Lake Cumberland Stripers

[Les Young]

Justins telling you right for sure. I love the late winter/early spring bite. Especially at night. When they're on there isn't anything else like it for sure.

[Stuart Unruh]

Wow! Thanks alot for all the info!!! That sure will help me out! Maybe one more question though. If the fish aren't hitting the top and I'm trolling for them is shad the right bait right now or should I be using something else?? Is it legal to use umbrella rigs or not? Thanks again for all yalls help!

[JUSTINHALL]

Yes you can use umbrella rigs any time and as many as you want both rigs and hooks there is not regulation on that in Cumberland. Umbrella rigs can be very productive but tend to catch smaller fish but still of legal size if you want to fill the freezer with meat put out the umbrell rigs there is times they are amazing other times not. Some people really like trolling with umbrella rigs and others find it boring even when catching fish. During the winter I use the umbrella rigs for something to do while waiting for them to surface. I prefer surface and casting so I rarely get bait during winter so if they are not surfacing I will troll the umbrellas to kill time till they surface.
I recomend having two or 3 people though if going to run the rigs. At 35.00 each you dont want to loose them. They are also more productive when trolling over humps just at points etc. If you troll them over humps that are about 20' deep and there is fish there you will get hit most of the times but and can get expensive. Most troll out in open water which you get hit but not near as much when getting it to them on the humps. This can however get costly I have lost too many I care to admit doing this but it is very effective if you are willing to risk loosing one or both.

[Stuart Unruh]

Went out Friday morning on fishing creek but didnt have any luck. Managed to get quite a few shad the eve before but cudnt get a bite the next morning. The water was pretty muddy from the first bend on down to the rock buoy but we tried that spot anyhow. About the only place the water was fairly decent was just past the no wake zone on down to the first bend. there was also a lot of baitfish in that area too with birds on the water. We trolled that area pretty hard for a while since we had also seen some nice sized fish on the finder there the eve before but still without any luck. I would like to go back and try it again sometime when the water is a little clearer because I believe the fish are there with all those baitfish we seen. In the meantime maybe I'le go try Beaver Creak....

[Duayne]

I found them pretty easily on the outside edge of a flat Sunday morning (note it was a blue bird day. Found one large school and a few smaller schools working within a 300 yard area. Was short on bait so I only fished for 30 minutes or so. Funny, was moving fast to get away from them to pull my lines in and two more hit before I could clear the lines. Fished a different area Monday as I knew a guide friend would be fishing the same flats area and there was no need to fish on top of each other. Found another decent school and some smaller ones in a smaller creek but had a hard time getting solid hits early with lots of bumps and pull downs. Then I had three on at once, two got off before I could get to them and the other got off at the boat. Meanwhile, one found a way to sling a planer board off (one of those days!!). I did have one in the boat before finally going over a school that was ready to eat and got four (two keepers) out of it before I could get away from them. 30-40 line out on .5 oz boards the first day (a bump on a 1 oz 50 ft out board) and 1 oz 50 ft out boards and down lines at 40-45 the second day. Fished 45-60 ft of water. I believe they got more active later in the morning than early. I didn't start fishing Sunday until 8:30 or 9:00

[Bonefish]

Thanks, Duayne, for a great report.

[NKYHusker]

My folks live on Fishing Creek and I'm headed down tonight for a visit. Typically I don't striper fish this early in the year but I've really got the itch to get on the water. Later in the spring I catch my bait around the Lee's Ford docks before heading out but wanted to check to see if this is the best place to catch shad this time of year. Any opinions or suggestions are welcome.