Humbling Cumberland Experience - 12/21 & 12/22

Skunked. Zero. Nadda. Nothing. Goose-egged.

Threw warts, rock crawlers, tubes, jigs, shaky head. Nothing. No bites. Nothing. Fished 6 hours Wednesday and about 3 hours Thursday before not being able to take it any longer and left. Amazing how you can have such a good day 10 days prior and NOTHING.

10 days ago water was 56-57, it was 51. Not sure how much that played into it, but it was brutal. Fished Greasy and Wolf. Probably should have tried something completely different but lack of experience left me wondering what that might be.

If you're headed down to Cumberland, good luck, it was a very frustrating trip.

[QUOTE=scuba_steve82;559197]Skunked. Zero. Nadda. Nothing. Goose-egged.

Threw warts, rock crawlers, tubes, jigs, shaky head. Nothing. No bites. Nothing. Fished 6 hours Wednesday and about 3 hours Thursday before not being able to take it any longer and left. Amazing how you can have such a good day 10 days prior and NOTHING.

10 days ago water was 56-57, it was 51. Not sure how much that played into it, but it was brutal. Fished Greasy and Wolf. Probably should have tried something completely different but lack of experience left me wondering what that might be.

If you're headed down to Cumberland, good luck, it was a very frustrating trip.[/QUOTE]

Don't feel bad. I have been catching fish all winter at Cedar Creek from when the water was 55 degrees on down to 45. Went Thursday only to discover that the water I was catching them in had gotten dirty and dropped to 40. Fished from 8:30 till 3:30 and never had the first hit.

I've been there at C. I feel for you but you did manage to ease my guilt of not fishing the last couple of days:D

Went last Jan 2 at C. caught about a 4 lber in first 5 mins on jig. Sun got up and went almost 7 hrs til next fish. Then fell in at ramp to finish off the day.

Cumberland is one of the most humbling lakes I have ever fished so I know how you feel. Years ago when I primarily used live bait I was pretty consistent on that lake. Now that I rarely use live bait I sometimes struggle.

In March of 2016 I had my best day smallmouth fishing that specific lake. I have had better days on other lakes but this was my best day on Cumberland. If my memory is correct I had a dozen or more smallmouth in the 16"-19" range. I stopped counting anything that was 15" or under. Once I found what bait they wanted and what type of structure they were on I could pick my spot and knew I was getting a bite before I made a cast.

The next days weather forecast was an exact repeat of the day I caught them good. I had not planned on fishing two days in a row but since I was on them good I decided to go again the next day. I traced my exact steps from the day before and had zero bites. After a couple of hours I was really puzzled so I started changing things and still had zero bites. Finally I scraped my game plan and went somewhere totally different and caught 2-3 small fish. I went from king of the mountain to questioning my ability to catch one keeper fish. Odd thing is Cumberland has always been somewhat of a feast or famine lake for me. I have a couple other lakes that I often fish and I have confidence I can at least figure them out enough to make my trip worthwhile but when it comes to Cumberland it can be 0 keepers or a very nice limit. It seems like there no in between.

[QUOTE=rustedhook;559199]Don't feel bad. I have been catching fish all winter at Cedar Creek from when the water was 55 degrees on down to 45. Went Thursday only to discover that the water I was catching them in had gotten dirty and dropped to 40. Fished from 8:30 till 3:30 and never had the first hit.[/QUOTE]

Ron I hated to here that,I'm planing on going Sunday but if the master ( you)can't catch em then I'm in for a long day.Well maybe I won't get a flat tire this time.

[QUOTE=Wormin;559205]Ron I hated to here that,I'm planing on going Sunday but if the master ( you)can't catch em then I'm in for a long day.Well maybe I won't get a flat tire this time.[/QUOTE]

Hey Wormin it may be good Sunday. This warm rain might help things.

was able to get down thurs and Friday. Stripers were biting the hair jig good caught a bunch. caught a few nice bass on a jig but no numbers. best bite was on a dropshot and a small spoon fishing the points in the creeks in about 20 to 40ft of water. mainly spotted bass but they were nice and healthy. caught a couple small smallmouth doing so.

Took almost 18 pound with a 4.89 smallmouth for big fish. 15 something for second, 13 something 3rd & 12.90 for 4th out of Buirnside Island. My buddys caught several nice fish today & had a smallmouth almost 6lb. They are biting good & have been for over a month.

[QUOTE=Les Young;559223]Took almost 18 pound with a 4.89 smallmouth for big fish. 15 something for second, 13 something 3rd & 12.90 for 4th out of Buirnside Island. My buddys caught several nice fish today & had a smallmouth almost 6lb. They are biting good & have been for over a month.[/QUOTE]

les, im kinda like you, scratching my head hearing bad reports for cumberland. i know of more legitimate 6+ lb smalmouth in the last month than i can ever remember for any given month other than march. i also have personal knowledge of several 30+ fish days in the last month, and i know ALOT of people doing this. not everyday is a magic show but i cant remember a day with less than 10 fish and probably best 5 being 12+/- lbs.

as some of you know i am primarily a live bait fisherman but the big bite has been on jerkbaits, not fishing slow, not deadsticking just fishing it like a jerkbait. some locations fill up with stripers and the bass fishing is over but it otherwise most locations have been pretty consistent for a month now.

good luck, cumberland is a very big lake with a lot of "fish free zones" , just keep casting

and happy holidays to all

what kind of pattern is producing for the successful guys?
jerk bait bite where?

[QUOTE=chadmack282;559225]what kind of pattern is producing for the successful guys?
jerk bait bite where?[/QUOTE]

steeper points and the ends of walls, mouths of bigger creeks and mainlake

[QUOTE=stripernut1;559224]les, im kinda like you, scratching my head hearing bad reports for cumberland. i know of more legitimate 6+ lb smalmouth in the last month than i can ever remember for any given month other than march. i also have personal knowledge of several 30+ fish days in the last month, and i know ALOT of people doing this. not everyday is a magic show but i cant remember a day with less than 10 fish and probably best 5 being 12+/- lbs.

as some of you know i am primarily a live bait fisherman but the big bite has been on jerkbaits, not fishing slow, not deadsticking just fishing it like a jerkbait. some locations fill up with stripers and the bass fishing is over but it otherwise most locations have been pretty consistent for a month now.

good luck, cumberland is a very big lake with a lot of "fish free zones" , just keep casting

and happy holidays to all[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip on the jerkbaits, didn't throw the first one wed/thur. I suppose the painful truth is that I've got a TON to learn to successfully fish LC somewhat consistently. I tend to really only do well when the crankbait bite is on, if it isn't, it's a long day for me.