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Credit: KY State Parks
Guests have the unique opportunity to experience a “Zip and Drop” adventure at Carter Caves State Resort Park on May 5.
The “zip” is a 200-foot zipline trip on the Smoky Bridge Highline, 50 feet above the ground. The “drop” is a 50-foot rappel from Smoky Bridge, a 120-foot long natural rock bridge at the park. Experience Smoky Bridge in a way few visitors get to see. No previous experience is necessary to participate.
“The reward is not only the adrenaline rush from being suspended by rope above the forest floor, but the scenery from this perspective is a large reason to try this,” said Paul Tierney, a naturalist at Carter Caves. “Imagine being perched on a wooden platform, looking down into Smoky Valley at the lush spring greenery peaking up from the forest floor as you’re clipped into the rigging and taking that first step off, and gliding down the rope through the valley.”
Each trip is $5 a person. Participants must be ages 6 and older and weigh 250 pounds or less. Make a reservation by calling the park at 606-286-4411. The zip and drop will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“There’s not another place in the state you can experience this kind of adventure for only $5,” Tierney said. “It’s really a one-of-a-kind event at a beautiful location. A family of four can do something that perhaps they’ve never done before for only $20 as a family.”
Besides the zipline and rappel, Carter Caves offers cave tours and more than 30 miles of hiking trails. Early May is prime wildflower season at the park.
Carter Caves State Resort Park is located at 344 Caveland Drive in Olive Hill. The park has a lodge with a restaurant, cottages and campground. Besides cave tours, activities include hiking, boating and fishing. During summer months, swimming and horseback riding are also offered. For more information about the park, call 606-286-4411 or visit www.parks.ky.gov.
The Kentucky Derby Festival is underway and the Kentucky Exposition Center plays host to four popular events.
Kentucky Derby Festival Race Expo & Packet Pick Up: Thursday, April 26 – Friday, April 27 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. – Thursday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. – Friday More than 15,000 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon participants and their families stop by this annual event to pick up required information for the two races. During this time, attendees can visit exhibitors featuring fitness resources, tools and apparel. Located in the West Wing and Pavilion.
U.S. Bank Great Balloon Glow: Friday, April 27 6 p.m. Gates open 9 p.m. Glow begins Spectators watch as pilots fill hot-air balloons that glow against the evening sky, set to a special musical score. Visitors are invited to meet the pilots and ask questions. The balloons are parked in Lots C and D.
Thorntons Great Bed Races: Monday, April 30 4 p.m. Official tailgate party 6 p.m. Parade of the beds 7 p.m. Races begin Crowds cheer as teams dressed in costumes push decorated beds in a 600-yard dash to the finish line. Awards are presented for fastest course times, best decorated, most entertaining and more. The races take place in Broadbent Arena.
Republic Bank Pegasus Parade Preview Party Presented by Mega Caverns: Tuesday, May 1 5 – 9 p.m. Open to the public Visitors get a sneak peek at inflatables and floats, complete with dancing costumed characters. Children can also get an autograph or photo of the Derby Festival Queen and Royal Court. The preview party is held in South Wing C.
Admission to all events is free with a 2018 Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Pin. Parking at the Kentucky Exposition Center is $8 per vehicle and $20 per bus.
For more information about the Kentucky Derby Festival, visit www.kdf.org.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish And Wildlife
This spring seems like one long continuation of late winter. As soon as we get a warm day, the temperature plunges and we are back in February again. It even snowed on Monday of the third week of April.
This up and down weather combined with cold rains has the spring fishing season behind by a few weeks. The spawning runs of white bass into the headwaters of reservoirs are scattershot so far this spring, with some movement followed by retreat.
“I don’t think the white bass have really had a chance to run yet,” said Ron Brooks, director of Fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “I think the fluctuating water temperatures are screwing them up a bit. We need a sustained warm front to get them going.”
Water temperatures are in the low 50s in most reservoirs and streams across Kentucky.
Anglers fishing the headwaters of Taylorsville Lake found rewarding, but sporadic, fishing over the last week. “Last Thursday, I took home six white bass, but on Friday, I took home 10, at least four of them over 15 inches,” said Clifford Scott, internal policy analyst for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “I had to walk quietly out of there because I had the biggest stringer of fish.”
