Striped Bass
Lake Cumberland stripers grow to optimum size. The large population can be caught in abundance in spring, summer and fall, with the best method being trolling using live shad and diving minnow lures. In fall, striped bass will school in large numbers and sometimes, literally, fight over top water lures.
Trout
Brown, rainbow and river trout enjoy a large, clean home in Lake Cumberland. All three species are fairly active year-round and can be caught in great numbers using spinners flies, corn, night crawlers, spoons and fish eggs. Depending on water conditions, wading and slow, deep water trolling are preferred methods.
Walleye
A true, deep-water haven, Lake Cumberland houses an extremely large population of active walleye. The key to nailing big ones lies in finding dark pools about 15 to 30 ft. deep and working the areas with bright-colored crankbaits and bouncing night crawlers and minnows off the bottom.
Crappie, Bluegill and Bass
Lake Cumberland may not house as many crappie, bluegill and bass (small and largemouth) as it does walleye and stripers, however, 10- to 12-inch crappie are common in the calm backwaters near brush. Bluegill also grow fat and fierce. Spinners, jigs, tube lures and a variety of panfish baits are suitable. Largemouths, which tend to hover around the 15-to 16-inch mark are also great fighters in Lake Cumberland. While a bit elusive, trophy smallies are also pulled out quite frequently. Plastic worms, poppers, harnessed night crawlers and standard bass lures are usually deadly.
