Cumberlad report

[peter]

Lake Cumberland report. Water temp was 43 degrees at mouth of greasy and 45° towards the back later in the day. Bait was dimpling the surface and easily catchable with a cast net between first lite and sunrise. Some nice big fat threadfinss and some medium-sized alewives. I was using a half inch mesh net and did pull in some small one and a half to 2 inch threadfins. My guess is that had I been using a smaller mesh net it would have been loaded with the smaller bait. The stripers seemed to be scattered and about 30 to 45 feet deep with some coming to the surface in the early hour when the bait was on the surface.

The bait was loosing a lot of scales and quite a few quickly died in the 45 degree lake water in the bait tank.

Anybody have any ideas in bait loosing scales and dying? Does the cold water require different care?

Below if you look closely you can see the bait on the surface. The photo was looking downstream toward the pump station that is on the located on the bank.