How does KY rank?

[fishhound]

just curious how my fellow fisherman feel of our states fishery
compared to other states. I feel we rank high for good reasons we
have more running rivers & streams than other states besides Alaska
we have lots of ponds lakes & large reservoirs. Ky fish&wildlife managment
all in all does a great job with our resources. and most of us anglers practice catch&release and we have a variety of species. our state records are somethig to be proud of all in all. I feel we rank in the top 5 for our great freshwater fishing. or maybe im just proud to be a Kentuckian.. ?

[Col Forbin]

There are some good ones, but Kentucky is my favorite
California has huge fish - but too many hippies - plus you can get cancer from lead there!!! (read the warnings).
Texas has a ton of lakes - but it is too big
Florida is too hot
Alabama & Georgia - have to be grouped together
And they watch too much hockey, and use too many spinning reels up north.

Actually the reason I like Kentucky the best, is not only do we have outstanding resources and fisheries, but we are somewhat centrally located so that if we feel the need we can visit all of these other states that have great fisheries too. I would love to visit the big bass lakes around the country - But living on Kentucky lake is hard to beat.

[DJD]

I love Kentucky and I lived in Florida for over 20 years but the overall fishing here isn't great but it's good. When I consider California, Florida, Texas, Maine, Minnisota, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisana and many other states with famous fishing I would rank Ky in the top 25. JMO

[davidsa]

Take KYL, Barkley and the north side of Dale out of our state, and we would have to be in the bottom 25%. Given we have these nice lakes to go with Barren, I'd say we are average to a bit above average.

The southern state lakes have big bass. The Northern states have a plentiful Smallmouth bite and walleye.

I'd think Alabama one of the best because it has lakes with Spots, Smallmouth, big largemouth and a nice number of lakes with slab size crappie.

Last Saturday morning, I fished 2.5 hours near Lake Okeechobee on my last day of the trip and had 15 bass, 4 of which were bigger then 5lbs and the biggest 6.4lbs. My Kentucky best trip was down to barkley last year where I had 6 fish over 4lbs in a 3 day period. I'm just not good enough nor lucky enough to fish in perfect conditions to regularly catch +5lb bass in Kentucky.

[Chubminnow]

I haven't fished every lake in Kentucky but I feel we have a couple of lakes that are absolutely GREAT in my own opinion...Dale (I guess you can this is a Kentucky Lake) and Kentucky Lake are two top quality lakes. I have fished in Arkansas, Tennessee and off the coast of Florida, I want to fish some in Alabama (Pickwick)...but I'd say there's more our biologists and our district conservation guys should be doing...and the NUMBER ONE thing I wished someone would do is put a slot limit in place at Cumberland for smallmouth like thay have at Dale. Gosh, to answer your question about ranking, I'm not sure...on a scale of one-to-ten I'd give our lakes a 7 overall.

[know1]

The only other state with which I have personal experience is Minnesota and I have to say that there isn't much of a comparison. Of course, there is a lake everywhere and everybody fishes.

KY is great, but there are several others that are probably better.

[LarryG]

How do you measure fishing pleasure? Minn.very good all natural lakes, some of them huge, but will not compare in size to cumberland.But the upper peninsula of mich. great, but tomany mosquitos.Ill.&ind. fair, but acsese to many lakes limited, but lake michigan, at times a fishing paradise, and a grave yard,but these corp of engineer lakes are the best. No houses, no docks all over the shores,so to me peace and quiet count a lot. Come to think of it, if the ohio and indiana fleets would stay home, this would be paradise.

[Redskeeter]

I would say for all around fishing Kentucky is my favorite. I have a camp on Sebec lake in Maine and when I am there we can catch 50 to 100 smallies a day with "my" lure of choice. Meaning what ever I throw. The water is crystal clear and never gets muddy. The only downfalls are the water gets too hard in the winter, so hard I cant even get the boat to plane out, and the second is variety. Variety is not a big downfall if you have the ability to switch from casting to trolling. Maine has great bass, trout, and salmon fishing but they all take very different techniques and tackle. In Kentucky if I get tired of bass fishing I tie on a wire leader and a larger spinner and start fishing for muskie or I down size for crappie etc. etc. The cost to fish here is cheaper, boat registration is cheaper, gas is cheaper(cant believe I said gas and cheaper in the same sentence). I would rank Ky and Maine in a tie for 1st place depending on season. You cant beat Maine in July. 50s at night low 80s on the hot days.

[fishincreek]

Guess it depends on what species you are after and ones overall fishing experiences. Take bass for example. Ever wonder why our parking lots are not filled with bass fishermen from Tenn, Ala, Geo or even Fl? Cuz the fishing is better there. Won't see many of the northern folks taking a weeks vacation walleye(or perch) fishin Ky. Catfish are catfish, as are panfish. So what we have is a good striper fishery and some great trout fishing( and we share that with TN). The Dept. does a pretty good job keeping what we have, but let's face it, there are plenty of better places to catch fish.

[RoadToad]

Sure, there are places where you can catch more fish, but the problem is, they're not in Kentucky. Kentucky River isn't the most productive fishery in the world, but when you're motoring upstream at sunup, and the water is like glass with mist rising from it, well... there's no place else I'd rather fish.

[riverrat12]

Gettin back to the most running water, other than Alaska and more shore line than Fla. And home of the alltackle world record brown fish. And our entire northern boundry being the real Ky. oh I mean Ohio river , me being a riverrat... I'm in heaven... tops my list and I've fished all over north America, but no place like home.

[offdtop]

I have fished many many lakes throughout the midwest and I finally called KY lake home. You know I can jump in the car and make a 20 minute drive and put in somewhere else if I am looking for change in scenery. I know the dept of wildlife is doing OK, water patrol - ok, I can go out and catch some of the nicest crappie and the 5 to 6 pound bass are nothing to be ashamed of and most would be proud to fish and or hunt here as I am. compared to? don't care to compare it's home, I love it.