FLW Lake Cumberland

[Les Young]

Of course I dont see a problem with it. Dont get me wrong I don't think they should lower the size limit in every little tournament. But Im all for it in larger regional tournaments that bring in alot of money and exposure. And as a requirement you should have holding tanks and take the necessary steps in fish care. The positives of bringing in money to the local economy vs making a few locals cry is well worth it.

No worries buddy if you think my opinion is dumb the feelings mutual.

I personally don't think cumberland needs anymore exposure. I had a pro at the cumberland event tell me the only ones pissed off about the reduced size limit were the ones that weren't getting any money out of it. I then told him that what a dumb*ss comment that was. I also think your comment about bringing in a lot of money & exposure isn't the greatest one i've ever heard either since the local government is trying it's best to exploit cumberland in every way possible simply for a buck. If the size limit hadn't been changed they would have still had a full field of boats & you can believe that. Cumberland is hammered all summer long with tourists & local pleasure boaters alike spending money on hotel rooms, gas, food, beer, campsites, launch fees etc. & it has way more 100 plus boat tournaments then you may believe too. There are a large amount of high school events held on cumberland & a lot have between 150 & to over 200 boats. There was 165 i think my buddy that fished it said in last weekends event & one last year had 265. As far as bass fishermen go most use livewell additives & lots take time to fizz there fish to if needed, but the vast majority believe it or not are strictly catch & release on the spot. Also about the locals crying believe it or not there are those of us that pretty much smallmouth fish only & dead set against a reduction in the size limit on them. They are above average size & extremely healthy like most local lakes like Laurel, Green & Dale Hollow & we'd like to keep them that way. I'd love to see largemouth 18" too on cumberland & there are some pretty healthy spots also so why not go to 14 anyway while they're at it. Don't get me wrong i like fishing tournaments from time to time & do, but i also think they should have to abide by the same rules as the every day local guys too. I also according to the pro i was talking about absoluitley believe the bit about a mortality study is pure horsesh*t. Flw claims they're " the best anglers in the world" now prove it with having the same size limit next year that the rest of us go by every day. By the way do you work for FLW or just fish their tournaments? Please let us know. LOL

[TimE]

I personally don't think cumberland needs anymore exposure. I had a pro at the cumberland event tell me the only ones pissed off about the reduced size limit were the ones that weren't getting any money out of it. I then told him that what a dumb*ss comment that was. I also think your comment about bringing in a lot of money & exposure isn't the greatest one i've ever heard either since the local government is trying it's best to exploit cumberland in every way possible simply for a buck. If the size limit hadn't been changed they would have still had a full field of boats & you can believe that. Cumberland is hammered all summer long with tourists & local pleasure boaters alike spending money on hotel rooms, gas, food, beer, campsites, launch fees etc. & it has way more 100 plus boat tournaments then you may believe too. There are a large amount of high school events held on cumberland & a lot have between 150 & to over 200 boats. There was 165 i think my buddy that fished it said in last weekends event & one last year had 265. As far as bass fishermen go most use livewell additives & lots take time to fizz there fish to if needed, but the vast majority believe it or not are strictly catch & release on the spot. Also about the locals crying believe it or not there are those of us that pretty much smallmouth fish only & dead set against a reduction in the size limit on them. They are above average size & extremely healthy like most local lakes like Laurel, Green & Dale Hollow & we'd like to keep them that way. I'd love to see largemouth 18" too on cumberland & there are some pretty healthy spots also so why not go to 14 anyway while they're at it. Don't get me wrong i like fishing tournaments from time to time & do, but i also think they should have to abide by the same rules as the every day local guys too. I also according to the pro i was talking about absoluitley believe the bit about a mortality study is pure horsesh*t. Flw claims they're " the best anglers in the world" now prove it with having the same size limit next year that the rest of us go by every day. By the way do you work for FLW or just fish their tournaments? Please let us know. LOL

The kdfwr call in show shot the original post and most posts in this thread full of holes. The biologists seemed to doubt the spawn is happening yet, and probably 100% REAL biologists would agree. He explained the size limit reduction and the reasoning behind it, yes $ was mentioned.

As far as your "the best anglers in the world" comment? You like a few others fail to realize a 243 boat high school tournament had the same size limit reduction a couple weeks BEFORE the flw pro tournament.

The biologists did mention that any lake with a 50% or even less spawn rate would be considered a successful spawn. You should be able to find it on YouTube.

[Z-20]

You want less pressure/exposure off lakes, make gas $4-$5/gal and have the economy go back down the drain. All lakes are highly pressured anymore, even the small ones. You can’t go to Rough, Green, Nolin or Barren on a weekend and not have a couple tournaments out of every ramp. The economy is better, and gas prices went down equals more people spending and buying toys (boats). You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

[TimE]

You want less pressure/exposure off lakes, make gas $4-$5/gal and have the economy go back down the drain. All lakes are highly pressured anymore, even the small ones. You can’t go to Rough, Green, Nolin or Barren on a weekend and not have a couple tournaments out of every ramp. The economy is better, and gas prices went down equals more people spending and buying toys (boats). You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

That might work might not. One of if not the best lake in the state for the past few years is pounded to death. It has a 12" size limit across the board. Multiple tournaments each week during the ACTUAL SPAWN, and is dwarfed in size compared to Lake Cumberland.

