Cumberland River Trout (different)

[Chubminnow]

I didn't want to steal the other poster's thread and would like to discuss something entirely different regarding the trout.

#1 - This is regarding the area of Crocus creek. Does anyone here know how long it takes for this area to become wadeable after they quit generating?

#2 - When getting a trout on the line how does the fish generally react or fight? Do the bigger one's tend to go to the bottom and just lay there?

I went down there Saturday and had a decent day. We didn't limit out, in fact we didn't even come close to limiting out but we had a great time and that's what counts in my opinion. I ended up keeping one rainbow while my buddy kept one rainbow and one brown that went just a hair over 20". That was the extent of what we kept. He and I both had several nice browns that were under 20"...I had a couple on that got off before I could see them and this is what prompted me to ask question #2. It was like the fish went to the bottom and curled up in a ball or something or it was like he got behind a rock. I hooked the fish, he fought and then there was no movement what so ever, then he would start to fight again, dragging line out in the process. I was using spinning gear with 6lb test and these two fish that got off were definitely bigger than a slot limit rainbow or brown under 20".

[birdstrike]

Big browns are snag magnets! They will go for cover quickly once hooked. I was playing one once while drifting in a swift current near Helms when it got all tangled up in a down tree. I couldn't turn the boat quick enough and drifted on down stream and my line snapped :o Well, as I was feeling sorry for myself, I looked back and saw a twig of the down tree twitching and jerking so I went back to investiate. My trout was on a 3 foot leash fighting the heck out of the tree! Amazingly, I was able to free and boat the fellow, all 28 inches of it. I would not think that a hooked trout would lay or hide on the bottom, these fish will fight! you may have had one getting down into some roots or grass though. There are some big carp and gar in that river, no telling what you hooked!

[troutcrazy]

Most big browns run pretty hard, but I've never had one to just lay on the bottom. After a long fight they may take a breather, but once they feel the tug of the line again they're right back at it.

Most Rainbows actually break the top of the water trying to get lose of whatever has a hold on them. Beautiful sight.

Don't much about the C/c sections...I mainly fish from helms landing down to the gateway rocks.