FLW Lake Cumberland

[stripernut1]

I don’t think the size should be changed, but if they are going to hold a spring tournament on Cumberland, like they do on lakes all over the country, wouldn’t it be best to weigh 12’’ fish than larger size spawning fish, what number of boats would be entered in a tournament like this, maybe a 100 or 150 boats, once a year, if they all weighed in 5 fish, your looking at 750 short fish loss even if they all die, for a lake the size of Cumberland with 60,000 surface acres, that many fish wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket, I would think the striper would eat more 12’’ bass than that in one day.

im really not arguing fish mortality here, my main argument is pulling hundreds of bass off the nest on one en of the lake and transporting them to the complete other end of the lake and releasing them. if this activity was sustained over time i dont see how it can be good in the long run. but hey this is tournament fishing , its legal, it happens and the fish are still here in spite of it all.
as far as the stripers eating bass, i am fortunate to be able to clean a bunch of stripers every year for over 30 years now, i cut the stomachs open on every striper to see what size shad they are eating. ive seen a lot of big bluegill, 1 crappie that i can remember, and i can count on one hand the number of ky bass ive seen in a stripers stomach, and they were tiny. not saying it doesnt happen but its a non factor

[Bobby Headrick]

I would like to see all Tourneys go to a MLF style system. With today's technology, which, there should be no reason to have live weigh ins. We understand that the crowd want to see fish, but do you have to bring in the fish. Record the catch,weight, etc, record it all, if one can afford to have two to four $4000 graph you can get a go pro. There is way too much pressure from all aspects put on our fishery's It needs to be corrected while it still can.

[redearhoosier]

Catfish are great to eat. If they taste like mud, you are fishing bad waters. The catfish down here at the Twin Lakes are excellent, especially the smaller ones.

[Rob1678]

I have tried catfish from all over the state. Truly Ky lake, dale, green,cedar, Ky river, barren, cland, guist creek! My dad loved them and we camped and had to catch enough for a fish fry. Even ate a carp when the fishing was terrible which was better than the catfish. Just not my table fare so I am strictly catch and release for bass and cats!

[Fntsyfbgod]

Catching a few spawning smallmouth out of a lake that size won't make an impact. If they were fishing a smaller lake it might affect the spawn but not a big lake. Florida has been allowing big national tournaments to get tournament exemptions for years and it hasn't been an issue. I don't think every little tournament should get an exemption but I think it's a great idea on big lakes with tournaments that handle fish care properly. I want to showcase our great lakes and that's what the exemption does.

[stripernut1]

Catching a few spawning smallmouth out of a lake that size won't make an impact. If they were fishing a smaller lake it might affect the spawn but not a big lake. Florida has been allowing big national tournaments to get tournament exemptions for years and it hasn't been an issue. I don't think every little tournament should get an exemption but I think it's a great idea on big lakes with tournaments that handle fish care properly. I want to showcase our great lakes and that's what the exemption does.

To compare cumberland to a top lake in florida is ....
And why do you want to "showcase" our lakes?? You think these lakes need MORE pressure???

[Duayne]

I want to showcase our great lakes and that's what the exemption does.

WHY?

[GeoFisher]

Catching a few spawning smallmouth out of a lake that size won't make an impact. If they were fishing a smaller lake it might affect the spawn but not a big lake. Florida has been allowing big national tournaments to get tournament exemptions for years and it hasn't been an issue. I don't think every little tournament should get an exemption but I think it's a great idea on big lakes with tournaments that handle fish care properly. I want to showcase our great lakes and that's what the exemption does.

Stating Cumberland can support a few spawners being taking off the nest based on size, is very short sighted.

Lake size,
Lake fertility.
Spawn success.

A **** ton of factors go into evaluating if it will hurt or not.

Dale Hollow suffered a gigantic fish kill a decade ago. Smallmouth fishing there was practically decimated. the 25 yr old slot limit was LEFT ALONE, and the 2 fish limit was left in place for smallmouth and guess what. The smallmouth population is exploding.

