Did anyone fish Lake Cumberland this weekend?

[Duayne]

Saturday windy, rainy. Most folks I saw were bottom fishing. I did so for 30 minutes and decided to troll in a small area out of the wind. Nothing. Same thing as another commented here... did not mark much. Sunday more debris but the lake was definitely navigable in day light - one 16 incher on a shinner. Did not mark much then either. By noon some of the debris had cleared due to the wind and wakes. Water had a brown tint. As I remember from last year many folks bottom fish this time of the year.

I did hit a six inch log going about 25 mph as I was taking in the scenery..broke it in half. Immediately checked for leaks and scaned for a place to beach the boat. I guess the new old aluminum boat is pretty sturdy, no dents..relief!

My problem with bottom fishing is when I pull up my bait half of them are gone. When you throw them out there that's a good blow to the bait. How do you keep them on the hook. Been hooking them between the dorsal and tail. It seems like a great way to fish when it's windy.

I don't bottom fish with shiners myself. They tend to want to dig into some cover on the bottom instead of swim up like the shads do. If I were, it would be in the tail. A better way to, "bottom fish" shiners, or even lake bait if you don't have much, is to go with a three way rig with a one oz sinker on the bottom of a i ft leader and a slightly shorter leader off the back for the bait. You fish it in the same places as you bottom fish, only you SLOW troll, and I mean SLOW always keeping the baits on the bottom. Of course it's hard to do in the wind. Oh, you only put two of the out off the back of the boat. It's a fantastic way to fish shiners. They struggle to get to the bottom and can't, so they are very very active (for shiners).

If you are slinging them off, you might be casting too hard. Saying it's casting is a stretch anyway. It's really more of a lob. I do all my lobbing with the rod and bait out of the side of the boat and I start out really low. I start very slow with the upward movement and never make any fast or quick pulls on the bait. If you can't get the distance you want, go up in weight. The reels make a difference too. I've got some old old cheap 29 dollar Shakespear reels and those things are the absolute best at casting a one oz bottom fishing rig.

Shiners are escape artists. You can do everything right and they can still get off. If you wanna make sure they stay on, take a wide rubber band and cut it into equal 3/8 " squares. You can make a bunch of them at one time or cut as needed. If that doesn't make sense, take a rubber band, then cut it. take and end and cut 3/8" off. the result will be a square piece of rubber band. You can do this over and over for the full length of the band. Now, take a RB square and push the center on your hook. Put your bait on, then put another RB square on the hook so that the bait has a rubber band square on both sides. Now the bait can't slide around the hook and foul hook it's self and it will have a hard time getting off. Some people also use material similar to coffee can lids. Advantage with the coffee can lid being it's clear, but the rubber band seals around the hook better to prevent slipping.

[peter]

Thanks Duane. I'll give the three way and rubber bands a try.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Something else that works for me. You find an are where the wind is running parallel to the bank and where you are marking fish close to bottom. I ease up wind, and carefully drop and set and anchor. I mean lower the anchor under control. Get a good hook set by paying out 2-3 times more line than water depth. About 10 foot from the boat, I tie on a boat bumper, then bring the line to the bow cleat. This helps reduce the amount of slack in the bow line if the wind drops some. Next, I hook shiners thru the back, then lower them to the bottom then up just 1 or 2 cranks. I'm looking to keep the sinker just up high enough, so that when the shiner struggles to pull the leader toward the bottom, he comes up a foot or 2 short. I set a rod out at all 4 corners of the boat. Then crack a beer, turn the jams on real low, and kick back and relax. With good sized 5-6 inch shiners, its cool to watch then pull for the bottom, get tired, then try it again. Works even better with suckers. With the wave action you tend to get a good jigging action too.

Its a technique I used in the Cheaspeake Bay all he time when fishing the change in tides. Saves fighting the wind, and declogging lines and planer boards.

Last clip, with all down rods out, I usally set 1 to 2 ballons our, one with no weight, and one with abut 1/2 ounce. I let the wind carry these rigs way back from the boat, Way back, to get then away from boat noise. And when the winds get to be from variable compass points, they can really cover some water.

[peter]

Makes sense. Kind of like down lining in one spot. You think shinners always swim down, like if you are in 60 feet of water and your down line sinker is at 30 feet and you have a five foot leader then the shinner will be at 35'...or is this just when the shinners are in proximity to the bottom?

...sort of a "why is the sky blue" question

[FlyLie]

Makes sense. Kind of like down lining in one spot. You think shinners always swim down, like if you are in 60 feet of water and your down line sinker is at 30 feet and you have a five foot leader then the shinner will be at 35'...or is this just when the shinners are in proximity to the bottom?

...sort of a "why is the sky blue" question

It's my understanding that SHAD swim DOWN when hooked in/near the head and UP when hooked behind the dorsal fin. Do shiners behave the same?

[mhall]

It's my understanding that SHAD swim DOWN when hooked in/near the head and UP when hooked behind the dorsal fin. Do shiners behave the same?

Shad almost always try to swim towards the surface/up......

[peter]

Answering my own question now that I remember. It's been to long. On the graph when downlining and moving slow shinners seem to be mostly below the sinker. If the leader is 5 foot they may be two and a half feet below the sinker. Also watched them beside the boat. Guess the movement pulls them up. The will move up and down some though.

[russcrawfish]

Check out the Cumberland BFL results for last saturday - Top Boater 19# 3oz, Top non-Boater 19# 10oz, next Boater 18# and change, 3rd Boater 17# and change. They're flat catchin' some fish out of Cumberland right now regardless. . .of course this didn't work so well for me, I was there Sunday and Monday. Sunday I was up in wolf and caney creeks and caught a few short fish with the water hitting 62degrees. Monday, I was in pumpkin pretty much all day and had a decent catchin' day several spots, several smalleys (one keeper on with a long distance release), some largemouth (one about 16"), two stripers (one 21" and another 22"), and a 20 1/4" walleye all on a jerkbait and that water didn't get above 57 degrees all day.

[mhall]

Good report russ, man it's up and down for sure. If you are there on the right day---great, if it's the next day you may get spanked. With this weather the lake aught to calm down around mig August sometime, lol.

[Castin_A_Jig]

Check out the Cumberland BFL results for last saturday - Top Boater 19# 3oz, Top non-Boater 19# 10oz, next Boater 18# and change, 3rd Boater 17# and change. They're flat catchin' some fish out of Cumberland right now regardless. . .of course this didn't work so well for me, I was there Sunday and Monday. Sunday I was up in wolf and caney creeks and caught a few short fish with the water hitting 62degrees. Monday, I was in pumpkin pretty much all day and had a decent catchin' day several spots, several smalleys (one keeper on with a long distance release), some largemouth (one about 16"), two stripers (one 21" and another 22"), and a 20 1/4" walleye all on a jerkbait and that water didn't get above 57 degrees all day.

Yes russ those few guys did catch a few . but look at the rest of the field . Look at how many boaters blanked. And look at what it took to get a check on the boater and no-boater side. The fishing is overall tough.