"If you overlook the Ohio for hybrids, you really are missing a topnotch fishery right below the dams and even in the pools," said Buynak.

"We seeing good fish caught from one end to the other. And when conditions are right, from April through September, you can do pretty well with a little willingness to learn the water," he said.

Whether you're on the Ohio or on our final hotspot, Fishtrap Lake in Pike County, Buynak notes that hybrids are aggressive enough to be caught on both artificial lures and live bait. If you prefer straight-line fishing, dropping a chicken liver over the side along a river channel or off a deep point is a good bet.

If you're more a moving-target kind of angler, either casting when fish are in the jumps with spoons, trolling a shad-type crankbait, casting open shallow-water flats early and late with flashy metal lures -- all are proven hybrid-catching tactics.

The schooling characteristic of hybrids makes them an exciting and fast-action type of fishing experience. When you locate fish, just try to stay with them.

Look for signs of activity around schooling shad, or lots of surface disturbance near rocky banks and lake dam faces.

Look for signs of activity around schooling shad, or lots of surface disturbance near rocky banks and lake dam faces. In the tailwaters, drag a larger in-line spinner through gravelly bottoms. Or let a live bait drift down the current along the edge of running water.

In spring, go to the heads of creeks and up the headwaters of the main lake. Cast to shoreline cover or the channel until you find action.

Mostly it takes observation and a couple of trips to get familiar with how these fish move at different times of the year.

You can apply what works on one lake to most of the others.

We mentioned that for hybrids in the future, anglers may want to keep a couple of new spots in mind. So we want to make sure you know where those are. Last year, the KDFWR began releasing hybrids in portions of the Kentucky River, from pool 4 downstream to pool 9. The agency plans to continue with these stockings this year. Before long, anglers should start catching some pretty big fish.

From pool 4 upstream, the KDFWR is releasing white bass to see if they can restore a fishery that in recent times has all but disappeared. Biologists will monitor the progress of that effort to see if fishing can be improved in that section of the Kentucky River as well.