Has anybody here gone on a houseboat fishing trip before?  Lots of places have houseboats for rent on big lakes and you can fish from them or a smaller boat you bring along.  We're planning to go to Lake Cumberland, KY to try it.  Any advice or suggestions?

I have been to Lake Cumberland several times and rented houseboats. Grider Hill dock is the closest to the dam that i've rented from. State dock is my most favorite, caught a lot of good fish in that area. Alligator #2 was a memorable trip for me. If you are going to fish, I would strongly suggest to get a good map of the lake and study it. Also, make your reservations early, i had to make mine a year in advance at State dock. There is no alcohol to be purchased in that area of the world ( 1995) so if you drink you must bring your own. i would also suggest getting some brochures from the Kentucky travel bureau, they will supply some good reading and can assist you in your selections on rental places. Have fun!

Thanks very much for your advice.  Looks like we'll be going.  I'm hoping the fall fishing is good!

how'd the trip go, SeaKat? you should look into the Northern Michigan Inland Waterway. goes from Cheboygan to Petoskey. covers Mullett Lake, Indian River, Burt Lake, Crooked Lake and Pickerel Lake. I think the place that rents the houseboats is in Oden, MI

Thanks for the advice, we may check on it soon.  We divided the days between fishing and fossil hunting.  Driving the boat was fairly easy, except for a day with strong winds.  There's no anchor, you have to tie up to trees and rocks on shore for each night.  During the main part of the summer its probably pretty crowded, but there were only a few houseboats out plus lots of daily fishing boats when we were there.  As luck would have it, the temperature dropped to match the weather in Michigan, so it was chilly most of the time but we got a boat with both heat and air conditioning.  Although we hadn't ordered one, they had installed a clean hot tub on the upper deck and told us to go ahead and use it.  We'd been very sedentary at home, so the daily exertion was really tiring us out and we spent part of every evening in the hot tub.  (Needless to say, we didn't use the water slide!)  Unfortunately, the fishing was terrible that week, and nobody we talked to was catching anything.  It was frustrating early mornings and night when I could see fish jumping a short ways away, but couldn't get any to bite.  The only bite I got apparently was from a turtle.  There are a lot of them, and the marina staff told us people frequently catch them.  We saw deer, beaver, and herons besides the jumping fish and occasional turtles and the scenery was very pretty.  The water level has dropped 30 ft. or so from leakage below the dam, so a lot more rock is exposed.  We climbed all over, and I did part of my fishing from on shore as well as the boat.  The place is crinoid heaven, and we got a few really nice specimens as well as lots of stem segments.  The boat came with a full kitchen and a big gas grill, and we brought enough food that we didn't need to stop anywhere during the week.  Likewise, the water and fuel supply lasted all week with no problems.  We had to run the generator at night for a while which is quite noisy, but otherwise it was a very peaceful trip.  We've been talking about doing it again some time.  I would definitely recommend it, just not around the 4th of July!

I'm pretty sure it's the Windjammer Marina in Oden