Got on the water right before first light and the river was like glass, with very little current...and it stayed that way almost the whole time I was fishing. What a beautiful day to be out on the water! I'll tell ya, a man sure can get used to being home like this and I don't understand guys I know who say they will never retire because they need something to do...when I do retire for good, my butt will be out on the water every chance I get and you guys will call me "Alphahawk Jr." LOL
I love it when one of my pre-fishing plans actually works, because it doesn’t happen very often. When I was out 2 days ago, I trolled across an area where it went from 17 – 20 feet to a sudden flat that was only about 7 feet deep and as I was drifting across the steep slope, I saw what looked like fish on the fishfinder. So last night, I started thinking that maybe I would try staying out in the deep water, and throwing the lure up on the shallow flat and dragging back down into deeper water, with the flow of the current to make it look like bait was swimming downstream. And sure enough, as I drifted across that slope again, I once again saw fish stacked up and I caught 5 bass right there, 2 of them back to back. Once the action died down and I left that area, I only caught one more keeper.
Here are the pic-worthy bass; the fish in the 3rd and 4th pics is the same fish; I caught that one by throwing a 1/2 oz. green jig onto the flat and dragging it back down into deep water. So today I caught bass on 4” black Senkos, a 1/2 oz. jig with a watermelon Pacacraw trailer, and a watermelon-colored tube. I also tried a spinnerbait, crankbait, and the bitsy bug jig with no takers on those. All in all, yet another good day out on the water and I did manage to learn something today regarding underwater structure - and I finally used my fishfinder for something besides checking water depth and temperature
Awesome bag of fish there, especially that 18 incher! Do you have a kayak too or just fish from a boat? I'd like to get my kayak on the Cumberland one day. What is the acceptable flow rate where I could do this and not get washed out toward Dickson? Looks like there was no flow from 8-9am but before and after there was 5700 cfs. Surely that's too much to paddle against in a kayak, right?
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Jimmy
I feel bad for people who don't hunt and fish. They never get to experience God's creation the way we do.
I fish from a 17' aluminum bass boat. I'm not sure which section of the Cumberland you'd be putting in at but on days like today, there was very little current and that's the way I like it; I can position my boat close to the shore and drift downstream ever so slowly at a rate where I can make several casts to one spot. I don't think it would have been bad in a kayak at all, unless you let yourself drift about 5 miles downstream and then had to paddle all the way back
It is always exciting to see fish on your electronics and then catch them. Although nothing is more frustrating than seeing fish and not being able to catch a thing.
Good report nomad....great pics....and man you got some really nice looking fish there! Glad you're getting into them. I have been fishing full time since I retired 12 years ago.....and I have never tired of it. I am blessed I have a passion for it and don't sit around the house moping because I don't have anything to do. People have asked me many times "Don't you get tired of fishing"? The answer is always the same....NO. Man I would like to have hung into those bass in your pics today.
If it is any help.....with my experience fishing for smallies on the Cumberland river for many years, my best days have came with flows between 10,000-18,000 cfs. Usually 2 generators. Probably a little much in a yak unless you have a vehicle at the put in and take out spots. If you put in a OHD and float to the Heartland ramp in the Stones River, that would be ideal.
Good report nomad....great pics....and man you got some really nice looking fish there! Glad you're getting into them. I have been fishing full time since I retired 12 years ago.....and I have never tired of it. I am blessed I have a passion for it and don't sit around the house moping because I don't have anything to do. People have asked me many times "Don't you get tired of fishing"? The answer is always the same....NO. Man I would like to have hung into those bass in your pics today.
Regards
Thanks, Alpha. I was worried they wouldn't be biting with the clear skies which did end up being the case after 8, 8:30 but from first light until about 8 I was catching fish in that one area. And I'm with you, I love fishing even if I get skunked and every day is a learning experience for me. Especially now that I own a boat, just being able to get on the water, away from it all to enjoy the outdoors...I could do it every single day and never get tired of it.
If it is any help.....with my experience fishing for smallies on the Cumberland river for many years, my best days have came with flows between 10,000-18,000 cfs. Usually 2 generators. Probably a little much in a yak unless you have a vehicle at the put in and take out spots. If you put in a OHD and float to the Heartland ramp in the Stones River, that would be ideal.
Do the smallies mainly hang out near OHD? Because I have only caught one smallmouth out of the Cumberland and that was up in KY, in Donaldson creek...never caught one around the Clarksville area.
They are up and down the Cumberland river. The main areas that I fish are from OHD down to the Opry Mills area. Just for the fact that I live in Lebanon and that's the closest place. If I'm not Sauger fishing then that is where I am from say, Nov through Mar.
Cumberland River (Clarksville area) 4 Oct 2013
