best dale hollow story?????

[shaner]

getting cabin fever! need some help getting through the next 5 weeks. What is your best dale hollow story?

[Shimano4Life]

For starters, I know the world record smallie was caught there. That keeps me going back.

[CATCHEMALL]

That is an easy one. Elwood and myself winning the Billy Westmorland tourney there this past December.

[Owskiwoski]

Three weeks ago caught a 5lber and 3.5 lber at the same time. The big one on the bobber the other on a shiner. It was a lot of work to land both at the same time. Not many lakes you can go to in January and do that with big smallies.

[Swift1]

I was pulling all nighters with pops when I was eight years old down on Dale. We use to live in Somerset and every chance he would get he would go brownie fishing at night. Dad learned the lake from a old guide by the name of Ernie Taylor , Ernie and dad became friends and probably spent hundreds of nights on Dale , Cherokee, Center hill and others. They were dedicated brownie fishermen and occasionally would pull out the ole jiggin spoon for a mess of Walleye. I can remember plenty of nights when one or two oclock would roll around and I would be done ( as a kid your batteries would run low pretty quick) and Id look up to the front of the boat to see pops , like a machine , cast after cast sending that black and blue short arm " T's " spinnerbait sailing into the night , saining those main lake grass beds( no Gps back then boys) you better know where you were at. I would always hear "you aint gonna catch anything if your baits not in the water". My bed for the night would be crawling up under the consoule and wrapping a couple life jackets around me to try and stay warm, I can still hear the sound of the water slapping up against the side of boat. My wake up calls always seemed to be a big ole brownie slapping me in the face , dont ask me why but dad always liked hitting you with his fish as he swung em in the boat and to this day nothing has changed. Sorry for the long post, I could go on for pages but I am not interested in writing a book. With all that being said take someone fishing with you especially your kids , at the time it might seem a hassle but you might impact someone in a possitive way for the rest of their lives..............Happy birthday dad , thanks for taking me , Jarrod

[bigwormy]

pouring the snow and u couldnt even see the carpet in the boat there was so much snow. caught fish after fish on a jerkbait. best day i ever had at the holler!

[mhall]

Nice post Jarrod

[demodan]

Im a member of the Kincaid Bassmasters;...supposedly we are the oldest and largest tournamant fishing club in the state. We usualy have arond 40 boats for all 12 tournaments...around 90 paid members from year to year. One of our early tournaments of the the year...is our Dale 2-day tournament..around the first...or middle of April. They / we have been going there ever sence I've been a member..8 years now. Our club keeps good stats on our club weigh-ins...for many years..even back into the 70's; we go out of Wolf River. I was on the lake ...what 2 years ago during one of the April club tournaments, a Sat. early in the morning. Out of no where..about 2-3 feet waves start hitting the boat...off a main lake point. They were so bad..that I grabed my fishing seat for balance. I said to my partner..where did those waves come from??? There wasn't a boat in sight..and the water was like glass right before the waves struck??. Just then (5-min.) I get a text-message from my wife that read "earth quake...we are ok" , she was jolted out of bed in Oldham Co. from this mild quake! We kept fishing, realy couldn't believe the waves, and earth quake..but nothing yet as far as fish biting...not even a hit. We realy was just wasting time..casting some flats...wating for the sun to get up and high...so we can get to our "sight-fishing"!! Great big largmouths were spawning...and we had about 8-10 marked from the day before..just riding around..looking for beds...and crusers; never made one cast for 9 hours of looking..it was all out combat that Friday...sawing branches..getting smacked in the face with limbs...branches.. using a push-pole to get back into the back!!! We found a bunch that day; we were so pumped about what we found..that sleeping was hard to do that Friday night. We litlerly had about 5 picked out that looked like they were over 4 pounds for sure! And of they look that big in the water...usually they are larger!...We hit the jack pot..perfect timing for big cows moving up!!!! What was so funny about it was...that even the old Dale Hallow bunch that have been going down for more than 20 years in our club...were saying it was to early...to cold..for the fish to be spawning. We just shruged our shoulders, and said..."yea...your probably right". I just kept looking at my partner that evening...we both were just laughing so hard inside...we had difficulty holding it in. Once the sun got up and high...we went after them...most were locked on..and were fired up..they didn't want anything in their nest! To make a long story short as possible..We had 8 keepers that were all largemouths...all off the next...all over 4 pounds! Funny thing about that Sat., other than the earth quake...was that it was the best day of fishing for our club as a bunch. With our huge sack...we were only finished 4th place. That day set a reacord for our club...everybody had limits..or very close to limits...large smallies that were 6+ pounds..more than just a few!! There were 7 pound largemouths...limits of Ky spots that went 3 and 4 pounds. The team that came in first...had a limit of spots (10)...for both days...and all their spots were over 3 pounds each...they said the culled over another 10!!!
We had only 4 largemouths on Sunday...and the weights were way down on day two?

