Cumberland River Trout

[peter]

Realizing there may be no answer to the questions below, I will ask them.

Last weekend Sat. and Sun. 10:00 to 3:00 fished up from Burksville past Crocus Creek down to the first island up from Burksville and around Burksville.

Water started high then went down while fishing. Using mostly #3 inline Blue fox spinners 8# mono. The fish followed out bait a lot but would stay back a few inches then do a U turn. It happened a lot.

Maybe the fish were holding 20 feet or so off the bank and our boat was too close to the bank and the fish saw the boat before they had time to take the bait? Others in the same areas "said" they were getting limits.

Any ideas? I understand that some times they just don't hit, but man they followed our baits a lot. Going back Sat.

Thanks in advance if anybody can give me some advice.

[Chubminnow]

I've stood in the middle of this river with waders and had trout come within two feet of me not knowing I was there because they were so intense on watching my minnow immitation or what ever I was using, and then suddenly they got spooked and left...

I have no theory behind what causes them to do a u-turn but the bit of advice I will give you is to try casting a 1/4 ounce Acme Kastmaster spoon...You can cast these lures a country mile and they won't give you line twist like the spinner will...colors of choice are gold, chrome, rainbow trout and brown trout.

Good luck to ya!

[peter]

Much thanks.

I have used Kastmaster spoons for other things. Very good bait lots of flash, but I think they were larger. I'll try the quater oz.

[troutman]

Fished last Sat Between Helms and Rainbow Run. We also had a lot of followers, but we managed to land 40. With many more on and lost. 2 biggest were a fat 19.5" Bow and a 19" Brown. Another 12-15 in the slot.

[steve604]

You guys are killing me! I have'nt been able to fish Cumberland all year. But my birthday is next month, and my present is a weekend at the River Front Lodge!!!!! Peter, the advise about the small spoon is right on. I've caught lots of fish on them. A few years ago I hooked in to a 24 inch brown on one. I was using 4 pound test line and it took me about 10 min. to land him. I think I set a new worlds record for holding your breath!

Steve

[charlie1]

Try a 1/3 oz. Cleo. You can cast it a mile, too. I also never use anything heavier than 6# line in the clear water.

[peter]

Thanks for the replies so far.

[kevin529]

I seem to have better luck since I started using florocarbon leaders. I believe that this does not spook the trout like regular mono. If I am drifting, I use a very small swivel and about 2' of leader. If I am casting, I use about 3' tied to some 8# mono.

When I was in Florida this spring, I learned a new knot that allows you to tie lines together without using a swivel. They have more faith in the knot than the swivel. It's not a blood or Albright. If I can find a link I'll post it.

[kc]

I have only fished the Cumberland river one time back in the mid 80's but I learned something that may help you. I went on an adventure trip with a buddy of mine not knowing much at all about fishing for trout. We took corn and cheese and didn't do a bit of good early in the day with those and bored I switched off to a small rooster tail after lunch having that been the only lure I had ever caught a trout on. It didn't take long for my first follow. But same thing - they would come up behind it, follow, then turn away. Some would get so close to the tail they looked like they were touching it but they wouldn't take it. I can't tell you how frustrating that was. Then we got into a stretch that was loaded with fish and they would do this nearly every cast -- and some time packs of fish would follow. Still no takers. Frustration city!!! I was beginning to think that trout were weird.

What I found was I was fishing the rooster tail like I would for bass or panfish -- slow and steady retrieve. The first variation I tried was "dropping" it when I saw a follow and that would result in an immediate turn. The trick is to speed up the retrieve when you see a follow then they would lunge out and slash at the lure. We didn't figure that out until nearly dinner time and fishing for another 2 to 3 hours until dark we must have caught 60 - 70 fish. They weren't so weird after all! Give it a try -- speed up your spinner and make them work for it.

kc