John Williams, southeastern fisheries district program manager for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, holds a huge smallmouth bass he caught from Laurel River Lake in late fall.
By Lee McClellan, Kentucky Afield Outdoors
You arrive at the Holcomb’s LandingRamp just after dawn and look at the shoreline of Lake Cumberland. A line ofdamp rocks several inches thick rings the lake and the rip rap on the face ofWolf Creek Dam.
Your heart sinks. They arereleasing a lot of water quickly through the dam and into the Cumberland Riverbelow it. The first smallmouth bass trip of the fall may be a bust.
“When they pull water through thedam, the falling water pulls the predator fish off their preferred habitat,”said John Williams, southeastern fisheries district program coordinator for theKentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Being out of their comfortzone makes them...