KY Trout Season

Kentucky's catch-and-release trout season offers fine winter sport

By Gary Garth • Special to The Courier-Journal • January 30, 2010

Kentucky's winter catch-and-release trout season is open at 13 picturesque streams in a dozen counties.

You didn't know there's a winter catch-and-release trout season? You're probably not alone.

“How many fishermen take advantage of the program is a question we've been wanting to answer for several years,” said Dave Dreves, the coldwater trout research biologist for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

It's officially called the delayed harvest program because keeping trout caught in the 13 designated streams is prohibited from Oct.1 through March 31 (May 31 on one creek).

“We've never done a creel survey or anything like that on the (delayed-harvest) waters,” said Dreves, whose primary charge is planning and supervising trout research on the Cumberland River. He only recently found himself overseeing the delayed-harvest waters, several of which he's never seen.

“We do think it's fairly popular, especially with the fly-fishing folks, because we hear from them at some of the (department) meetings. But outside those folks we don't know.”

Fishing pressure is probably light — winter fishing is generally not a high-traffic activity — but that also means the action is often very good.

Meade County's Otter Creek, which received a stocking of 1,700 rainbow trout in October, has been removed from the program because Otter Creek Park is currently closed.

“We still stock Otter Creek on Fort Knox with 500 trout. That's an April stocking,” said Gerry Buynak, state assistant director of fisheries. “But we're not stocking in the park because there's no access.”

The remaining waters are relatively small and mostly wadeable. Several are secluded. Some flow through private property, but a few cross public lands, including those in the Daniel Boone National Forest and two that run through state parks.

Most of the waters receive an October stocking, then don't receive additional trout until March.

The fishing rules are simple: No bait allowed, and all trout must be released immediately.