Scott took his fish with a combination of old-school 2-inch curly-tailed grubs in white and yellow along with a 2-inch Bobby Garland Baby Shad in pink and pearl.
“I saw small shad all over the place,” Scott said. “Once I saw them, I switched to the Baby Shad. You had to fish for the white bass, they were not on a hard run, but produced enough action to keep your interest.”
The upper part of Taylorsville Lake WMA grants bank access to anglers that produces fishing comparable to those in boats.
Mike Hardin, assistant director of Fisheries, caught some white bass in the upper reaches of Taylorsville Lake this past weekend. “We caught them above the first riffle from the impounded water,” he said. “We caught a mixed bag of different sizes and caught more in the evening than in the morning. The males were marked up in breeding colors. We caught a few females, so they are already staging for the spawn.”
White bass populations are by nature cyclic, and good fishing often erupts in lakes over the course of a year or two.
Green River Lake is one of those lakes poised for a white bass breakout. Southwestern Fisheries District biologist Eric Cummins and crew conducted white bass population sampling on the lake last year. They found excellent reproduction in 2014 for white bass, producing an expanding population of fish 14 inches and longer in the lake.
Last week, some bass anglers fishing a tournament on Green River Lake reported incidental catches of white bass while fishing crankbaits for largemouth bass. Anglers should search the Robinson Creek arm from Wilson Creek up to the KY 76 Bridge (Knifley Road) and in the Green River arm above Holmes Bend.
Bank anglers can access the upper end of the Robinson Creek arm at the Elkhorn Ramp and the Wilson Creek Recreation Area. They may also access the upper section of the Green River arm at the Snake Creek Ramp and other roads on the Green River WMA in that area.
Cave Run Lake is another reservoir with growing numbers of white bass. Population surveys conducted in 2017 show high numbers of larger fish, which should mean good fishing in 2018. Search for surface activity to find white bass in spring on the lake.
The fishing peaks in summer on Cave Run, when white bass get in the “jumps” by trapping shad against the surface and ripping through them. The confluence near the mouth of Buck Creek as well as the areas around the Clay Lick and Alfrey boat ramps make excellent places to search for them when it gets hot. Any shad imitating topwater cast into the jumps will get smoked.
Some anglers caught fish in the Broad Ford area in the headwaters of Nolin River Lake a few weeks ago, but the fishing slowed with the cold rains that accompanied major frontal passages earlier in April. The sustained warm weather in the upcoming forecast will draw waves of white bass into Nolin River Lake above Bacon Creek Ramp.
Fast and furious fishing during the spring runs makes white bass one of the most popular fish anglers pursue. When they are on, you can catch several fish on consecutive casts.
In-line spinners like the venerable Rooster Tail in white, chartreuse and pink all score white bass. You can work an in-line spinner near the surface or let it sink a few feet and retrieve. Vary the depths of the retrieve until you hit fish.
Like what Scott found last week, small shad-shaped soft plastic lures or curly tailed grubs also attract white bass. Some anglers fishing the headwaters of reservoirs suspend 1/16- to 1/32-ounce white feather or hair jigs under bobbers and let them drift in the current. Change the depth of the jig until you find white bass.
Anglers may keep 15 white bass daily, but only five of the daily limit may be longer than 15 inches. White bass fishing gives you a fantastic reason to buy your fishing license, so don’t forget to get one if you haven’t already.
Credit: KY State Parks
Learn about snakes and other reptiles with the “World of Reptiles” show planned at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site on April 28.
This interactive program, presented at 1 p.m. by award-winning naturalist Scott Shupe, features live snakes and other reptiles.
While at the park, be sure to take a stroll along the Woods Walk Trail and learn about some useful plants and the natural environment. Enjoy a butterfly program in the Welcome Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where kids can make and take a butterfly mobile and pick up your free flower seed packets for butterfly gardens.
