Cumberland River blues

[nomad60]

Man, today was another rough one. The bass were not biting today, at least not for us and we threw everything but the kitchen sink. We didn't see any baitfish either, or any fish chasing baitfish early on at first light. We caught some, but only one legal keeper, the rest were all under 15 inches. I think the water temp being 85-87 degrees has a lot to do with it (and the air temp was no help either) and they are out deep, stacked on the ledges and fishing deep in the summer is another obstacle I need to overcome.
http://www.landinglunkers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_1579.jpg

I have a question, those bluff walls in the pic I linked above, have any of you ever caught fish along structure like that (in a river, that is)? If it was me, I'd park off those bluffs and throw a senko or jig against the rocks and let it sink, or throw a spinnerbait or rattle trap/crankbait parallel to the bluff but the guy I was fishing with said that he's never caught bass off of the bluff walls and neither has anyone else he knows either. I know in a lake, I'd be all over those but maybe it's different in a river with some current? I honestly have no idea. I've always fished lakes or water that's barely moving so this river fishing is still a big mystery to me.
We also passed by tons of downed trees and it was killing me not to throw a jig into them but; his boat, his rules :)

I hope that one of these days I get this river fishing down or it's going to drive me nuts. But then, if and when I get my own boat, I won't just be fishing for bass either.

[CreekWalker]

I hit the river for a few hours today myself. Fished just up from Shelby Bottoms. I only landed 6 bass and 5 were tiny spotted bass caught off of shoreline rock/rip-rap on tube jigs. I caught one decent largemouth that was tight to a downed tree. Those tiny spots were tapping my tube like crazy they just didn't want to commit. This was my first time fishing the river other than right below the dam and I only covered a mile or two so I had no idea what to expect.

[thehick176]

Fish the bluffs! I repeat, fish the bluffs! A light jig is good but a spinnerbait paralleled to the bluff is deadly. One trick to that is that you have to wake it back. Meaning, reel it fast enough so the blades wake the surface. You will catch mostly Spots and Smallies and they will destroy your spinnerbait so take quite a few when u go. It's best when the water is calm and the bluff is shaded.

[nomad60]

I hit the river for a few hours today myself. Fished just up from Shelby Bottoms. I only landed 6 bass and 5 were tiny spotted bass caught off of shoreline rock/rip-rap on tube jigs. I caught one decent largemouth that was tight to a downed tree. Those tiny spots were tapping my tube like crazy they just didn't want to commit. This was my first time fishing the river other than right below the dam and I only covered a mile or two so I had no idea what to expect.

This was my 4th time out on a boat; the first two times, we fished Lick Creek and Bumpus Mills with a little time spent fishing the main river under the bridge by Dover where I was able to catch a few white bass on a rattle trap. The last two times we fished only the main river and I'm having a hard time trying to figure it out. Yesterday morning, right after first light, we saw a few big fish coming up to the surface and splashing but have no idea what they were. Every time I saw one near the boat, I threw a crankbait or rattle trap but no takers.

[nomad60]

Fish the bluffs! I repeat, fish the bluffs! A light jig is good but a spinnerbait paralleled to the bluff is deadly. One trick to that is that you have to wake it back. Meaning, reel it fast enough so the blades wake the surface. You will catch mostly Spots and Smallies and they will destroy your spinnerbait so take quite a few when u go. It's best when the water is calm and the bluff is shaded.

Thanks, I'll have to try that! If you don't mind me asking, what color spinnerbait works best out there on the river? Back in Korea, I used to have good luck with this color/blade combination so I still have a few of those in 3/8 and 1/2 oz.:

http://www.landinglunkers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/1.jpg
I do have other colors as well, like chartreuse, bluegill etc...

[Travis C.]

Fish the bluffs! I repeat, fish the bluffs! A light jig is good but a spinnerbait paralleled to the bluff is deadly. One trick to that is that you have to wake it back. Meaning, reel it fast enough so the blades wake the surface. You will catch mostly Spots and Smallies and they will destroy your spinnerbait so take quite a few when u go. It's best when the water is calm and the bluff is shaded.

That's fun stuff right there. :D

Be sure to fish transition zones too. You can tell where they are from whats going on above the water. Example would be the bank is mud then turns into rock, bluff to chunk rock and chunk rock to pea gravel so on so forth. Places like that hold fish in any type of water.

My favorite is a 1/4-3/4oz depending on current chartruse spinnerbait with a big blades or blade and a chartruse or white trailer. I like to slow roll mine. Reel it just fast enough to feel the blades thump then every 6-8 cranks let it fall back to the bottom and start cranking again.

[thehick176]

That exact lure but in chartruese/white with gold/silver blades works best for me. Get it as close to the bluff as possible and hold on tight!

