Cumberland 12-28

A 45-50 degree air temp, 50 degree water temp, wind variable from ESE at 10-20 mph, blinding rain, thunder and lightning, three pounds of ambitious shiners in the livewell--in other words, a perfect day for smallmouth fishing on Cumberland. My buddy has some friends who had absolutely slayed them the day before as this front began to come in.

Water temps anywhere from 49 to 51. The constant rain chalked up some of the main lake points and was staining the water up in the creeks especially near run-ins. LOTS of floating debris in the water, be careful up in the creeks.

8:00 to 10:00 AM
Put in at Jamestown - only 3 other boats in the lot this far past daylight?? A lot of fishermen obviously knew something we didn't. Motored to a main lake bluff and caught 5-6 smallmouth anywhere from 10" to 14".

10:00 AM to Noon
Went up in a holler and tried some water run-ins. All the ingredients were there, except the fish. Nothing at all in this time frame.

Noon to 3:00 PM
Went up into Caney and fished some humps with the rain absolutely beating down, wind whipping and lightning flashing. Caught a couple small spots and (finally) one nice keeper, a super-fat 21-incher that was sitting off the back side of a wind-blown island. She made some awesome runs right at the boat that I won't forget soon.

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4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Went up in Pumpkin and beat some deepwater boat docks to death. Caught a nice spot off a point where the water had started to stain from the constant rain. Marked some nice spots for another time.

5:00 PM to dark
Caught a few small spots in that big cut on the way into Jamestown ramp. Considered fishing past dark, since we had a bunch of shiners left, but abandoned that idea when it started pouring again.

Conclusion 1: First day of a winter front much preferred to fishing in the middle of the front.

Conclusion 2: If you don't find the bait on C-land, you don't find the fish. We couldn't find them. The most bait we marked were in the main channel in 75-80 feet. We looked deep, shallow, just could not find them.

Conclusion 3: You KNOW you're a sick, sick man when you're soaked to the bone, wet from the elbows down and down your front despite a decent rain suit, in a driving rain with a 20 mph wind and lightning all around, hands frozen from wind and 45 degree air temp, and you yell "I LOVE IT!" at the top of your lungs to no one in particular.