Lake Cumberland, KY

[Craig]

Water level at Lake Cumberland is majorly rising, lots of driftwood floating right now.

 

[Craig]

as per the US Army Corp of Engineer's website ..

Elevations, Generation Schedule, Water Temperatures & Fishing Report:
The lake information for April 3, 2014 as of 12 AM includes the headwater elevation at 710.49 the tailwater elevation at 544.49 The generation schedule for today is as follows: 1 unit from 9 AM until 10 PM.

Also, as of March 28th the water temperature at Burnside Marina was 48 at the Surface through 10 feet, and 47 at 15 through 30 feet.

 

[Craig]

http://m.somerset-kentucky.com/commonwealth/db_293381/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=8ltAnO8H

 

[Craig]

Just wanted to give an update for anybody considering visiting Cumberland, the water level is at normal pool and there is little to no debris floating now. Water conditions are the best they have been in years.

 

[jtink]

This is by far my favorite lake. We have been going here about 3 or 4 times a year

 

[Helipilot11]

I think I might check out the poker run if anyone else decides to go.

 

[jtink]

We will have to see how the wife's feels. She is due any day. I doubt we will make it, but I'm still hopeful. We were there last year when that boat wrecked, and two people lost there life. So be careful they go fast and it's an open course.

 

[Helipilot11]

Yeah we just plan on hanging out some where and see them go by. Just something to do before the season ends.

 

[bthessel]

Boating season is almost here on Lake Cumberland, right now the water is really high, muddy with a ton of debris in it. Everything from logs big enough to end your season to refrigerators and propane tanks. I was down there last weekend to do some spring cleanup at the cabin and debated going out but there was so much stuff inside the marina it looked like you could have walked on it.

Here is a webcam link for Jamestown Marina and you can see a lot of stuff - http://web.duo-county.com/index.php/news/lake-cumberland-duo-webcam

 

[Speedling]

Bummer! Is this because it was so low for so long? Is that usual? It better be cleaned up for my trip at the end of July! We have about 30 people going there.

 

[bthessel]

Bummer! Is this because it was so low for so long? Is that usual? It better be cleaned up for my trip at the end of July! We have about 30 people going there.

Part of it is still due to the lower levels for so long, debris was pretty bad last spring also but cleared up around Memorial weekend. This year it is a little worse, they have had a lot of rain down there and the lake was at max level so it picked up everything that was up the banks. Also a lot of junk comes down the rivers from the more rural areas, lots of trash and such. The Corps has opened all the spillway gates on the dam twice this spring so far to lower the level, the first time all gates have been open since 2004.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153215516723689&id=66652068688&refid=18&_ft_&__tn__=C

By Memorial or mid-June at the latest it will be completely clear. The corps start to slowly lower the lake level starting in mid summer so that it is low enough to handle the fall rains and winter run off. Things look really different on the lake from Memorial day to Labor day.

 

[Craig]

Current lake info..
The lake information for April 23, 2015 as of 12 AM includes the headwater elevation at 727.50 ft and the tailwater elevation at 566.10 ft. The generation schedule for today is from 6 units Midnight until Midnight with 8 spillways open 1 foot each.

Also, as of April 20, 2015 at Burnside Marina 60.6 at the surface, 60 at 5 feet, 59.8 at 10 feet, 59.2 at 15 and 20 feet, 58.1 at 25 feet, and 57.8 at 30 feet.

There were loads of debris floating earlier in the week but we've had a little over 7.5 inches of rain in April. Water level is in the trees currently by several feet and very stained on the east end of the lake. The Corp has had the barge out working overtime cleaning the debris and shredding the logs and looks a lot better now than it did a week ago. It should be good in a couple weeks if it would quit raining.

 

[Speedling]

Gonna keep raining I am afraid.
But I am happy to hear that they go out and clean the lake up. Being a man made lake, man should clean up his own mess.

Side note; how does Cumberland compare to Kentucky lake?

 

[wakeformer]

Not looking so good hope it clears up by june

 

[scubarick314]

Wow. We will also be headed down there this summer. I hope it clears out before the end of May.

 

[Craig]

Let me preface this by saying these are not my photos but from a local group on fb that centers around Lake Cumberland. Anyway, these photos were taken yesterday from the lower (west) end of the lake.

These are from Jamestown marina..
View attachment 20781
And some of the barge that cleans up the debris (it's currently at Jamestown)

 

[bthessel]

We were out all day on Saturday, the water has really cleared up, just have to keep an eye out for bigger single logs and such. Water temp was warm enough that the kids swam all day, I jumped in a couple of times and I would say it is warmer than it was last year memorial weekend.

 

[Kevin M]

We were out all day on Saturday, the water has really cleared up, just have to keep an eye out for bigger single logs and such. Water temp was warm enough that the kids swam all day, I jumped in a couple of times and I would say it is warmer than it was last year memorial weekend.

Thats good to here! The temps have been so warm the last four days, the water is warming up fast! Our local lake was at 72 - 74 degrees

 

[Volffas]

@Craig how's the water looking these days? The Ohio River in Cincinnati has majorly sucked this year. We are planning on heading down this weekend and staying at State Dock Saturday, Sunday and leaving Monday afternoon. We will plan on eating breakfast in the room, lunch on the boat and dinner at a dock. Any recommendations for decent dock food that is kid friendly? We like the grill at the State Dock last year when we were there, but looking to spread our wings a little bit.

 

[Speedling]

Going to Cumberland end of the month. There seems to be a lot of places to eat if you start looking them all up on the map, but no idea if any are good. Report back for me so our group can dock a few boats up and have a meal!