Lake Cumberland, KY

[Volffas]

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!

Now that I have thought about it for a minute we ate at Grider Hill Dock one day on our way back from 76 falls last year. They had a philly cheese steak that was pretty good. There is absolutely nothing fancy about the restaurant, but the food was pretty good.

76 falls is worth a trip if you aren't staying to far away from it. From State Dock it took a little while to get there but we made a full day of it. Since we are really only staying 1 full day this time around we probably won't go all the way to the falls.

 

[TonkaTuff]

Over the past few times I've been down there, these are the places I've been too.

Fishtales at Wolf Creek Marina. I thought it was pretty good. http://wolfcreekmarina.com/

The café at Jamestown Dock was OK. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to eat there, but the fact we were staying there and the convenience of it all was nice.

The Lighthouse Café at Conley Bottoms wasn't bad. It seems to be pretty popular with some friends of mine, and the ice cream window was popular. Ha.. I was looking at there web site and it appears they have some sort of scavenger hunt going on. That looks it might be cool to do: http://conleybottom.com/about-us/calendar/event/?event=23

 

[Kevin M]

Was down there in June and it was absolutely beautiful! The lake was 83 degrees and the weather was outstanding. Probably going to go back in August, can't wait!

 

[Craig]

@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.

Sorry for the delay, construction going on at the house . Water level is very high right now with quite a bit of debris floating. We've not been on the water much due to the debris and holiday traffic. It is navigable now, just air temps commonly dropping From the rain showers.

 

[Craig]

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!

You need to go to Lees Ford, cold beer and pizza at the restaurant on the dock. Family atmosphere except for late evenings on the weekends.

 

[Craig]

Over the past few times I've been down there, these are the places I've been too.

Fishtales at Wolf Creek Marina. I thought it was pretty good. http://wolfcreekmarina.com/

The café at Jamestown Dock was OK. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to eat there, but the fact we were staying there and the convenience of it all was nice.

The Lighthouse Café at Conley Bottoms wasn't bad. It seems to be pretty popular with some friends of mine, and the ice cream window was popular. Ha.. I was looking at there web site and it appears they have some sort of scavenger hunt going on. That looks it might be cool to do: http://conleybottom.com/about-us/calendar/event/?event=23

Lots of trash on the lower end of the lake right now..
Jamestown, wolf creek, and grider in the pictures below..

 

[Craig]

North end of the lake has far less debris right now.

 

[bthessel]

Even the North (East) end of the lake has some large floaters and a lot of of patches of junk. We were up and down the Southfork yesterday from the Keno road ramp to Burnside and back to the party cove and had to stop 3 times for sticks and chips stuck in the impeller. there are places where the wind has pushed a lot a of stuff into large patches so you have to navigate around them.

 

[TonkaTuff]

@Craig ...Geez... How long has it been that trashed up? Hope it goes away soon. I was thinking of making a trip down there this August

 

[Livi0411]

Wow...these pictures are scary! I have a place booked at Russell Springs next week (20th). This will be my first time at Cumberland and I've already had my fun with debris this year.

What part of the lake is the clearest?

Alligator II is the closest marina and I think I am going to rent a slip there instead of pulling the boat in & out all week. Any experience with this marina?

Appreciate any advice from the Cumberland veterans!

 

[Craig]

Right now the north end has the least amount of debris, but like bthessel said, there is debris everywhere. We've had inches (more than 8) of rain over the last few weeks. With the elevated pool, comes the debris. Alligator 2 is a decent dock and is on the lower end of the lake near the dam. The south end of the lake is larger water but with less things to do off the water and very few nice restaurants. The north end has more business/commerce in the somerset/burnside area. Currently all of the counties on the south end of the lake are dry and Somerset and Burnside are wet on the north end of the lake. If you're into old cars, Somerset/Burnside has the Somernites Cruise every month and there will be hundreds of old cars to look at as well as block parties,etc. I would avoid the Thunder Run weekend as the lake gets very wild and the speedboat guys drive like dumbasses (fatality boat crash last year and 3 years ago).

If you're planning on water sports I would recommend the north end as there is generally less boat traffic. My boys are surf/wakeboard crazy so we tend to stay up north fork and southfork for the clearer water. It just depends on what you're looking for. If I were staying several days I would explore and enjoy. There are lots of waterfalls right now which are really pushing water from the rainfall.

The debris should decrease greatly over the next few days if the rain will slow down. They have a large barge that travels the lake mulching it up and removing it. Most of the marinas are really good about cleaning the debris out and I would be surprised if any of the marinas had much debris inside the no wake areas by this coming weekend (unless it floods again). I would just be aware and not plan on a lot of WOT..

If you're new to the lake, take a map with you and make yourself familiar with the area around the 4h camp on the main lake. This is a Very shallow area and even worse with the water level high. Also watch for the submerged island up white oak creek, and some of the points along pitman creek(north end).

Hope you guys have a great time if you make it down.

 

[Craig]

Saw a black Limited S last week in the Burnside area several times last week, wondering if it was anybody on here?

 

[GTBRMC]

Lots of trash on the lower end of the lake right now..
Jamestown, wolf creek, and grider in the pictures below..
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Holy sh!t! That's awful! How often does this happen to you Cumberland peeps?

 

[Livi0411]

@Craig - thanks for the insight. Were you out on the water this past week? Is it doable coming down Wolfe Creek with the Yami based on the current condition? Based on the pics it looks like I should just stay out. Hopefully it gets better but forecast has rain all week.

 

[Speedling]

Wow, thanks for the pictures!!!
Me, @ZIRB3L and my father in law along with a few others are going there in a couple weeks. I will be sure to keep my clean outs loosened up (usually only pull them 2 times a year) and be wary of going slower in some spots!
Just watch out if you see me, you might get a jetboaters.net football thrown at you!!!!
We will be headed to as many of the places as we can for eating as well. Time to get my prep done tonight! I organize the trip and even though we went down from 5 boats to only 3, I still have to organize everyone!!!

 

[Craig]

Holy sh!t! That's awful! How often does this happen to you Cumberland peeps?

Not normal, just had massive amounts of rain and the corp can't keep up with discharge.

 

[Craig]

@Craig - thanks for the insight. Were you out on the water this past week? Is it doable coming down Wolfe Creek with the Yami based on the current condition? Based on the pics it looks like I should just stay out. Hopefully it gets better but forecast has rain all week.

To be honest, between the rain, debris, and construction at my home I've not been on the water for a couple weeks. Find the Facebook group "lake Cumberland boaters.com" and join it. There are boaters on there from all areas of the lake who post regularly on water conditions and help keep each other informed. I look at it daily to keep up with whether to go out or not.

@Livi0411 , we've had rain this week but not large amounts. I work around the north end of the lake and will be able to give you a better idea of current water conditions on our end. I'll shoot a couple photos and post up tomorrow.

 

[Craig]

Wow, thanks for the pictures!!!
Me, @ZIRB3L and my father in law along with a few others are going there in a couple weeks. I will be sure to keep my clean outs loosened up (usually only pull them 2 times a year) and be wary of going slower in some spots!
Just watch out if you see me, you might get a jetboaters.net football thrown at you!!!!
We will be headed to as many of the places as we can for eating as well. Time to get my prep done tonight! I organize the trip and even though we went down from 5 boats to only 3, I still have to organize everyone!!!

I'll watch for your boat, what end you guys staying on?

 

[Speedling]

@Craig We are staying at the State Campground. We are going to launch every day. LOVE that boat launch there, just awesome. HUGE. We will be staying Saturday until Thursday. Saturday will be mostly driving and setting up camp, probably not any boating. Sunday through Wednesday boating, and then Thursday we go to Shelbyville, IL for the big gathering.
We plan on trips from the State dock out to 76 falls, Lee's ford, and basically any other cool sightseeing we can come up with. Let me know if there is anything else we need to do! We have a group that USED to go there every year, but the year we bought a boat the dam was getting worked on and no one wanted to go. Now that things are back to normal, we are trying to get things back going, but people just aren't interested anymore. My father in law is coming but plans on selling his boat because he's into motorcycles and long trips with that now. My brother in law just bought a Super air Nautique, so I am pretty sure he's up for boating though. My other brother in law just went through a divorce, so he sold his boat. So the group shrank, but hopefully we still have fun! We are bringing another Brother in law and sister in law, (big families ok...) with us and they are camping with us and such. Should be a blast!
Come by for some s'mores! site 14 if you dare! You won't miss is cuz i'll have the boat there if they let us, lol
July 25-30

 

[Craig]

I appreciate the invite @Speedling. That's a Somernites Cruise weekend so if you guys get bored keep it in mind. Also the Lake Cumberland raft up is coming up on Aug 8th. Also, remember if you see the barge picking up the logs, they chip them and sling wood chips back into the lake...not good for jetboats.