Cumberland River Fly Fishing Report - July 2026
Current River Conditions (Burkesville, Kentucky)
We had a major rain event in Burkesville Kentucky this past weekend. From Saturday morning until mid day Sunday, seven to eight inches of rain fell on most of Cumberland County. The bulk of the rain stayed south of the lake, leaving us with an elevation of 709.5 feet. As of today, brown water is still found from Burkesville down river. I consider it non productive due to the heavy stain. The USACE is running a little more water through the system with daily average outflows of 6,000 CFS through Friday, dropping to a twenty four hour average of 3,100 CFS for the weekend and returning to 4.9 CFS for next Monday. We are truly blessed to be seeing these lower flows this time of year. We are going to have hiccups like the rain event that occurred this weekend, but compared to years past, 3-4 K averages are great fishing.
As of today, water temperatures are back to running 49–52°F in the middle section during the lowest flows of the day and climbing into the mid-50s on the lower river during the heat of the day. During this weekends rain event, we saw higher temps into the low 60s due to the rain. The good news is that the upper river by the dam is clearing up about as good as it was before the rains. There are still some feeder creeks giving us a fair amount of color like Big Willis Creek, Crocus and Marrowbone, but hopefully by this weekend, the middle section will be fishable and maybe by the first of next week the lower section will be good to go. The fishing this past week was just incredible.
Strategy: Fly Fishing the Cumberland River in July
- What made last weeks fishing so incredible?
- I was able to fish with some awesome people this past week. That alone made the days really special, the catching was just an added bonus. The Sulphur Hatch is going just as good as it was the week before. This gave us a lot of opportunities at dry fly fishing and dry dropper fishing. Saturday was a complete wash out and my guys opted to fish through it. This was the best streamer day I had out of the seven days spent on the water. Mostly because we could not fish to the rising fish with the heavy downpours we fished through. The rest of the week, the nymph bite was so good most of my folks didn’t really want to change anything up due to the number and the quality of the fish being caught.
- What approach do I take to match the day’s mood?
- We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. Some of the folks I fish with can land a fly on a dime at sixty feet. Others, just wish they had a dime every time they got the fly twenty feet off the boat. I find that some people hire me to help them cast better and others hire me because I can help them catch fish. I think I even have one or two that hire me because of my lunches. I do really good lunches. No matter the reason, the goal is to try and catch some fish and have a great time doing it. This dictates the methods I employ most of the time. Sure, the fish behavior has a ton to do with it, but giving someone a method they are comfortable with will normally result in more fish hitting the net.
- The Cumberland River has a lot of places that allow you to drift the boat through great fish holding water. Sometimes its fast water over shallow flats, other times its really deep ledges or even right thru the middle of tree tops lining the banks. The biggest key is keep people in fish and they will normally catch more of them.
- Simple set ups that are easy to cast and include easily adjustable indictors will reduce down time and make fly fishing a lot more enjoyable. I have made fly fishing a lot harder than it should be for myself on numerous occasions. Casting flies that are too big or bulky for the rod I have paired them with, or trying to cast really heavy flies on really short indicator rig set ups that lead to an unlimited number of collapsing tailing loops is never a fun way to spend the day. Match the fly set ups to the rods you are casting sure makes for a much more enjoyable day.
Top Fly Patterns - Cumberland River
Dry Flies
Sulphur Breadline (Sizes 16–18)
Sulphur Parachute (Sizes 16–18)
Nymphs
Tungsten Bead Head Pheasant Tail (Sizes 16–18)
Tungsten Beaded Frenchies (Sizes 16–18)
Streamers
Woolly Bugger — Olive, Gold, Black (Sizes 4–6)
Pro Tip: When life gives you Lemons........
When you choose to be a fly fishing guide you are choosing to allow yourself to be beaten up by fish, the elements, and sometimes people. You go into this profession knowing that. You still have a responsibility to show up and make the day as good as you can for the folks who are hiring you. If they are willing to fish in the rain, you better be prepared to do the same. This was the case for this past Saturday. It rained and rained and rained some more. The good news is that we were able to catch fish in it. The water clarity held out for us all day and we even had an hour or maybe even an hour and a half window of solid dry dropper fishing that really capped off the day. The rain stopped, the fish ate shallow and good fish were caught and lost. We would have never have seen any of it unless we did what we did. We went fishing.
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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Real Time Updates: View our current Fly Fishing Reports to see what is happening on the Cumberland River right now.