Fishing Regulations

General Information

Kentucky is blessed with a myriad of productive fishing waters with 17 major reservoirs, dozens of smaller, state owned lakes, large rivers as well as smaller streams perfect for floating. The waters of Kentucky contain warm water species such as largemouth bass, catfish and crappie as well as cool water species such as muskellunge, trout and walleye. An angler can run the gamut of fishing possibilities from catching slab crappie from Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in far western Kentucky to landing large rainbow trout in the Cumberland River below Lake Cumberland in southeastern Kentucky.

Buy your Kentucky fishing license and get in on the great fishing in our state.

Fishing Tournaments

Fishing event organizers are strongly urged to use the Tournament website at fw.ky.gov to register and report on their events. Tournament planners can avoid space conflicts with other previously registered events by adjusting the date, time, specific launch areas or weigh-in site for their activities.

Other recreational anglers and boaters can check the website to see when and where fishing events are scheduled. This will assist them in planning their activities and also help avoid potential space conflicts. Additional permits may be required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, theU.S. Forest Service or Kentucky State Parks.

If the launch site for your tournament involves using a marina ramp, please contact the marina operator before scheduling your tournament.

Check the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website at fw.ky.gov for more information on tournaments and keeping your bass alive.

Habitat

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife regularly creates and maintains fish attractors and habitat structures in lakes across Kentucky.The fish habitat/attractors are made in a variety of shapes and sizes and include material from trees, rocks, logs, wooden pallets, and even commercially made plastic structures. These structures are typically dense in nature with tree limbs and shade producing cover. Rock piles and gravel beds create spawning grounds for many species and brush piles provide much needed shelter for young fishes. All of these structures also provide stable substrates for the attachment of aquatic plants that provide the basis of the food chain in lakes. In general, more habitat just means more fish.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife also collects trees for habitat with our annual Christmas tree drive. Every year after the holiday season, we collect and recycle thousands of discarded natural trees into brush piles for habitat.

All of the habitat sites created are published and made available to the public via Google Maps. They can be accessed by using the Find a Place to Fish feature or on the Lakes with Fish Attractors page at fw.ky.gov.

The Lakes with Fish Attractors page also has downloadable GPX files for importing in to the depth finder of your boat. Most brands of depth finders will allow for upload of GPX files, but you may have to consult your owners manual. YouTube is also a good source for instructional videos on how to import and convert these files.

Once you know where the sites are, fishing them can be rewarding. Lake habitat sites will vary in depth and may include areas in the backs of creeks, large flats, small pockets, and even main lake points. Many of these sites are located away from the bank in deeper water, so depth finders will help in identifying these offshore locations.

Fish Consumption Advisories

The Kentucky Departments for Environmental Protection, Health Services and Fish and Wildlife Resources jointly issue a fish consumption advisory to the public when fish are found contaminated. Trace contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), mercury and chlordane are found in some fish in Kentucky. An advisory cautions people about potential health problems that may result from eating fish caught from a particular area. An advisory does not ban eating fish; it is a guide to reduce your risk. This guide provides information on how often fish may be safely eaten. Most fish are healthy to eat and are an excellent source of low-fat protein.

Consumption Guidelines

Consumption rates for specific fish have been developed based on a meal of ½ pound of fish (before cooking) eaten by a 150-pound individual. Following these guidelines and spacing your meals of those fish species will limit your health risks by reducing your total exposure. See table on the next page.

Fish consumption advisories now delineate between predatory fish, bottom feeder fish, panfish and other fish species including invasive carp, trout, minnows, etc. Predatory fish include black bass (smallmouth, largemouth and spotted), white bass, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, sauger, saugeye, walleye, muskellunge, flathead and blue catfish, yellow bass, chain pickerel and all gars.

Panfish include bluegill, crappie, rock bass as well as green, longear and redear sunfish. Bottom feeder fish include the bullheads, buffalo species, channel catfish, common carp, redhorse species, shovelnose sturgeon, drum, creek chub as well as carpsuckers and white, spotted and northern hog suckers.

