Dale Hollow Smallmouth

[JCDEERMAN]

Anyone been fishing there for smallies in the last month or so?

I will be there this weekend trying a little float-n-fly....we rented a cabin. What are the fish doing?

 

[AndyW]

Where you stayin at the Holler? I keep my boat at Sunset Dock.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

We are staying at Mitchell Creek on Livingston Boatdock RD. This will be our 3rd annual trip. We stayed at Horse Creek 2 years ago and are actually staying in the same exact cabin we stayed in last year there at Mitchell Creek.

I'm not very familiar with the area, though I'm sure you are. Are you anywhere around there?

 

[AndyW]

Sorta close, but not really. I'm a good bit east of there. If Mitchell Creek's restaurant is open this time of year, they do serve an excellent plate of fried catfish. I dont get down that way much, I have an older cabin cruiser and thats literally a $200 trip in boat gas from Sunset to there and back.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I remember last year at this time of year trying to get in that marina and getting a good meal, instead of cooking something. But it was closed. I dont know if it is only opened seasonal, or what. Last year, we were the only ones there...it was a ghost town, maybe that was it????

We do all the dinners, but its the warm lunches you want when you've been on the freezin cold lake all morning.

If you've ever been smally fishin this time of year, whether its float-n-fly or whatever else, fire away on the tips.

2 years ago, I was the only one out of our group that didnt catch one and I got alot of he!! about it. Last year, I was the only one to catch one, so I gave them all he!!. It's really slow fishin. I'm all ears, if you know any tricks

 

[AndyW]

Mitchell Creek's restaurant must be seasonal like the rest of them. Sunset's restaurant shut down in October.

Only tip I've ever heard for smallies was they love spring lizards. I think thats later in the spring when thats the most effective, but might be worth a shot.

Kinda funny really, I stay on my boat almost every weekend yet havent wet a line in the lake in 20 years.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

yea I like the hangin out and everything else, but after a while, I have to fish a little. Thats unbelievable....I'd be fishin atleast one day every weekend if I had the chance. I will definitely let you know how we do. I'm excited about it. It's about the last thing I do until turkey season kicks in.

 

[AndyW]

The smallies are definitely in there, not uncommon to see guys come in with 3-4 nice ones in their livewell. Good luck and I will need to see pics, or it never happened.

 

[SilverFox]

Silver Buddy.

I haven't be to DH but I've been catching them locally on them for a couple of months now.

 

[Kimberman]

My fishing pard fished last weekend with the FnF and had a decent day. I think they put 10 in the boat and missed a few more. He said they were pulling a lot of water, so the fish had moved from the back of pockets up to the front on the main lake. He was fishing a 12' leader. I may go up on Sunday for the day, and I only plan on bringing the FnF rod.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Silver Buddy.

I haven't be to DH but I've been catching them locally on them for a couple of months now.

Honestly, I have been bass fishing all my life (largemouth), but I have never used a Silver Buddy. Whats the best method for using them? We will be fishing on drop offs at the mouths of creeks. It looks as though you could fish it like a rattle trap with a slow retreival. But I have a feeling fishing it more like a jig would be more effective this time of year.

 

[SilverFox]

First off.... you are going to hang it up. When you do you can sometimes shake it free. Other times you can pull up past it and it will pull free from the other side. With 10 pound test if none of these work, you can most of the time straighten the hook if you are right over top of it. If you are on fish, word is not to put a lure retriever in the water and try to knock it free. They say it scares the school which makes sense. I have never had to put a lure knocker down to get mine free. I have broke a few off but usually it's because I was on rock and it cut the line.

I fish it some in about every location you can think of. I've done my best with it in water over 20 feet in depth. I prefer the 1/2 oz models.

I use a 7 foot medium action rod with 10 pound mono and a Abu Garcia Cardinal 502 reel.

I always let it hit the bottom. I never just fish it like a rattletrap.

