Kentucky is bourbon country, and the same limestone that filters whiskey also produces the alkaline spring creeks and tailwaters that grow trout to impressive proportions. The Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam is one of the finest tailwater fisheries in the Southeast, and the sowbugs that carpet its rocky substrate are the daily bread of every brown and rainbow trout in residence. This flat-bodied pattern tumbles along the bottom with the aimless drift of something that has no idea it is about to be eaten, which is exactly the presentation these trout expect. Elkhorn Creek adds a freestone dimension -- wild trout water within an hour of Louisville that most Kentuckians do not know exists. The sowbugs there are smaller but equally important, and the trout eat them with the same quiet conviction.