Striper Fishing at Lake Cumberland

Kentucky Life meets up with some expert anglers to do some striper fishing at the Fall Creek Recreation Area on Lake Cumberland.

Springtime means striper season at Lake Cumberland, and Doug Flynn recently met up with Mark Wasiloski of Striper Time Guide Service and Jeff Burton of Cumberland Pro Lures at the Fall Creek Recreation Area.

“All the years I played ball, my adrenaline would get going, and obviously there was that excitement about doing it, but I don’t know that anything fires me up more than fishing,” said Flynn.

Stripers are good fish to eat, Wasiloski said. “They’re as good a fish as you’ll ever eat. They’re pure white meat,” he said.

He advises cutting out the stripe of red meat that runs down the center of the fish. “If somebody ever says they don’t like striper, it’s because they didn’t get that red meat out. The red meat’s got a real bad flavor to it,” he said.

Wasiloski encourages parents to take their kids fishing. “Kids have a ball with it. You get little kids, a lot of time you got to put your hand on the rod and support them a little bit. But they’ll keep reeling on it–they won’t quit.”

On this particular outing, the biggest striper caught was 32 inches. “I can’t imagine one that weighs 35, 40 pounds,” Flynn said. “How do you all do that?”

“Just keep cranking,’ said Burton.

“It’s not going to come in fast–probably a 20 minute fight,” Wasioski said.

“It’s one of the best ways to spend a morning, a full day, an afternoon,” said Flynn. “How about just anytime? People say ‘when is the best time to go fishing?’ When you can.”

This segment is part of Kentucky Life episode #2117, which originally aired on May 14, 2016. View the full episode here.