Lake Cumberland alive and well

By BILL MARDIS Editor Emeritus

August 03, 2007 08:45 am

— Is the lake still a lake? Do suddenly exposed banks cradling deep blue water sully the beauty of the crown jewel of the Cumberlands?
Prior to the travails at Wolf Creek Dam, Lake Cumberland had 1,250 miles of shoreline. The impoundment pushed into fingerlike, forested coves from the mile-long dam south of Jamestown to London Dock near Corbin.
The lake’s normal depth ranged from more than 200 feet near the dam to between 80 and 100 feet in the Somerset-Burnside area. The water, a mile across in places, inundated more than 65,000 acres and was the deepest lake east of the Mississippi River.
Lowering the lake level early this year to ease pressure on the leaking dam generated all types of negative stories and rumors. “I haven’t been there, but I’ve been told” gossip gives an impression that the lake is little more than a gaping mud puddle.
Not so! No way! Wrong! Lake Cumberland is still wide and deep. Just visit the lake or ask people who know.
Bernie Kearns knows. He is the acting resource manager for the lake. He’ll tell you that unless you go to the headwater of a creek, you’d better take a life jacket.
Members of the Somerset-Pulaski County Rescue Squad have probed the bottom of the lake. According to news reports, the body of a drowning victim was recovered last weekend in 62 feet of water about a quarter of a mile west of John Sherman Cooper Power Station. That’s as deep as a six-story building is high. No boat will drag its rudder in that kind of water.
Repairs at Wolf Creek Dam have not vanished the lake, a vital economic engine for more than half a century. A visitor standing near the now-extended ramp at Waitsboro Recreation Area marveled at rooster tails from six speed boats racing in open water. Pleasure craft took turns backing onto the extended ramp.
Despite being lowered about 40 feet, the lake still spreads over more than 35,000 acres. It remains the third largest body of water in Kentucky, trailing only Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Western Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes. The current Cumberland is deeper than Barkley and Kentucky, even stacked atop each other.
“We still say the (Cumberland) lake is 101 miles long,” said Kearns. He conceded, however, that the water is shallow and rocky near the eastern end and “I don’t know how far you could get a boat up there.”
Nosing along Cumberland’s mystical bottom, spoonbill catfish grow big as a top hog. Record striped bass are boated at random and frisky game fish hungrily grab intruding baits.
Are the fish still there? Ask any fisherman. If he isn’t too busy cleaning his catch, he may nod in the affirmative. He probably won’t tell you where he caught ‘em, but the “catch of the day” is there. Proof is in the puddin’.
Do you need a lot of line on your reel to fish in the realigned water?
Maybe. Kearns gave some depth estimates in the Somerset-Burnside area that are impressive.
“The lake is probably 30-40 feet deep out from the ramp at Waitsboro,” he said. Across the lake, along the rocky bluff, the water may be 50-60 feet deep,” he said.
“In Pitman Creek the water is probably between 30 and 50 feet deep ... it varies,” said Kearns.
“Near Burnside Marina, in the (river) channel, the water is probably 60 feet deep,” Kearns said. He noted, however, that it is more shallow closer to the marina.
On Fishing Creek, near Lee’s Ford Resort Marina “there is about 30 feet of water in the channel,” said Kearns, He didn’t mention it, but farther up Fishing Creek, Pulaski County Park and Fishing Creek Recreation Area are high and dry.
Figures don’t lie. A 43 feet drawdown of a lake averaging 90 feet deep leaves more than 40 feet of water in most places. And water 40 feet deep is one big drink.
Yes, Lake Cumberland is still a lake; a gorgeously large and wonderful vacation magnet.