Statewide

All waters are under advisory for mercury. Women of childbearing age and children 6 years of age or younger should eat no more than six meals per year of predatory fish. They should eat no more than one meal per month of panfish, bottom feeder fish and no more than one meal per week of fish in the “other fish” category. The general population should eat no more than one meal per month of predatory fish and no more than one meal per week of panfish and bottom feeder fish. There is no advisory for the general population for fish in the “other fish” category. However, brown trout over 17 inches are more predatory and have the potential to build up higher contaminant levels when compared to smaller brown trout.

Organic mercury occurs naturally in the environment and does not affect swimmers, skiers or boaters. Fish accumulate low levels of mercury by eating plankton and other small aquatic creatures.

In 2021, state officials began testing fish from Kentucky waters to determine the prevalence of PFAS or polyfluoroalkyl substances. These substances are found in non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, stain resistant carpets and some food packaging and break down slowly in the environment. PFAS chemicals can be found in water, air, soil, fish, and wildlife and can build up in organisms such as fish over time.

From 2021 to 2022, fish from seven streams and a separate lake study were tested for PFAS and all samples had detectable levels of PFAS. Health officials are still evaluating the risks posed by these chemicals. However, to lower potential health risks from PFAS, officials recommend following the same consumption guidelines for mercury while consuming fish from Kentucky waters. The Department for Environmental Protection continues to monitor and evaluate the occurrence of PFAS in Kentucky.

Definitions

Angling means taking or attempting to take fish by hook and line in hand, rod in hand, jugging, set line or sport fishing trotline.

Artificial baits are lures or flies made of wood, metal, plastic, hair, feathers, preserved pork rind or similar inert materials. In artificial bait-only waters, anglers may not use organic baits including dough bait, putty or pastes designed to attract fish by taste or smell.

Authorization number is the number assigned to a person in lieu of fishing or hunting license when the license is purchased over the phone or Internet.

Black bass includes largemouth, smallmouth, Kentucky (spotted) and Coosa bass.

Catfish: A catfish means a blue, channel or flathead catfish. Bullheads are not included in this definition.

Culling: Replacing a live fish in the daily limit with another fish of the same species.

Daylight hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and end one-half hour after sunset.

Daily limit means the maximum number of a particular species or group of species a person may legally take in one (1) calendar day while fishing.

Fishing is taking or attempting to take fish in any manner, whether or not fish are in possession.

Lake means impounded waters, from the dam upstream to the first riffle on the main stem river and tributary streams or as specified in regulation.

Length means the distance from the front tip of a fish’s lower jaw with mouth closed to the tip of its tail with the fish laid flat on a rule with its tail lobes squeezed together.

Organic baits are insects, minnows, fish eggs, worms, corn, cheese, cut bait or similar substances used as a lure.

Possession limit means the maximum number of unprocessed fish a person may hold after two (2) or more days of fishing.

Regulation is an official rule of Kentucky law applying to particular activities or circumstances.

Release means return of the fish, in the best possible condition, immediately after removing the hook, to the water from which it was taken in a place where the fish’s immediate escape shall not be prevented.

Resident is anyone who has established permanent and legal residence in Kentucky and residing here at least 30 days.

Rough fish are those fish species not listed as sport fish in the regulation 301 KAR 1:060.

Size limit is the legal length a fish must be if it is in possession. (Fish length is measured from the tip of the closed lower jaw to the tip of the tail with fish laid flat on rule and tail lobes squeezed together.)

Slot limit means fish within a specified minimum and maximum size range must be released.

Single hook is a hook with only one point.

Tenant is any resident sharecropper or lessee who lives and works on farmland owned by his/her landlord.

Trophy catfish is a blue or flathead catfish 35 inches or longer or a channel catfish 28 inches or longer.