Emergency Regulations Lake Cumberland-Striper

[Duayne]

If you don't want to keep them in the summer, don't fish for them. That's how every catch and release striper fisherman I know approaches it. Stripers are a put and take fish. They are put there to control the bait population first, to be taken home for food second, and for pure sport (catch and release) last. If you are catching and releasing ANY 28 inch stripers in the summer then going back for more, you are doing damage in that if you catch 10 per person, you killed eight over your limit (per person).

[Jbyrd]

Along the lines of the fish seen floating on the surface dying, A friend of mine fishes for stripers everyday . He said they almost always catch 10 -25 fish most around the 20 inch mark. Some of the dead fish may be due to the low oxygen levels but in my opinion I think that alot of the fish seen floating are released fish. At any given time there are 10 - 40 striper boats from the **** to wolf creek. If they all catch 5 fish , after pulling them out of 30 -50 ft of water and release them into the 90 degree water we have ?????? Any one can do the math !!!!

[Duayne]

Exactly. USUALLY, those smaller fish can make it if you get them in quickly. But with these conditions, it just really isn't a good idea to fish for them at all. I just spoke to my sister and brother-in-law who are going down for the weekend. I told him to take the girls out and fish with the binocs and a landing net. He said, "that sounds kinda fun!" Exactly! Hey, its a chance to take a very bad situation and make something of it.