Shocked at Dale Hollow

[Jarrod McKnight]

Just got back from Dale Hollow this afternoon. Fished Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The smallies were hard to find. Fished main points, secondary points, and flats. Only caught 4, and the biggest being only 3lbs. We fished out of Hendricks Creek. What really shocked me was all of the live bait fisherman! I couldn't belive it! My dad and I were the only folks we seen or talked to that were fishing artificial. Even the guides we seen were fishing shiners and/or shad with their customers! Most of the live bait fisherman were anchoring down on the flats, for hours, and dead sticking shiners. By the way, they weren't catching any fish either. Doesn't anyone think that this takes the sport out of fishing? Does anyone fish with grubs, crankbaits, silver buddies, or even the so much talked about float-n-fly? The last time I was at the lake was 11 years ago and I dont recall the live bait jiggers being so abundant! I was just curious if any body else has noticed or ran into this and would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

[Shimano4Life]

Live bait is a means for those who can't work an artificial lure properly ! Just kidding! LOL
I don't fish live bait anymore, but I did when NOT catching fish was too frustrating for me to handle (mostly when I was a child). I think the guides you saw fishing them only wanted their clients to catch some....not to ruin how our "game" is played.
Sometimes the bite is that slow........live bait has to be used. I'm kinda against the whole live bait thing, because you're not truly "fooling" the fish, and you're not imitating forage -- You're actually FISHING THE FORAGE.
It does produce results for those people who do fish live bait.

[pointer]

Although I'm not a "great" smallmouth fisherman, I can usually come up with some sort of pattern, but I was out on Thursday (using artificial baits) and completely whiffed.
Several guides have made information available to me from either the websites or from just bumping into them and it has been very good information and I appreciate them sharing it. If they have to use shiners or shad to make a client happy, go for it. It likely beat the daylights out of what I did on Thursday. Actually, I didn't notice much more than folks in the backs of the creeks trying to pick up some of the green cruisers gettting ready for the BFL next weekend. They were even more tightlipped than the smallmouth.
Anyway, sorry to hear you had a rough go of it. Hopefully, things will pick up here before long.

[harryprocraft]

i don't live bait fish for bass. but when the fish are pulling the line that is what it is all about. if a guide uses live bait it is surely to get his customers what they paid for (a fish on the line) i hold no hard feelings if someone live bait fishes. the best fisherman i know was 90%live bait, 10% floating rapala, worm (purple or black) that is all my grandfather used. i still have 2 of his rapala's i use them some times when i am thinking of him

[rickhise]

Jarrod, I have to admit I fish live bait and probably go way to often, if you will pm me a day or 2 b4 your next trip down, I'll make a point not to fish on those days, Ill speak with some of the others about it too. Your probably right we catch way too many, its not hardly fair.

[lil skeeter]

i didnt realize that live bait fisherman were a different breed than the artificial fisherman. i like the challenge of fooling fish but am not against using the real deal to catch them if that is what it takes that day, but i dont think that makes me or anyone else less of a fisherman.

[Jarrod McKnight]

Rickhise- The people I seen live bait fishing were not catching any fish either, like I said. They were doing no better than we were. As for pm'ing you before my next trip down, not necessary, best of luck to you, I hope you do well. Live bait fishing is something I've never done, nor has it been a point of intrest. I personally like the thought that I am "fooling" the fish, but hey, to each his own. I just hope that whether it is artificial or live bait we all catch and release, so one day someone else may get to feel the mighty fight of the wonderful bronzebacks! I hope that I didn't offend, not my intentions by any means.

[Chubminnow]

Live bait, artificial bait...who the heck cares? There's nothing wrong with fishing either way in my own opinion. It's all according to what I'm in the mood for and how much time and money I have (both of which I'm very short on). But yea, you're right...no guides were doing any good either...at least not on Saturday anyway. I personally know this to be true because Tennessee Wildlife Authority checked us out on Saturday...he told us no one he had checked on the lake that day were doing any good either, live bait or artificial either one...one boat he checked reported having caught three...as for us we boated three smallmouth and one five pound walleye. Sunday we decided to pack it in and come home early...but before we left we had breakfast there at the state park lodge and talked to two other guys who fished saturday. They boated less than ten fish I think, spots, LM's and SM's, one smallmouth over 21" and had the picture to prove it. They told us they were using jerk baits mostly, in the creeks but not to far up in the creeks.

[TEE]

There's times in the Spring and Fall that if your not draggin' a shiner, your not getting bit.
And then there's times when artificial will outfish live bait...depends on the fish and time of year. Am I ashamed about draggin' shiner sometimes? HELLNO!

[thebassman30]

There's no shame either way. If you choose to catch them that way, please use a circle hook and practice catch'n release.

I've had a few days in the last six months where the live bait guys got an eyeful of the benefits of covering water. There are times it really pays off to power fish at Dale. More often then not, I'm pretty sure the live bait guys catch more numbers than me for sure.

If you've got the patience to stare at a bobber or fish live bait right now, more power to ya.