Fished Rough River Lake for the first time....

[fishNnut]

Could someone please explain to me why Kentucky hasn't stocked this lake with smallies? Excellent habitat and plenty of non-game fish for them to feed on.

[CTFSHWHISKER]

it along with nolin had native smallies in them when they were first impounded,i have caught a few and saw a few at nolin,but not at rough river.
there was a petition sorta thing out for a while to get rough restocked with them but from what i have been told by fish n game folks is that bass,smallmouth and largemouth do not do well when stocked,they don't show up in creel surveys and shocking tests.It would not be cost effective,they spent a ton on taylorsvillle when it went downhill to no avail,i don't remember exact numbers but less than 30% of the stocked fish,l.m bass never showed up.If they could sustain reproduction i suppose they'd still be there so maybe that is the problem.

[Basswipe]

If smallies would do well in Rough, they would already be there. There's a whole lot of streams and creeks that have smallies in them that feed into Rough.

I agree that it looks like great smallmouth habitat, but my guess is the water gets too warm, and doesn't have enough movement.

[MsgMills]

I'm kinda glad that Nolin and Rough don't have many smallmouths in them. They are one of the hardest fish to keep alive once caught and put into a livewell. I keep ice in my cooler to help cool the water when I do place fish in my livewells. Try everything possible to keep all fish alive at all times. But Small Mouths are just real hard to do that for i guess.

[fishNnut]

Yeah, I figured that they'd be there all ready if they could survive. Figured it had something to do with the water temps and thermocline although the depths are there.

Never had much of a problem keeping them alive in the livewell though? Probably because I usually turn them loose.

[Moose1am]

Here is a good tip for keeping the water in a live well cool. First you can add frozen water bottle. This prevents the water inside the bottle (Usually tap water with chlorine in it) from coming into direct contact with the fish.

The ice inside the water bottle will melt absorbing the heat in the live wells water and cooling that water so that it will hold more dissolved oxygen.

Second I would try to INSULATE the live well's outside walls if possible. they make an expanding foam liquid in a tube that one can inject inside the outer walls and inner walls of some live wells. This will keep the hot air from coming into contact with the live well walls.

I know of one gentleman friend that injected some foam into his Tracker Crappie boat's two live wells and he claims that it worked pretty good. You may have to make some molds out of heavy cardboard and wrap them in place to hold the foam until it expands and solidifies. Or you may be able to stuff some fiberglass or foam insulation in the spaces around the live well in your boat. Anything that will trap the air and insulate the live well or BAIT BUCKETS.

I use bait buckets that have foam (Styrofoam inserts and lids) to help insulate my minnow buckets. This keep the heat out and the cold in and then I add a 1 liter frozen water bottle. Those drinking water bottles that they sell at the grocery store are about the right size for a minnow bucket. I keep about 8 of these one liter Aquifina Bottles in my freezer. The smaller bottle melt too fast and don't really cool the water good. I can use two of these frozen 1 liter bottles on a hot summers day when the air temp is in the 90's out side and my minnow bucket water will stay very cold. And you can put minnows from hot water into cold water without effecting the minnows. Just don't take minnows in cold water and put them in hot water. That's a no no! Remember that the colder the water the more dissolved oxygen it will hold and the lower the metabolism of the fish. That means they won't have to eat and they will go tot the bathroom much less. That means lower amounts of Ammonia in the water as they don't produce as much waste. I can keep 1/4 lb of chubs alive for weeks using this system. I use a 5 gallon bucket and use "Keep Alive" water treatments to prep the water for the buckets. I also have an aquarium aerator hooked up to an outlet by my boat inside my garage. This allows me to aerate the water 24/7 while I am not fishing. When fishing I use a battery operated portable aerator to keep the water oxygenated. You can buy minnows wholesale and keep them ready to go fishing the next day. Some bait shops don't open at 4am when you are heading out to the fishing hole so it helps to have a ready supply of bait before you head out. This save time as you don't have to stop at the bait shop to buy minnows on the way to the lake.

I know some guys that keep their minnows in a big cooler that's insulated and aerated. They can drain out old water and add new water from a garden hose that's attacked to a well's pump. Well water is cold and won't have chlorine in it. Not unless you add the chlorine to your well's water system. Even then you can treat the water with a chlorine removing chemical before putting the water into the minnow's container.

I'm kinda glad that Nolin and Rough don't have many smallmouths in them. They are one of the hardest fish to keep alive once caught and put into a livewell. I keep ice in my cooler to help cool the water when I do place fish in my livewells. Try everything possible to keep all fish alive at all times. But Small Mouths are just real hard to do that for i guess.