Cumberland report 11/6

Fished c'land yesterday. Didn't do the early start thing, I got to J'town around 11:00 and fished til 4:00. Water was really dark and ranged from 61 to 63, caught 4 small Ky's in the 11 to 12 inch range and a really nice and suprising Green fish that was alittle over 3 lbs. and had several smacks and misses. No smallies at all. All came on a Bandit 300 off of main lake points, boat was in anywere's between 25 and 40 ft of water and all strikes were close to the bank.
Hope this helps anyone head down,

Good Fishin'

If Cumberland was 61-63 and Dale runs about a degree colder, that would make parts of Dale 60 by now. Not looking good for my 50 degree water temp by the last week of November for my week long stay chasing the 12 pounder. I guess I better start thinking of a backup plan to the FNF to fish in the Billy Classic just in case. Thanks for the report.

elnut,
is the fishin' on dale better than C'land??? I came close SEVERAL times of drivin' on down the road to try it out but I hate going and tring to fish a place that I know absolutely nothing about. BUT if them ole' brown fish are is good as everyone says there are I might have to try it this season. Good luck with the the Classic!!!

Thanks for the report, sounds like the lake is turning over fom your talk of dark water.

Elnut the temp. on Dale is 57-58.We went Sat. and Tues.First trip we caught 5 with 3 being over 19".Second trip we caught 7 with 2 at17"-18" and one at 20".

Fished Rough River last weekend and had water temps in the low 50's. We even hit 49 up in the river.

Mhall,
I would definately say it's turning over. A couple of buddies of mine fished the Bullet Tourney a couple of weeks ago and said that they could see down 10+ everywhere they were, and I was luck to see my crankbait 4 foot down when coming up to the boat, it looked alot like Green.

Jeremy,

I have seen your post on this site for a while now and know you like the Brown fish pretty good. I started fishing Cumberland in Summer of 2003 and SOLELY fished this lake until winter of 2004. My first trip to Dale was the first week of December 2004 and that week I caught my first Brownie over 5 and many more over 3. I have landed 2 over 6, around 6 over 5 and no telling how many over 3 at Dale since and I have NEVER been back to Cumberland solely to fish for Smallies and will NEVER go back to Cumberland just for Smallies until they drain Dale Hollow. I hope this answers your question. As far as learning a new lake, it will take some time to get used to but I assure you, Dale is better, MUCH BETTER, than Cumberland for Smallmouth.

Thanks Hogdaddy, makes me feel a little better. I thought Dale always ran a degree or so cooler than C Land, but sounds like it is more than that. Can't wait until the 26th to leave to fish Dale all week. It started that I was leaving the afternoon of the 26th to get down and unpack to fish Monday the 27th, then I said I could leave around 8am and get a couple of hours on the water before dark, now I am most likely leaving around 3am to launch by 7am fish all day and unpack after dark. I won't sleep a wink the 25th or 26th anyways.

No problem,glad I could make somebody feel better.You ought to be down at a real good time.I going to try to be fishing at that time also.Where are you fishin out of?

My current plan is to put in at Holly Creek and fish the mid lake area north of First Island to Trooper Island. If they are not co-operating then I will put in at Dale Hollow Marina and fish Mitchell Creek and then near the Dam. Tourney is out of Horse Creek and wil have no problem running to where I think the best bite will be. Hopefully, 5 days of pre-fishing will give me some idea. Good Luck and save a couple for me. It sounds like 1 more Alberta Clipper between now and then is all we need to get this years action started.