Strange night on Lake Cumberland

I've made many nighttime fishing trips for crappie on Lake Cumberland, but last night took the prize for the strangest I've seen. Two friends and I set our lights at about 8:30pm, and slowly started attracting minnows. As it finally grew dark, we began to see crappie after crappie circling under the lights....some small, some very large. While it is not unusual to see a few crappie under the lights, last night they were there in bunches. We could see the crappie lay over on their sides as they chased the minnows and finally captured them. We were fishing with both minnows and jigs and tried catching these crappie at depths from 2 ft to 20 ft. All the bites we had (we only caught 9 fish) came at 20 ft. We could not entice any of the shallow crappie to bite, even though at times they would come up and swallow dead minnows we took off our hooks. I tried everything I knew from over 50 years of crappie fishing. It was absolutely amazing! At times we could see as many as 2 dozen fish circling under the lights, including an occasional bass and a few stripers (some of them keeper size). We fished until after midnight and quit totally amazed. After thinking about it, the only thing I didn't try was to put a minnow on an unweighted hook and let it just swim around. That might have done the trick. I'll be trying it again in a couple of nights. This time, I may just take a big net! LOL Strange night, indeed!

You might want to try to downsize your rig with very small jigs or smaller minnows on very light line and small hooks. Also try setting your baits up at the very outer edge of the light pattern. I know of some night fishermen who swear by casting ultra-light jigs into the dark around the lights.

Thanks mrdux. I'll give that a try. It was just the strangest thing to see so many crappie (and some of them VERY nice ones) and not be back to get them to bite. Always appreciate your insight and information.

Nice report. I like night fishing because of the way it makes be observe my surroundings with different senses. I watched a Bill Dance video a while back and he was using a bobber under the dock lights and was wearing them out at the edge of the light. I am setting up a rod with a glow bobber and some non fluorescent line to cast out to the edges and slowly reel it in. Thanks for sharing your world as it is. Interesting things happen at night.

You are right, ifish. Interesting things do happen at night on the lake. Fishing takes on another whole dimension. I have gone to using green lights for night fishing entirely. For me, the green lights do a much better job attracting the baitfish. Plus, it has been proven scientifically that green light penetrates the dark water much better and is more calming and less frightening to fish. But, the green light does provide an eerie sort of setting for night fishing. And I have learned much about the behavior of crappie and other fish by watching them at night. Crappie almost always turn on their sides and glide thru the water as they approach an unwary baitfish, while bass and stripers and bluegill remain upright. Crappie are much lazier in their feeding, even the hearty black crappie of Lake Cumberland. By the way, the other night, all the fish we caught came while using slip bobbers set at 20 ft. THe top of the bobbers I use are painted to reflect light and really show up under the green lights.

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Originally Posted by kyfishman

You are right, ifish. Interesting things do happen at night on the lake. Fishing takes on another whole dimension. I have gone to using green lights for night fishing entirely. For me, the green lights do a much better job attracting the baitfish. Plus, it has been proven scientifically that green light penetrates the dark water much better and is more calming and less frightening to fish. But, the green light does provide an eerie sort of setting for night fishing. And I have learned much about the behavior of crappie and other fish by watching them at night. Crappie almost always turn on their sides and glide thru the water as they approach an unwary baitfish, while bass and stripers and bluegill remain upright. Crappie are much lazier in their feeding, even the hearty black crappie of Lake Cumberland. By the way, the other night, all the fish we caught came while using slip bobbers set at 20 ft. THe top of the bobbers I use are painted to reflect light and really show up under the green lights.

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kyfishman, experienced the same thing at Cumberland a couple years ago on exactly July 3rd. I know exactly what the problem was/is ------ it was the new hatch of baby shad . The shad were about 1/2" long and millions of them. The crappie would do exactly what you saw - sideways and just float around. We started using the smallest minnows I had without weight but we only managed about 12 good keepers. It was very frustating but it was amaazing to see 14"to 18" crappie come up and gorge themselves on the shad. I have always wanted to go back and try but work has prevented that from happening. Glad to hear that the night bite was at least there somewhat. Good luck in your future trips, hope to join in the fun soon.

Went night fishing again last night (THursday) on Lake Cumberland. I was by myself this time. It was another strange night, but different from my previous post. Millions upon millions of small shad came to my green lights, but I saw NO crappie at all feeding on then as I did two nights before. I fished until 2:00am and caught 52 crappie, with only ONE fish measuring 10 inches or more. All the rest were about 9 or so inches. Crappie fishing in the next few years for Lake Cumberland should be fantastic! BY the way, I've noticed that on most nights, the minnows circle the lights clockwise, but last night they went the other direction all night! Anyone know why that is?

I too made a trip to the lake last night and it turned out humorous and even before I hit the lake. When I pulled into the parking lot I spotted fire trucks and rescue squad vehicles down in the corner of the parking lot and wondered what had happened. Not wanting to interrupt but naturally nosey by nature, I pulled down and began readying my boat but kept an eye on the area. Soon they loaded a pontoon boat marked "Barren County Rescue" with a camera crew and several that I suspect were part of their squad, I'd say about ten in all plus gear. The boat, trailer and crew pulled past me and came to a stop just before entering the ramp, driver gets out and asks, Do I drive straight down the ramp. It seemed an odd question but what do I know. After several minutes I was ready and pulled down to find a a hick up. Not sure how yall do it but when I launch I swing wide in the opposite direction of the turn around. He had snuggled that pick up and boat up tight to the turn. My jaw dropped. Just then a sheriff cruiser came down beside me, the officer with a big grin, slowly walked towards the driver and I could see him make gestures and knew the driver was in over his head. After helping out and getting the truck and trailer turned around, the officer came up beside my car, looked at me and asked, Were you in a hurry? I couldn't help but laugh. :)

I ran it to the same issue last week at Cedar Creek........there were tons of tiny 1/2 inch shad and they would not touch my minnows. About 1:30 I took a dip net and caught some shad put them on a very small brass hook with no weight and dropped them down into the light I managed about 12 9-10 inches and a zillion small ones. I use two coleman lanterns as I like the dead bugs. I also sink a few Green Led lights.