Cumberland winter stripes

[Duayne]

I just checked my notes and my first trip last year was mid Feb. Smaller Alewives (3"-4") worked as good or better than bigger bait. Fish were all clumped together... Meaning I would get five fish at a time with a mix of dinks up to 32" fish. The mud lines are your absolute best friend. They usually move all around the last third of creeks late winter to early spring so it's hard to say where exactly you will find them. Watch water quality and your temp gauge (very closely). I start looking in the best water closest to dirty water with the warmest temps. You should find bait in that warmer water and the fish are usually close by.

[bsg2121]

Thanks guys you all are getting me pumped up! I always second guess myself when people talk about the ends of the creek. The backs. The head. The top 1/3. I am sure we are all talking about the same thing in the back away from the mouth away from main lake. Its kind of like that half full half empty thing.

Some of my best trips have been in the winter once i caught on to them being in the back of the creek. Ha! Hoping we get lucky and find them on that first half day giving us something to work with for the next 3.....thanks again for the info and looking forward to where this thread takes us! BG

[bsg2121]

About a week away. Curious if anyone had an update on water conditions in the creeks? Last march it was muddy and lots of debris. Hoping for better conditions this year. Its going to be cold! No turning back now....

[bsg2121]

About a week away. Curious if anyone had an update on water conditions in the creeks? Last march it was muddy and lots of debris. Hoping for better conditions this year. Its going to be cold! No turning back now....

You know the thing about going in the winter is no one is fishing. Im like looking around the internet for information that doesnt exist. Then i find myself looking at the weather extended forecast which leads to zooming all the way in on the radar to LC which leads to google satelite maps and zooming in on all the creeks and shoreline areas i want to fish. Its fun to be excited and i cant wait to get there!

[luvtohunt]

Lake is crazy right now. 729.5 and still coming up. Went to the dam last night to try to fish and they were spilling off the top with 6 gates. It looked like a nice white water rafting experience but fishing sucked.

[stripernut1]

very very cold temps forecast for the week prior to your arrival. bass fished wednesday and struggled to get 6 bites all day and managed to boat 5 small, pale, cold to the touch spotted bass. water is waaayyy up in the trees and water temps were in the 40s and found 50 in one run in. there is a little debris here and there but it was howling wind that day so im sure there wouldve been a ton floating around if it hadnt been for that.
it will be a difficult trip to say the least but on the other hand how many stripers have you caught at your house right?
p.s. if it was me i would be sure and fish midday and look for birds. we didnt see any birds wednesday but i think they were grounded during the cyclone

[bsg2121]

Thx for posting luv2hunt and stripernut. Im pretty sure we fish the same area of the lake

[bsg2121]

Thx for posting luv2hunt and stripernut. Im pretty sure we fish the same area of the lake

Duayne thx for posting too! I know your info is solid! Thinking you hangout down by the damm right?

[peter]

Thanks everybody for posting. Seems like such a long time ago that I fished (two months) I almost forgot what fishing was until I read this. Now I remember.

[Duayne]

Duayne thx for posting too! I know your info is solid! Thinking you hangout down by the damm right?

Yes. I focus mostly on Indian Creek and the main lake down to Beaver\Otter. Be very careful out there. The lake is a mess and debris can move from one area to another very quickly. There won't be a ton of boats out there if you have a problem so make sure someone knows where and when you are planning to fish.

The debris may also play havoc if you are trying to pull boards or even down rods. But as Stripernut said, your odds go up infinitely compared to sitting on the couch like I am right now. Ha!

[bsg2121]

Arriving sat morning leaving wed morning. Idk if anyone has looked at the weather but i feel like someone is looking out for me this trip! The warm up timing couldnt be any better for us. Now just need it to spark those fish and turn this trip in to one we tell stories about for the rest of our lifes.

[Duayne]

If it were me I would plan to fish very cold water and the things that happen in it. I'd fish smaller bait, look for bait dying and fish spoons jigged off the bottom or Bucktail jigs free falled very slowly. Also look up dead sticking. I don't do it much on Cumberland but i would think hard on it if I were fishing this weekend. Down rods with live bait drifted with no extra movement if you can find schools should work but I don't know if they have broken up or not yet.