Admission for the reptile program is $3 adults/$2 kids. The reptile program with museum and site tour is $5 adults/$4 kids, seniors and military and includes the butterfly program. Call ahead for discount rates on groups of 10 or more. This is a great opportunity for Scout troops, homeschoolers or youth groups. For more information, call the park office at 270-335-3681, email carla.hildebrand@ky.gov or visit our website at www.parks.ky.gov.
Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site is an archaeological site of a Native American village of the Mississippian culture. The park features a museum, mounds, walking trail, picnic area, visitor center with tourism information and a gift shop. The park is located along the Mississippi river’s Great River Road National Scenic Byway at 94 Green Street, Highway 51-60-62, Wickliffe, Ky.
Historical interpreter and culinary historian Michael Twitty will be in residence at Locust Grove May 22 through May 25, 2018 for Africa In Our Kitchens, a series of workshops, presentations, and tastings. Michael Twitty is a dedicated researcher who is committed to preserving and promoting African-American foodways and culture, and linking this influence on Southern food heritage. His research brings an understanding of the cultural heritage of enslaved communities and its relationship to the American South. His book, The Cooking Gene, was released by HarperCollins in 2017.
Twitty’s week-long residency at Locust Grove will explore the influence that African culture had on what has become American food through the enslaved African American experience. “Kentucky has an impressive and important role in the history and heritage of Southern and African American foodways and I hope my visit amplifies that story,” says Twitty of his visit.
Twitty’s residency will involve three formal public events, and focus on the enslaved community at Locust Grove. According to Brian Cushing, Locust Grove’s Program Director, “Michael Twitty’s visit is one of the best opportunities we have had yet to bring the experiences of the enslaved African Americans who worked the Locust Grove farm two centuries ago to life for our visitors. At any given time between 1792-1856, they comprised the majority population on the property that is now our museum and through exploring the food that they brought with them and created here, we are hoping that visitors come closer to understanding them as real, individual human beings.”
On Tuesday, May 22 at 6:00 pm, Twitty will offer a hearth meal tasting, allowing guests to taste traditional recipes cooked in Locust Grove’s hearth kitchen while hearing how the lived experiences of enslaved African Americans inform our national story and taste buds. Tickets are $18, or $15 for Locust Grove members.
On Thursday, May 24 at 6:00 pm, the public is invited to an open-air barbecue sampler that recreates the practices of enslaved African Americans living in early America. During the day, Twitty will roast a whole sheep over an open pit and prepare other 18th and 19th century recipes for sampling by evening guests. Tickets are $23, or $20 for Locust Grove members.
On both Tuesday, May 22 and Thursday, May 24, the Locust Grove hearth kitchen and grounds will be open for “Cooking Days with Michael Twitty.” Guests are welcome to stop by the hearth kitchen to view preparations, ask questions about recipes and techniques, and gain insight into how daily meals were prepared in the 18th and 19th centuries. Admission to the grounds for Cooking Days will be free. On Thursday, much of the preparations will take place on the grounds as Twitty roasts a whole sheep over an open pit.
Finally, on Friday, May 25 at 6:30 pm, Michael Twitty will present “Africa In Our Kitchens: How Enslaved African American Cooks Shaped American Cuisine.” This lecture will discuss Twitty’s research into the foodways of the enslaved and how their culture and experience shaped the American palate. Tickets for this presentation at $12, or $10 for Locust Grove members.
Africa In Our Kitchens: Michael Twitty at Locust Grove will take place May 22-25, 2018 at Historic Locust Grove. Tickets for all events will be on sale starting April 21 and may be purchased by calling Locust Grove at 502-897-9845.
Africa In Our Kitchens: Hearth Meal Tasting
Tuesday, May 22, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Learn about 18th and 19th-century hearth cooking practices and the African influence on American cooking through enslaved cooks with historical interpreter and culinary historian Michael Twitty. During this tasting event, guests will taste traditional recipes cooked by Michael Twitty in Locust Grove’s hearth kitchen and hear how the lived experiences of enslaved African Americans inform our national story and national taste buds, as African culture and food practices became associated with American cooking. Tickets: $18/$15 for Locust Grove members. Tickets on sale April 21, 2018; call (502) 897-9845.
