Another of our great smallmouth locations is Lake Cumberland. In fact, the most recent review of the top five caught and reported smallmouths in Kentucky included three from Lake Cumberland. The largest weighed a whopping 7 pounds, 3 ounces!

Biologist John Williams says there are a lot of quality fish at Lake Cumberland and that it's "one of the best places in the state for smallmouth." Fish in the 2- to 3-pound range are common. Float-and-fly fishing is gaining popularity there as a winter technique, along with other methods. Anglers always seem to take several trophies there each year.

Our premier smallmouth stream is most probably Elkhorn Creek. It has long been regarded as a prime location for smallies, although it has an occasional down year or two.

Cave Run Lake has been rated excellent for spotted bass, but it's mainly a water to catch numbers, not size. There are a lot of spots there to catch and they are quite widespread.

Heavy rainfall creates more flow in the stream and doesn't bode well for spring spawning success. This can lead to poor year-classes of smallmouth. However, the last two years have seen drier conditions in June and July, which should mean great things for anglers.

Ryan Oster says the KDFWR is seeing some of the highest numbers ever of smallmouth bass over 15 inches. A slot limit on the creek is protecting more fish and allowing them to reach quality size.

"For stream fish, the trophy potential is excellent. Of course, you have to remember that you can't compare stream smallmouths to those of the larger lakes such as Dale Hollow and Cumberland," Oster said.

Nonetheless, sampling yielded over six fish per hour longer than 16 inches, and several 20-inch fish were caught there in 2006!

Biologist Kevin Frey says anglers should really keep an eye on Fishtrap Lake in Pike County. He says the smallmouth population has "really been coming on lately," and he looks for it to "really take off in the near future."

The lake has a fairly good population of smallmouths now, and they seem to be on the increase. Numbers of smallies caught during electro-fishing is approaching 15 percent of the catch, which is comparable to the percentages at Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow. Frey says there is good distribution of fish up through 20 inches.

Most of the best smallmouth fishing occurs in the lake's lower end. A few bass in the 5-pound range have been caught there lately. Anglers can also find good smallie fishing in the headwaters and even up into the Levisa Fork River.

Kentucky Lake is known mostly for its largemouth fishing, but it also has a good population of smallmouths. Biologist Paul Rister says the smallmouth fishery is not what it once was, but it's still pretty good. Although most smallies caught will be average in size, a few big fish are still caught there occasionally.

Rister says that during the middle to late 1990s, there were a lot of 6- to 7-pound smallies in the lake. Harvest and natural mortality over the years has taken the "cream of the crop" from the lake, but Rister looks for the fishery to rebound some in coming years. The clearer water and returning weed growth will help smallmouths in the same way as it will largemouths.