Cumberland Striper report

Fished most days last week and the previous weekend. Tried some fast trolling at first with only a few small ones. Switched to shiners for two days and had to really work the baits to get strikes but ended up with limits. Switched to some really big Alewives and still had to work for them, but got into some real quality fish.

Every day was a new day for me. The most action came in 50-70 ft of water but had a few come in as much as 85 and as little as 35. One day we might find them in 60-70 and 50-60 the next. It was not uncommon to go over nice groups with high quality bait and not even get a look. The better quality fish for us were loners cruising the bottom.

I struggled (as in zero) using shinners two weekends ago and the Sunday (maybe before that). Jared Harmon has an interesting report in the reports section.

[url]http://www.fishin.com/forums2/content.php/4548-Lake-Cumberland-Striper-Report-August-16th-2015[/url]

I had to jig the shiners to get them to hit them. Usually if you get one going, you can get others but not this time. That report makes sense. They seriously were not looking to move much. Next time you get over a nice group with shiners, jig the rod 2 ft or so or drop down through them and reel up. Sometimes one works, sometimes the other. I have also dropped a spoon down through them and ripped it to get them going before. Hang on tight. LOL

I don't really have much experience fishing mid August to mid October or so. When the lake was down I know the fish were really wacked out in that time period and beyond and I didn't even go.

I remember a lot of yo-yoing in August. . I also remember seeing something a lot-- single fish evenly spaced through out the lower lake all at 65'. I did not catch any of those so I have no idea what they were.

Before the lake was down in September it wasn't that hard to find large schools in the lower end. Might take a few hours of searching.
I guess that is why many folks elect downrig so they have lures in the water while they search.

Maybe I'll have to drill eight more big holes in the gunnel and screw the down riggers in. Like Jared Harmon lamented in his latest report, I just don't like riding around aimlessly in a big open lake though. There is more to down rigging than that though like getting the balls close to the bottom on points or at a certain bottom depth. Ever since I lost a ball on the hump at Taylorsville about fifteen years and only have one ball left and they are so expensive now you might say I just don't have the balls to do that.

I went with Tim Tarter in September back when umbrella rigs were getting popular. We never saw fish on the graph without multiple hookups. With the speed of his boat he would raise and lower the umbrellas rigs which were pretty deep (40' or more maybe) and had a ton or weight. Like maybe all one ounce jigs with blades. He would keep them close to the bottom in the varying depths. We got hung up on the bottom some but he had a technique and a partner that knew what to do when one got hung. It was a drill for them. I think he sped the boat up, made a u turn and put a gigantic bait knocker on the line. The bait knocker had a ski rope attached to it. He said it took him a lot of time and frustration to figure it all out. The key was in the boat and gear handling and knowing the depth of the rigs at different all speeds if you ask me.

If you all have had success in the last week or so it would nice to know the strategy.