Licking River questions?

[chasmo]

I have been fishing the licking river since I was a young boy and I have never had such bad luck fishing as I do now.And every body I know that fishes it says the same thing.Before a person could go and catch several 12to 16 inch smallmouths and 10 or 12 nice redeyes in a several hour wading trip and now I struggle to catch a single bass.Can anybody tell me whats going on???? I fish the licking from ruddles mill to cyhnthiana.

I have not made it down there this year but I was there last year and had borderline luck with only a few smallies but saw my greatest fear there-river otters. I used to fish another creek outside of Louisville and ALWAYS caught good numbers of bass until 3 years ago when I went and ran into a family of otters and fished for 4 hours with not one hit at all.

That stretch that you fish was my favorite as I had caught plenty of smallies in the range you listed, some days 50+. IF the otters have moved in, it doesn't stand a chance.

[nonamesleft47]

Same here, I used to fish it all the time. It wasn't uncommon to catch 40-60 smallies in a day under the dams. I've been twice this year between the dams in Cynthiana, caught very few smallies and saw otters both times.

[Bassky]

Otters definitely affect the fishery. The drought the past couple of years has hurt all of the fisheries in this small body of water too.
Bassky

[engineer]

Yes I have not seen otters but I have seen a abundance of crawfish in the last few years.I guess this is due to the lack of fish to eat them or the droughts.

[kyfanatic]

While I enjoy the return of all the wildlife in Kentucky and give props to KDF&W for all their hard work,I for the life of me cannot understand stocking otters,they eat the heck out of Small Mouths and other fish.Short of giving trappers something new,and a little wildlife viewing the otters are more of a liability than an asset.