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Photo: Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
Registration for Metro Parks and Recreation fall athletic leagues has been extended by one week and will now close on Friday, September 1.
League play will begin the week of September 11. Spots are still available for league play in basketball, softball, volleyball, flag football, kickball and dodgeball. For more information on schedules, sites and times, click here.
To pre-register for an Athletic League, participants can use this online form: Adult Leagues Pre-Registration. Payment can be made over the phone with credit card (Mastercard/Visa), or in person, by cash, check or credit card, at the Athletics Office located at the Metro Parks and Recreation Athletic Office at the Cyril Allgeier Community Center, 4101 Cadillac Court.
Payment must be made in full at the time of registration in order to reserve team’s place for the season. Registrations after the deadline will be subject to a $35 late registration processing fee.
For more information, call (502) 574-4515.
New information about bear hunting this year in Kentucky is now available through the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ website at fw.ky.gov.
The “Bear Hunting” section of the current Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide has been updated online to reflect a host of changes that took effect after the guide went to press earlier this summer. The two-page section also is available on its own through the department’s website.
The changes include the adoption of a three-zone approach to the management of the state’s bear population. Season dates and quotas vary by zone. There is a new muzzleloader season and nonresident hunters can now buy bear permits. Hunters also will find season dates, quotas and a map of the bear zones in the updated section.
Those without internet access can call Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at 1-800-858-1549 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays to request a mailed copy of the updated bear hunting section.
Photo: F1 ChampBoat Racing
International Outboard Grand Prix (IOGP) Powerboats will take control of Louisville’s waterfront on August 18-20 for the third race of the IOGP F1 ChampBoat Championship series racing season, setting the stage for an exciting weekend of racing, entertainment, and fun on the Ohio River in downtown Louisville.
Teams from across North America will converge on Waterfront Park to compete in the inaugural Louisville Regatta Grand Prix with the most-nimble power boats in the world that generate more G-forces than any other racing machine with top speeds of 150 MPH.
“We are excited to bring a world-class professional racing series to Louisville, and are very pleased with the enthusiastic reception we are receiving from Kentuckiana race fans,” said Mike Schriefer, president of IOGP. “The buzz in Louisville has been awesome. We know there are a lot of race fans and boaters in this part of the country, so we are excited about this event becoming one of our flagship races for many years.”
“Downtown Louisville on the Ohio River is the perfect ‘Natural Marine Stadium’ for IOGP and our kind of racing and entertainment,” Schriefer continued.
Greg Foster, who drives for Dillard Financial Services #53, comes to Louisville as the points leader in the IOGP F1 ChampBoat Series after a victory on August 6 at the EQT Three Rivers Regatta in Pittsburgh. He hopes to increase his lead with a strong finish in Kentucky.
“There is a huge coolness factor associated with this type of powerboat racing in the US and abroad, and our team at the Louisville Sports Commission has been working for 10 years to bring this event to Louisville,” said LSC President & CEO Karl Schmitt. “The accessibility of recreation on the river via Waterfront Park, a three-year commitment from the nationally recognized IOGP, and local residents’ affinity for boating were huge factors in making this event happen.”
The Louisville Regatta Grand Prix kicks off Friday afternoon with open practice for the F1 ChampBoats taking place from 3 to 5 p.m. Live music featuring Louisville-based “From Paris” kicks off the Regatta Festival. Saturday’s events include practice midday, heat races in the afternoon, and local rock band “Mary Mary” that night. In addition to great bands on Friday and Saturday night, DJFun will be cranking out the tunes throughout the day along with a late-night foam party scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.
The F1 ChampBoat finals will run Sunday afternoon from 1-5 p.m.
Advanced tickets are available at www.LouisvilleGrandPrix.com or at the gate. Papa John’s is offering a $5 discount coupon when local residents order pizza delivery. The coupon can be redeemed at the gate.
Photo: Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
Nature-based adventure will be the focus of Metro Parks and Recreation programming during the West Louisville Appreciation Days in Shawnee Park, when the department’s Jefferson Memorial Forest and Natural Areas Division and its partners will offer a variety of outdoor fun for youth and adults alike.
Kids will have the opportunity to canoe, fish ride bikes, navigate a climbing wall and engage in archery free of charge on Saturday, July 29, from 1-5 p.m.
The programming is part of the Louisville Outdoor Recreation Initiative, which would create new recreational amenities in West Louisville, including the proposed Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center, which would be operated by the Metro Parks and Recreation’s Natural Areas Division.
From 2-4 p.m., the Outdoor Learning Center’s consultant team will be on hand to educate residents about the two sites within Shawnee Park that are being considered. Feedback gathered at the event will be used to determine site selection.
“Please come out and lend your voice to this initiative,” said Bennett Knox, Administrator for the Natural Areas Division. “This will create new and exciting opportunities for youth and families from across west Louisville to experience the outdoors close to home.”
For more information on the West Louisville Outdoor Recreation Initiative, please click here.
Photo: Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
four Metro Parks and Recreation outdoor pools will remain open one week later this summer to help local families beat the heat. The pools – Camp Taylor (Norton), Algonquin, Sun Valley and Nelson Hornbeck (Fairdale) – were scheduled to close for the season at the end of the day on Saturday, July 28.
