Cumberland River Stripers

[elnutsmalljaws]

I plan on spending a week in Cumberland next month to hit the topwater action when the Stripers are in the jumps. Also, considering fishing the river with live bait to try for the REALLY BIG VARIETY of Stripers. Never used skipjack and have no clue how to catch my own. Does anyone sell them around the Dam at Cumberland? I saw Fred McClintock pulling them behind planer boards on In Fisherman and thought I would give it a try. I have always heard the river can be really dangerous to fish. Where can I get a map to know which sand bars and stump fields (if any) to avoid? Any and all help is most appreciated. I figured my 7' Heavy Action rods with 50lb braid will be sufficient to fight the river bigguns. Again looking for some help. Will also consider hiring McClintock or some other guide to teach me the way. I hear spring and October is prime time for the river. Thanks

[hogdaddy]

I don't know anything about the river,(sorry) but when does the topwater action start and how long does it last on the lake?Thanks!

[kc]

I haven't done it in many moons but I have caught stripers on surface in the fall at Cumberland. But what I remember is the surface action started later -- more like late November (Thanksgiving time) or early December. In fact, the last time I striper fished Cumberland was several years ago with some buddies from work and we went down the 3rd week of October and hired a guide. Going out with the guide he had us dragging lures behind down riggers at 70 to 100 feet and he said that October is a month where the fish were really deep and could be hard to locate. We only dredged up 4 that day so I am thinking the surface bite is later than October. Maybe some of the Cumberland regulars can chime in on this one.

kc

[kc]

Just a quick clarification on my post -- I am referring to surface fishing for stripers in the lake. I have never fished for stripers in the river.

kc

[mhall]

>I haven't done it in many moons but I have caught stripers on
>surface in the fall at Cumberland. But what I remember is the
>surface action started later -- more like late November
>(Thanksgiving time) or early December. In fact, the last time
>I striper fished Cumberland was several years ago with some
>buddies from work and we went down the 3rd week of October and
>hired a guide. Going out with the guide he had us dragging
>lures behind down riggers at 70 to 100 feet and he said that
>October is a month where the fish were really deep and could
>be hard to locate. We only dredged up 4 that day so I am
>thinking the surface bite is later than October. Maybe some
>of the Cumberland regulars can chime in on this one.
>
>kc

November is much better than Oct. in my opinion. Last year the third and fourth week in November was prime time. I've seen jumps in Oct., especially if we have a very cool fall, weather plays a big role hear. Maybe Andrew,(APB), will chime in he's forgot more about stripers than I know. :7

[elnutsmalljaws]

October has been best for me. Had 13 in 2 hours a couple of years ago one day on a school the size of half a football field that came up and went down in the same general area for 2 hours. There were 10 boats around this school and at one time 19 of 20 fishermen had fish on or was taking the hooks out of them, the one that did not had a video camera in his hand. It is good all thru November but I found best for me is 65 degree water.

[peter]

Traces on the cumberland has a nice booklet style maps with fishing spots marked.

http://www.tracesonthecumberland.com/

They are listed on our cumberland river trout report

[SSKY]

You are smart to choose a guide to go there for the first time. That being said it is the worst time of the year to go for big fish. Spring and early summer is the best time of year to go for them. It is late in the year and the the weather has been cold but at this time of year there was usually several big stripers at the hatchery stream discharge before the light hits the water for the wader fishermen. You can put in on the obey at celina with a boat about a tracker and go out to the cumberland river and run up several miles on the river before you will see a shalllow area.

[Chubminnow]

Hey Elwood,

If you've never been on the Cumberland River I would highly suggest getting a guide the first day...that river can be mighty unpredictable at times. Depending on if they're generating at the dam or not the water level can fluctuate greatly in a short period of time. Of course the further down stream towards Tennessee that you go the less of a problem this will be.

As for the Alewives, I haven't a clue as to where you might get them...I would recommend you call Strange Bait in Burkesville (1-270-864-2248) and ask them, there's a ramp there in Burkesville too. Actually if you call Randell Gibson with Kentucky Trophy Fishing he also may be of some help to you, his number is 1-270-433-7395. Randell has been guiding the river, the lake and Dale Hollow for many years, he's been on Ky Afield numerous times, etc. Or check out their website at www.kytrophyfishing.com

It's been several years ago now but I used Randell one fall for a guided river trip fishing for the BIG stripers, I took my dad with me...we didn't catch any fish that day although we had one make one heck of a nice blow up on the bait we were pulling. What we did was meet up with Randell at Strange Bait about 5:30 or 6:00, put in at the Burkesville Ramp and from there we went up stream and drifted back down at a speed that was slightly faster than the current. Like I said, we were pulling planer boards and using BIG shiners. Randell kept the boat in the center of the river and tried placing each planer board up near the bank on each side. After so long a time, we repeated this same thing, ran the big motor up stream and drifted back down slightly faster than the current. Since the other poster on this thread mentioned spring being the best time for the river, my experience in the fall that one year would agree with him.

As for the book that Traces on the Cumberland sells, I have that book and can share it with you. Give me a call anytime, 502-418-5361.

While you're on the river you may want to try for some trout, there are some huge trout in that river and I gaurantee you can catch some nice one's, here again, give me a call if you like and we can discuss in further detail.

Tim