In 2022 a group of anglers in Eastern Kentucky decided it was time to attempt to make a difference in our local lake. Many of us love Paintsville Lake and have frequented it most of our lives. My grandparents had the first houseboat on the lake almost 40 years ago. The lake is important to us because most of us remember the moment we got hooked on bass fishing at Paintsville Lake. We hope to afford these opportunities to the next generation of fishermen. I can vividly remember the five-plus pound largemouth that threw my rooster tail after jumping nearly 30 years ago, I was hooked! 

Unfortunately today Paintsville Lake is widely known amongst anglers to be in the worst shape of its existence and many consider it the worst lake in the area. The group formed a non-profit named Anglers For Improving Opportunities. For perspective, in a bass tournament most of the year six to eight pounds would be the winning bag, but many times of the year much less, usually these winning bags consist of 1 trophy four to five-pound fish.Paintsville, like a lot of lakes in our region, is a small 1100-acre lake that is typically known for being a deep, clear lake. Most of our structure is timbered hollows that have begun to deteriorate due to the lake being impounded in the early 80s. Local elected officials facilitated two meetings with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, our ultimate goal is to stock F1 largemouth bass in our lake. F1s continue to have success stories that follow their introduction into a body of water in lakes in areas with similar conditions as Paintsville Lake. The F1 is a 50% Florida strain largemouth and 50% Northern strain largemouth. When we first mentioned the idea, we were told that we have a pure northern population in Kentucky and that we could not risk introducing new genetic material. 

In West Virginia they also believe you have a pure northern strain population, we have spoken to your officials and they are the only state with a similar viewpoint on F1s as the KDFWR. We initially asked for the DNA proof to back their claims, and if there was any evidence of a Florida strain locally. We suspected over time without any DNA evidence ever on Paintsville that some percentage of Florida genetics could have probably persisted due to the history of Florida strain stockings throughout the US in the 60s.

We were able to dig up two DNA studies that were conducted by the KDFWR in the 90s and early 2000s. Both studies were never public before our inquiries, leading to speculation, and both confirmed our theory that we probably did not have a pure northern population. Even hatchery broodstocks were considered tainted with Florida Genetics and the study we read recommended those be destroyed, were they?

We had noticed that MLF was now using swabs to sample their trophy catches on tour and we wondered why we couldn’t do that locally to confirm or deny the claims made by the department. Anglers For Improving Opportunities formed a partnership with Major League Fishing Biologist Steven Bardin to conduct swabs on the largemouth bass that were caught during the East KY Tournament Trail on April 2, 2022. We hired a biology teacher from Central Kentucky Robby Mccann who had extensive experience in leading research such as this in the past. Robby sampled all 97 keeper fish for relative weight and performed a DNA swab. 

After our efforts last year, the department began fin clipping for a DNA study for the first time in almost two decades. We believe our efforts were the catalyst for this project. The scope of their DNA efforts has not been made public yet but was released on the USACE page for Fishtrap Lake. 

In 2021, West Virginia also rolled out DNA studies a full year before Kentucky, all of the information leads to anglers in West Virginia speculating that they do not have a pure northern population either. The DNA studies in West Virginia were most likely rolled out due to fears of the invasion of Alabama Bass, these bass have destroyed lakes to our south.

Relative weight is an easy way to determine the health of any population, you simply measure length and weight and then compare those to a standardized scale for relative weight showing what a healthy bass at that length should weigh at that length. Initially, our relative weight data showed that our fish were underweight and that as anglers we probably needed to remove more small bass throughout the year. One of our difficulties in removing small bass is that the state removed the slot limit that we once had and slapped us under statewide regulations, you can keep six – 12”+ bass. 

The regulation change is inconsistent with data, but the department states that when we had a slot limit, fishermen did not keep enough bass. One of our discoveries throughout the past 12 months is that in small impoundments, the reason most of us are plagued with small bass is that catch and release hurts us more than it helps us, we have to stop shaming guys for keeping bass. Our population is most dense between 8 and 11” bass. Those little bass that we do such a good job of putting back are consuming more resources than they are worth to the population. In our case it takes 5 years to grow a 15” bass in eastern Kentucky in most cases, for whatever reason biologists agree the majority of our population in Paintsville is stunted and stall out growing at around 11-12”. Relative weight gave credibility to these claims and showed that we had other limiting factors preventing our fish from growing. Our next goal was to swab the fish to challenge the claims that we had a pure northern strain population. On April 2nd we also swabbed all 97 fish that were weighed in during the East KY Tournament Trail. 56 boats showed up to support our efforts and were excited to contribute to what MLF called an example of “Angler Driven Stewardship” across the country. 

Recently we finally received that data and the results were eye-opening. We initially expected to find small amounts of Florida genetics, we had hoped to find a few instances of fish with 10-20% FLMB genetics. In the data set attached below, we found more instances of pure Florida’s than we found instances of Pure Northern’s, the majority of our population is considered intergrades or what our department speculated we would be left with in the long term after the introduction of F1s. 

