Striper Report: Cumberland

[HURRICANEBOB]

Why do the big ones take longer to show up ? Are they loner fish or just moving into the creeks?

Jim,

IMO the big guys just have different metabolic rates, and so have a slightly different feeding pattern. The biggest Stripers I have caught have been tight to the bank, or in shallow water. Why, again, IMO, the big guys don't waste energy chasing 2 inch shad around. They want to move in and nab a 10 inch gizzard, or a big bluegill, or a big alewive. And where do we find such bait fish? Tight to structure. Again, JMO, but when I want to focus on size, I tend to go shallow and tight to banks that I suspect will hold "big bait things there".

Justin fishes more than me, what ya thing Justy-my-man?

[Mean Morone]

Hbob, I'm not Justin, but I have had some experience with what you are talking about. I've hooked three huge stripers on LC and didn't land one of them. All were hooked close to the bank in shallow water. The biggest one was probably the one I hooked at night on a Little Mac 12 or 14 yrs ago. I cast right next to the bank and started my retrieve. I made maybe 2 or 3 cranks and he was on. This huge head comes out of the water and thrashes back and forth(bright full moon). I had a lot of tension on this fish and when he got done destroying my hooks, the lure shot all the way from the bank, over my head and landed in the water behind me. The hooks were mangled and straightened out. That was a beast. I had another one destroy the hooks on a big redfin one spring. I threw a parallel cast down the bank when he busted the redfin. You know the hooks on those big redfins. No match for that beast.

[apb]

... You know the hooks on those big redfins. No match for that beast.

Switch out the hooks with VMC PS9626 4x hooks. Also trade out the split rings for heavy rings. Much better than the cheap hooks that typically come on red fins, slivers, bombers and other striper plugs.

Andrew

[Mean Morone]

The hooks on the big redfin were very stout. After that fish got off we looked at my hooks and they were bent up against the shank of the hook. My buddy tried to bend them back out with pliers but couldn't do it. They are some stout hooks. That's my point. There are fish that will just destroy your tackle. I've caught many stripers up to 24 lb and have never had any problems with them. But I do think the bigger stripers will be right on the bank at certain times of the year.

[JimDi]

When is the best time for nite time striper fishing? I hear people fish for them during May and now during December through February. I have mainly dragged shiners during the day in the fall through winter for them and it sounds like better success is at night. Please educate me....

[fishincreek]

Striper fishing is a lot like deer and turkey hunting. They will be where the food is and their lives pretty much revolve around that. Also like deer hunting ANY place can be the right place, but you have to be there at the right TIME. The problem with night fishing (which I truly enjoy), is that can be tough getting to where you "think" the fish might be. It is frustrating to have a game plan, fish that spot 3-4 hours without a hit, then try to run to a different spot in the dark. It is even worse with the cold of winter, along with nearly no one else on the lake during the winter months(safety reasons). As a starting point, see where the guides are starting and find an area like that and stick with it( backs of creeks, black shale, mud flats, channel banks, main lake points, etc) Water temps can factor in(esp in winter) for shad/bait location. It is kinda trial-and-error(like deer hunting), except you never know how close you were to scoring or how big the one was that got away. Also of note, with the **** dam issues the fish movement, patterns and bite has changed(IMHO), and like apb, I hope I live long enough to see it get back to "normal".

[apb]

If you like casting rather than pulling bait, night time is the time to go. December through May. Winter time it will be a subsurface bite. Bucktails, slivers, bombers, deep running cranks are your baits. Creeks and red clay banks are the locations. May is traditionally the topwater time. Wake a red fin or jointed thunder stick. Mouths of the creeks and main lake, bluff walls where you hear the alewifes spawning on the banks.

Andrew

[Fishin is life]

I landed one back in Indian about 3 weeks ago that was in the 25lb range and another that was 7-8lbs....We were minnow fishing for smallmouth but saw a lot of striper activity....Were about halfway back or so just before you get to the marina

[Mean Morone]

I don't fish at night because the fishing is thought to be better. It really isn't. I like it because of the adventure. I like the thought of fishing a Lake the size of LC and knowing you are the only knuckleheads out there. I've been on that lake when the temp was in the low teens and the wind was blowing. Got to love winter fishing at night! We might fish most of the night and only get one or two bites, but to us it's the adventure. Man I love it!

[HURRICANEBOB]

I don't fish at night because the fishing is thought to be better. It really isn't. I like it because of the adventure. I like the thought of fishing a Lake the size of LC and knowing you are the only knuckleheads out there. I've been on that lake when the temp was in the low teens and the wind was blowing. Got to love winter fishing at night! We might fish most of the night and only get one or two bites, but to us it's the adventure. Man I love it!

I hear ya. No problem finding parking near the ramp and the ramp has little or no traffic to compete with. I like it best with dead calm wind at night, and when you just start to get the sea steam going on. A little drifting low fog adds to the fun. Sunrises with a little fog on Cumberland can be an awesome sight. The capper to a night trip is how good hot coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast tastes after being out all night.

[Mean Morone]

Hbob brings up a good point on the fog. When you start seeing those wispy looking spirals of steam coming off the lake, you better start heading back unless you want to spend the entire night on the lake. My buddy and I were fishing the mouth of Greasy and started seeing these cool looking small tornadoes coming off the water. Instead of calling it a night and heading back in, we decided to go up in the creek. The fog rolled in so thick that we spent the next 4 or 5 hours trying to find our way out of there. Of course GPS would have helped. We didn't have it at the time. One other time we got fogged in the back of Caney and finally worked our way out to the main lake. My buddy was driving and made a right turn out of the mouth of Wolf and was headed for the lights of what he thought was Jamestown Marina. I look to the left and see the glow of lights. I yell at him and ask him where he is going and he tells me "to Jamestown Marina". I point to the left and ask him what all those lights are. Sure enough, If he had continued going straight he was headed for those cliff walls.

[HURRICANEBOB]

I learned it the hard way in May 97, fishing the banks at 10 pm. Saw the tornadoes, and the wife said we ought go in. I told here I wanted one more hour. In about 30 minutes, I couldn't see the bank anymore. So we started to idle out headed for what I thought was a run to Allegator 2 from the first turn in Wolfe. We spent the next 3 hours turning circles in the fog and finding banks between what is now Cave Springs, and the mouth of Wolfe. By accident, we found the dock at Pleasant Hill, at about 1:30 in the morning, and ended up tying up there, in the fog and 50 degree temperatures till about 7 am in the morning. The wife spent all night huddled up in a sleeping bag with a tarp tied around her to try to stay warm and dry. Man it took me years to live that down.