Cumberland?

On Saturday we plan on making our anual trip to Cumberland. This will be our fourth trip down there the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We have had a blast the last few years. Not a single smallmouth. We have not done well in the catching department. Yet every year, after we have been blanked, we say lets go somewhere else next year, yet here we are making plans to head back down. We have fished every year and not done well. The best part though is the leftover pecan pie and a cup of coffee at lunch. I was just curious if anyone could help us out. We are poor property and could use some help in hooking up with some fish. We've fished out of Burnside, Buck Creek, and some ramp about 15 miles up from Conley Bottom. We are absolutley lost out there on a big body of water like Cumberland since we are all Ohio River Rats. Thanks for any possible help.

dude I was right there with you until the word "Ohio".

Seriously I can echo your feeling about C'land. We've been fishing T'giving weekend for 15 years and it seems to have tailed off the past 4-5.

Best advice I could give you is get some big honkin' shiners and fish them with as little weight as possible - none if the wind will allow it. Fish deep main lake points or secondary points with deepwater access.

Always worth a shot to fish the cover that washes into the larger main lake cuts as well.

JCB

Thanks for the advice. I didn't mean to imply we were from Ohio. Maybe that's why you are the only one to reply. We all bleed blue. Pendleton County, Kentucky. The Ohio river is the only big water we have to fish.

Toby,

email me and I will tell you what I know about the Big C and fishing for Smallies this time of year. [email][email protected][/email]

Tight Lines

Thanks. I sent you mail.

why not just put the info on here? isnt this a discussion board - NOT a site to gather emails and THEN discuss the fishing. some folks dont have the time to email people and then get the info. i am not a smallie fisherman, but love cumberland and fishing for stripers. i would just love to hear your advice.

I've been going down on Thanksgiving day weekend for several years too. Usually our luck is not the best either. It seems to be a transition time (turnover, unfavorable temperatures, and usually rain or snow). However, about every third or fourth year we do OK. I did some pre-fishing a week ago, and this is what I found, and what I think.

First of all, the lake is low, very low. Low enough to call ahead and see if your ramp will get you into the lake. On Nov. 12 the lake temps were low 60's (61-62 degrees). Too warm for stripers, and pretty cold for bass. The bite was extremely slow. I think that by Thanksgiving, the temps will certainly be down into the mid 50's. So fishing for bass will probably have to be a very tedious and slow presentation. We are going to fish for stripers. Mid 50's is a good temp for them. They were staging in the mouths of the large creeks when I was there before, and I think they should be well up the big creeks by Thanksgiving. The water is low, so they should be easy to find if they are indeed up the creeks. So I say live bait (shad are best, shiners might work too) for stripers will be the best play. (I also an eternal optimist). Good luck. The best part is just being there.

WF

Hi all, just wanted to share some information with you.

Water temps yesterday around the Jamestown area (near the ****) yesterday were around 57-58 first thing in the morning at the surface. So the coldspell of last week may have brough the lake down a degree or two but from my perspective this water is still a bit warm for me to feel good about smallmouth fishing based on my experiences.

Fishing conditions yesterday started out cloudly but unfortunately turned bluebird around 10am. Nice for the fisherman but my experience is that it makes fishing very tough.

We found baitfish in the back of OtterCreek very easily. Finding baitfish near the main lake near structure was all but impossible. Water on the main lake was as clear as I can ever recall. Water at the back of Ottercreek was stained. We fished the back 1/3rd of OtterCreek all day and had two small spots to show for it. I threw cranks, buzzbaits, spinners, worms, lizzards and grubs. Both fish taken were on the 4inch grubs around cover. I'm sure someone could find a way to get the fish around the baitfish to strike but I could not.

One last tip from a middle of the road fisherman. I find the best bite frequenly at noon so eat early or late but don't miss high sun. The day before almost exactly at high noon, I took a 6.2oz largemouth out of a pond by my Dad's house on a grub. Seems like the spots and largemouth frequently get fired up right around noon and the bite may only last 15 minutes. Both of our spots were caught between noon and 1pm.

Happy casting- Also recommend you call your favorite Marina to make sure enough water exits to launch. Lake is very low.

Just got back from three days at cumberland (18th through 21st), fished hard every day and threw everything I could think of. There were Eight of us guys there, I caught a few small spots and one smallmouth no size. Out of the eight of us, we ended up with one keeper striper and one five pound smallie. This lake humbles me every time I go there.

Have any of you guys heard any Ramp horror stories yet, I'm going down Sunday but am still up in that air about where I'm gonna launch, I usually put-in a pumpkin creek but I hear it's really low, I was thinkin' about Jamestown but I haven't heard any reports form there either. I've caught most of my fish around J'town so that's just my personal favorite...
If you guys see a White/Red Nitro out there this weekend stop by and if I'v caught anything I'll be glad to give any info...

jeremy

I put in at Jamestown on the 12th and had no trouble putting the boat in the water.Only trouble to speak of was the guy that parked the truck said that hill should was steep and a long way to where the truck was parked.Other than that,easy to put in and take out.The fishing was kinda slow,only managed one keeper ky and one smallmouth.But the smallmouth weighed 5 1/2 to 6 lbs.

Caught both fish on main lake point on live bait. I believe we could have caught more fish if the wind had not been blowing 20 to 25 mph that day.

Hope this helps and catch a bunch.

Thanks, J'town it is then...it alot closer to me anyhow's. Tell you what If I can catch any fish this weekend it'll be a truely amazing trip, I've never fished this late in the year before.