Dale Hollow the past 6 days

First lets talk a little safety on the winter water:

I almost lost my Brand New Explorer to the depths of Dale Hollow due to certain people not using any common sense or just not knowing about winter safety rules. I took out Friday morning at Horse Creek around 9am to go meet Bobby Westmoreland for breakfast and the ramp was completely iced over due to certain people launching their boats then immediately hauling butt up the ramp bringing all the lake water with them. This water drains off all up the ramp and when the temps are in the teens this water will freeze in seconds. I backed down my empty trailer just seconds after another person had launched his boat and did not drain his trailer. The second my tires hit the water/ice I kept on sliding towards the lake with no chance of stopping. If it was not for my quick thinking and putting it in drive then flooring it with 4 wheel drive up the ramp I would have been swimming. I ended up going to the other side of the marina and took out at the old ramp. This all could have been avoided if people would launch their boat then pull the trailer up just enough to let the water drain back into the lake for a minute or so, then proceed up the ramp. Their will be very little water on the ramp to freeze over. Take note for anyone that fishes in the winter please for the safety of others. If I had my boat attached when I backed down the ramp, I doubt I would have been able to get back up the ramp at all.

I am a big guy and they don't make winter gear for a man of my size. To stay warm, I wear about 6 layers, literally 6 layers, plus a couple of hats and hoods to keep my head warm. It is hard to move your head around with all these layers in the cold plus your eyes water and freeze. Very dangerous in operating a boat in this condition. Buy a helmet for I will this week. It will keep the wind off your face and make it safer to operate the boat. I always thought wearing a helmet was stupid and I WAS WRONG. I am the stupid one. Fishing in the winter is not like any other time for I think it is way more dangerous. We may get the skiers and joy boaters out of our way but the cold water, temps and other stuff is just more obstacles for us to overcome. Be careful.

Now for fishing:

Monday I fished in the Horse Creek area for only a few hours after my arrival. Water was 54 and very dark. Caught 2 short smallies on jigs and had one massive strike on a jerk bait that had perfect teeth impressions on both sides of my lucky craft right over the front hook. I guess it was a muskie and have no clue how I did not hook this fish for the bite was perfectly centered over the front treble.

Tuesday I fished with Steve Headrick and we put in at Holly Creek. Water clarity was a million times better as was my confidence for I mainly fish from First Island north most of the time and know the lake pretty good. High Blue skies with very little wind all day made for tough fishing conditions. Second cast with yellow asprin head jig comes aboard a beautiful 5 1/2 pounder. Steve had a decent one on the jig shortly thereafter with the fish practically hitting it as Steve was hung on a stump. We hit some bluffs, islands, banks up in the creeks, and points all day and ended up with 8 or so total plus a couple of LDR by Steve (That is Long Distanced Released).

Wednesday I fished with Mike, 3sons on here. High Blue Skies and tough conditions to start and then it clouded up a bit later in the day. I picked him up at Willow Grove and we hit one spot early that I landed the big one on Tuesday with no luck. Then off to my honey hole that produced a 5-6 for me within a few cast and Mike did an excellent job of netting this fish. He took some good pictures and off we went. Mike landed a good 3 1/2 pounder plus a couple more good ones and then there was that massive 4 incher towards the end of the day. I had a 3 pounder on the yellow jig than a good 5-4 on the fly later in the afternoon plus 2 others all day. We had 8 total, 7 on the fly, and I thought that was not very good considering the day clouded up but when we took out there was one certain guide that was taking out and he had 7 for the day with none over 4 so our day was pretty good after all. All fish came north of First Island.

Thursday, I fished by myself and if it was not for John Davis guiding 2 guys, I would have been by myself on the lake. I never saw another boat ALL day other than John. Cold, Windy, Cloudy, Snowy, Sleet, Misty rain, just like the Smallies like it. I caught 11 total all day, all on the fly, with a 5-15 that was 6-0 if I held her in the wind but 5-15 without wind aided so she is a 5 and not my 3rd ever 6. Fought the waves all day and fished windy banks, windy points, protected walls and points, banks up in the back of creeks plus my honey hole. Camera froze up early and it is still froze in the open position with the shutter open. I am looking for a winter camera by the way if they make such a thing. All fish came north of Goat Island.

