The Cumberland offers a tremendous forage base for trout, which includes many types of mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies, plus high numbers of midges, scuds and sow bugs. The big stoneflies are of particular interest to larger browns, as are Japanese beetles and other terrestrial insects, crawfish and various forage-sized fish, including sculpins, shad and alewives.

Productive trout fishing techniques are as varied as the fish's forage base; however, serious brown trout anglers, who target the river's largest fish, typically use either spinning tackle and minnow-imitating plugs or spoons or fly-fishing outfits rigged with sinking lines and large streamers.

Plug fishermen tend to like sinking models of minnow-imitating baits in the 2- to 4-inch range. Good color choices include white or silver to imitate shad, green to imitate sculpins, or rainbow or brown trout color patterns.

Big striped bass move into the Cumberland from Cordell Hull Lake in Tennessee each spring, and anglers use the same streamer patterns to target 40-pound stripers as they use for the big browns. Gerald McDaniel, a long-time Cumberland River guide, favors Mylar Minnows, Zoo Cougars, Clouser Minnows and various big streamer patterns of his own design for big Cumberland River browns and for stripers.

McDaniel fishes big streamers on fast-sinking fly lines so he can get his offerings quickly down among the crowns of big downed trees, which line the banks of the tailwater and hold the river's biggest browns. He likes 9-foot, 6X rods, both for delivering large flies and for battling Cumberland River brown trout.

McDaniel uses a large, customized johnboat to fish the Cumberland. Having fished the river for more than 20 years, he knows when to run upstream or downstream to find better water conditions, when to adjust strategies for what the river will allow and when to simply stay home.

To learn more or to set up a Cumberland River fishing trip with Gerald McDaniel, give him a call at (502) 473-0080 or (502) 895-3182.

OTHER TAILWATERS
Other tailwaters that get stocked annually with brown trout include the Dix River below Lake Herrington and the Laurel River below Laurel River Lake. The Laurel River is fairly small by tailwater standards and very shallow and clear during low flows, especially right below the dam. It gets stocked annually with 500 brown trout.

The Dix, which is annually stocked with 1,000 brown trout, falls under special regulations. Through the first two miles of the river downstream of Dix Dam, only artificial lures may be used or possessed, and a 15-inch minimum size applies to brown trout.

Access to the Dix can add its own challenge. High bluffs and private lands bound both sides of the river, eliminating all possible banks access. The only way to get to the tailwater is from the Kentucky River, by boat. Boats with outboards can travel up the Laurel River, which is generally quite deep. However, it does turn rocky and both water levels and the amount of current vary, so boaters must be very careful. An aluminum jet boat is the ideal craft for fishing the Dix River effectively.

In addition to the Herrington and Laurel River Lake tailwaters the KDFWR will begin stocking browns into Paint Creek downstream of Paintsville Lake, Axon noted. This section of river will be managed with special regulations, with only artificial lures permitted, a one-trout limit and a 16-inch minimum size.

The 3.6-mile section under special regulations has demonstrated good conditions for carry-over trout. So there is potential to produce trophy fish if trout are afforded extra protection, according to Axon. The stream is small, by tailwater standards, but Axon anticipates that it will produce good brown trout fishing over time.