Fish Kill on Lake Cumberland

[peter]

The sluice gates have been opened at the dam. Releasing cold water from deep in the lake into the river.

Photo here

[RICHYD4U]

Just got back from CL, and I did see an occasional "floater"...nothing to write home about though. The fish I caught were full of energy and released the same way....of course, they weren't the biggins dragged up from 60ft down.

-Rich

[peter]

Just got back from CL, and I did see an occasional "floater"...nothing to write home about though. The fish I caught were full of energy and released the same way....of course, they weren't the biggins dragged up from 60ft down.

-Rich

Fished sat and sun. Mostly at 65 feet (sinker) a short ways up from the dam. Three keepers sat. Three shorts sun with shiners sun. There may be big school(s) but only saw small groups of 3-6 fish that were fairly spread out and verry active. May have done better if we had had lines in the water more rather than riding around looking for the "pot of gold". Fish fought and looked healthy. My guess is that any floaters were released fish as everyone I caught (live bait) was hooked way down in the gut. Those little ones sure do make a mess of the other down lines. Great weather!

[RICHYD4U]

Fished sat and sun. Mostly at 65 feet (sinker) a short ways up from the dam. Three keepers sat. Three shorts sun with shiners sun. There may be big school(s) but only saw small groups of 3-6 fish that were fairly spread out and verry active. May have done better if we had had lines in the water more rather than riding around looking for the "pot of gold". Fish fought and looked healthy. My guess is that any floaters were released fish as everyone I caught (live bait) was hooked way down in the gut. Those little ones sure do make a mess of the other down lines. Great weather!

Yeah...I was marking a lot of fish in the 60-70ft range there by the dam. Figured that is where the big guys are hanging out still....but man, those schoolies are fun to catch on light tackle! I will be up there this Thurs. am...taking a buddy from L-Ville who couldn't resist going once I told him how I did, lol. Thanks again Peter.

-Rich

[apb]

Yeah...I was marking a lot of fish in the 60-70ft range there by the dam. Figured that is where the big guys are hanging out still....but man, those schoolies are fun to catch on light tackle! I will be up there this Thurs. am...taking a buddy from L-Ville who couldn't resist going once I told him how I did, lol. Thanks again Peter.

-Rich

Not to start something, but a lot of those schoolies that you are catching on light tackle, this time of year, end up dying after you release them.

Andrew

[mhall]

Not to start something, but a lot of those schoolies that you are catching on light tackle, this time of year, end up dying after you release them.

Andrew

Yep......................I avoided them three times at the mouth of Beaver Tuesday afternoon for this very reason. I tried one jump and let it fall to get away from the dinks and one grabbed it anyway. When the second one did it, I just left them alone and went back to bass fishing.

[RICHYD4U]

Not to start something, but a lot of those schoolies that you are catching on light tackle, this time of year, end up dying after you release them.

Andrew

Figure the survival rate on the smaller fish is pretty darn good, especially when they are caught on the surface and released in under a minute. I would understand bigger fish being brought up from below dying...not the schoolies on top.

Guess that is why us sportsman pay to have them stocked....to fish for them.

-Rich

[Duayne]

Figure the survival rate on the smaller fish is pretty darn good, especially when they are caught on the surface and released in under a minute. I would understand bigger fish being brought up from below dying...not the schoolies on top.

Guess that is why us sportsman pay to have them stocked....to fish for them.

-Rich

Water quality ***** pretty bad right now. I'm with Andrew on this at this time. Normally it wouldn't be a bad thing to remove a few of the small ones. But with the larger classes taking major hits the last few years, every small one matters for the future. I wish to heck they used the smaller size limit when the water quality six as it does right now, instead of waiting for a major die off.

[RICHYD4U]

Not sure why you say the water quality is terrible right now...water temps in the low 80s isnt what i would call terrible...especially for the end of summer?

-Rich

Water quality ***** pretty bad right now. I'm with Andrew on this at this time. Normally it wouldn't be a bad thing to remove a few of the small ones. But with the larger classes taking major hits the last few years, every small one matters for the future. I wish to heck they used the smaller size limit when the water quality six as it does right now, instead of waiting for a major die off.

[HURRICANEBOB]

My guess is that any floaters were released fish as everyone I caught (live bait) was hooked way down in the gut. Those little ones sure do make a mess of the other down lines.

I noticed something when I was down last week, First one we caught on a downpole just barely legal was gut hooked, and I had on a small Gamakatsu hook and a shiner. a #2. Since I had to cut that line and keep the fish, I tied on a bigger #4 Octupus. Next couple we caught were hooked thru the top of the front lip or thru the sides of the mouth.

I know big hooks make the bait weird, and scares some fish off, but just thought the bigger hook was part of why the next couple avoided gut hooking.

Course, might just have been the first guy was really hungry, and the last two were just mouthing the biat when they got hooked up.

[stripernut]

not to take sides or anything because i truly do believe "to each his own" ......BUT (there it is lol) i wouldnt drive to kentucky lake to catch 8 inch largemouths, if thats what was hitting i would drastically change my approach.
same thing with the schoolies on c-land, we know theyre NOT keepers and there is a chance they will not survive (and a chance they will). ok, ok theyre fun to catch.....so catch a couple, get it out of your system and move on. not a hundred today and a hundred tommorrow ans so on and so on, then the potential for mortality is through the roof, we're not talking catch/ mortality ratios here, we're talking bottom line. if you catch 5 shorties and quit if the % of mortality is 20% then one fish dies.....if you catch 50 ....well 10 future 18 pounders just died. do you drive up the ramp with a sigh of relief and high five saying we only killed 20% of what we caught today WOOOHOO!
and by golly im not saying anyone is wrong for partaking in whats perfectly legal and within the rights allowed by your purchased fishing license.....

but we are "allowed" to do alot of things......some of those things arent good for us in the long run either.

just my opinion, and mine after all is more important than yours !lol

[RICHYD4U]

Ive read a million posts over the years debating this issue among you striper fisherman...which am not by any means. I generally fish CL once a year for stripers....always in the early winter, so we generally only catch keepers and call it quits. This is the first time ive fished CL this early, and I find it entertaining that guys are having issues with my dozen fish that didnt keep, and were immediately released...haha. Hope the population can survive such a large loss...

20" stripers fight a little different than 8" lms....haha. I can go catch 8" lms at NRL all day.....but I would much prefer a 20" striper!

-Rich

not to take sides or anything because i truly do believe "to each his own" ......BUT (there it is lol) i wouldnt drive to kentucky lake to catch 8 inch largemouths, if thats what was hitting i would drastically change my approach.
same thing with the schoolies on c-land, we know theyre NOT keepers and there is a chance they will not survive (and a chance they will). ok, ok theyre fun to catch.....so catch a couple, get it out of your system and move on. not a hundred today and a hundred tommorrow ans so on and so on, then the potential for mortality is through the roof, we're not talking catch/ mortality ratios here, we're talking bottom line. if you catch 5 shorties and quit if the % of mortality is 20% then one fish dies.....if you catch 50 ....well 10 future 18 pounders just died. do you drive up the ramp with a sigh of relief and high five saying we only killed 20% of what we caught today WOOOHOO!
and by golly im not saying anyone is wrong for partaking in whats perfectly legal and within the rights allowed by your purchased fishing license.....

but we are "allowed" to do alot of things......some of those things arent good for us in the long run either.

just my opinion, and mine after all is more important than yours !lol