Lake Cumberland?

Anyone fish Lake Cumberland? Watched an FLW tournament there and seems there are a lot of smallmouth. I wouldn't mind going down and trying it but when would be the best time? Late fall and early spring?

Haven't done it in a very long time, but I used to catch Smallmouth at Cumberland in mid-late Oct.

I caught them using two different techniques : Big minnow on a hook/sinker rig cast out and allowed to pendulum fall back to the boat
.... the other was casting a twin prop topwater bait and doing the jerk/jerk/pause routine. I fished the rocky islands out on the main lake outside of the mouth of Bucket Branch, and the points just inside the mouth of Beaver/Otter Creek.

I would occasionally also catch a few KY Spotted Bass with these techniques. Never caught anything over a couple of pounds, but I was pretty much a stone rookie at Smallmouth fishing ... so catching even the smaller ones was an accomplishment (to me). And since I had no intent on keeping any of them .... the smaller ones were entertaining enough to make me come back and fish for them, several years in a row.

Now, before I get any "stuff" about sharing my "hotspots" (or anyone else's) .... this was probably a good 20+ years ago, and those spots were already well known "community hotspots" long before I ever fished them. I've only fished Cumberland twice since then, and both times I was Crappie fishing !!

They can be caught most anywhere on the lake however if you want the most consistent bite, try the big end of the lake in the mid to late fall and early spring. Big jig in the fall (black and blue or Cumberland craw is my preference) and a jerk bait n the spring on rocky points.