Friday, Fished out of Horse Creek from 5am to 9am with nothing. I hit Horse, Dale and a few other spots with not a hit. The only thing that I realized is that when the fish are not biting and it is 14 degrees, it is really cold. Water was visibly more black than where I had been fishing and I had no confidence at all. Took out at 9am and had a very good breakfast with Bobby Westmoreland to hear some more Billy stories. By buddy Cliff, Chunknwind, came down at noon and we put in at Holly Creek. Ran to one spot and I had a good 3 pounder right off the bat to show him there were still fish in Dale and he did an excellent job of netting, AS HE ALWAYS DOES. He still has not lost that touch in netting big brown fish from last winter. High blue skies and we ended up with 3 total.

Saturday, back to Holly Creek before daylight and to my suprise there was someone there on the ramp which is the first time I can remember someone beat me to the the ramp. Cliff caught the first one in my honey hole then off to another newly found spot that produced a 5-0 for me and another good smallie to boot. Little did we know that was it for a long time. Ran all day hit spot after spot, by my gas mileage we ran 42 miles total all around mid lake. Around 3pm I set a goal that we will catch 6 before we leave the lake that day. I gave up on my big fish holes and went to my numbers spot that produces fish but no big ones. I guaranteed him that we would catch fish less than 15 inches long and it happened. Clebo made a comment that I done man and made his last cast to put her down as the sun was way behind the hills. Waves are hitting this spot pretty hard and I had the trolling motor on 50% just to move up the bluff. Bobber goes under and I set the hook on a monster 8 incher that got off shortly thereafter, then a couple of cast later I catch 2 monster 6 inchers back to back cast, a couple of cast later IT happended. The bobber goes under and I rear back to set the hook on a 3 1/2 incher, yes a 3 1/2 incher. Most of the jerk baits in my box are longer than this fish but I did set the hook and did land the big girl. She did have 2 eyes and by my wifes calculations size does not matter, if it has 2 eyes, 2 gills and a tail it counts as "1". I will accept her math and that made 6 for the day with a 5-0 to boot.

Sunday, cloud cover gave promise not as cold as we leave Holly Creek. To my honey hole we go and Clebo lands the firs of the day again. Nothing after that so honey hole #2 we go and he is saying something to the effect that he led Saturday 1-0 when my bobber goes under and it is a 2 lb "Trash fish" Largemouth. He laughs at my comment about Trash Fish. We hit to our 3rd spot and I catch a good 3 pounder. 3 spots = 3 fish it will be a good day. But that is it. I have had a small leak in my boat for several months but have never taken it to get repaired. It is under warranty but no time to take it to the shop so I just bilge out every time we move and there has not been a problem until my bilge pump did not work this morning. We took on so much water that I lost 5 mph on top speed, barely could plane out and no whole shot at all. Took her to the ramp and put her on the trailer, pulled the plug and it took 15 minutes to drain while the boat was sitting on the ramp. No telling how many gallons of water was in my Deep V at that time but we think we were well on our way to a nice liesurely swim back to Holly Creek in 49 degree water with about 6 layers of clothing on. To the shop tomorrow to get a bilge pump installed then back to Dale Sunday for 5 more days. The leaky hull can wait until the FNF season is over but if you see a big fat guy in a Navy Blue rain suit swimming for his life at Dale, stop by and give me a ride.

In all, water temp was 53-54 Monday and 48-50 when we left this morning. I never patterned any fish to say they were on one part or another. I can say none of the big fish came off bluffs so I don't think they are there yet. The 5 over 5 came off an Island flat, secondary point, secondary point with grass, back of a creek on sloping mud bank, back of a creek on a steeper rocky bank so you can see no pattern. The yellow jig bite will only get better and the water clarity was pretty good when you get north of First Island and better the farther north you go but probably will get better farther south if the temps hold down this week. I fished 10-12 feet deep pretty much most of the time and used Duck Feather or Craft Jigs with Grey, Red and Chartruese. I am just guessing but I bet my boat hit 40-50 different spots over the week and averaged 15-20 per day or more.

