Water level
697.56ft
-0.16 ft in 24h
USACE Wolf Creek Dam updated 8:45 AM
Waters · Lakes · KY · Wed, Sep 30
Lake Cumberland water level today 697.56 ft, falling
Bite index 5/10 — Picky — get there by six.
Work for it.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
5/10
Picky
Today's bite windows
12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
10Peak 9 8Strong 7 6Good 5 4Slow 3 2 1Dead
Major
2:28 AM–4:28 AM
Moon overhead
Minor
10:37 AM–11:37 AM
Moonset
Major
2:57 PM–4:57 PM
Moon underfoot
Minor
8:13 PM–9:13 PM
Moonrise
Sunrise 6:35 AM · sunset 6:25 PM · tomorrow's first major 3:28 AM–5:28 AM · windows on every water
Solunar · computed updated 9:27 AM
Conditions right now
Water temp estimated
≈64°F
7-day mean of air temperature, ±4.5°F typical
computed from NOAA KEKQ updated 8:56 AM
Pressure
30.13inHg
rising · +2 hPa/12h
NOAA KEKQ updated 8:56 AM
Wind
8mph S
NOAA KEKQ updated 8:56 AM
Moon
81% waning
Solunar · computed updated 9:27 AM
What this means
Largemouth bass, Crappie, Catfish
This gauge reports level but no water temperature, so depth calls stay open. Read the windows and the pressure trend instead.
Lake Cumberland level over the last 8 days
697.56 ft down 0.16 ft in 24 hours
That sits 1% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 697.55 and 698.84 ft. Over the week it is down1.01ft.
09-22 697.55–698.84 ft 09-30
USACE Wolf Creek Dam updated 8:45 AM
The week ahead
| Thu | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
| Sat | 6 | Biting | |
| Sun | 6 | Biting | |
| Mon | 6 | Biting | |
| Tue | 5 | Picky | |
| Wed | 6 | Biting |
Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.
Lake Cumberland boat ramps and public fishing access
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources lists 73 public access points on Lake Cumberland. These are the 8 closest to our gauge — the farthest one the agency lists sits 45 mi away.
- Kendall Ramp 0.4 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: PavedParking capacity: 25 or LessRestrooms: Year-Round All-HoursCamping: Year-Round All-HoursFee: Yes
- Halcomb's Landing 0.7 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: MultipleParking: PavedParking capacity: 51 plusCourtesy dock: YesRestrooms: Year-Round All-HoursCamping: Year-Round All-HoursAccessible ramp: Year-Round All-HoursFee: Yes
- Ryans Camp Ramp 3.1 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: UnpavedParking capacity: 25 or LessCourtesy dock: YesRestrooms: Seasonal All-HoursCamping: Seasonal All-HoursFee: No
- Grider Hill Marina 3.4 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: MultipleParking: PavedParking capacity: 51 plusCourtesy dock: YesRestrooms: Year-Round All-HoursCamping: Year-Round All-HoursMarina: Year-Round Limited-HoursFee: Yes
- Rowena (north bank) 3.5 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: UnpavedParking capacity: 25 or LessFee: No
- Rowena Ramp (south bank) 3.8 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: PavedParking capacity: 25 or LessFee: No
- Fryman's Landing 5.4 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: PavedParking capacity: 25 or LessFee: No
- Clifty Creek Access 6.3 miRamp surface: PavedLaunch lanes: SingleParking: PavedParking capacity: 25 or LessFee: No
Access data from Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Distances are straight-line from our gauge, not driving distance.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources · public access inventory
Before you go
A Kentucky fishing license covers this water — $24.31 a year for residents. KDFWR sets the rules and is the one that counts.
What it costs, and who is exempt →Nearby waters today
- 6 Biting Green River Lake KY · 46 km
- 6 Biting Barren River Lake KY · 87 km
- 5 Picky Nolin Lake KY · 108 km
- 4 Picky Lake Hartwell GA · 334 km
- 6 Biting Lake Michigan MI · 663 km
Questions people ask about Lake Cumberland
Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Lake Cumberland.
- Is it worth fishing Lake Cumberland today?
- 5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 2:28 AM–4:28 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Lake Cumberland?
- Today's major windows run 2:28 AM–4:28 AM and 2:57 PM–4:57 PM, with minor windows at 10:37 AM–11:37 AM and 8:13 PM–9:13 PM. Sunrise is 6:35 AM and sunset 6:25 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Lake Cumberland?
- No gauge on Lake Cumberland measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 64°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KEKQ (Monticello, Wayne County Airport). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
- What is the water level at Lake Cumberland right now?
- 697.56 ft, read at 8:45 AM from the Wolf Creek Dam gauge run by the USACE. Over 24 hours it is down 0.16 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Lake Cumberland?
- Falling. The lake is down 0.16 ft in 24 hours and down 1.01 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 697.55 and 698.84 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
- Can you eat the fish you catch in Lake Cumberland?
- That is a health question and it belongs with the state, not with us. KY publishes fish consumption advisories through its health or environmental agency, and those are the ones that count. We give no eating advice.
- Do you need a licence to fish Lake Cumberland?
- Yes. A Kentucky fishing license covers this water, required from age 16. KDFWR sets the rules and is the one that counts.
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 9:27 AM
- NOAA KEKQ Monticello, Wayne County Airport 8:56 AM
- NOAA LMK gridded forecast 7:51 AM
- USACE Wolf Creek Dam Wolf Creek Dam Headwater 8:45 AM
Wolf Creek Dam holds this lake, and the Corps of Engineers reads the pool there every fifteen minutes — USGS has no gauge on the lake at all. The Corps puts the top of the power pool at 723 ft and the bottom at 673 ft; that fifty-foot band is the seasonal drawdown, so a reading in the seven-hundreds is normal rather than low. There is no temperature sensor in the lake, so the depth calls stay open.
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.