Overview and identification
Kentucky has two native fish of this kind, KDFWR stocks a third, the saugeye, in a handful of lakes, and the regulations count all three together. KDFWR's Kentucky Fishes booklet describes the walleye as "a large, streamlined perch with an opaque eye, large mouth, and enlarged canine teeth," with a first dorsal fin carrying "dark streaks or wavy bands"; the species page adds that the upper jaw reaches past the middle of the eye, that the fish is olive-green to brown with darker blotches, and that the anal fin and the lower lobe of the tail are tipped white. The sauger, in the same booklet, is "a slender, streamlined perch similar to the Walleye" that "reaches a smaller adult size," and it differs by "at least 3 rows of rounded black spots in the 1st dorsal fin (vs. streaks or wavy lines)" and by "no white tips on the fins." The sauger species page adds three or four dark brown saddles on the back and two large dark blotches on the side, where a walleye has several smaller blotches.
The saugeye has no KDFWR species page. The 2026-27 Fishing and Boating Guide's identification panel gives all three side by side, and it is the one to carry:
- Walleye: "Dark streaks or blotches on spiny dorsal fin, but not distinct spots"; "Dark blotch at rear of spiny, dorsal fin"; "White spot on lower lobe of tail fin."
- Sauger: "Rows of dark spots on spiny dorsal fin"; "No dark blotch at rear of spiny dorsal fin"; "Dark saddle-like blotches which extend onto the sides of the body."
- Saugeye: "Intermediate in appearance between walleye and sauger"; "May have dark streaks or blotches on spiny dorsal fin"; "Dark blotches on side, but smaller than those on sauger."
Look first at the tail: a white spot on the lower lobe says walleye; no white and rows of round spots on the first dorsal says sauger; a fish that sits between the two on every mark, from one of the lakes KDFWR stocks with saugeye, is the saugeye.
Size, from the booklet: walleye to 36 inches and 25 pounds, usually 12 to 30 inches and 2 to 10 pounds; sauger to 30 inches and 8 to 9 pounds, usually under 20 inches and 2 to 3 pounds. Habitat, in KDFWR's words: walleye "often occur in deep pools of rivers or open waters of reservoirs with abundant bottom cover" and gather below dams and near rocky shoals in rivers, and they are "most common in the Cumberland River drainage," Big South Fork and Rockcastle included. Sauger occur in most large rivers statewide, the main channels of the Mississippi and Ohio included, and in Kentucky, Barkley and Cumberland lakes; the two species use similar water, "but Sauger tend to be more tolerant of turbid (muddy) water conditions." The sauger page names the moment anglers meet them: early spring spawning runs, when they gather near swift shoals, at stream mouths and in dam tailwaters.
State records, from KDFWR's record table: walleye 21.50 pounds, Abe Black of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Lake Cumberland, 1 October 1958; sauger 7.44 pounds, Rastie Andrew of Jamestown, Kentucky, Cumberland River, 28 April 1983; saugeye 9.03 pounds, Wolfgang Kratzenberg of Verona, Kentucky, Bullock Pen Lake, 21 March 2021. The 2026 forecast confirms Bullock Pen as "home to the current state record Saugeye."
Basis: official (KDFWR Walleye and Sauger pages; Kentucky Fishes booklet; 2026-27 Fishing and Boating Guide identification panel; KDFWR state record table; 2026 Fishing Forecast)
The rules
Statewide, under 301 KAR 1:201 Section 2(1)(c), in the current text (history line ending "eff. 9-3-2026"): "Sauger, walleye, and any hybrid thereof daily limit, singly or in combination, six (6); size limit, fourteen (14) inches." Section 2(2) sets the possession limit at "two (2) times the daily limit," and the Guide's statewide table prints it: "Walleye, Sauger, and their Hybrids" 6 daily, 12 in possession, 14 inches, "Singly or combined; a total of these species." Saugeye fall under that line; the forecast repeats the 14-inch minimum for saugeye at Lake Carnico and Lake Wilgreen.
Two places change it.
Dale Hollow Lake, Section 3(21): "(b) Walleye and walleye hybrids, daily limit, five (5); size limit, sixteen (16) inches. (c) Sauger daily limit, ten (10); size limit, fourteen (14) inches." These are the only walleye or sauger lines anywhere in Section 3. Dale Hollow is the one water where a sauger limit runs higher than the statewide six.
The native walleye waters, Section 4, titled "Daily Limits and Size Limits for Waters Containing Rockcastle Strain Walleye": "There shall be a slot limit between eighteen (18) and twenty-six (26) inches and a daily limit of two (2) for walleye" in these waters, quoted as the regulation lists them:
- "Barren River and tributaries upstream from confluence with the Green River, including Barren River Lake"
- "Cumberland River and tributaries above Cumberland Falls"
- "Kentucky River and tributaries upstream from Lock and Dam 14"
- "Middle Fork Kentucky River and tributaries"
- "North Fork Kentucky River and tributaries, including Carr Fork below Carr Creek Lake"
- "South Fork Kentucky River and tributaries"
- "Levisa Fork River and tributaries upstream from Fishtrap Lake, including Fishtrap Lake"
- "Martins Fork Lake"
- "Rockcastle River and tributaries"
- "Wood Creek Lake"
The Guide puts it plainly: "All walleye caught from 18 to 26 inches long must be immediately released." It lists the Rockcastle River and tributaries under "New this year." Section 4 names walleye only; it says nothing about sauger or saugeye, which in those waters stay under the statewide line. That means Barren River Lake, its tailwater and the whole Barren River above the Green are two-fish, slot-limit walleye water, which is easy to miss because the lake's own Section 3 entry carries no walleye line.
Lake Cumberland and the Ohio River have no walleye or sauger provision of their own: Section 3(44) covers Cumberland's bass, striped bass and crappie, and Section 3(56) the Ohio's white and striped bass and catfish. Both are under the statewide 6 and 14 inches, as are the Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam, Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley, Green River Lake, Nolin River Lake and their tailwaters. On the Ohio, which bank you stand on decides which state's rulebook applies; our McAlpine sauger article sets the Kentucky and Indiana sauger rules side by side and is not repeated here.
Basis: official (301 KAR 1:201 current text, Sections 2, 3 and 4; 2026-27 Fishing and Boating Guide statewide table, "New this year" and special regulations; 2026 Fishing Forecast)
Where they are: KDFWR's 2026 forecast
KDFWR's 2026 Fishing Forecast, "based on 2025 fish population surveys, creel surveys, fish stockings, and historical knowledge of the fisheries," rates these fish on five stars. The stars exist only in the forecast's page images, which we could not read back a second time, so treat every star figure on this page as Status pending and confirm it in the PDF. Its cheat sheet of 4-star-or-better waters has an empty walleye column, one sauger water (the Ohio River) and two saugeye lakes (A.J. Jolly and Taylorsville). Its "New Up-and-Comers" adds saugeye at Carpenter Lake. The late-winter paragraph is the line most anglers need: "During late winter, Sauger and Walleye fishing peaks in tailwaters below dams on the Ohio, lower Kentucky, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers. Lake Cumberland, Dale Hollow, Laurel River, and Carr Creek lakes possess excellent Walleye fisheries."
Rivers and tailwaters
| Water | Stars | The forecast's line, in short |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio River, sauger | 4 | Spring and fall below dams, on gravel bars and at creek mouths; "Recent regulations appear to be helping as larger fish are becoming more abundant" |
| Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam, walleye and sauger | 3.5 | Moderate density through the tailwater, decent spread of 2- to 5-pound fish, some larger; the dam area December to mid-March for sauger, late February to mid-March for walleye; mid-summer to fall, below Burkesville, trolling shad-coloured crankbaits or nightcrawler rigs |
| Kentucky Dam tailwater, sauger | 3 | A higher abundance of harvestable sauger than the lake; a good winter fishery; boat fishing ideal, two new fishing piers for the bank |
| Kentucky River, sauger | 3 | Sand bars, creek mouths, below dams around rock and sand bars; "Stocked annually" |
| Nolin River Lake tailwater, walleye and sauger | 3 | Removal of downstream locks and dams lets more fish into the tailwater; shaded or deeper holes, the back ends of pools, logjams, laydowns and boulders |
| Barren River below the lake, walleye and sauger | 3 | Best below the instream dams (Barren River Lake and Bowling Green), especially December to March; walleye 15 to 30 inches and occasional sauger 15 to 20 in deeper pools near transitions; walleye numbers best in the Drakes Creek drainage |
| Green River below Green River Lake, walleye and sauger | 2.5 | Walleye below the lake dam and sauger below the instream dams, early winter through spring; the summer walleye bite below the dam best during or after discharge; summer sauger more common in the mid to lower river below Mammoth Cave |
| Barren River above the lake, walleye | 2.5 | Males near riffles from mid-February to early April; the deepest pools the rest of the year |
| Lake Barkley and tailwater, sauger | 2 | Low numbers of harvestable fish, though recent catches have improved; most caught trolling deep-diving crankbaits near secondary channel breaks in early summer; "slightly better luck in the tailwaters" |
| Kentucky River, walleye | 1 | Low numbers from stocking and escape from headwater reservoirs; more likely upriver; good-size fish possible below dams |
| Ohio River, walleye | 1 | "Occasionally found in tailwaters" |
Lakes
| Water | Stars | The forecast's line, in short |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Cumberland, walleye | 3 | Stable, good numbers of 17- to 20-inch fish, larger available; surface baits at night in spring; summer trolling nightcrawler rigs 25 to 30 feet deep on main-lake points and flats |
| Dale Hollow Lake, walleye | 3 | Numbers good, many over 20 inches; main-lake points and bluff walls early in the year; trolled nightcrawler rigs and crankbaits over flats in 20 to 25 feet in summer and into fall |
| Kentucky Lake, sauger | 2.5 | Moderate numbers of harvestable fish, "improved greatly over the past three years"; fall and winter along secondary channels; trolled crankbaits |
| Laurel River Lake, walleye | 2.5 | Good numbers of 17- to 21-inch fish, some to 23; surface baits at night in spring; deep-diving crankbaits or spinner rigs trolled across points and islands in summer and fall |
| Green River Lake, walleye | 2.5 | Numbers, and numbers over 20 inches, "down a bit"; the dam area and the heads of the Robinson Creek and Green River arms late February to mid or late March; standing-timber coves, stump beds, humps, long points and channel drops in summer and fall; maintained by stocking |
| Carr Creek Lake, walleye | 2.5 | Stable, decent numbers of 16 to 21 inches; March to May in daylight, nights best in late spring, early summer and October; shallow laydowns, rocky points and bank-line trees in early spring, suspended under shad in open water later in summer |
| Nolin River Lake, walleye | 2 | Low density, most 14 to 18 inches; Bacon Creek and the upper river in early spring with leadhead jigs and plastics; summer trolling and night fishing under lights near the upper-lake channel; some fish stay in the river above Bacon Creek all year |
| Paintsville Lake, walleye | 2 | Fish to 8 pounds but few; suspended in March at 8 feet or less; live nightcrawlers on a jighead in May and October; weed-bed edges in summer |
| Martins Fork Lake, walleye | 1.5 | Native-strain walleye stocked annually since 2013; more 1- and 2-year-olds on the banks at night in fall; headwaters in early to mid March, rocky points and roadbeds in fall; the tailwater produces spring fish |
Saugeye lakes
| Water | Stars | The forecast's line, in short |
|---|---|---|
| Taylorsville Lake | 4 | Good numbers of 14-inch-plus fish, up to 25 inches possible; concentrated in the Salt River above the lake in spring and fall; stocked annually |
| A.J. Jolly Lake | 4 | Stocked annually since 2013; quality fish, up to 25 inches possible |
| Carpenter Lake | 3.5 | Seven year classes, fish 6 to 26 inches, most catches so far accidental; "most active during low light conditions" |
| Lake Carnico and Lake Wilgreen | 3 each | Larger fish established; at night with shad-imitating baits near the bottom, deep channel breaks and feeding flats, better in cooler water; 14-inch minimum |
| Bullock Pen Lake | 2.5 | Low numbers, good quality; the state-record lake |
| Boltz Lake | 2 | Low numbers, good quality |
| Guist Creek Lake | 1 | Very low numbers; stocked again in 2025 |
Basis: official (2026 Fishing Forecast; star ratings read once from the forecast's page images, Status pending)
The McAlpine sauger run
The Ohio River at Louisville gets its own piece: our McAlpine sauger article covers the Corps' closure of the Shippingport Island bank trail, the federal Regulated Navigation Area above the dam, the Kentucky and Indiana sauger rules, KDFWR's December-to-March timing and its tackle list. Launches on both banks are in our Ohio River at Louisville guide. The forecast's Ohio River sauger line, "Recent regulations appear to be helping as larger fish are becoming more abundant," is the reason to read it before the winter.
Basis: official (2026 Fishing Forecast); the linked article carries its own sources
What KDFWR's nets found in 2025
KDFWR's Lake and Tailwater Fishery Surveys report for April 2025 to March 2026 samples walleye with fall gill nets and spring electrofishing on a few lakes each year, not every lake every year. What it holds for these fish:
Laurel River Lake is the best-documented walleye lake in the report. Gill nets in November 2025 took 144 walleye in 16 net-nights, 9.0 per net-night, from 9.0 to 23.0 inches, the most common size the 19-inch class. Nine year classes were present, the 2023 year class 28 percent of the catch, and age-2-and-older fish averaged 19.1 inches at capture against an 18.0-inch growth objective. The report is candid that "the Walleye population did not meet any of the catch rate management objectives for Laurel River Lake," yet it scored 15 and rated Excellent on the statewide assessment, and it suggests reduced stocking in 2021 and 2022 "may be having an impact on the overall population."
Green River Lake: experimental gill nets in mid-November found age-0 fish 82 percent of the walleye catch; the population rated only Fair "due to the low numbers of fish in the other length groups and year classes," with too few ages for growth figures and body condition good (relative weight 93 to 97).
Carr Creek Lake: spring electrofishing for broodfish over several March days took 54 walleye at 10.8 per hour, most in the 16- to 24-inch classes and 3 to 4 years old, relative weight 96.
Paintsville Lake: November gill nets took only 4 walleye in 8 net-nights, 10.8 to 26.7 inches, the largest 7.20 pounds; 2023 and 2024 samples had taken 3 and 4.
Martins Fork Lake: three walleye seen in April; in October, "numerous Walleye" of 6 to 9 inches, the 2025 fish, and one 16-inch fish, likely age 3. The report says the advanced fingerlings stocked since 2022 are showing some recruitment.
Nolin River Lake's walleye "were not directly assessed in 2025" and are scheduled for gill nets in fall 2026. In the report we read, the Lake Cumberland section gives the year's walleye stocking but we found no walleye sampling for Cumberland or Dale Hollow.
Saugeye. At Taylorsville, fall gill nets took 261 saugeye from 9 to 23 inches; on average they reach the 14-inch minimum "between age 1 and age 2, and 20.0 in by age 3," and body condition was acceptable (relative weight 98). Saugeye, hybrid striped bass and white bass "were each targeted by less than 10% of all anglers" there in 2025. At Lake Wilgreen, nets in October took 26 saugeye from 14.0 to 25.0 inches, at higher rates than in 2021, and the fish "broke the 20.0-in mark in their 3rd year." At Carpenter Lake, first stocked in May 2019 and since 2022 at 150 fish an acre, 65 saugeye turned up in the 2025 bass and sunfish samples (the text says 65, its table totals 62), and an angler using forward-facing sonar on a warm day in February 2026 brought in a 24.5-inch, 6.21-pound fish; of the six carcasses the angler gave the biologists, the two biggest fish were 5 years old. Bullock Pen gave 10 saugeye in spring and 12 in September in the bass samples; Boltz gave 7 and 3 and was not stocked in 2025; Guist Creek gave four in October gill nets, "No other data is available due to the small sample size."
