Kentucky’s slot-lake black bass daily limit is now 10

Kentucky’s slot-limit black bass lakes and streams are on a 10-fish daily limit. A Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources notice dated Oct. 5, 2026, says the change is in 301 KAR 1:201, taking of fish by traditional fishing methods, and that it took effect Sept. 3, 2026, after final legislative approval. The department is publishing the recap under KRS 150.025.

The limit moved from six fish to 10 so anglers can harvest more of the small bass the department calls overabundant. Cave Run Lake is tighter inside that 10-fish bag: only five of the 10 may be largemouth bass over 12 inches. The black bass slot on Otter Creek is gone. The same amendment put daily limits on shovelnose sturgeon and skipjack herring. The notice does not list those numbers. It also added two waters to the Fishing in Neighborhoods program: Owens’ Lake in Boone County and the Harry T. Clark Community Park Pond in Rowan County.

The fishing rule was also lined up with Senate Bill 39 from the 2026 regular session. That change to KRS 150.170 exempts bona fide landowners from creel, possession, size, and method-of-take restrictions on their own private lakes and ponds. The same Oct. 5 notice covers a deer-hunting amendment on public properties, also effective Sept. 3. The fish items are in Chapter 1.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources — Kentucky Fish and Wildlife provides recap of recently amended regulations (Oct. 5, 2026).