“Striper Madness Year-Round on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky with Richard Holt and Mister Twister Lures”

Part 4: Stripers Down Deep

Editor’s Note: Richard Holt of Russell Springs, Kentucky, owner of Striper Madness Guide Service on Lake Cumberland, has fished for land-locked saltwater-striped bass all year long for 25 years. He uses different techniques throughout the year, depending on the depths at which the stripers are holding, and the baitfish the stripers are eating. “Here at Cumberland Lake, we have a year-round fishery for stripers,” Holt reports.

Question: Richard, you’ve mentioned that in July you’ll fish downriggers for stripers in 25 to 50 feet of water. What color jigs will you use when you’re fishing that deep?

Holt: At this time of year, we begin mixing our colors. We stay with the basic white, but we also fish chartreuse and glitter 6-inch Mister Twister Curly Tail Grubs and Mister Twister Sassy Shads. When we fish deep water, we have more success with chartreuse-colored baits than pure-white baits because there’s not a lot of light in the deep water. The chartreuse color shows-up better, making the bait more visible to the stripers.

Question: What size of Curly Tail Grubs will you be using?

Holt: We’ll start with 6-inch Curly Tails, but if the stripers aren’t biting, we’ll remove the head end of the tail, making the bait about 4-inches long. The size of Curly Tail we use depends on the size of the bait on which the stripers are feeding. We use Cannon downriggers to get our jigs and grubs down deep. We look for the stripers with our Lowrance depth finders.

Question: How many fish do you see at one time?

Holt: At this time of year, we see little wolf packs with 10 to 20 stripers in them, or we may even see a single fish. If we spot at least three stripers on our depth finder, we know we’ll catch at least one.

For more information about Striper Madness Guide Service and how to fish with stripers at Lake Cumberland, visit www.stripermadness.com, or call 270-866-3660.