Many biologists will refer to these bass that are not 50%FLMB/50%NLMB as “mutt” fish with varying percentages of mixed genetics and studies support the fact that they do not grow as fast as the F1, but it has not been proven that they will underperform pure strains of either northern or Florida strain largemouth. The data set is attached below. My partner and I were lucky enough to land the winning bag on the East KY Tournament Trail that day, all the fish catches are included in the video below:

2022 Episode #4 – Got the WIN!! – East KY Tournament Trail – Paintsville Lake #Fishing #BassFishing

What have we learned? The first challenge we face in Paintsville is a limited forage base, we need to improve the habitat and supplement the forage immediately. Forage doesn’t immediately fix our issues but is a step in the right direction, this is a multifaceted approach that will take years to see improvements. The first step we took last summer was to install 61 pieces of habitat, the habitat provides a sanctuary for baitfish and also other species of fish in the lake. Most biologist we have spoken to across the country, states that habitat improvement due to our aging fishery was the first step in improvement. Habitat plus forage is a small victory for us if we can get our state organization to follow through. The habitat effort used pallet structures that AFIO secured locally from businesses; the department showed up with cedar trees to attach to those structures. We also constructed 10 shelbyville cubes, these cubes should last forever and to our surprise, within weeks the plastic was growing algae and holding fish and bait fish. The viewpoints using forward facing sonar were very encouraging for the entire effort. Our goal is to install approximately 500 pieces of structure over five years. We are blessed in eastern Kentucky to have the best local fisheries staff that you could have. Jason Russell and his staff are second to none, these guys work and want to see improvements as much as anyone.

The next challenge for Paintsville Lake through our research and conversations with experts is to supplement our forage base. We currently have gizzard shad only in our lake, although threadfin shad did exist in the 90s in Paintsville Lake. Threadfin have an almost entirely different behavior than gizzard, threadfin also can potentially spawn three times in one season, whereas the gizzard shad spawn once. 

The differences in behavior and the multiple spawns offer an obvious benefit to all predator fish and birds. We believe that in 2023 we have milder winters than we had 30 years ago in the 90s, the lake discharges water differently due to changes several years ago from different depths now than in the 90s, and we are also going to attempt to improve fertility. We believe these factors make a modern study on shad more than necessary.  

In terms of fertility, Paintsville has remained oligotrophic throughout its existence since 1983. Fertility has not improved over the 40 years that the lake has been impounded and this is a difficult challenge due to the lake being a US Army Corp of Engineers lake with no agriculture above the lake, the lake is surrounded by a 12,000-acre wildlife management area. 

According to biologists, the forest probably consumes most of our nutrients before they make it to the water. Our goal in the short term is to fertilize creek arms near our habitat work, fertilizer can create a plankton bloom that ultimately is the basis of the food chain in any lake, threadfin shad would feed directly on the plankton and improvements to fertility could ultimately greatly enhance our shad populations. All of these efforts must be approved by the USACE and KDFWR, nothing can be implemented without their approval. We have already had one meeting for 2023 approving an initial outline of everything mentioned above with the goal to acquire grant money and funding to support our elaborate plan.  

There are a ton of resources through organizations like Friends of Reservoirs, most local governments and officials are also very interested in improving local bodies of water due to the economic impact. 

Largemouth bass have been stocked in nearly every lake in the US and several countries around the world due to their desirability as a sport fish. Many bass fishermen frequently leave our state to fish elsewhere due to better opportunities or the higher potential of landing a trophy bass. Our argument all along has been to improve the trophy component in our lakes by adding F1 Largemouth Bass. 

If we could take five to seven-pound largemouth that we see weighed in locally in bass tournaments throughout the season, and if F1s allowed those fish to weigh eight to 10 pounds, this project would be a major victory for bass fishermen, the local economy and our efforts to affect change. 

If a double-digit fish was landed locally, what is that worth economically in these rural communities? In our situation introducing Florida genetics is not new, we have already proven the existence of Florida genetics, so our project changes nothing in terms of genetics that already exist in the lake. 

Anglers For Improving Opportunities has a goal to affect positive change through research and science. We believe that partnerships such as ours are mutually beneficial to state organizations that are strapped for labor and budgets. Last year our turnaround time on our habitat project was unmatched, these efforts usually take 18 months of planning, but we did ours in about 4 months. State organizations are notoriously slow when it comes to obtaining data and then subsequently releasing that data, our data took about 9 months to return.

 Are you interested in our efforts? Follow our Facebook Page – Anglers For Improving Opportunities. We are a 501(3)(c) and are accepting tax-deductible donations to support these efforts. anglersforimproving@gmail.com. 

How can you affect change in your area? Approach your local biologist, they are usually listed on the department websites. Do your research, there are a ton of articles that you can find using google that often faces similar circumstances. Be respectful, and rally the local elected officials with the potential economic impacts. Organize a group, begin working towards the funding opportunities that exist and affect positive change. 

“We can’t wait for some other person or some other time to affect change.”

More background on our efforts:

 DNA Sample Data Below: