cumberland help

[nitro-7]

My replacement boat just arrived,havent even wet a line yet this year going to c-land this weekend.Any advice on bass locations,would be a great help since i havent even been out this year. thanks to all

[stuck1]

I am curious as to what others are doing too. I went 7/15, and couldn't connect with much. I threw everything that I normally do well with, plus anything and everything I could think of. I moved from place to place, with the same results. I picked up one smallmouth on a pea gravel main lake bank on a creature bait t rigged. I don't know if it was just a bad day or if I was just not in the right area doing the right thing. The water seemed low, and really warm. I did notice a lot of small baitfish almost everywhere I went. Last year I did really well on bluff walls and rocky points this time of year with light weight jigs, it just hasn't panned out this year. If you go, Id like to know how you did. Rarely do I go to Cumberland without catching something decent, but I have struggled more than usual this year.

[mhall]

This time of year on Cumberland is not good at all. Usually nights, very early mornings are best. Sometimes late evening you can hit a few. Topwater very early, drop spinnerbaits, jigs and plastics at night. If you must fish during the day after 9am, fish deep with jigs and plastics on points that have dramatic drops and shelves.

Good luck, I usually fish the big C heavy in Spring, Fall and Winter and let the Ohio Navy have it in summer....

[rwalker793]

Have not been down there this summer, but in summers past when the night bite toughened up, hair jigs on the lower end produced some quality smallies. Good luck!

[rwalker793]

With a small salty chunk*

[KR]

Couldn't tell how bad it was by the smile on stripernuts face this afternoon....lol

[Bass_King2007]

best advice i can give about Cumberland help is when you go down hwy 90 and you see the sign for dale hollow, go fish that lake because right now c-land ***** and i wouldnt advise anyone to waste time and EXPENSIVE gas on cland

[stripernut]

caught 34 bass before 9am this morning, 5 of the LMs were keepers, 2 were over 4 lb each. kept a limit of spots for the grill, 5 of those were over 15 , the 6th was 14.5. my best 5 went around 16lbs.
right now cumberland isnt so much a "pattern bite" as much as it is a specific location bite.

ive been catching fish on these spots since the lake was lowered, but not everyday. there are 3 things that these locations have; 1. a drop-off into a channel bend2.structure on the hump 3. bait. if the bait aint there the fish aint there.

i noticed someone above said they saw tons of shad, and then i read where they were throwing a "creature bait", match the hatch first, and if that doesnt work, then try something else.

there isnt anything wrong with cumberland, its the same or better than its ever been, but it aint easy, alot of time staring at the graph.

the magic number for bottom depth on 2 different underwater ridges seemed to be 20-21 feet, thats where most of the fish seemed to be holding.

best of luck, may your lines never be broken, and the jet-skis always be broken

[Duayne]

caught 34 bass before 9am this morning, 5 of the LMs were keepers, 2 were over 4 lb each. kept a limit of spots for the grill, 5 of those were over 15 , the 6th was 14.5. my best 5 went around 16lbs.
right now cumberland isnt so much a "pattern bite" as much as it is a specific location bite.

ive been catching fish on these spots since the lake was lowered, but not everyday. there are 3 things that these locations have; 1. a drop-off into a channel bend2.structure on the hump 3. bait. if the bait aint there the fish aint there.

i noticed someone above said they saw tons of shad, and then i read where they were throwing a "creature bait", match the hatch first, and if that doesnt work, then try something else.

there isnt anything wrong with cumberland, its the same or better than its ever been, but it aint easy, alot of time staring at the graph.

the magic number for bottom depth on 2 different underwater ridges seemed to be 20-21 feet, thats where most of the fish seemed to be holding.

best of luck, may your lines never be broken, and the jet-skis always be broken

I don't see the problem with Cumberland bass this time of year either. We were catching smallies right in with schools of stripers today. Fishing close to areas I usually have no problems with Smallies and Spots and saw smallies/spots working on their own. Fished with my dad and brother a few weeks back and had at least eight 2.5-4+ smallies. Prefished for a friends tourney last year in August and had what would be considered a bag in less than an hour, with a close to five pound kicker. Most on top and the rest were in areas where you'd expect craws and with craw type baits. But the huge issue most have is they either fish on top or off the bottom. If the top water conditions aren't right, you have to fish the layers because Cumberland smallmouth are very bait fish oriented. In those times, you have to fish baits that can fish ANY depth. Think about it.. We were fishing with bait 30-40 ft deep in 35-60 ft of water today catching doubles of stripers and smallies. Quality fish are there and quality fish are feeding. Give em what they want where they want it and you'll probably have a good day.

[stripernut]

I don't see the problem with Cumberland bass this time of year either. We were catching smallies right in with schools of stripers today. Fishing close to areas I usually have no problems with Smallies and Spots and saw smallies/spots working on their own. Fished with my dad and brother a few weeks back and had at least eight 2.5-4+ smallies. Prefished for a friends tourney last year in August and had what would be considered a bag in less than an hour, with a close to five pound kicker. Most on top and the rest were in areas where you'd expect craws and with craw type baits. But the huge issue most have is they either fish on top or off the bottom. If the top water conditions aren't right, you have to fish the layers because Cumberland smallmouth are very bait fish oriented. In those times, you have to fish baits that can fish ANY depth. Think about it.. We were fishing with bait 30-40 ft deep in 35-60 ft of water today catching doubles of stripers and smallies. Quality fish are there and quality fish are feeding. Give em what they want where they want it and you'll probably have a good day.

BINGO.....the fish im catching are suspended fish. Funny thing is they wont just go nuts on the first thing you drop down....but when you get the fiirst one to hit its on! Just like tje smallies youre catching in with the stripes, when there is competition they turn on. I cant drop a spoon on these fish brcause ican see the stripes mixed in with them and i kmow they will inhale the spoon, and since im not trolling i dont want to risk a striper fight blowing the school of bass out i drop something down that the stripes usually dont hit

[Duayne]

Yep, one way is to draw them out of the pack. A single smallie can be drawn up out of the pack where stripers will probably stay with the pack. In many cases, people are fishing off the wrong side of the boat. Usually, if my depth finder is reading less than 50 ft, I'm casting in too shallow. The key there is to be in 50 casting into 30. If conditions aren't right on top, switch to count down techniques and be systematic with it. Vertical is great and can work, but as Stripernut says, you'll probably turn the stripers on first. I'm not sure what patterns he is using and we may need to compare notes..


We also caught a very healthy 3+ pound large mouth a few weeks ago and I may need to focus on those guys soon. It's great to see some really healthy LM there again. It's not like the old days but it's much better than it has been for quite a long time.

I'm not saying you can't catch them on the bottom this time of year and you certainly can. Night time is a great time for them. I really don't know about the middle of the day when the Navy is running. I can't tell you about the last few hours before dark. I usually prefer a cocktail in my hand at that point. But for the first few hours of day until noon, they can be had at mid depths in almost any condition.

[mhall]

Duayne tha largeheads are making a very nice comeback at CLand. This Spring I caught a bunch and some real nice ones to. Had 7 in one morning with five being very nice, 19 and 20 incher's. All released to fight another day.

I should have been more specific with the original poster I guess, Bass can be caught on that lake year round including the Dog days of summer, but I just prefer to let the Navy have it during those months. Suspended fish can be tough to catch, but sometimes they turn, I've even seen jumps start in the heat of the day before when they really get keyed up. Looking forward to Fall fishing and nor FRYING like a piece of Mellwood bacon all day.....