Basis: official (KDFWR Lake and Tailwater Fishery Surveys, annual performance report April 2025 - March 2026, Northwestern, Southwestern, Central, Northeastern, Southeastern and Eastern districts)
Stocking, and the native walleye
Two strains of walleye go out of Kentucky's hatcheries. KDFWR's walleye page says several reservoirs are stocked with a Lake Erie strain while the agency works to restore a native, river-adapted strain to free-flowing sections of selected rivers.
The Lake Erie strain, 2025. KDFWR's 2025 hatchery production tables list 1,843,826 walleye fingerlings of about 1.5 inches: Lake Cumberland 500,759, Green River Lake 458,000, Nolin River Lake 400,348, Laurel River Lake 282,379, Paintsville 85,884, Carr Creek Lake 52,780, Dale Hollow Lake (Kentucky) 40,048, the Licking River 13,049 and Russell Fork 10,579. Fry went to Tennessee (203,524), West Virginia (280,733) and the Licking River (164,471). The district texts give 500,729 for Lake Cumberland and 282,417 for Laurel; the differences are KDFWR's, and small.
The native strain. KDFWR's Conservation and Management Plan for the Native Walleye of Kentucky (December 2014) tells the story. Southern walleye, it says, "grow and mature faster, reach a larger maximum size, but have shorter lifespans than their northern counterparts," and spawn "in shallow shoal areas of medium to large rivers in late winter/early spring." Big spawning-run walleye were caught across Kentucky into the early 20th century and in the Cumberland as late as the 1950s; after the river was impounded in 1952 to form Lake Cumberland, the runs above the reservoir "rapidly declined," and the plan lists lost shoals, over-harvest of spawners and acid mine pollution as the suspected causes. The native fish were thought gone until walleye collected from the Rockcastle River in 1995 proved, on genetic testing then and later, to be a separate strain with "no evidence of introgression of northern walleye alleles." Stocking of native fish followed: the Rockcastle itself 2002 to 2007, Wood Creek Lake from 2002, the upper Barren River from 2007, the Levisa Fork above Fishtrap from 2010, and Martins Fork Lake and the Cumberland above Cumberland Falls from 2013, where northern-strain stocking had been halted in 2004. The plan recommended the 18- to 26-inch protective slot and two-fish limit "for all waters containing native walleye," to protect "prime breeding size female native walleye," and that rule is now Section 4. The Big South Fork holds pure native, pure northern and hybrid fish together, the plan says, and KDFWR stopped collecting northern broodfish that run up it.
The 2025 tables show the native program still running: 104,196 native fry to Tennessee; 35,313 fingerlings to the Cumberland River; 28,190 to the upper Cumberland and 20,408 to the upper Kentucky River at about 2.2 inches; 4,769 and 5,465 to the lower Barren and 3,449 to the upper Barren; 3,282 to the Rockcastle; 2,106 to the South Fork Kentucky River; 8,826 to Martins Fork Lake (in July, at 4.0 inches) and 2,005 to its tailwater; 1,003 to the Poor Fork of the Cumberland. The Martins Fork section notes that native walleye "were not raised in the Minor Clark Fish Hatchery in 2024; however, production resumed in 2025."
Sauger and saugeye. The Pfeiffer hatchery planned 105,000 sauger for eleven Kentucky River pools between 2 and 13 in 2025 and stocked none: "No sauger stocked - flooding." It stocked 247,580 saugeye fingerlings into seven lakes, the table noting "Saugeye fry from Ohio DNR": Taylorsville 124,132, Wilgreen 36,118, Guist Creek 32,124, A.J. Jolly 18,614, Bullock Pen 14,664, Lake Carnico 11,804 and Carpenter 10,124. Taylorsville's district text gives 125,020 for the same stocking.
