# Bad News for Lake Cumberland



## Reel Thing

Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_us/dangerous_dam


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## Tee

Sounds real bad.....



> Reducing the water level could have a major ecological and economic effect as well. Roemhildt said people can expect fish kills because of a rise in water temperature, and boats could at marinas could be left high and dry.
> 
> Kentucky Commerce Secretary George Ward said as many as 90 percent of the launching ramps will be unusable because they won't reach the water's surface.


Whoa! 

Doesn't sound good at all.


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## Reel Thing

There has been rumors for a while that everyone played down
Its looking pretty sad now


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## Tee

I did some digging and found this (PDF File):

Corps to Reduce Lake Cumberland Water Levels


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## ShakeDown

Wow that's awful. Thanks for the heads up.


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## crappielooker

that's gonna really suck for my buddies .. hope they can fix it in time..


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## dwwv4

i wonder if it will affect the river levels below the dam? i think it shouldn"t affect the way they run the generators??? are they giving an time frame for a fix? the river was turning into a world class trout river, not to mention those huge stripers... we can only hope that its not as bad as it sounds.....


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## Fletch

I don't mean sound like I'm only worried about my vacation in April but I wonder how that will affect Dale Hollow?

I will certainly keep all of those folks downstream of the dam in my prayers.


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## Fish4Fun

Thanks for the info guys iam going to pass this on to my buddy they have a group of about 20 people with boats that spend a week down there the first week of august every year.


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## troutski

Lake Cumberland is having a worsening problem with the dam. It leaks. Could affect the boating and fishing there.

Lake Cumberland can be hard to catch fish just like CC. 

Lake Cumberland is worth a trip to check it out. Nice change of pace from Caesars Creek.


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## CCRiley2

What I just heard is there going to dop the lake to a REALLY low level, in fear it's going to break. Now would be a good time to get down there, while the fish are in a much smaller area.


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## LittleMiamiJeff

Well, running down there to shoot fish in a barrel would be fun to start, but it would seriously deplete the population.
Hopefully they'll put in a slot limit, and decrease the limit to 1 keeper.
You could have a good time once the fish concentrate, but could really do long term damage.
And with that, I still plan to fish there this year, as I was already planning to.
LMJ


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## LittleMiamiJeff

Tee said:


> I did some digging and found this (PDF File):
> 
> Corps to Reduce Lake Cumberland Water Levels


Tee, a guy lives 5 minutes from Cumberland says it'll concentrate the fish, level is 690 or so now, it'll be down another 10ft.
This guy recommends slot limit 24-28 keepers, and limit to one/1, until lake level is raised and stablilized.
It would be great fishing for awhile, then would really destroy a great striper/smallmouth/walleye/catfish lake.
LMJ


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## Pigsticker

There are still plenty of places for the fish to hide in that lake. Isn't it 100 feet deep in certain places?


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## bronzebackyac

The average depth during the summer is about 90ft I think. I was also told that around the dam it is as deep as 200ft.


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## Fish4Fun

http://www.lakecumberland.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=24

This is a forum for the lake cumberland area and lake, some interesting topics and reading. Some marina's are in for some serious trouble.


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## Reel Thing

The main problems that it sounds as if most of the ramps are going to high and dry
Everything is built on straight down walls They are already talking about extending the ramps

Its really going hurt the economy down there 
The people at Grider Hill have been there since the lake was built hopefully they can survive another situation


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## Fletch

Might be a good time to plant some structure while the lake is down?


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## sevenx

fletch, I would think with all the house boats on cumberland that will need a place to go Dale Hollow is going to see a wave of boats this year. THis would just be a guess but it seems like the closet and most logical place for them to go. S


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## Pigsticker

I'd go lure hunting if I was there.


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## dwwv4

a guy today said he thought it was great, he likes riding his quad around the lake. the low water will give him miles of riding..... then there are those who can find a few lost lures.. maybe the river will run dry except for few deeper holes, and we can go down and gig those stripers out of it..... it s like global warming, some people think everythings a joke....


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## ethan-a-thon

My family has a cottage and three boats down there, needless to say we go down there a lot. Its really a bummer, and I'm not sure what we will do on the weekends this summer. Maybe I can finally convince them to go to the tailwater trout fishery bellow the dam now!!!

