lake cumberland dead fish floating everywhere

[mhall]

Yea Peter I typed that thousands with tongue and cheek but from what I'm heraing from people that live down there and fish the lake often I think it's valid. The Corp collected and removed upwards to a thousand fish by now is what many are saying, I think Duayne said over 600, I heard more than that. Now lets just say it's 500 and that was reported on the lower third of the lake. We all know stripers now are using a large portion of the lake. So what about from Jamestown on up and all the creeks??

Again fellas I want the best, it's my number one lake, the one where I own property and hope to retire someday and grow old on. But from all indications of what we are hearing if half of it is true I'm afraid we are talking a thousand plus and not hundreds, I hope I'm wrong.

BTW, Peter some decent thoughts there, you may be on to something with that school of fish theory. Especially since alot of those young year class, ''Schoolies'', will really bunch together anyway.

[Duayne]

Mark,
600 was just Saturday morning in one area.

[stripernut]

there are certainly a bunch of dead stripers, just came off the lake a few minutes ago, 6th morning in a row, it looks like the numbers of floaters dwindles each day. keep in mind though there are literally hundreds (and i mean HUNDREDS ) being pulled through the sluice gates and floating down the river. in order to do this these fish werent floating, they were deep enough to get pulled through the sluice intake....i dont think we are seeing all the dead fish. striper fishing may not be over for good, but this sure as heck aint helping. i vividly remember the fish kill last year, alot of walleye, but in no way were the number of striper fatalities even close to the number this year. this isnt something somebody told me or something i heard, i personally witnessed it last year as well as this year.

[Duayne]

And from another first hand account, these aren't small fish. My sister said the size of some of these fish would make you sick.

I have the utmost respect for the guides on Cumberland and I hope some of their optimistic views on this stands. But I also consider it's their livelihood and they NEED for this to have an optimistic outcome. It's probably not as bad as some think and probably not as good as others think. I'll wait for the dust to settle and get the official take on this before I consider how, if and when I'll fish Cumberland.

[Duayne]

Also, thanks for the first hand report on it. I've been looking to see some day to day accounts and there aren't many. I'm also glad to hear the numbers are dropping. Has their been any rain of late?

[stripernut]

duayne the roads were a little damp this morning but i wouldnt hardly call it rain, light drizzle for a few minutes. and your sis wasnt kidding about the size either, we measured 4 fish the first 2 days that were very close to being as long as the net and the net is 52 inches, great big heads, hard to tell about the girth with all the bloating, but trophy fish nonetheless. fingers crossed this works out...

[mhall]

duayne the roads were a little damp this morning but i wouldnt hardly call it rain, light drizzle for a few minutes. and your sis wasnt kidding about the size either, we measured 4 fish the first 2 days that were very close to being as long as the net and the net is 52 inches, great big heads, hard to tell about the girth with all the bloating, but trophy fish nonetheless. fingers crossed this works out...

WOW, 50 plus inch fish, I'm going to be sick now..............

[MagikSmallie]

Once the fall turnover hits they should be okay, depending on how many survive. of course when they cease the stocking those fish won't last long after next summer....

[GeoFisher]

This is very Sad ! But I do not agree with them suspending the stocking until the Dam is done. Simply because this is due to the amount of rainfall that we have had this year. HOW DO THEY KNOW WHAT THE WEATHER WILL DO THE NEXT FEW YEARS ????? AND ALSO, When they seen this starting to happen. WHY did they not stop the draw down of the lake for a few days ???? It is not like it has been at an alarming level. Like it was back in the spring @ over 700'

The problem is that there is SO MUCH less water there that when they do have to drawdown after a flood, the water left has very little O2 because it is WARMER water. That is also why the fish are stressed below the dam. If they could bring it up to "normal" levels, like before the dam was damaged, you'd be able to dump water all summer long and not affect anything.

The problem is a problem of HOT summer, low water due to a broken dam, and really SEVERE spring flooding. Eliminate any one of the 3 and the problem goes away. The only thing we CAN control is the fixing of the dam..........and I'm not even sure we can control that.

Continued stocking, in my mind is a waste of money. At least until they get the dam fixed.

Later,

Geo

[missionFISHIN]

yesterday went from dam to just above beaver and saw about 30 stripers and 30 plus walleye, 4 walleye came up near us in about 1 hours time. didn't see any bass..etc.

[Les Young]

I absolutley agree with the flood being the problem for Bass during the spawn. The last 2 years I have been on Cumberland & saw Spots in full blown spawn. It then floods & guess what ??? When you go back to these same places to look where the Spots were spawning there isn't any water there. I absolutley think the spring floods have way more to do with the lost spawns than most realize & I absolutley do not think Stripers have done anything other that help Cumberland. Remember when Fish & Wildlife went to a 15" size limit to help the overall Bass population out. I can also remember many meat fisherman back in those days that kept every 12" fish they caught. I know Cumberland is in bad shape, but absolutley don't think for a second it's because of Striper. Period.