Cumberland walleye

[SSKY]

OK, again, we have heard several reports that if the water On Cland stays low it will hurt the walleye fishery as they will not do well with warm water. Prior to the dam the native walleye somehow could live in the little ditch of a river even in the hot summer. I do recall those that have stated that those fish are being bred to stock in wood creek to see if they will do well. If the lake is planned to stay low for 5 or more years, it would seem that those fish may do better if stocking is necessary.

[condusivecranker]

Good point, but you forget many other factors. First, the walleye in the former Cumberland River were river strain, meaning they were much more hardy than lake fish (pretty much, lake fish are sissy fish....they dont know how to control themselves in extreme temps, currents, etc.).
Don't forget, the Cumberland River is a DEEP river. I wouldnt be suprised if there are a few 30-40 ft. holes in the former river. This is plenty water to hold walleye (remember, Nolin and Green, realitivly shallow lakes, hold good populations of walleye). On top of that, rivers seldom get above 75 degrees, even in the hottest of summers, due to the constant running water. Plenty cold for walleye.
However, were still talking LAKE cumberland, not cumberland river. The lake, although still one of the deepest in the state, will be much shallower, with much more stained water with the constant influx and flushing, and will make the lake much warmer. The fishery is going to HURT, bigtime, but I dont think it's going to kill the fishery as some are thinking.

[Rowdy]

My son caught a 4 lb walleye in the river at nolin last summer.The water was 83 deg and 8 ft.deep.
Rowdy

[know1]

I had about a 20" walleye swing and miss as I lifted my crankbait out of the water on the Rockcastle river last August. I'm sure the temp was pretty warm and I'll bet it wasn't more than 10ft deep in that hole.

[condusivecranker]

To talk about "cold" fish with a low tolerance to heat, I caught a 20" muskie on Cave Run last year on a July evening near the surface in about 15 ft. of water. The water temp. was about 87 degrees.
But it is certainly important to note that the warm temps. do not typically hurt the small fish, but will kill the larger fish, which have to expell more energy to move about.