[elnutsmalljaws]

Monday Dec 6, 2004, My first day on Dale Hollow. I hired John Davis to take me out on a guide trip and show me around the lake. He picked me up at Wisdom, where I was staying all week. First stop and about my 3rd cast I catch my first Dale Hollow Smallie on the FNF and I am hooked for life. Not a big fish but it had 2 eyes and gills so that counts. Caught a few more on the fly and then about 11am or so we started fishing the famous Silver Buddy. John told me what to do and I hooked into an absolute MONSTER. She gave the best fight of any fish I had ever tangled with to that date. John lays the net under this fish and what a Brute she is. He does not have a scale in his boat but she is a SURE 5 and probably a 6 knowing what I do now. You can see the fish in his book of pictures that he keeps in his cabins. Cabin #2 has the book as of a few weeks ago but you can't miss it. Just look for the biggest guy in the book wearing an ugly Blue rainsuit holding one of the biggest Smallies in the book. The lake was absolute glass at the end of the day and I wanted to see just what that Triton could do and John put the hammer down on the way back. 75 - 80 who knows but he goosed it one more time at the end to show he had some juice still left in the tank.

Tuesday Dec 7, 2004, wind is BLOWING 435,897 mile per hour which means it is blowing in every direction at Dale at the same time. Not good conditions for the bobber but I perservered and fished all day long without a bite. My brother in law, Rob, comes down that night to fish the next 3 days. We go into Albany and find this whole in the wall mexican place to eat. That night as we had just gotten in our beds, 2 BR cabin, I rip one of the ABSOLUTE longest farts in the history of mankind. It had to be a 15-20 second flatuation domination. I laid there thinking that was the greatest fart of all time and there was nobody there to witness it. A few seconds later I rip his twin brother and again mad that there was no witness to the flatuation domination event. A few seconds later Rob says "Woody, can I come sleep with you, I miss my wife". I reply "Come on but I must warn you, I got gas". He is AMAZED and in an AMAZED tone he says "Those were farts, hell I thought the heater was turning on or something else was turning on". I said "You mean you heard them, that is great, I thought they were going to go un-noticed by the world". The next moning we head to the same spot that I landed the monster Smallie from the day before and pull up to throw the fly first. Rob is all about the video or pictures, I am the exact Polar opposite. He brings out the video camera and makes me tell where we are at, what we are doing and what happened the night before regarding the Flatuation Domination. He says at the end "Well I am going to put down the camer and start to fish", as I am making my first FNF cast of the morning. The bobber goes under before he gets to his seat and he grabs the camera and videos 3 jumps of the Smallie then tries to net the fish with one hand and the camera in the other hand. He stabs and misses once to which a few words came out of my mouth that would be bleeped but they are clearly heard on the video. He finally nets my 4-8 Smallie and let the games begin.

We caught a few fish each day Wed,Thur and Fri but nothing spectacular. We did fish thru 3 different hail storms on Friday including driving thru one, which was painful. You could hear it coming thru the woods before hitting the water or see it coming across the water before reaching the boat. Pretty cool but sure did hurt when you got whacked in the head. That was all for my first week on Dale Hollow

[elnutsmalljaws]

Friday Dec 9, 2005 and I find Woody's Cove Sulphur Creek. Before you get your map out trying to find it, there is no such name on your map but it is on mine. I had 9 fish out of this little pocket in about 3 hours one morning, including my first 6 pounder that went 6-2. I posted all about this little pocket before.