Anyway I'm sure it isn't as bad as everyopne says it is, although I did hear through the grapevine from a person who lives in the area that it could be drawn down that low for up to 7 years while they fix it. Which would hurt the fish population. But I bet the trout bellow the dam won't care one, bit in fact they may get even fatter from the excess bait fish getting flushed... But stripers might not ffair so well...

But we must remember that the news is in the business of the news, and the crazier they make it sound the more we eat it up! SO hopefully it won't take 7 years...


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## eatwhatyoukeep

Fletch said:


> Might be a good time to plant some structure while the lake is down?


It is also a great time to cruise the lake and look at various points and coves to find new fishing spots. 

How does 690 equate to normal summer pool? I think I found my answer, is it 10' below summer pool?


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## Bassnpro1

I heard that the tailwater trout fishery would suffer the most because once the level stabilizes low, the water that will be released will be warmer, thus effecting cold water species.


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## MadMac

As long as they don't drop the level too fast so as not to trap too many bait fish the lake should be fine. This is a huge lake and very deep. It's only 10' below winter pool. I'm no expert so just my opinion.


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## striperfreak

my opinion as well. i think the most important factor to fish health is the amount of current the lake has.


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## fisharder

The wolf creek dam has leaked since the day the ARMY CORP impounded it.The dam it self was built right on top of a few high output springs.The springs have been eroding the base of the dam since day one.The state of Ky has made many attemps to repair the problem.It could be that the lake will never pool again at its normal levels.The big down side of this as I see it is the boat traffic and fishing pressure that will be put on other bodies of water.The upside is that there might be a few bargain boats forsale in the area keep your eyes open.Drawing the lake down as much as the state might have to could result in a lake that is half the size that it is normaly.The stripers and the trout are put and take fisheries so any damages done can be repaired with aggressive stocking efforts.It could be that to fix this problem the dam might need to be replaced and if thats the case forget it game over.It could take a decade to replace the dam and refill the lake and it seems to be leaning that way.


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## acklac7

courier-journal said:


> The current timeline calls for a 300-foot-tall concrete wall, nearly a mile long, to be built inside the earthen portion of the dam by 2014.....
> 
> By all accounts, the dam's original design from the 1930s was flawed.


http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070222/NEWS01/70222072


Man do I feel for those people, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose the Scioto for 7 years!!


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## Pendragon

I am heading down this weekend to do some striper fishing and check out the lake. Pool should be around 680 which is 10 feet below winter and 43 feet below summer pool. I will let you know how we do next week.

Hopefully: FISH ON!!

Pendragon


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## acklac7

Pendragon said:


> Pool should be around 680 which is 43 feet below summer pool.
> 
> Pendragon


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## Nipididdee

Some of the better black bass fishin' I ever had was on Cumberland in the early 80's when it was sucked down to nothin' that season. It was at a 680 or so pool.

I think a drought and possibly even repair work was the cause then. But wasnt projected to last like this.

I've had property in Jabez for many years there. It was the second to last "one room schoolhouse" community in the 70's. Just awesome memories...

Nip
www.dobass.com


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## lurer

Nip,
What ramp did you use?


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## Cordon

Here is a slideshow of how low the lake is. Pretty wild stuff.....

http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpr...shpromo/slideshow/tuttlephotos/JohnTuttle.swf


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## Nipididdee

lurer-

We always called it the "island" locally known as the "swim beach".

It's not really a ramp rather a perfectly tapered point just accross from Alligator creek.

Nip


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## Hook N Book

I know that place...! One of the guides down there said it's over forty miles by land to Gator #2 but only about a mile by water...!


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## Nipididdee

That be it!!!!

You gotta watch the locals though...they dont care much for buckeyes around- I call ahead and put the word out that an exbriarhopper is just visiting...dont touch! lol

I spent the ENTIRE summer from age 5-17 down there- day after day running through the backends of Wolf and Alligator.

We'd seine by day- trotline by night- bass fish in between!

Catfish the size of of a grown mans leg- softshell turtle soup and some fullgrown 16 year old farmer's daughters once in a while.   

Nip


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## Hook N Book

Heck, from what I get...they don't like one another from Marina to Marina.  
My cuz down there is a good fellow, he has one hell of of a good sense of humor. I would tell you how we became kin but it may not be fitting for this venue...!  

Take care.


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