Lake Cumberland stripers

What is your opinion on striper fishing in 2017 compare to years pass have caught some this year but seem to be smaller fish this year

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Cumberland's striper fishery hasn't been in this good of shape since the 80s. I hesitate to say too much because they are still hard to find and catch on most days if you aren't really in tuned with what's going on. There is a saying that 90% of fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen and I think the striper numbers are more like 95 and 5. We fished Saturday morning and got a four fish limit downrigging with a 34" kicker fish. I switched things up and experimented on Sunday and got skunked. Granted, we only fished a few hours but a skunk is a skunk is a skunk.

[QUOTE=Duayne;564017]Cumberland's striper fishery hasn't been in this good of shape since the 80s. I hesitate to say too much because they are still hard to find and catch on most days if you aren't really in tuned with what's going on. There is a saying that 90% of fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen and I think the striper numbers are more like 95 and 5. We fished Saturday morning and got a four fish limit downrigging with a 34" kicker fish. I switched things up and experimented on Sunday and got skunked. Granted, we only fished a few hours but a skunk is a skunk is a skunk.[/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more. I can also say that since the dam was repaired, my average fish size has increased. The fish are a little longer, but noticeably a lot healthier.

Now I just need to figure out how to work my way into that 5% of fishermen....

thanks for reply but I guess I'm a ways to top 5% I fish a couple times a week but have switch to artificial don't like cow catchers and use bucktails and crankbaits but have not catch a fish over 30 " this year yet but I"ll kept on, always trying to read and learn

One of the knocks on trolling artificial is it catches smaller fish. And there is something to that at times. Smaller fish tend to be the more aggressive fish and you usually need aggressive fish to chase a faster moving artificial bait versus putting a live bait right in front of their nose. Having said that, I've had to change up some things to accommodate larger fish breaking leaders and straightening hooks on slide divers. The overall size is better than it's been in a long time and the possibility for a lake trophy is there. It's hard to ask for more than that, in my opinion.

If you read Lance Sasser's latest report, he talks about this topic and he gives credit to the biologists for dropping the size limit to 22. They initially did that as an emergency measure and I agree with him, in general that it's good to keep it that way, especially through the summer.

Thanks guys I'll kept on trying different things and try to get back on track when I retired in 2009 fishing was great for me but was using shiners but hard to rely on bait shops to have them and they open to late for me so I will try artificial for a while longer and if it don't get better for me I guess I"ll have to learn to throw a net I will need so tips thanks for now