Fisher, I just read where there as an oil spill in one of your streams--one of the forks of the Kentucky River. Did it kill any of the fish? Nothing is safe anymore--especially our streams. Do you do any fly fishing for smallies in cold weather? My best to you.

Geezer (Ed}

I have been busy the last week or so and I've not heard much news, I will find out though . I really haven't but I've been wanting to get into it. I went trout fishing last Sunday and caught 18. Man I hate to hear that, I will check on that and let you know. With the mining and gas production in the area we do have a problem with this sometimes , But it has been a long time.

Man oh man this is a shame it is my local fork that runs through Hazard. This is a very productive secton of the river. I'm going to check the F&W site to see if there was a fish kill. From what I have found out this was a leak that had been going for a while. I was thinking that maybe the lack of big fish was because of two years of Drought. Now Im wondering if this is not part of this years problems. Yet I have not seen any dead fish on the river in any numbers.

I have yet to get any response from anyone about whether is craeted a fish kill or not. I'm still trying.

I finally got in contact with someone in Frankfort today and they told me to they had no report of a fish kill, but to contact the local biologist for the area. I called and left a message hopefully I will get a response soon.

I finally got an email from the biologist for this area . He ask me which spill I was reffering to!!!! Man I hadn't heard about these, he said they had a sewage overflow which created a fish kill in the upper section. I have returned his emal asking about the other spills, he should contact me tomorrow. Man if it has created a major kill on that section it's more than a shame. But we can still fish this spring the other two forks are excellent smallie flows also.

Fisher, I appreciate the detective work you've done on the spill. It is amazing how some folks are able to keep things like a spill quiet and out of the public eye. We know that the fish will make a comeback but it takes a long time. Let me know if you do any winter fishing with flies. Next spring seems so far far away!

Tight lines--

Geezer

Sadly Geezer this is a very rural area and the good old boys network is in full force and always has been. There are a few of us in this area trying and to some degree making headway in fighting the coal comapanies and big wigs, but it is hard and slow work. When you get to fish this area you will see we do have some problems. Yet you will see the potential for this area to be a fishing and sportsmans haven.. You probably already know this but this is the very area where they have concentrated the Elk stocking and I have seen several on my trips as well as deer turkey ,bear along the rivers. The adventure tourism industry is growing by the day here(atv trails )which is also bringing in fishermen and hunters. I'm seeing a day when this area can pull away from the coal industry and go toward a more stable and enviromentally friendly economy.

I got an email from the F&W biologist this morning and he said he had no info on that spill because the EPA only contacted them in case of a fish kill. This probably means no fish kill from this spill. He also gave me very good info on the studies done in the area on all three forks. If you look at a map and look at the number of miles of flow the three forks contain you will now why some of these sections, even I haven't fished. He has given me some info on some very good sections that I have only scratched the suface as far as fishing. One area is of paticular interest since according to the google map there are no roads and homes in a 4 mile area (no fishing pressure ). I will do a float on these sections before you and Billy come up, but according to him they are very producive and hold good numbers of big smallies (which is what its all about).

Hey Geezer do you ever fly fish for trout? We are planning on going to the Cumberland Sunday to do a little trout fishing. Maybe if your not doing anything we could meet and try our luck?

I've never really tried to fish with flies in the winter. Have you done well with it?