Cumberland striper report 7/21,7/22

[peter]

I marked very few fish in 65 to 90 feet near the bottom on the eastern side of the mouth of Indian Creek yesterday and caught none. I talked to another fisherman & he had one fish in the same area without ever marking any fish.

Post is my current theory / summation. Been wrong before.

Don't feel bad. I just got the temp and 02 report and compared the temp and 02 from last week to approx the same time period in 2011. The striper environment down deep is about the same as it was in 2011. Not good. I have sat over good size active schools in the last two weeks week and not had any bites (shinners). Even one or two rods should have gone down with what I was seeing on the screen even with shinners. The fish I have caught in the last few weeks were thin. Even had two on that I did not discover until reeling all the rods up. One time I had a huge cluster. Spent ten minutes cutting and untangling lines and finally had just one cut line to pull out of the water by hand. There was a 24" fish on it. Apparently that fish had been lazily wondering through all my lines. I was able to display most of my terminal tackle and bait to a couple of guides and their customers because most of it was suspended in the air forming a spider web around my boat. I didn't see them taking any notes. The event probably reinforced their decision to spend the money on a professional. Cant wait to go back.

[FlyLie]

Post is my current theory / summation. Been wrong before.

Don't feel bad. I just got the temp and 02 report and compared the temp and 02 from last week to approx the same time period in 2011. The striper environment down deep is about the same as it was in 2011. Not good. I have sat over good size active schools in the last two weeks week and not had any bites (shinners). Even one or two rods should have gone down with what I was seeing on the screen even with shinners. The fish I have caught in the last few weeks were thin. Even had two on that I did not discover until reeling all the rods up. One time I had a huge cluster. Spent ten minutes cutting and untangling lines and finally had just one cut line to pull out of the water by hand. There was a 24" fish on it. Apparently that fish had been lazily wondering through all my lines. I was able to display most of my terminal tackle and bait to a couple of guides and their customers because most of it was suspended in the air forming a spider web around my boat. I didn't see them taking any notes. The event probably reinforced their decision to spend the money on a professional. Cant wait to go back.

Interesting Info. Thanks for posting. Question, where or how does one get lake oxygen info?

[cghuntcms]

Interesting dilemma. My live bait, whether I use, shiners, pumpkinseeds, bluegill, or creek chubs seem to die very quickly. If I couldn't find any hungry fish, they'd last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Lately, they don't last 10 minutes. I generally use 1/2 oz. trolling sinkers and thought I was dropping them too fast towards the bottom.

[peter]

Interesting dilemma. My live bait, whether I use, shiners, pumpkinseeds, bluegill, or creek chubs seem to die very quickly. If I couldn't find any hungry fish, they'd last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Lately, they don't last 10 minutes. I generally use 1/2 oz. trolling sinkers and thought I was dropping them too fast towards the bottom.

The oxygen below 35' is very low just like it has been in the last few years because of the dam work.

See attached.

[HURRICANEBOB]

The oxygen below 35' is very low just like it has been in the last few years because of the dam work.

See attached.

About the oxygen levels. I wonder if submerged vegetation is robbing the lake of oxygen, the stuff that grew while the lake was down. Second, I wonder if all that stuff that grew when the lake was down and is now decaying is robbing oxygen from the water. http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/warn...php3?docID=183

We also have had very few high wind days that tends to create waves and so turnover the surface and add oxygen. And, we've not had much rain in heavy downpours, a few, but not many.

Now for a reasonable fee, I'll eat two cans of baked beans, and float around in an inner tube and let the bubbles go to work.