Basis: official (KDFWR Walleye page; Conservation and Management Plan for the Native Walleye of Kentucky, December 2014; KDFWR 2025 hatchery production tables and district texts in the April 2025 - March 2026 survey report)
The fish through the year
KDFWR publishes no spawning temperature for any of the three that we found, and we do not supply one. The calendar the agency does publish:
| Season | What KDFWR says |
|---|---|
| December to March | The tailwater season. Late winter is the peak below dams on the Ohio, lower Kentucky, Cumberland and Tennessee; Kentucky and Barkley tailwater sauger best December to February; the Cumberland below Wolf Creek, sauger at the dam December to mid-March, walleye late February to mid-March; the Barren River's instream dams December to March; the Green's from early winter. |
| Late February to April | The walleye runs. Native-strain walleye spawn on river shoals "in late winter/early spring" (the 2014 plan); upper Barren River males near riffles mid-February to early April; Green River Lake's dam area and headwaters late February to mid or late March; Martins Fork's headwaters early to mid March; Nolin's Bacon Creek and upper river in early spring; Cumberland and Laurel surface baits at night in spring. |
| Summer | Deep and trolled. Cumberland nightcrawler rigs at 25 to 30 feet; Dale Hollow flats at 20 to 25 feet; Laurel crankbaits and spinner rigs across points and islands; Carr Creek walleye under shad schools; Barkley sauger on secondary channel breaks in early summer; the Cumberland tailwater below Burkesville from mid-summer. Green River Lake's oxygen is too low below 17 to 20 feet from mid-June to mid-October. |
| Fall | Ohio River sauger below dams, on bars and at creek mouths; Kentucky Lake sauger on secondary channels, trolled; Kentucky and Barkley lake sauger on the old river channel with jigs and minnows; Taylorsville saugeye in the Salt River above the lake; Martins Fork walleye on shallow rocky points; Paintsville in October. |
Basis: official (2026 Fishing Forecast and its Kentucky and Barkley tips; Native Walleye plan, 2014)
What KDFWR says catches them
The agency's own recipes, from the forecast's lake lines and its Kentucky and Barkley tips:
- Jigs with minnows on the bottom in current. For Kentucky and Barkley tailwater sauger: "Fish 3/4 oz or 1 oz jigs with minnows bumping bottom in back eddies and near current. Trolling is also good during the winter and early spring." In the lakes in fall and winter, jigs and minnows along the old river channel, on primary points near it, and where a secondary channel meets it; the tips name the river channel just north of the Paris Landing Bridge (US 79).
- Crankbaits that touch bottom. For lake sauger, "Troll main lake bars during the late summer and early fall with wiggle-warts or crankbaits, which bump bottom"; deep divers near secondary channel breaks at Barkley; trolled crankbaits on Kentucky Lake's secondary channels.
- Nightcrawler rigs, trolled deep. Lake Cumberland at 25 to 30 feet in summer; Dale Hollow over 20- to 25-foot flats; the Cumberland tailwater below Burkesville with shad-coloured crankbaits as the alternative.
- Surface baits at night in spring. Lake Cumberland and Laurel River Lake both.
- River walleye. The upper Barren's deepest pools with "bottom bumping spinners, blade baits, swim baits or curly tailed grubs"; leadhead jigs with plastics at Nolin's Bacon Creek; jigging spoons or minnows under lights at night on Nolin in summer.
- Saugeye. Shad-imitating baits near the bottom at night, or a twister-tail grub tipped with 2 inches of earthworm (Lake Carnico); at Carpenter, lures that imitate small shad, crappie and bluegill on crappie or light bass tackle.
For rigging: a Palomar ties the jig, the jig and drop shot pages cover the two bottom presentations, and line systems covers braid to a fluorocarbon leader. The sauger-specific tackle for the Ohio, KDFWR's grub, blade-bait and spoon list, is in the McAlpine article.
Basis: official (2026 Fishing Forecast; Fishing Tips for Kentucky and Barkley Lakes and Tailwaters 2026)
What we don't know yet
- Where the Rockcastle River ends and Lake Cumberland begins, for the slot. Section 4 covers "Rockcastle River and tributaries"; the forecast puts Lake Cumberland's upper boundary at "the Narrows of the Rockcastle River." Whether the slot applies in the lake's Rockcastle arm below the Narrows is not stated in anything we read. Status pending; ask KDFWR before keeping an 18- to 26-inch walleye there.
- Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow walleye survey data. The 2025 report gives Cumberland's stocking and nothing we found on sampling; we found nothing on Dale Hollow walleye. Earlier reports were not read.
- The sauger fishery's status in numbers. The forecast says Ohio River sauger are getting larger and Kentucky Lake's have improved, but we found no 2025 sauger sampling in the report. The Kentucky and Barkley tailwater creel tables list sauger, but their columns did not extract cleanly enough for us to print the figures.
- Why the Rockcastle was stocked in 2025. The 2014 plan says no supplemental stocking while a natural year class comes at least every fourth year; the 2025 table shows 3,282 native fingerlings there. The report we read does not say why. Several native-walleye rows in the table also carry an asterisk whose key we did not find.
- A spawning temperature, diet text and Trophy Fish lengths. None appears in the KDFWR pages we read.
- Spots. Nothing here names a hole or a GPS mark. The forecast's arms, points and channel names are as specific as the public record gets.
Regulations and official information
The rules are in the current KDFWR Fishing and Boating Guide and the regulation itself, 301 KAR 1:201. Species pages: Walleye and Sauger. Records: State Record Fishes and Awards. Forecast and surveys: 2026 Fishing Forecast and the annual fish sampling reports. Native walleye: the 2014 management plan.
Basis: official
Sources and how confident we are
| Section | Basis |
|---|---|
| Overview and identification | Official (species pages, Kentucky Fishes, Guide ID panel, record table). No KDFWR saugeye page exists |
| The rules | Official (301 KAR 1:201 current text; Guide 2026-27). Rockcastle arm boundary: Status pending |
| Where they are | Official (2026 Fishing Forecast). Star ratings read from page images: Status pending |
| What the nets found | Official (2025 survey report, read through a text extraction) |
| Stocking and native walleye | Official (2025 hatchery tables and district texts; 2014 plan) |
| Through the year; what catches them | Official (forecast and its tips; 2014 plan) |
Sources
- 301 KAR 1:201, Taking of fish by traditional fishing methods - Kentucky Legislative Research Commission - Section 2(1)(c) statewide limit; Section 2(2) possession; Section 3(21)(b) and (c) Dale Hollow; Section 4 native walleye waters and slot; history line ending "eff. 9-3-2026".
- Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide, March 2026 - February 2027 (PDF) - KDFWR - statewide table (6, 12, 14 inches, singly or combined); "New this year" Rockcastle item; special regulations; the walleye, sauger and saugeye identification panel.
- Walleye - KDFWR and Sauger - KDFWR - identification, size, distribution, habitat, spawning runs, Lake Erie and native strains.
- Kentucky Fishes (PDF) - KDFWR - the walleye and sauger entries quoted above.
- State Record Fishes and Awards - KDFWR - walleye, sauger and saugeye records.
- 2026 Fishing Forecast and Tips (PDF) - KDFWR - basis statement, cheat sheet, Up-and-Comers, late-winter paragraph, every walleye, sauger and saugeye line and rating, the Kentucky and Barkley lake and tailwater tips.
- Lake and Tailwater Fishery Surveys, annual performance report for April 2025 - March 2026 (PDF) - KDFWR - Laurel River Lake, Green River Lake, Carr Creek, Paintsville, Martins Fork and Nolin walleye; Taylorsville, Wilgreen, Carpenter, Bullock Pen, Boltz and Guist Creek saugeye; Lake Cumberland and Laurel stocking texts; Minor Clark and Pfeiffer 2025 production tables for walleye (Erie and native), sauger and saugeye.
- Conservation and Management Plan for the Native Walleye of Kentucky (PDF) - KDFWR Fisheries Division, December 2014 - southern-strain biology, history and decline, the 1995 Rockcastle discovery and genetics, stocking history, the recommended 18- to 26-inch slot and two-fish limit.