately.

Tells you how many coyotes are out here.

That's four in about five minutes of hunting and two shots.

Unfortunately, one miss.

And when you got a real thick coyote populations like this, there's not a real predator or rival for a coyote on the Kentucky landscape.

So if you have a farm that you're managing, this is the time of year.

End of May, beginning of June, is when A lot of your deer fawns are born.

So as part of the plan on this piece of property that I hunt is to try to get out here and take care of some of these coyote populations, because they're pretty prolific.

So I'm very happy to be able to get out here.

I'm not too happy that I missed the first one.

But man, they just showed up like that, as soon as I hit the call.

Really wasn█t even ready.

And when they came out in more than one, tried to pick out which one I was going to shoot at, as they trotted across the field, it just all happened so fast and chaotic, like all hunting situations.

Unfortunately, sometimes misses are part of it.

But luckily for me, that second coyote showed up and gave me an opportunity.

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 out 12 year old Ashton Lacefield with a nice hybrid bass that was caught in the Kentucky River in Woodford County.

Here we have Alex Henderson, who got out and did a little bow fishing in western Kentucky and took this 39 pound grass carp.

Check out this giant crappie that was caught by Joseph Riggs at Green River Lake.

Nice fish.

Here we have Sarah Wood from Ennis, Kentucky, who caught this blue catfish while fishing at Lake Barkley with the family.

Nice job.

Here we have seven year old Riley Howard, who recently did a little fishing in the Ohio River in Ashland, Kentucky and caught this flathead catfish.

Nice job.

Five year old Brennan Poston has been out catching some crappie at Guist Creek Lake.

Nice job.

Here we have Dalton Helton from Magoffin County who got out on Cave Run Lake and did a little crappie fishing.

Tanner Greenwell got out in Shelby County and caught this nice largemouth bass.

Here we have Susan Soeder, who got out on Kentucky Lake and located some red air sunfish.

Nice job.

Are you interested in giving fishing a try?

Well, this weekend is a perfect opportunity.

June 6th and seventh is free fishing weekend here in Kentucky.

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, that I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.