stripers on cumberland

[duck12]

Just wondering how the striper fishing was going on lake cumberland?

[JoeB]

It's really starting to heat up. Quite a few nice fish have been caught this past week. Look in the backs of the creeks, shallow and up against the bank. Good luck.

[Wormin]

I here you guys talk about bucktails or dollflys, what are the prefered ways to fish these.

[apb]

I here you guys talk about bucktails or dollflys, what are the prefered ways to fish these.

Slowly! Very versitile lure. You can cast and start reeling slowly as soon as it hits the water, count it down to fish deeper, or let it hit bottom and start reeling from there. If you have ever slow rolled a spinner bait, thats how you want to fish it. 3/8 oz is mostly what I'll throw, though the 1/2 oz will get some use in deeper water. Plastic trailer to tip it off: twister tail grub, fluke, or split tailed spinner bait trailer are the most common.

The hardest thing to get used to when starting out with the jig is getting used to the hit. When fishing a jig as above, the hit can be reeeeaaaal light. More like a crappie hitting it or a bluegill pecking at a plastic worm than the slam that you would expect from a striper. Gotta stay focused when you fish it. I tend to use a little lighter line (12# rather than 15#) and built a rod just for throwing a jig. A little more sensitive than I would usually use for stripers. Basically, if you lose contact with the jig or feel a tap, set the hook, hard! Do not be surprised if it feels like a small fish at first. Stripers will often hit the jig coming towards the boat.

Andrew

[Wormin]

Thanks for the info, If you ever go down and need a net boy let me I have never fished for them and would like to go with some one who knows them like yourself so I don't throw a bunch of money away for thing I do not need.

[apb]

Casting for them, it can be done pretty cheaply. 7 foot flipping stick, 5500 series abu and 15# mono. Pick up a couple of red fins, slivers, jointed thunder sticks, a couple of deep cranks, and a handful of bucktails. That will do you from t-giving until the beginning of June. You don't need to go wild with every color plug out there. Subsurface, 90% of the time I'm throwing white with red white plugs or a blue/white bucktail. Stripers eat shad: alewifes, gizzards, and threadfins. Your basic shad colors are all you need.

Andrew

[fishincreek]

Andrew pretty much has you set-up on the what and how. In my opinion, what newbys don't take into account is the time at which they fish and give up too easily. You can be on the right banks but at the wrong time. Many times I have been putting the boat in at midnight and have several guys pulling out claiming the fish aren't biting, when we nailed them from 1-4. Another tip would be bait placement while casting. I really like my bait to "tick" the bank. Miss the bank by 3 feet and sometimes they just don't hit. Some folks parallel the bank, but I'm too wild of a caster and too many times my lure merely dangles from an unseen treelimb. If it weren't for my loveable sarcasm and my luck for shaking baits from trees I would have no fishing partners.

[mhall]

Andrew pretty much has you set-up on the what and how. In my opinion, what newbys don't take into account is the time at which they fish and give up too easily. You can be on the right banks but at the wrong time. Many times I have been putting the boat in at midnight and have several guys pulling out claiming the fish aren't biting, when we nailed them from 1-4. Another tip would be bait placement while casting. I really like my bait to "tick" the bank. Miss the bank by 3 feet and sometimes they just don't hit. Some folks parallel the bank, but I'm too wild of a caster and too many times my lure merely dangles from an unseen treelimb. If it weren't for my loveable sarcasm and my luck for shaking baits from trees I would have no fishing partners.

Well if you don't like paralleling the bank and fish with Andrew what do you do tie him up and lay him on the back deck until the night is over, lol? One night I had to cast over his left shoulder and reel in till the bait got up to his waist then ask him to drop my bait in the water for me so I wouldn't hook him in the nads, lol. Just kiddin Andrew, kinda, lol.

[mhall]

On a serious note, when you are fishing close to the banks at night and the guy in the front is throwing out in the front the guy in the back can throw straight parallel out of the back and still catch fish. You can go right over a spot and stripers will slam right behind you. They don't stay against the bank when they feed, they grab something spin and swim out then repeat. Have caught a few right behind the boat right after we just went over a spot. Hey and wormin don't be going after my net job I've become quite good at it.

Frickin Walleye, lol. Inside joke sorry.

[apb]

... but I'm too wild of a caster and too many times my lure merely dangles from an unseen treelimb. ....

I can cooberate his story, his plugs do spend a good deal of time in trees, on rocks....



I compensate by pulling off the bank a little farther than usual when fishincreek is in the boat. On a serious note, yeah, we are still real close to the bank, in May.

... when you are fishing close to the banks at night and the guy in the front is throwing out in the front the guy in the back can throw straight parallel out of the back and still catch fish. You can go right over a spot and stripers will slam right behind you. They don't stay against the bank when they feed, they grab something spin and swim out then repeat. Have caught a few right behind the boat right after we just went over a spot....

A good point to note. Stripers are not LM or SM. They do not hold in a specific spot on the lake. They'll move a whole lot. I believe that in May they are out over the open water, come in, hit a few alewifes on the bank, and then back out again. They'll repeat this process until they are full. My largest striper on the lake was caught from the back of someone else's boat, off an point that my partner had already cast too several times. Think I taught that trick to Mark the hard way too

...Hey and wormin don't be going after my net job I've become quite good at it....

That he is!!!

...Frickin Walleye, lol.....

Andrew

[mhall]

I can cooberate his story, his plugs do spend a good deal of time in trees, on rocks....



I compensate by pulling off the bank a little farther than usual when fishincreek is in the boat. On a serious note, yeah, we are still real close to the bank, in May.



A good point to note. Stripers are not LM or SM. They do not hold in a specific spot on the lake. They'll move a whole lot. I believe that in May they are out over the open water, come in, hit a few alewifes on the bank, and then back out again. They'll repeat this process until they are full. My largest striper on the lake was caught from the back of someone else's boat, off an point that my partner had already cast too several times. Think I taught that trick to Mark the hard way too



That he is!!!





Andrew

Hey I didn't want that little 11 plus pounder I knew he was there so I let you catch that one, lol.

[PRO V LE]

Have'nt you guy's heard, the Stripers are gone, they drained the lake, there is no water.


I'm selfish!