Cumberland Lake

[crappiemax]

I posted this on the Ky Forum and I thought I'd post it over here too. With Cumberland being about 3 1/2 hour drive from SW Ohio it could be a nice option for a few days of a get-a-way.

Well with 4 days of fishing & exploring a new lake we had a pretty good time. Even thought we had some unsettled weather and had to limit some of our fishing because of storms moving through we managed some nice fish. Getting to a new lake we had to spend more than the usual amount of time just looking around trying to get our bearings and just getting a feel for the place. We seemed to manage about a dozen or so nice crappies per day plus some bonus fish of gills bass & catfish. The last day was the best with 17 crappie and of those only 3 were under 12". My friend hooked something we never saw and we guessed it was either a catfish or a striper.

We were impressed by the size of the fish and this 15"+ white tipped the scales at 1.96#


My buddy caught this 14"+ black that tipped the scales at 1.8#


It seems the average size of the fish was around 13"-14" with very few really small fish



Mix in some nice gill which seemed to average 8"-9"


and a few green carp


and overall you have a pretty good time.
I think all the cover we fished seemed to mostly be Sycamore trees and they were surprisingly easy to fish. We used weedless jigs with brush guards made by Grousefly (on this site) and considering all the cover we only lost a few jigs. Most of the jigs lost were do to the line wrapping around stuff more than snagging it. Cover like this was everywhere.

[Tom 513]

Nice job on the big slabs, I love the color of the black, its good to finally see some of the cover that was created at Cumberland

[chaunc]

Looks like you guys had a pretty good time. May head to that lake next spring. It's a heck of a lot closer to me than Ky Lake.

[crappiemax]

Looks like you guys had a pretty good time. May head to that lake next spring. It's a heck of a lot closer to me than Ky Lake.

That's kind of why I posted it, I think C-land is a little different and somewhere new to try. Going through the Cincinnati it's probably 1 1/2 - 2 hours closer than Ky Lake. The size of the fish was as good as Ky Lake but the action was slower although the last few years at Ky Lake was tough for us. We were running in & out trying to avoid all the rain around us on this trip and who knows all those fronts may have slowed down the bite or may have picked the action up for all we know. One thing that I liked was the water color always looked good. WE felt good with our results since it was all knew to us and we spent probably 1/4 of the time just looking around.
There is a lodge and some cabins down there if you don't want to camp but as usual we just packed the tent. We lucked out and picked a good campsite that was easy to move the boat around. There are a bunch of camp sites that would not have been good for our set up, either the site wasn't level enough for a tent of there wasn't enough room for a boat/trailer plus the camping set up.


I may take a future trip down later this year and look around the lodge or cabin area. I'm curious to see how the parking situation is at the cabins and if there is room to accommodate boats at the cabin. There were several marinas around where you could get gas and fuel and I know one of the marinas had a cleaning station out on the dock. It was only big enough for maybe 2 guys to work at. Fuel was expensive at the marina @ $3.50 a gallon. Everything was either 90 or 93 obtain.

My next trip if we go somewhere different I may try is Green River Lake & maybe even a trip to Cave Run Lake too. I may drag momma along on one of these trip and I will need a cabin with her so I have to do a little looking.

[FSHNJON]

Nice ,My buddy is doing a weekend trip there in May .

[crappiemax]

Nice ,My buddy is doing a weekend trip there in May .

How about adding his results here when he gets back.

[mbk]

Thanks for posting this crappiemax.

I have been mulling the idea of a trip to Cumberland myself. I live in Florence, KY so I'm already closer than most from Greater Cincinnati. I was looking at a trip to Lee's Ford Marina as it seemed nice and pretty close to I-75.

Of course, it's already May and I have yet to plan it. Instead of spring, I may try for mid October. I think Lee's Ford is further up the lake than where you were at but I would think there crappie don't move all that far given that there's so much deep water across the lake. I liked the pictures of all the cover back in those coves. It definitely looks like good pan fish water.

[CrappiePappy]

Max .... if you plan on making a trip to Green River Lake, Holmes Bend Marina is worth a look. There's also a campground just up the road from there, but it's run by a different bunch. The COE runs the ramp & picnic pavilion & charges to launch ($5) or rent the pavilion ($50/1day) ... but the cabins are rented by the Marina folks. There's also a swimming beach at Homes Bend (& a few other marinas & campsites).

On the other end of the lake there's "floating cabins" at the state dock (by the dam) and there's a state park camping area on the Northern end of the lake.

Cave Run has mostly camping areas, but I do believe there are motel rooms to rent ... but, they're not "on the water".

A little on-line research will give you the prices & availability info on either of these lakes, and you can always post on the KY Forum for the latest reports & accommodations info.

[kycreek]

Looks like a good trip. Wondered how you guys did. I'd like to get down there myself someday.

[crappiemax]

[QUOTE=CrappiePappy;3211333]Max .... if you plan on making a trip to Green River Lake, Holmes Bend Marina is worth a look......

Cave Run has mostly camping areas, but I do believe there are motel rooms to rent ... but, they're not "on the water". QUOTE]

As time nears my 1st place to check for GRL will be on the Ky Forum, I always get good info from those guys. I'll also check out VRBO to see what rentals may be available.

I've been to Cave Run before and did the camping thing and that may be my best option. I can actually do CR in a 1 day drive but it makes for a long day.
Both of these are in the early planning stages.