[nomad60]

Good stuff, thanks a lot guys. It's going to take me a while to learn how to fish rivers and advice like this is most excellent.

I just went down and dug through my stuff, I do believe these should do...

http://www.landinglunkers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_1618.jpg

[Travis C.]

These are my favorite crankbaits for the river:


Bomber Model A in dark brown crawfish
http://pesca-companhia.com/2493-13693-home/bomber-model-a-b06a-rcr-red-crawfish-.jpg
Storm Wiggle Wart in Green Crayfish
http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/new_thumbs/SWWDD-NGC-thumb.jpg

Rebel Deep Wee-R in Brown Crawfish:
http://www.landbigfish.com/images/store/showcaseimagethumbs/D9335.jpg



The Rebel is my all time favorite and it plain sucks they discontinued the line. It had a deep Tiny Wee R in the line and I still have some in the package from 1995. That one was a killer at 1 3/4" long dives to 10-12ft and a tight wiggle. I lost a many to big hawg smallies in the river.

[nomad60]

Maybe I've been using the wrong colors out there. Looks like you favor browns and greens; I've been throwing crankbaits and rattle traps in a sexy shad color.

[Travis C.]

Maybe I've been using the wrong colors out there. Looks like you favor browns and greens; I've been throwing crankbaits and rattle traps in a sexy shad color.

I am sure they eat shad in the river as well. But, I believe given the choice a bass (esp smallie) anywhere would eat a crayfish over shad 9/10 times. There are tons of crayfish in the river too so I prefer to imitate them.

Crank them down until you feel bottom then slow it down to a crawl while still hitting bottom. Pause every 3 or so turns to let it rise off the bottom a bit then crank it back down to give a fleeing motion. Crayfish don't scurry backwards long distances at a time. IF you are not feeling bottom your wasting your time with that crankbait and either go to a deeper running bait or move closer to the bank.

Another really good bait these days and place to fish it is this on a shakey head around the bridge supports. Make sure you fish against it the support.

Berkley Chiggercraw in green pumpkin or cinnamon. Try to fish which ever one of the two is closer to the color of the river that day.

http://www.hookandbullet.com/img/gear/cabelas/IK-122233.jpg

http://www.greentophuntfish.com/prodimg/BERMPCHC3CPF.jpg

3" is the size I use but the bigger one will work too. Fish this on the bluffs as well. The reason I use shaky instead of T-Rig is the loose sinker hangs up a lot and the shaky will stand it up more that the other.

[Travis C.]

Of course there are over a 100 ways to catch a fish Nomad.

Those are just the ways I have always fished the river.

[bd-]

Yesterday morning, right after first light, we saw a few big fish coming up to the surface and splashing but have no idea what they were. Every time I saw one near the boat, I threw a crankbait or rattle trap but no takers.

Probably buffalo. They will splash the surface some first thing in the morning. They won't bite a lure.

bd

[CreekWalker]

I went out again last night not far up from Opryland - did not catch as many dink spotted bass but did manage to catch a keeper smallmouth. The bites were fewer and farther between than they were over the weekend. Caught a couple tiny smallmouth messing around with a chatterbait else I was sticking to soft plastics.

[Buccaneer]

Travis & Creekwalker - Maybe a stupid question but what is your boat position fishing tight to the bluff walls down there? Are you pointed into the current running the baits with the current?

[Travis C.]

Are you pointed into the current running the baits with the current?

I do because when there is current they will be expecting things to come downstream towards them. It is easier to control your pace that way since I like to fish things slow in the river.

Fishing tight against the walls is productive but don't get caught up on only fishing right next to it and moving on. There are usually shelfs that stick out so if you are fishing tight and that's it then you are only presenting a bait to fish on that shelf or ledge.

I will fish several passes on good stretches of a wall moving outward each pass until it falls off in the channel.

[90titans89]

This was my 4th time out on a boat; the first two times, we fished Lick Creek and Bumpus Mills with a little time spent fishing the main river under the bridge by Dover where I was able to catch a few white bass on a rattle trap. The last two times we fished only the main river and I'm having a hard time trying to figure it out. Yesterday morning, right after first light, we saw a few big fish coming up to the surface and splashing but have no idea what they were. Every time I saw one near the boat, I threw a crankbait or rattle trap but no takers.

I have seen hundreds of asian carp in that area this year. :(

[CreekWalker]

Travis & Creekwalker - Maybe a stupid question but what is your boat position fishing tight to the bluff walls down there? Are you pointed into the current running the baits with the current?

However you can make the bait fall downstream. My gear is such that I am stuck to drifting downstream - how far upstream I cast depends on how fast I'm moving and how heavy my bait is.

