Cumberland River Fly Fishing Report July 2026
Current River Conditions (Burkesville, Kentucky)
Cumberland Lake is currently reporting at an elevation of 709 feet above sea level. As I shared last week, it was an absolute major rain event that hit Burkesville and the surrounding area Saturday week ago. The 7-8 inches that fell left the river completely unfishable. Tree and debris choked chocolate brown water was the normal for about five to six days for well over two thirds of the river. Water temperatures are returning to the high 40 / low –50°F range in the middle section of the river during the lowest flows of the day. I can’t tell you what the temps look like below Bakerton Ramp as I haven’t been there since the flood. I am glad the bulk of the rain stayed south of the lake or it may have been August before we could see low water again!
The cleanest water is for sure above Crocus Creek. I fished the section between Winfrey’s Ramp and Crocus both Sunday and Monday. Sunday the river provided some nice dry fly and streamer fishing and yielded one really nice Brown Trout. Monday it was mostly double nymph rigs fished from two feet deep to eight feet deep. This method gave us some pretty good numbers and it was a lot of fun watching a couple of seventy year old’s land a bunch of fish! It just depended where we were at in the river as to the depth we fished. As long as the nymph sets were close to the bottom we could find a fish. The Sulphurs are still hanging in there but are getting going a little later in the day. The highlight of the trip was watching my guys get a couple of Hopper eats. I will elaborate on that in the Pro Tip Section.
There is something really special about watching a river come back into shape after a major flood event. The Cumberland did exactly that this past week. When I put the boat in on Sunday the water was still carrying a little color but the fish were hungry. Fish that had been pushed around by high, off colored water for the better part of a week were ready to eat and they did not need much convincing. By Tuesday it felt like a completely different river than the one that had been blown out just days before. The Cumberland has a way of doing that — reminding you why you put up with the uncertainty of fishing a tailwater in the first place. Honestly, the best reason to hire a fly fishing guide is for the knowledge I just laid out. We are there. If we are not running trips, we fish so we know what is happening. Well at least some of us do! Below are some images from the flooding that occurred in Burkesville Kentucky.
Strategy: Did somebody say "Hoppers??"
- How long is the Sulphur Hatch going to continue?
- I do not have a precise date to give you but I will say that this past weekend, the afternoon dry fly bite was a tad slower than it was the week prior. It is still good and fish were caught on dry flies. It just seems that the number of rises were a little less than the week prior. this could have been related to the weather, the recent flooding of the river, I just don’t know. But I can tell you I didn’t see as many fish poking their heads up. There was still enough to make it awesome, but it will not be long now before they are down to seeing one here or one there for the remainder of the summer.
- What will the Trout be looking for next?
- That is a topic I am pretty excited to talk about. The Caddis hatches have come and gone and as the Sulphur Hatch really slows down, the Trout, that are already looking up, will eventually start looking for Ants, Beetles and other Terrestrials such as Annual Cicadas or HOPPERS!!!!. I have always referred to it as Hopper Season and it is a tremendous amount of fun. Watching Rainbows and Browns slowly raise their heads for a long slow take on a big dry fly is about as much fun as you can have in fly fishing. I have been able to catch these fish on Hoppers as bis as a size 4. Now that is a big hopper! I am stocked up and ready to chase this bite as long as it will go.
- How long will the Trout key on Hoppers?
- In a nutshell, each of the last four or five years have all provided completely different time frames and lengths of duration. Last year my best hopper eats really seemed to pick up in the second week of August and lasted thru September. The year before I was seeing eats at the end of May and the bite really slowed down by the first of September. Each year is a little different. Due to the low water we have seen this year, I am hopeful that the fish will start looking for bigger meals sooner than later!
Top Fly Patterns - Cumberland River
Dry Flies
- Sulphur Breadline (Sizes 16–18)
- Sulphur Parachute (Sizes 16–18)
- Puff Daddy in Sulphur Yellow (Sizes 14-18)
- Chubby Chernobyls colors various (Sizes 14 thru 6)
- Amy’s Ant (Sizes 6-10)
Nymphs
Tungsten Bead Head Pheasant Tail (Sizes 16–18)
Tungsten Beaded Walt’s Worms (Sizes 16–18)
- Bead Head Girdle Bugs (Sizes 6-10)
Streamers
Woolly Bugger — Olive, Gold, Black (Sizes 4–6)
Pro Tip: The Window is Opening......
Is Hopper Season Finally Here?
Three hopper eats on Monday told me everything I needed to know. I am not sure if it is the sheer number of grasshoppers in the fields right now or whether the Sulphur hatch is finally fizzling to the point that the fish are starting to actively search for other food sources. Honestly it is probably both. What I do know is that when a Cumberland River Rainbow Trout or Brown Trout commits to eating a hopper it is not subtle. These are not sipping rises. These are the kind of eats that make you glad you were paying attention.
We teased this a couple of weeks ago in this report and the river is delivering right on schedule. The big fish are going to start pushing water along the banks in search of Hoppers, Beetles, and Ants and that window is just starting to open right now. If you have ever wanted to experience the most visual, aggressive dry fly fishing the Cumberland has to offer, the next four to six weeks are your window. Do not sleep on it.
Next week I will have a full hopper pattern breakdown ready — the specific sizes, colors, and profiles that have worked for me in the past and what I am tying right now in anticipation of what is coming.
The Cumberland River is a massive, world-class fishery, and because of its incredible reputation for trophy trout, prime hatch dates and peak weekends fill up months in advance. Whether you want to witness the explosive spring caddis hatch, cast grasshoppers against the summer banks, or hunt a personal-best Brown trout on heavy streamers, securing your dates early is essential.
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