Lake Cumberland Crappie

Greetings everyone!

I recently had the pleasure of retiring and am very much looking forward to the prospect of getting back into fishing on a regular basis. Picked up a new boat but have been struggling to find a reliable pattern for the crappie bite on Lake Cumberland. When I was younger I fished a ton and did well on more structure oriented, shallower impoundments, usually fishing at night in the summer months with a light out, which is what I would mainly like to do now.

While I'm certainly not expecting anyone to give up their favorite fishing spots I'd really like to hear some advice on the types of structure / pattern I should be keying on Cumberland. I've tried several main lake points and pockets at night and have ventured into some of the larger creeks keying on the same, I've managed a few nice specks, and some really nice bass in the process but seem to be having trouble dialing in on a consistent routine to put crappie in the live well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, God bless and tight lines!

Spring and fall fish can be found more shallow in creeks on typical patterns. In the summer I do best on secondary points and ledges in about 30 feet of water. I’m not necessarily keying in on structure but looking for bait and fish stacked below and in the area. Once I’ve located some bait and fish I will tie up/anchor off and drop my light. I 10 to 1 prefer either netting or snagging shad to fish with. I grow a 1/4 inch mesh net to get he smaller size shad at night. Crappie eat them much better than store bought minnows in my experience. Will even eat a dead shad of the proper size before a live store bough minnow. I’ve done my best this year in 30 feet of water fishing between 12 and 15 feet deep.

[QUOTE=luvtohunt;574615]Spring and fall fish can be found more shallow in creeks on typical patterns. In the summer I do best on secondary points and ledges in about 30 feet of water. I’m not necessarily keying in on structure but looking for bait and fish stacked below and in the area. Once I’ve located some bait and fish I will tie up/anchor off and drop my light. I 10 to 1 prefer either netting or snagging shad to fish with. I grow a 1/4 inch mesh net to get he smaller size shad at night. Crappie eat them much better than store bought minnows in my experience. Will even eat a dead shad of the proper size before a live store bough minnow. I’ve done my best this year in 30 feet of water fishing between 12 and 15 feet deep.[/QUOTE]

Truly grateful for your input, thank you so much. I loaded my live well with some really nice slabs on a ledge in about 40' of water the other night.

Awesome man, congrats on the catch. Won't be long now til the fall pattern begins to emerge and you can get them a little more shallow on structure similar to the spring!!