[nomad60]

I went out again last night not far up from Opryland - did not catch as many dink spotted bass but did manage to catch a keeper smallmouth. The bites were fewer and farther between than they were over the weekend. Caught a couple tiny smallmouth messing around with a chatterbait else I was sticking to soft plastics.
Nice smallie! I haven't caught one of those yet in any size :(

[nomad60]

Yeah for all I know, they may have been carp rising up; do they make the same type splash like a predator hitting something on the surface?

BTW, lots of great advice and info in this thread so far and I can't wait to get back out and try some different approaches and lures :)

[TNtransplant08]

I've had some success fishing a 3" pearl slider worm along the cliff face. Vary the weight of the jighead depending on the current and rate of fall the fish want it. I'd cast it upcurrent along the cliff face and jig it back towards me. If the water is murky,the John deer color works well for me.

[butts0907]

Guys,

I've been following this thread closely and have picked up some good info...as always, thanks for that! Ironically, a buddy called last night and asked if I wanted to fish the river this weekend. I've never fished the river and don't know much about it. We're putting in at Peeler Park off of Neely's Bend. Will this area also have the bluff walls and stuff that have been talked about in this thread? If not, should I just fish as if I'm in a lake until I find them?

Not sure of anything other than when we're heading out and where we're putting in, so any info/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
-Paul

[Travis C.]

There is one just down stream from that ramp.

Don't think if you're not fishing bluffs you won't catch fish and I wouldn't fish it like a lake because its a different animal.

Fish will hold in substrate changes, current breaks, outside bends of the river channel, around bridges, mooring towers, boat docks and timber in addition to bluffs.

More current you have more fish you will catch...usually.

[nomad60]

I wouldn't fish it like a lake because its a different animal.

And I've been finding this out the hard way but I will learn, sooner or later. ;)

I'm used to fishing still water, where I can throw/pitch a Senko or jig to a spot and fish it nice and slow but it seems that in the river, you don't have that luxury due to the current. Plus the fish don't seem to relate to structure like they do in still water...and when you say "More current you have more fish you will catch...usually", that really throws me all off kilter LOL

[thehick176]

I am enjoying watching Travis hit every point about the river, as I agree with everything he has said. Its a wonder we haven't crossed paths at one time or another down there.
Dont go to the river remembering what happened yesterday. Every day is a whole new ballgame on that river. You could put in at the dam, fish most the day, and never start your big motor. And usually have a few big fish pics to show for it.

[nomad60]

I am enjoying watching Travis hit every point about the river, as I agree with everything he has said. Its a wonder we haven't crossed paths at one time or another down there.
Dont go to the river remembering what happened yesterday. Every day is a whole new ballgame on that river. You could put in at the dam, fish most the day, and never start your big motor. And usually have a few big fish pics to show for it.

Oh trust me, I'm enjoying it as well and am taking notes!

Travis (and everyone else), your inputs sure are appreciated.

[butts0907]

So I went out yesterday for my first river experience...and didn't catch anything. One SMALL smallie, one SMALL spot, & one SMALL stripe. However, we fished in the morning and they didn't start generating until 1:00. Wished we would have waited until the afternoon, but thought the storms would get us...turns out, they got us anyway and were gone by 1:00...thanks Channel 4! Nonetheless, I freakin' loved fishing the river. With the exception of the barge (which also made me feel a little uneasy passing by that close!!), we only saw a couple of other boats...none of which were wake boats, ski boats, jet skis, etc... I will definitely be heading out again as soon as I can.

A couple of questions for anyone interested. First, how low is the river, compared to "normal" conditions? Secondly, someone told me to "fish the humps". I would have loved to, but really have no idea what they are. Are they just piles of rock along the river? Because the river was low, we were able to make plenty of mental notes of structure and such that would, I think, normally be under water. Some of these could be interpreted as "humps" since they were simply piles of rocks. Would I be correct in assuming so?

Again, I appreciate all the advice already given and hope to be able to post some pics of some smallies in the near future.

Thanks!
-Paul

[Travis C.]

Its a wonder we haven't crossed paths at one time or another down there.

Dont go to the river remembering what happened yesterday. Every day is a whole new ballgame on that river.

We probably have at some point. I used to fish it in my 16ft big jon and only used the Sprint for lakes. Now its the red/silver Sprint when I am there.

You hit the nail on the head with that second statement. I have had some great days on the river and some days where I loaded the boat sweaty cussing up a storm swearing never to retun.

[Andy M]

The bite has been slower than normal but still catching double digits.
caught one 19+" smallmouth sunday night and monday night. Pics are posted in my cumberland album, also caught the flathead (around 25lbs) monday night while bass fishing.