Cumberland River Fly Fishing Report - August 26 2026
Current River Conditions (Burkesville, Kentucky)
It’s another great week on the Cumberland River in Burkesville, Kentucky. The current lake elevation is sitting at 704.82 feet in elevation and the USACE is once again keeping the river flowing just as predicted. They are giving us a little higher flows this week and are bumping the twenty-four hour average outflows up to 7820 CFS. I suspect they are doing this to meet power demands as the summer heat continues to be relentless. The forecast for the rest of the week looks great with average twenty-four hour flows dropping to 7400 CFS on Thursday, 6200 CFS on Friday. The weekend looks stellar with flows dropping down to a twenty-four hour average of 3400 CFS for Saturday and Sunday.
I had to take a week off of fly fishing reports, not because I wanted to rather I had to due to a web hosting swap from one company to another. That was not really that much fun but on a lighter note, the new hosting company is a lot more robust and should get me through another couple of years without any hiccups. This gave me two weeks of fly fishing trips to get some good pictures and some good stories. The Sulphurs and the BWO’s are still present and still consistently low in number. You can still catch some fish on a well presented Sulphur or BWO dry but the fish are for sure looking for other protein sources. The good news was the total number of hopper eats has climbed significantly. Last Wednesday we had fifteen or sixteen hopper eats in one day. That is as good as I have seen it this year.
Current Fly Fishing Outlook
You have to love the fact that the Cumberland River is sandwiched between two National Fish Hatcheries. Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery and Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery are doing a fantastic job of stocking the Cumberland River with a lot of fish and a lot of quality fish. In the past two weeks Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery and Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has given us over five thousand fifteen inch Rainbow Trout. They were stocked from the Dam to McMillan’s Ferry. That can’t hurt the fishing! The Beetle and Hopper Bite has drastically improved over the last two weeks. I have been dropping a Frenchie off the back of my Hoppers and the fish have been taking both with little hesitation. I am also still running a deep Nymph rig with good success. Mostly on gravel bars and banks that have flow on them. The streamer bite is still great in the timber. All in all, the river is still fishing great and I expect that trend to continue for the remainder of the Summer and well into Fall. The only real complaint I have is the clarity in the lower river leaves a lot to be desired. The USACE is ramping up to flows in the high teens during the week and this is causing a lot of the mud that was generated from our last eight inch rain event to continually be pushed around. Hopefully by mid October we will get to fish below Traces.
Top Fly Patterns - Cumberland River
- Dry Flies
- Standard Sulphur Dry (Sizes 16–18)
- Standard BWO Dry (Sizes 16-18)
- Chubby Chernobyl’s- Tan, Yellow, Black (Sizes 6-12)
- Amy’s Ant- Olive, Black (Size 6)
- Nymphs
- Tungsten Bead Head Pheasant Tail (Sizes 16–18)
- Tungsten Beaded Frenchies (Sizes 16–18)
- Pats Rubber Legs (Sizes 6-8)
- Streamers
- Woolly Bugger — Olive, Gold, Black (Sizes 4–6)
- Drunk & Disorderly-Tan, Black, Olive (Size 6)
Strategy: Dropper Depth Selection for the Cumberland River
A Hopper with a dropper below it is probably one of my favorite ways to fly fish. I have utilized this method for as long as I have fished the Cumberland River. A Question I get a lot is how deep do you fish the nymph. The answer depends on where and what I am targeting. If I am searching and there are not a ton of rises to throw to, I will normally start out with my depth set to two and a half to three feet. This gives me a good starting point.
How deep should I fish a nymph under a hopper?
- If you see rising fish. Start at the current two and a half to three foot depth. If you get no response from the trout, shorten the dropper length to twelve to eighteen inches. This will put the nymph in the water column more in line or above the fishes field of vision. Trout see in a mostly upwards conical view. If the fly is below the fish, sometimes the fish will simply not see the fly.
- If you are not getting any eats. A Hopper or Beetle is basically a strike indicator. If you are using a size four or six hopper it will support a lot of weight. I have been known to sometimes fish a small Pat’s Rubber Legs and a Frenchie below a Hopper. Its a hot mess to untangle when you catch a trout on this rig but it is effective.
Where is the best place to fish a Hopper Dropper?
Trout will eat a big terrestrial anywhere they can find them. If you fish big terrestrials, they will come. Here are my best approaches.
- Searching current seams. I fish a lot of Hopper Dropper set ups on the Cumberland River in the middle of current seams. These are the areas of moving water that ebb and flow down the banks and points of the river. Keep in mind these seams are not tight on the banks a lot of the time but if you are not seeing a lot of rising fish to cast to, fish the seams and you may get a surprise eat.
- Fish to risers. When Trout are searching for food, they can be found anywhere. Current seams, back eddy’s or even right in the middle of the river. Look for consistent rises and drop your set up a couple of feet in front of the fish and hang on.
- Picky fish sitting on shallow gravel bars. While we have the opportunity to fish in really clear water. We can spot a ton of fish as we drift along in the current. Try to place you flies a couple of feet upstream of the Trout and let your flies drift into their feeding lane. I think a lot of times the fish will not spook as easily when fished with this presentation versus a standard nymph rig. Think of it as finesse nymph fishing.
On The Water This Week
There have been a lot of trips over the last two weeks. I have had some exceptional anglers too. I was able to introduce the Cumberland to a few new folks and reintroduce it to some guys who haven’t fly fished it in several years. The repeating theme from everybody that fished with me seems to be the same. People can simply just not believe how well the Cumberland River is fishing. Each trip the river fished great. Lots of slot fish were caught and even the occasional rain storm really didn’t bother anyone because the fishing was just that good. All I really want to say is that I am hopeful it continues and the quality of fish we are seeing continues to get better. The current stocking plan is being well liked by guides and anglers alike!
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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