Cooking Tuesday with Michael Twitty
Tuesday, May 22, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Free admission to grounds and hearth kitchen to view preparations for the evening event.
Africa In Our Kitchens: Open Air Barbecue Sampler
Thursday, May 24, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Experience an 18th century barbecue that recreates the practices of enslaved African Americans living in early America as Michael Twitty roasts a whole sheep over an open pit. The foodways of the enslaved have had a profound influence on the flavors that persist in American recipes, intrinsically linking African culture with our present understanding of traditional food. Michael Twitty’s food will give you a taste of the past while offering an understanding of the unique stories and experiences of enslaved African Americans. Tickets: $23/$20 for Locust Grove members. Tickets on sale April 21, 2018; call (502) 897-9845.
Cooking Thursday with Michael Twitty
Thursday, May 24, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Free admission to grounds and hearth kitchen to view preparations for the evening event.
Africa In Our Kitchens: How Enslaved African American Cooks Shaped American Cuisine
Friday, May 25 6:30pm – 8:00pm
In this presentation, historical interpreter and culinary historian Michael Twitty will discuss his research into the foodways of the enslaved and how their culture and experience shaped the American palate. Tickets: $12/$10 for Locust Grove members. Tickets on sale April 21, 2018; call (502) 897-9845.
Kentucky State Fair Premium Books are now available online. Competitors can choose from 31 departments — including antiques, field seed, livestock, photography and textiles — which are divided into 7,000 total classes of competition. All ages are welcome to compete for cash prizes and the more than 5,000 blue ribbons to be awarded.
The 2018 Kentucky State Fair is Aug. 16-26 at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
Entry deadlines are:
- General July 2
- General (late fee) July 10
- Open and 4-H/FFA Youth Livestock July 10
- Pigeon and Poultry July 18
- Rabbit July 18
- Open Livestock (late fee) July 25
- Extra Late Open Livestock (late fee) August 3
The Premium Book and entry form are available online at www.kystatefair.org/premiumBook.html. A print version is also available; to request a copy, contact the entry department at Entry@kyvenues.com or call (502) 367-5190.
Commercial anglers netted nearly 42 tons of invasive Asian carp from Kentucky and Barkley lakes during the inaugural Carp Madness tournament in 2013.
Carp Madness returns to the lakes in June with a new twist: it’s a tournament for bow anglers. The top prize is $10,000 for the team on the winning boat in each division, with total prizes of $23,000.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are partnering with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Kentucky State Parks and the Bowfishing Association of America for Carp Madness 2. The tournament is set for the night of June 23-24.
The tournament is another way to remove carp from the lake while building awareness of the invasive fish.
“We anticipate that Carp Madness 2 will remove more than 100,000 pounds of Asian carp in a single night of bowfishing,” said Ron Brooks, fisheries division director for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “Proceeds beyond the cost of the tournament payouts and prizes will go to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which works with our department on fish and wildlife habitat, the Salato Wildlife Education Center and sponsoring the department’s summer conservation camps for kids.”
The Bowfishing Association of America is sanctioning the event.
The entry fee is $150 per boat. Contestants can pay an extra $25 for entry into the big fish contest. Teams may consist of 2-4 anglers, but no passengers.
The top three weights harvested per boat from each division (lake or river) will win prize money. First place pays $10,000 per boat, followed by $1,000 for second and $500 for third. The big fish payout will be combined for both divisions and depend on the number of entries.
Contestants who weigh in Asian carp will receive a commemorative “Carp Madness 2” T-shirt. Contestants weighing in at least 250 pounds of fish will receive raffle tickets for chances at donated prizes. The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation is providing support for raffles, t-shirts and donations to the tournament. The foundation will also sell “Carp-Madness 2” T-shirts to support Asian carp removal efforts.
The tournament begins at 7 p.m. (Central time) June 23 and continues until 7 a.m. the following morning. Launch is set for the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Ramp, located at the Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park near Gilbertsville, Ky. Bowfishing anglers may harvest any of the Asian carp, including the silver, bighead, grass and black carp.
Pre-registration opens today on the Bowfishing Association of America website: baastore.bigcartel.com. Participants may also register at the event (cash only).