The majority of fish I catch are on bluff walls... or at least I think that is what you guys in TN call them. I will cast it out around 30 or 40 yards (you can cast it further but I find it's hard to feel your bait on mono with longer cast) towards the wall and try to work it back to the boat at about a 30 degree angle to keep it in the strike zone the longest. I change up my retrieve... meaning sometimes I rip it up 3 or 4 feet and other times I just hop it a couple of inches just enough to get some movement from side to side with the lure. The rip is gonna get the most active fish and seems to work better. You don't want to sit around all day working fish that are not feeding so I rip it most of the time. You always let it fall on a slack line. Watching the line you will see it get bit or you will feel it in your rod if you have a decent rod. It's about 50-50 for me of seeing/feeling them hit on the fall to just getting a load on picking it up next time. Working to me is like a Yo-Yo motion.

I fish it the same way pretty much all the time. I have used it like a jigging spoon over schooling fish but I have only caught one fish like that. Casting has been way more effective for me.

One thing I will point out... make sure your drag is tight enough. I lost a really good fish yesterday when the hooks pulled out. I didn't get a good hook set since I didn't have the drag tight. I put new line on the reel the day before and like an idiot didn't check the drag well after taking the spool off to replace line. You can always loosen the drag if you need to but it's hard to tighten it on hookset.

 

[Football Hunter]

Silver fox sounds about right to me.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Thanks SilverFox. That is alot of useful information. I will definitely give it a try as long as I can get my hands on some Silver Buddys. It has to be more effective than the float-n-fly. I like a little faster pace fishing anyways.

I will definitely let yall know how we do. Most of the ones we have caught in the past have been in the 3-5 lb range. That works for me, just wish more were caught.

 

[SilverFox]

Sometimes they are hard to find. I know BPS makes a model also... and they actually are not that bad in the 1/2 models. I've caught some fish on them. I don't know about the other sizes.

Some people use the larger models for fishing 30-40 foot of water. I have fished a 1/2 oz that deep. It just takes it a little while to hit bottom.

The big thing is you don't have to be pretty fishing this method. It took me a while to actually catch fish doing it. When I moved to the rip method I caught a lot more but let the fish decide for you.

I also use crappie line for my main line since it comes in yellow. I have a hard time seeing the line while I am fishing and the yellow shows up like a sore thumb. You can put you a green or clear leader on there with a uni knot easily and mono to mono uni knots are really strong. No need to worry about breaking them off. Some people say you can color the line with a marker but I have never tried it... and I have caught fish with no leader just yellow line. I just prefer the clear or green leader when the water is clear.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

(in no particular order) This time of year everyone fishing Dale is using:

1. Little George or Manns Spinners
2. Float-N-Fly
3. Hammer swim baits (heard a few people killing them on the 3 rig)
4. Blades

This is a weird winter for sure with such a warm November and December. Normally the shad kill would be in full swing but that isn't occurring yet (and may not) due to the above normal water temperatures.

I would suggest you go to SmallJaw.com and read the forums. Many of the guides and gentlemen who fish Dale daily post over there and give good updates.

Good luck, I love Dale Hollow!

 

[SilverFox]

I forgot about that DB. I am a member over there but I haven't been on it in a couple of weeks.

You are right about the temps. Douglas Lake was 48 main channel and 50 in the coves I was in yesterday. Made for a long and painful day of fishing. Only managed to get 2 largemouths in the boat.

 

[Daniel_Boone]

how are you fishing for your winter LM fox?

 

[SilverFox]

I've done a lot of different stuff for LM this winter. Early I caught them on shallow cranks and lipless cranks. Caught some on Jigs and Bandits. I have only caught a couple with deep cranks. Lately I've spent a lot of time with the silver buddy and have caught a few like that. I caught a pretty good one yesterday when the sun came out on a Rapala. Believe it or not, I've caught probably 3 to 1 SM vs LM on Douglas this fall/winter. They are really starting to increase in numbers there. The 6 1/2 pound smallmouth I caught in October came from Douglas. Now as far as size, I've only caught 3 that were 19 inches or better. A keeper on Douglas has to be at least 20 inches and you're allowed one per boat. Give it another year or two and Douglas should produce some good keeper fish.

I've not fished my normal winter stuff which would be a texas rig worm of some sort or a shaky head. I've been fighting the wind a lot and I like less wind if possible when I fish that. Makes it a lot easier on me with less wind. My boat sits high in the front and can be a beast to control in the wind.