Forgive us for we are Striper rookies!

Group of 6 buddies heading down to Cumberland in 2 weeks on a houseboat for a few days. Will have 2 small fishing boats, but just the basics. No downriggers, planer boards or all the other stuff you guys talk about. None of us fish alot other than an occasional trip to Canada for smallmouth & northern, or walleye charter on Erie, or taking the kids to catch some bluegill. Would like to just catch a few stripers, not even giant ones, just to say we did. Don't have a clue though - is there any chance we can catch some without the fancy equipment, without ever been on the lake, and having never fished for stripers? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Any smallmouth tips for Cumberland would be more than awesome as well. We'll be down around the dam area. Thanks all!!

I've never striper fished there but there has been alot of talk about them coming up in the jumps in the morning around the dam.

With the absence of optional equipment, I would suggest just getting 4-6 poles (med/hvy) with decent size reels and putting 14-17 lb. test on them. Go down to the mouth of Indian Creek at first light and look where most of the boats are located. Don't crowd anyone but use the location as a place to start. Locate school with your depth finder and drop straight down on top of them. If none are there, try hitting the bank across the lake from Indian Creek.

It would be nice to have 3/4 ounce weight on them with 1/0 or #1 hooks minimum (hook approx. 4-5 ft away from the weight). Shiners work but if you can get your hands on Alwies or shad, they would be better.

It would be advisable to have two additional rods ready with 12-lb line and a silver Hopkins spoon each. If you see any blowups (top water feeding), troll over as quick as you can (no big motor when close) and cast the spoons past the blowup and reels back through it.

Good luck.

12lb mono...med action rod...5/8 oz cumberland pro bucktail jigs white/chartreuse with white grub tails...put in at the dam at dawn, head up lake slowly while watching for jumps...find a jump, cast jig, catch fish, then repeat! ;) And more importantly, have a BLAST!!!

-Rich

try putting a floating light out at night off the house boat. I have only done it one time but caught fish doing it. if you have enough shad come up, you can just drop a treble hook with a spit shot just above it into them and with quick jerk snag one. then drop it off the dark side of the boat and wait. Some guys like a cold beverage while they wait. Not sure if this works in the fall, i only get to fish cumberland in the spring.
Might be worth a try if all else fails.

Nitro if this does not work in the fall you still have the cold one.

The floating light trick works all year.

All great advice here. The light off the houseboat deal could get you all sorts of things, depending on where you are set up at. I'll add that if they aren't coming up in the jumps, you don't have live bait and you can locate the schools, take those spoons MarkMac talked about and drop them down straight through the school, then reel it straight back up. Oh, hold on tight. The schools can get pretty large in the mornings now and if you locate one, it's pretty hard to go wrong. The trick is finding them or having them find you.

If it's calm there is a better chance they will jump. Take binoculars and watch the birds. And to underline a point made earlier, be considerate of others if you move up on a school in the jumps and other boats are on it. It's perfectly ok to move up on it but cut your big motor well before you get to them and troll in the rest of the way. Watch how far others are away from the school and don't move in closer than they are. I don't like to get closer than a half a cast away. It doesn't take much at all to shut the school down and you'll get a LOT of looks if the other boats think they went down because of you. LOL