Lake Cumberland Stripers

[Stuart Unruh]

Been wanting to do some more striper fishing on lake cumberland and was just wondering if someone knew of a good place to go. Went close to the dam and around indian creek a few weeks ago and only got one. Have they went to shallower water??

[JUSTINHALL]

This time of year the dam area is not a good place to go, some people will argue that but to increase your odds you should go farther up river and back in to creeks. Most likely going to be ¾ of the way back into to the creek meaning ¼ of the way from the head of the creek. Beaver creek even though farther down river can be good. Fishing creek, white oak etc farther up river are more to my liking this time of the year. If you are new at this and would like more info on what to do and how to do PM me and I will give you any info you want to know, to save you some headache.
Regardless look for clean water when it rains and gets muddy they are there one day and gone the next due to muddy water. Beaver is notorious for having clean water compared to others so I will go to Beaver when all else fails for water clarity.

[Bonefish]

Caught two, a 23" and a 25" up in Fishing Creek on Sunday right as the front came through. The fish were hanging from 22' to 30' and were scattered in the upper end. You must get your bait right on them at the depth they are hanging.

[Stuart Unruh]

Thank you very much for the info. Had been thinking about trying Fishing Creek and now I believe i will. Ile try to remember to post back If I have any luck. I'm fairly new at this though so never can tell.....

[JUSTINHALL]

For fishing creek if you put in at Lees Ford head out to the right and you will go about 3 bends (turns) out and you will see on your right hand side a buoy with a rock sign on it close to a flat area of weeds. You can fish from that area down to the next turn to left there is a rock wall sometimes farther, all in that area is where the stripers will hang for the rest of the winter. They will move from the deep channel up on to that flat at different time of the day. Just watch your finder and see where the bait is and also watch for the birds on top water action. If the birds are there the fish are there, pretty easy to locate when birds are there to help. Dont scare the birds off leave them be and only aproach them when they are on the jumping fish. If the fish are jumping dont run your big motor in to them stop short and use your trolling motor to get within casting distance.
If coming from the main lake it will be all the way up in just before you get to Lees ford about 1/4 mile from left hand turn to Lees Ford.
Good luck!

[Les Young]

Justins telling you right for sure. I love the late winter/early spring bite. Especially at night. When they're on there isn't anything else like it for sure.

[Stuart Unruh]

Wow! Thanks alot for all the info!!! That sure will help me out! Maybe one more question though. If the fish aren't hitting the top and I'm trolling for them is shad the right bait right now or should I be using something else?? Is it legal to use umbrella rigs or not? Thanks again for all yalls help!

[JUSTINHALL]

Yes you can use umbrella rigs any time and as many as you want both rigs and hooks there is not regulation on that in Cumberland. Umbrella rigs can be very productive but tend to catch smaller fish but still of legal size if you want to fill the freezer with meat put out the umbrell rigs there is times they are amazing other times not. Some people really like trolling with umbrella rigs and others find it boring even when catching fish. During the winter I use the umbrella rigs for something to do while waiting for them to surface. I prefer surface and casting so I rarely get bait during winter so if they are not surfacing I will troll the umbrellas to kill time till they surface.
I recomend having two or 3 people though if going to run the rigs. At 35.00 each you dont want to loose them. They are also more productive when trolling over humps just at points etc. If you troll them over humps that are about 20' deep and there is fish there you will get hit most of the times but and can get expensive. Most troll out in open water which you get hit but not near as much when getting it to them on the humps. This can however get costly I have lost too many I care to admit doing this but it is very effective if you are willing to risk loosing one or both.

[Stuart Unruh]

Went out Friday morning on fishing creek but didnt have any luck. Managed to get quite a few shad the eve before but cudnt get a bite the next morning. The water was pretty muddy from the first bend on down to the rock buoy but we tried that spot anyhow. About the only place the water was fairly decent was just past the no wake zone on down to the first bend. there was also a lot of baitfish in that area too with birds on the water. We trolled that area pretty hard for a while since we had also seen some nice sized fish on the finder there the eve before but still without any luck. I would like to go back and try it again sometime when the water is a little clearer because I believe the fish are there with all those baitfish we seen. In the meantime maybe I'le go try Beaver Creak....

[Duayne]

I found them pretty easily on the outside edge of a flat Sunday morning (note it was a blue bird day. Found one large school and a few smaller schools working within a 300 yard area. Was short on bait so I only fished for 30 minutes or so. Funny, was moving fast to get away from them to pull my lines in and two more hit before I could clear the lines. Fished a different area Monday as I knew a guide friend would be fishing the same flats area and there was no need to fish on top of each other. Found another decent school and some smaller ones in a smaller creek but had a hard time getting solid hits early with lots of bumps and pull downs. Then I had three on at once, two got off before I could get to them and the other got off at the boat. Meanwhile, one found a way to sling a planer board off (one of those days!!). I did have one in the boat before finally going over a school that was ready to eat and got four (two keepers) out of it before I could get away from them. 30-40 line out on .5 oz boards the first day (a bump on a 1 oz 50 ft out board) and 1 oz 50 ft out boards and down lines at 40-45 the second day. Fished 45-60 ft of water. I believe they got more active later in the morning than early. I didn't start fishing Sunday until 8:30 or 9:00

[Bonefish]

Thanks, Duayne, for a great report.

[NKYHusker]

My folks live on Fishing Creek and I'm headed down tonight for a visit. Typically I don't striper fish this early in the year but I've really got the itch to get on the water. Later in the spring I catch my bait around the Lee's Ford docks before heading out but wanted to check to see if this is the best place to catch shad this time of year. Any opinions or suggestions are welcome.