Good day for stripers on Cumberland

[Duayne]

You shouldn't. The only reason they did is because they caught more than their limit at one time. Luckily I've only had to do that once.. People should NOT continue to fish for them after a limit.

[JUSTINHALL]

I don’t believe as many stripers are dying as every one thinks. Don’t get me wrong I know they die but not as many as every one talks about in the summer months. I think the majority of live fish that die float when they die versus sinking to the bottom.
Saturday the second fish I caught was undersize so I let him off while still in the water. But as soon as I let him off he went belly up and never recovered so I circled back and picked him up. I would have gotten a ticket for having an undersize fish I am sure but I could not see leaving it lay floating in the water. I just kept it and counted it as one of my limits. Legal or not that is what I did because it died.
I agree totally that they mortality rate is higher during the summer but at the same time I think most of the ones dieing will float versus going to the bottom and I don’t see stripers floating every where. I am no condoning to catch in release during the summer either just my 2 cents on how many are so called dieing. Same goes with bass dead ones float whether in live well or in the lake.

[Monarkman]

^^This is the reason I think there should be a 2 fish, no size limit, no culling regulation in the summer months.

[tglass]

Fish will only float for a certain amount of time and the majority sink to the bottom. There are many many studies on the mortality of stripers and they all have the sane conclusion. Most of the fish released in the warmer summer months will die. I don't even fish for stripers during the summer because short fish will die too so i would rather wait and fish for them when the water cools down and i can release all of them if i want to. I personally think TN is on to something with the rules at Norris. They have a 36" minimum in the winter and then it drops way down to i think 15" in the summer. I wish they would drop the minimum length limit at cumberland during the warmer months as well.