Personally, I believe a 2 fish limit and a 16 - 20 slot would be awesome for Cumberland...IMHO.

Now to the fact of ripping spawner off the nest and dragging them 50 miles....that is a severely IGNORANT ideology, and should stop. Period. I agree to what others have said about northern lakes. They have closed seasons on smallmouth, and I believe those closed seasons significantly help the smallmouth.

On a personal note:

I used to plan trips to the BWCA and Quetico around the spawn, but we stopped that years ago. There was no sport in pulling the male and then the female off the nest.......NO SPORT. Any ignorant fool with a fishing rod can do that. It takes a little more skill to find and locate the fish staging. Heck I think the fall is one of the best times, as the weights are significantly heavier as they feed up for their long winter.



Later,

Geo

[Fntsyfbgod]

You do realize this isn't the first time? They have allowed big high school/youth tournaments to keep anything 12 inches. I can't believe people are actually mad and think this will be much worst on the lake vs a normal size limit. There were alot of limits last year also either way fish are going to be caught and weighed in, there were just fewer spotted bass (also spawning) and more large mouth and smallmouth, and alot those were keepers anyway. I'm not going to say anymore it's funny to me more anything that you guys don't have more common sense.

As far as showcasing the lake there's several reasons. I liked watching coverage on the lake learning how they fished it so anytime I can see tournaments on lakes I fish or similar lakes it's a bonus. Also it helps the economy around the lake and this tournament won't bring people from all over like guntersville with its 100lb sacks it will just be a little bonus. If the 4000 acre lake up the road produced alot of monster bass it might be a different story. That's my 2 cents anyway fell free to disagree.

[Duayne]

I'm not mad about the size change. I just lost a tad more respect than what little I already had for those FLW guys. If you can't put a few 15" LM or 18" SM along with a couple of spots together for a bag in the spring, you shouldn't be earning money in a club tournament, much less fishing in a major league. And as far as learning techniques, that's pretty laughable as well. You can bring some shiny new deal to Cumberland and it may work a time or two, but at the end of the day, all you need are a few really basic baits and fishing off the right side of the boat at the right time to catch bass on Cumberland.

As for pulling bass off the beds, we aren't close enough to even continue a logical discussion.

[Fntsyfbgod]

I'm not mad about the size change. I just lost a tad more respect than what little I already had for those FLW guys. If you can't put a few 15" LM or 18" SM along with a couple of spots together for a bag in the spring, you shouldn't be earning money in a club tournament, much less fishing in a major league. And as far as learning techniques, that's pretty laughable as well. You can bring some shiny new deal to Cumberland and it may work a time or two, but at the end of the day, all you need are a few really basic baits and fishing off the right side of the boat at the right time to catch bass on Cumberland.

As for pulling bass off the beds, we aren't close enough to even continue a logical discussion.

You lost respect for the flw???? Do you think the pros got together and signed a petition to use 12 in fish? They had nothing to do with it and last year they did fine.

The fact you think I watch tournament coverage just to learn a shiny new bait shows we can't carry a logical discussion on that either.

Honestly no point trying for any logical discussion.

[stripernut1]

You lost respect for the flw???? Do you think the pros got together and signed a petition to use 12 in fish? They had nothing to do with it and last year they did fine.

The fact you think I watch tournament coverage just to learn a shiny new bait shows we can't carry a logical discussion on that either.

Honestly no point trying for any logical discussion.

They had EVERYTHING to do with it. There was a unanimous discontent with the number of "short" fish they had to wade through last year. There was no petition that i know of but there was definitely lobbyung going on.
And as far as common sense goes, i wont argue that one, maybe i dont have as much common sense as the next guy, but as far as lake cumberland goes, ive already spent more hours on it this year than you will all year long. So go have your logical discussion with someone else, i know what the zzzz im talking about