How does it keep producing? Maybe it is because actual biologists know what they are talking about and what they are doing?

[stripernut1]

i can appreciate that the kdfwr biologist "doubt" that the smallmouth havent/arent spawning, but i would ask is this conclusion based on a projection due to the time of year, or water temps or what exactly? what "hands-on" day to day real time information do they have?

i will tell you what real time information i have, sunday i caught 6 smallmouth that were 19 inches plus that were out in 30 feet of water, their stomachs were concave and they were gorging on shad as if they had the post-spawn feed bag on. in slightly shallower water i caught a 17 inch smallmouth that looked like it was about to explode. so like every other year there are all different stages going on at the same exact time.

as for holes shot in any post i remember reading one about the flw pros not targeting spawning smallmouth, when they actually wrote and explained how they were targeting spawning smallmouth. you wont have to youtube it

[TimE]

i can appreciate that the kdfwr biologist "doubt" that the smallmouth havent/arent spawning, but i would ask is this conclusion based on a projection due to the time of year, or water temps or what exactly? what "hands-on" day to day real time information do they have?

i will tell you what real time information i have, sunday i caught 6 smallmouth that were 19 inches plus that were out in 30 feet of water, their stomachs were concave and they were gorging on shad as if they had the post-spawn feed bag on. in slightly shallower water i caught a 17 inch smallmouth that looked like it was about to explode. so like every other year there are all different stages going on at the same exact time.

as for holes shot in any post i remember reading one about the flw pros not targeting spawning smallmouth, when they actually wrote and explained how they were targeting spawning smallmouth. you wont have to youtube it

I'm sure he was talking about stable water temps. You can google smallmouth spawning temps and I don't think Lake Cumberland had reached those stable temps yet. Scratch that, I know it hadn't.

Bryan Thrift won the tournament targeting primary points, hardly a bed pattern. I myself don't believe Ky has had enough stable weather for any fish including crappie (the biologists agreed) to spawn. We have had a few good days so I don't know, certainly different than the first day of flw tournament where it snowed during practice.

I can't seem to find that article, haven't looked real hard but thought I had read about everything on it as I was interested on their techniques and patterns. Look, I wish we could go back 20 years to when our local lakes were not beat to death, not gonna happen though. Also I think out of all the Ky lakes that Lake Cumberland is the most capable of withstanding pressure. It will just be a few more weeks and the outside interest will disappear when the fish start following schools of baitfish or suspending in the middle of nowhere.

And then? The bass fishermen can go back to blaming the striper fishermen for destroying the lake.

[stripernut1]

I'm sure he was talking about stable water temps. You can google smallmouth spawning temps and I don't think Lake Cumberland had reached those stable temps yet. Scratch that, I know it hadn't.

Bryan Thrift won the tournament targeting primary points, hardly a bed pattern. I myself don't believe Ky has had enough stable weather for any fish including crappie (the biologists agreed) to spawn. We have had a few good days so I don't know, certainly different than the first day of flw tournament where it snowed during practice.

I can't seem to find that article, haven't looked real hard but thought I had read about everything on it as I was interested on their techniques and patterns. Look, I wish we could go back 20 years to when our local lakes were not beat to death, not gonna happen though. Also I think out of all the Ky lakes that Lake Cumberland is the most capable of withstanding pressure. It will just be a few more weeks and the outside interest will disappear when the fish start following schools of baitfish or suspending in the middle of nowhere.

And then? The bass fishermen can go back to blaming the striper fishermen for destroying the lake.

Hahahahaha!!!! See , we do agree on something....
Have a good one

[Les Young]

I'm sure he was talking about stable water temps. You can google smallmouth spawning temps and I don't think Lake Cumberland had reached those stable temps yet. Scratch that, I know it hadn't.

Bryan Thrift won the tournament targeting primary points, hardly a bed pattern. I myself don't believe Ky has had enough stable weather for any fish including crappie (the biologists agreed) to spawn. We have had a few good days so I don't know, certainly different than the first day of flw tournament where it snowed during practice.

I can't seem to find that article, haven't looked real hard but thought I had read about everything on it as I was interested on their techniques and patterns. Look, I wish we could go back 20 years to when our local lakes were not beat to death, not gonna happen though. Also I think out of all the Ky lakes that Lake Cumberland is the most capable of withstanding pressure. It will just be a few more weeks and the outside interest will disappear when the fish start following schools of baitfish or suspending in the middle of nowhere.

And then? The bass fishermen can go back to blaming the striper fishermen for destroying the lake.

The striper haven't hurt it at all in my book. They may be a little oppurtunistic at feeding sometimes like every other game fish, but they rarely bother any bass & definitley haven't bothered the population as some would say. I know guys that use to cut their gills & turn them loose simply because of their unimformed stupidity blaming the striper any time there was a down cycle on cumberland. If they'd think what the shad population would be without them they'd probably be thankful for them. I personally like night time striper fishing in early spring more so then bass fishing & go every weekend until the water starts getting to warm then i start smallmouth fishing.