Friday Dec 30, 2005 and I catch my second 6 pounder that went 6-4 out of the same little pocket within a few feet of where I casted when I caught my first 6 pounder 3 weeks earlier. The best part of these 2 fish were that they were the 2 kinds that you find in Dale Hollow. The first one was the full Bronze sides with no stripes and the white belly and the second one had the deep black stripes with the light charcoal belly. I thought of getting a double replica mount made but the cocky SOB in me said nope I will wait on a 7 because as easy as it is to catch these it won't be long. Old and Dumb is all I can say. Had plenty of money then and should have done it but too late now for the money is gone and too many bills piling up to get one done now. This little pocket still produces for I got a message on another board from a guy that caught his first 5 pounder on the fly out of this pocket a couple of weeks ago. He sent me a message thanking me for all my help, which was pretty cool. I don't fish this pocket anymore for after I posted what I did it became pretty popular but I had some other spots to take its place.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Comeback Cove

No it is not on your map either but it is on mine. My buddy Cliff had me down 6-3 one day and we pull into one of my late afternoon spots and Cliff gets hung up and breaks off. We are in his Triton and he tells me to get up front while he re-ties but I was hesitant becaust he uses a pro pole with a recessed trolling motor foot pedal to which I don't use. I had lost a lot of weight so I got up front and LOVED IT. Very comfortable in controlling the boat and boom about a 3lb Smallie which makes it 6-4. He gets re-tied and gets in the back to which we argue a bit to switch but he won't come up front. He makes 1 cast, 1 cast and gets hung and breaks off. He is re-tieing againg and boom another smallie about 2 and a half makes it 6-5. 2 fellas in a boat are fishing the point on the other side of the cove and they see me catch 2 and start asking the questions. I tell them it is the fly and they start digging in the boxes for the FNF rods all the while my buddy Hens is palomaring his butt off. Before he gets is totally done boom a nice 4lb Smallie comes to the boat and he is netting the big girl and complaining that he can't get tied on if he has to keep manning the net. Personally I don't have a problem with the current situation for it is now tied at 6-6. He gets back on deck and still won't come up front and boom I catch a 4-11 Spotted Bass off the point to make it 7-6. Beautiful Spotted bass which fought like a champ but she came to the net to complete the Comeback, to which she is now named Comeback Cove.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Beaver Cove

Again, on my map not yours. Friday Dec 26, 2008 and I take my Brother In Law Rob to Dale Hollow again for a little FNF action. We leave out around 3am and hit the water at the state park ramp minutes before daylight. We launch and hit Comeback Cove for it is on the way and I have 3 in the boat on the first pass and another on the second pass. He is amazed that 4 fish are in the boat within the first 20 minutes. We hit the next cove for it is the same layout as the one we just fished and Dave Stewart Pattern Fishing 101 tells me that there should be fish in this cove as well. Rob makes a cast and his bobber goes under and he sets the hook and his line is moving down the bank ever so slowly and methodically with drag stripping. I am seeing this as I grabbed the net and now I am thinking he has hooked Nadine, the 12lb record. I am thinking of ways to shove him overboard to claim the fish while his drag is stripping but then his bobber is coming out of the water way out there which is odd. Then SPLASH of the tail of about a 30 or 40lb Beaver. A Beaver has swam into his jig an it hooked itself on the shoulder or somewhere. Now Rob is wondering what in the world are "we" going to do. Put down the net and knew the paddle was close and my braid cutters were in hand. Either the line was getting cut or the bever was getting whacked a few times with the paddle but he was not coming in the boat. A few seconds later and Rob LDR'd the Beaver, LDR is Long Distanced Released. Rob reels in his line and his jig has a bunch of Beaver hair on the hook point. Beaver Cut