It was nice meeting those that I did Friday night. Sorry we did not get in the tourney but I had no confidence in the water in the Horse Creek area and my boat is not set up to run the 22 miles one way to get to where I was on fish. Thanks to Redneck for the jigs that he gave me and I tried a couple of them with no luck but they look good and will produce whent he time is right. I will say that Bob and Steve gave everyone some very good information during the Friday night meeting. Follow the shad, stay in the shade, don't be afraid of the wind, don't be afraid to change it up and use different colors, different depths or retrieves, and focus on what you are doing for when the fish hits try to duplicate that same presentation again. I will forward pictures to Jim to get posted as soon as my wife gets them downloaded. Until then, Good Luck in the hunt for the 12 pounder for I believe even more every trip she is in Dale Hollow and someone will catch her one of these days, SOON.

Hi ya Ekwood,,,glad ya had a hell of a trip. Nice job on the 6`s. I think I got a pair of GOOD coveralls that will fit your rather large rump. My dad was 6.5 and weighted 300 all his life and I have a pair of his that haven`t been use very much at all. comes with a big hood that will fit that BIG HEAD you probley got now with all them big fish....:-) LOL.. I`ve been to the river 2 times this weekend and caught some real nice stripers so be ready.

Doug

Nice report. Sounds like a pretty good week on the Hollow. I'm heading down Tuesday for a couple of days.

I'll keep an eye out for you swimming around next weekend, we are heading down on sunday for a few days, gonna stay at eagles cove, I'll be in a blue and silver stratos. Hoping the fish will cooperate, looks like we have a little warming trend in store, good for my hands, bad for the small jaws

Your story's and report were interesting to read. Thanks for sharing the experience with us. I really enjoy reading stuff on the forums.

Sounds like you had a good time and caught lots of nice small mouths.

But what really interested me the most was the story about the ice on the ramp. I can relate to that somewhat. The part about sliding into the water with the truck and trailer. Only it happened to me in the summer time. The cause was slick algae growing on the ramp. I guess people taking out of the water helps the algae grow on the part of the ramp that's near the water's edge but out of the water. All I know is that I know carry a tow webbing in my truck at all times.

Sounds like I should throw in a big bag of Calcium Chloride for my winter fishing trips. That may help melt any ice on the ramp.

I think you got me thinking about how to pull out of the water slow and not bring up loads of water onto the launch ramp. Most launch ramps have grooves cut across the concrete to give you better traction but not all launch ramps have that feature. Patoka Lake has this and the Corp launch ramps on the Ohio River at Dog town and Angle Mounds have those grooves in the concrete which really helps.

You are lucky you have a four wheeled vehicle and was able to throw it into four wheel drive to stop the skid into the water.

I had a leak in my boat for a while and figured out it was a broken pipe in my live wells drain system. Every time I used the live well there was water collecting in the bottom of the boat below the flooring. I hated having any water in my boat. I searched for the leak for a few months before I finally got the live well torn apart and found the leaking PVC pipe fitting. I glue the pipes back together and stopped the leak. Most leaks I can find by filling the boat with water with a garden hose. I do this in the hot summer months and on my concrete driveway with the boat sitting on the trailer as level as I can get it. Any leaking rivets of cracked welds will soon have drops of water coming form them. I circle the leaking join or rivet with a grease pencil and then drain all the water out of the boat and let things dry out for a few days. Then I get the JB weld out or take the boat to a welder to have him weld the seams back up. JB weld works great for rivet heads that have popped of on the outside of the boat. The hole is only about 1/4" in diameter and is easily welded shut or JB welded shut. I only used JB weld one about 15 years ago when I was taking a trip to Barkley Lake and found a hole in the boat right before we left. My neighbor introduced me to JB weld that day and it saved the trip. That hole is still holding water tight after all those years. We water skied a lot during that trip so the boat was taking a pounding and the JB weld held up to the test.

Again thanks for the great fishing report. Sounds like the fish were hitting the flies at around 10 to 12 ft deep. That was the one question I kept asking myself as I read all the stories of each days fishing. Then finally at the end you answered the question on the depth.