Metro Parks officials decided to extend the season one week due to forecasted high temperatures and favorable staffing levels. The last day for the outdoor pools will be Saturday, August 5.
Admission to the pools has also been reduced by $1. Adults can now swim at the pools for $2, and those ages 17 and younger can swim for $1.
Algonquin Park
1614 Cypress Street, 40210
502/772-7907
Open Daily: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. • Closed Tuesdays
Fairdale (Nelson Hornbeck Park)
709 Fairdale Road, 40118
502/361-8270
Open Daily: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. • Closed Mondays
Norton (Camp Taylor Memorial Park)
4201 Lee Avenue, 40213
502/451-0678
Open Daily: 11 a m.- 4 p m • Closed Thursdays
Sun Valley Park
6506 Bethany Lane, 40272
502/935-0302
Open Daily: 1p m – 6 p.m. • Closed Wednesday
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Two employees of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources recently used the department’s website at www.fw.ky.gov to glean information on catching saugeye.
They used the 5-foot contour maps on the “Find a Place to Fish” to study the bottom of Guist Creek Lake in Shelby County and determine a place to fish. They later fished those areas and caught their first saugeye.
“We trying to provide information on our website to make it easier for anglers to find places to fish and be successful,” said Mike Hardin, assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “The “Find a Place to Fish” page allows anglers to sort by county, city, waterbody, access type or even species of fish.”
Many of the waterbodies detailed in the “Find a Place to Fish” page contain important fishing information, such as the 5-foot contour maps. “When you pull these waterbodies up, many of them have the location of fish attractors, species assessments as well as the contour maps. We have the contour maps for most of our smaller state-owned lakes as well as the Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes.”
Hardin said the large reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have commercially available maps at tackle shops near the lakes or for sale online. Many of the large outfitters also sell these maps.
“Each entry contains driving directions to all of the ramps on that waterbody,” Hardin said. “They also contain a link to the Fishing Forecast, detailing the fishing for many species in waterbodies across the state.”
Planning a float trip on a stream can be daunting. The “Canoeing and Kayaking” page contains loads of information to help select a place to paddle. You may click on the “Stream Fisheries” tab for detailed information on access sites, lengths of floats and recommended floating levels for streams across Kentucky.
This page also contains photos of each access point and a description of the access. This is invaluable information to paddlers floating a stream for the first time. This page also shows the abundance and size structure of the population of the desirable fish in the stream such as rock bass or smallmouth bass.
The “Canoeing and Kayaking” page also contains a link to the award winning Blue Water Trails series of articles detailing more than 30 different floats across Kentucky. These articles also contain fishing tips for the species in the waterbody as well as a printable map.
“If you are trying to figure out a place for the coming weekend, our website has many resources to help guide you,” Hardin said. “We want people to enjoy our water resources and catch some fish.”
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission proposed several new fishing regulations at a special called meeting today.
The commission recommends all hunting, fishing and boating regulations for approval by the General Assembly and approves all expenditures by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. All recommendations must be approved by legislators before they become law.
If approved by legislators, fisheries regulations proposed at the meeting would take effect March 1, 2018.
In fisheries-related business, commissioners recommended reducing the statewide daily creel limit on crappie to 20 fish per angler per day. They also proposed modifying the statewide daily creel limit on brown trout to one fish per day with a 16-inch minimum size limit. Rainbow trout will be under an 8-fish daily creel limit. Anglers will be able to use dip nets to collect baitfish statewide.
Commission members also proposed changing the way anglers tag jugs, limb lines or trot lines. Instead of using their name and address, anglers using these fishing methods can use the “Customer Identification Number” provided on their fishing licenses to tag their jugs, limb lines or trot lines.
In addition, the commission recommended increasing the crappie minimum size limit to 10 inches on Taylorsville Lake. They also proposed placing channel and blue catfish in Barren River Lake under a 15-fish daily creel limit; only one fish may be longer than 25 inches.
They also proposed removing the 15-inch minimum size limit on largemouth bass on Beaver Lake in Anderson County and placing Benjy Kinman Lake in Henry County under statewide regulations for crappie, bluegill and sunfish.
On Beech Fork Reservoir, also known as Staunton Reservoir, in Powell County, the commission recommended instituting a 15-inch minimum size limit on largemouth bass and a 15-fish daily creel limit on bluegill.
Another proposal recommended placing special regulations on Willisburg Park Pond in Washington County: a 4-fish daily creel limit on channel catfish with no minimum size limit; a 15-fish daily creel limit on sunfish with no minimum size limit; and a 1-fish daily creel limit, 15-inch minimum size limit on largemouth bass.
Recommendations also included restricting the use of live shad for bait on all Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes. All restrictions on using shad for bait refer to live shad, not dead or packaged shad, used for bait.
In wildlife-related business, the commission recommended the implementation of a three-tiered classification system for wildlife management areas (WMAs). The system would allow the public to better understand whether an area is actively or passively managed, and the staffing levels for each area.
Finally, commissioners proposed implementation of regulations restricting the movement and rehabilitation of rabies-vector species the U.S. Department of Agriculture surveillance area in eastern Kentucky.
The next Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting is currently scheduled for 8:30 a.m. (Eastern time), Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. Meetings are held at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife headquarters, 1 Sportsman’s Lane off U.S. 60 in Frankfort.