In addition to holding the state record for brown trout, the Cumberland River also holds the record for rainbow trout as well. Jim Mattingly of Somerset caught the rainbow on Sept. 20, 1972. The trophy fish weighed 14 pounds, 6 ounces.

The tailwaters receives the greatest amount of stocked fish of anywhere in the state. All stocked fish are reared at the nearby Wolf Creek Fish Hatchery. Good numbers of both rainbows and browns are stocked at various times of the year.

The target number of rainbows released into the tailwaters has been around 160,000 per year. This number can fluctuate somewhat depending on conditions at the hatchery and also on water conditions in the river. Rainbows are stocked monthly from April through November.

Brown trout have been stocked there since 1995. A one-time stocking of approximately 30,000 fish usually occurs in March. These fish are around 8 inches when released.

Over the past few years, an additional number of smaller brown trout have also been released into the tailwaters as an experiment to supplement the fishery. Around 50,000 brown trout in the 3- to 4-inch range have been released there most years. In 2004, the average length of these smaller trout was 2.7 inches.

The number of fingerling brown trout released can vary greatly depending on what is available from the hatchery. There was one year that no fingerling brown trout were released. Another year, some 65,000 were released.

Most years, trout in the Cumberland tailwaters enjoy excellent growth rates. After the water becomes warmer and the available oxygen decreases, growth rates will slow accordingly. The trout in Kentucky’s tailwaters have better growth rates than many of the highly touted Western waters.

The KDFWR does not anticipate any other changes on regulations and management of trout at the Cumberland tailwaters for the next few years. They are pleased with what is going on now and want to give the new slot limit time to be evaluated thoroughly before making any changes. They did modeling recently with very good results. The KDFWR is projecting big increases in both numbers and size of trout over the next few years.

PAINT CREEK

Our newest area added as a trophy trout fishery is part of Paint Creek in Johnson County. The section designated as a trophy water is found at the tailwaters below Paintsville Lake. There is a short section of the tailwaters immediately below the dam, which is for put-and-take fishing and then the trophy section begins and extends downstream for 3.6 miles. The trophy section begins at the state Route (SR) 40 bridge and concludes at the U.S. Route 460 bridge.

The new regulations went into effect on March 1, 2005. The daily creel limit is set at one fish per day with the minimum size limit at 16 inches for both brown and rainbow trout. Department fisheries personnel are expecting these regulations to really pay dividends in the near future.

Although this stream is much smaller than Cumberland, it has already shown its potential for producing big trout; KDFWR personnel believe they might not be getting all they could from the fishery. This line of thinking, along with requests from area trout anglers for a trophy water, led to the new management strategy.

Sampling done at Paint Creek indicated there might be a great upside to managing for trophy trout. Brown trout close to 24 inches were occasionally discovered during sampling and rainbows upward of 21 inches were caught as well. Fisheries people believe the potential for trophy trout will be around 20 to 21 inches for rainbows and 22 to 24 inches for brown trout.