I fished today for about 4 hours and found lots of fish at around 20 to 22 ft deep. I even got some bites on fish that were suspended at 20ft deep over 40ft of water. Those may have been crappie but I don't know for sure. I did catch one nice bass right down on the bottom in deep water. He didn't jump but sure pulled hard. I thought that I had a catfish after a while. I first thought it was just a big crappie as that was what I had been catching in this area. But it fought too hard for a crappie and was still pulling hard after a few minutes. But it surprised me when it got to the surface and was still fighting but not jumping. I guess the cold water slows them down. Did your smallie jump out of the water on this winter trip? I would not be surprised to hear of smallies jumping even in this cold water.

As for the winter gear. Surely someone makes an XXXXLarge cover all that has thinsulate insulation and Goretex coating.

I went out today and ended up sweating. All I had on was my Morton's long johns. These long johns are made with two layers. The inner layer is made from 100% Polypropylene Fibers while the outer layer is made up of 70% polyester fibers and 30% wool fibers. Even if you sweat they keep you pretty warm. The inner layer is hydrophobic and repels water or sweat and the outer layers pull the sweat toward them. The trick is to keep the outer wear open so if you exert yourself too much and start sweating the perspiration can escape and not build up inside the outerwear. My outerwear is thinsulate fibers and hydroproof outer fabric. But I am not sure what the inside of my Field & Stream's Bib and parka is made out of. I do know that it collects sweat and gets wet if you don't let it air out and do too much work even in cold weather. I also wear a socking hat made out of thinsulate and have thinsulate mittens as well. And it helps to carry a dry towel with you to dry your hands. I took out my propane catalytic heater with me today for the first time. I didn't really need it but wanted to test it out and see where in the boat it would best be placed. I used it one time to dry out one of my cotton work gloves that I wore today. It only took a few minutes to make the glove toasty warm and dry. This heater puts out 15,000 BTU/hr. They make some with two burners so that doubles the BTU/hr output to 30,000 BTU's/hr. These attach to the valve on the 20 lb propane tanks that are used on gas grills. And the burner sits on top of the propane tank. If it's windy the thing don't really heat the boat up but they will warm your hands up real good even in the wind. If my hand, feet and head stay warm then I can stay warm. My outerwear is composed of a Field&Steam Parka and Matching camo bibs. I got these at ####'s Sporting Goods Store for about 180 bucks for the set. I used thin silk like socks under some heavy polypropylene socks and then wore regular Tennis shoes. I have some nice thinsulate/goretex boots that I can wear when it's really cold outside. But I like the tennis shoes as they allow me more mobility in the boat. I don't need to fall out of the boat after tripping one something in bulky boots. But it was nearly 50 deg F this afternoon. Winds were pretty brisk. NOA Said the winds were 10 mph out of the south but they felt more like 20 mph. I only fished the sheltered areas near the ramp as it's an electric trolling motor only lake. I ended up with 5 nice fat White Crappie for the day. Started off catching them left and right and then they stopped. I used minnows for bait. Just tight line the minnows down on the bottom. It's good to feel the thumb once more before the lakes freeze over.

One guy drove up to the ramp as I got there and parked right on the ramp. He had been wanting to go crappie fishing but the lakes he fished were all frozen over solid. So he went to this pit to release the minnows. He ended up giving two dozen minnows to me. I can always use more minnows. I just purchased a new minnow bucket and 1/4 lb of chubs for the day. I'll take the ones that I don't use home with me and put them in my aquarium. I have two live crappie in another larger aquarium and I feed them minnows year round. They are my fishing barometer. If they are eager to eat then I figure the fish in the lake will be also. LOL. I go fishing no matter what though. But I do enjoy seeing if they can predict how well I will do. I do know that most of the days and times I catch limits of fish are times that the solunar table says will be good or excellent times to fish. Maybe it's a coincidence but man it sure does work out a lot of the time.

Regards,

Moose1am

Elnut, I am so glad you had a good time. I know you were a little bummed when your original vacation got delayed, but you stayed positive, and see, you were rewarded with some great fishing.

Glad you stayed very safe, and made it back ok. I single slip and fall in that water, well you just won't last long, so another tip is carry extra clothes and blankets!!

Hope to see some of those pictures of the fish. You have my email address, and hope you will send me some to feel a little envious over.


Tight lines and God Bless

Danny