Story of a Dale Hollow Biggun'

All, I saw the request of Phoenix to tell the story of his biggun. While I was writing this I noticed that Phoenix has written his recount and can't wait to give it a read! A truly big Smallmouth (7 lbs or greater to me) is such a rare and special fish, I think if the story gets told, it honors that special fish.

If I could impose and clearly indulge myself, apologizing beforehand to anyone who finds it self-serving, I'd like to tell of what is to me "THE FISH".

I was a blessed angler to catch a 25.5", 8 lb 6 oz Smallmouth from Dale Hollow, March 28th, 1986, my first trip to Dale Hollow, first morning on the lake, and on my 4th cast. I can recall every single detail as though it happened this morning. Every word the truth. I’ll try to share it with those of you who might want to read on….

I've been back to Dale Hollow every year since then when the Dogwoods are blooming and have yet to see or catch another over 7 lbs, lots of 6's, each being a very special fish, and tons of 5's, but I’ve only killed one, the one Smallmouth of a lifetime, the way it should be I guess.

Travelled down from Indy with a buddy from Jasper IN I fished tourneys with back then and had dreams of catching a big ole brown fish. Researched and read all I could about DH and we decided we'd fish the lower end of the lake, and launched out of Cedar Hill. We studied a topo map of the lake for a month, and had decided well before the trip that to start with, that big, long, sloping point just across the channel and just below Cedar Hill should be the place to start…..

"OK, launched the boat, idling across at the first misty gray of dawn, studying the flasher (no LCD's in those days) as we climb up out of the channel to where it tops off at about 35 ft, probably 2 long casts away from the tip of the point. Throught the haze I can see a couple of beautiful redbuds in full bloom, and a dogwood with blossums just opening, a little larger than a squirrel's ear and lime green. “Thanks Lord for such a beautiful, crisp, still morning.”

Drop the troller over and grab the spinner rigged with 8 lb line and a 3/4 oz black and gold Silver Buddy. Sticky sharp hooks. Glad I hit ‘em with the stone before I left home. Launch a long cast toward the point, let 'er hit the bottom, not more than a 4 or 5 count, about 10 ft I guess, and start liftin', droppin', and crankin' back to the boat. Hmmm, feel the vibration on the lift, feel it fall back on a fairly tight line, OK, there's the bottom, lift, vibrate, drop and crank, all the way back to the boat. I can do this and this REALLY feels fishy. This is gonna be fun. I am more than excited.

Crank the bait up to a few inches of the rod tip, give it a rip about 5 ft to the right of the 1st cast. 4 count, a tiny bit shallower than the first, maybe 8 ft here as I feel it contact the bottom. OK, rip it up, fall-back, crank, rip it again, let 'er fall ba........THUMP, crank-crank hit. “Awww, shoot Gary, just missed one on my 2nd cast. Definately a fish, thumped it good! Can't believe I missed that fish.” Oh well, durn, it was only my 2nd cast, maybe I hesitated just a tad, afterall, that thing is just a chunk of metal and lead with 6 sharp points. Gotta rember that. Crank 'er back. “Rats!”

Another long cast maybe 5 ft to the right of the last one, 3 count, pretty shallow here, lift-rip, fall, crank, lift-rip, fall, crank back to the boat.

OK, back to where that 2nd cast was, whipped a long one, another 4 count, must be right there. Lift-rip, fall, crank, lift-rip, fall, crank, lift-rip, fall, THUMP. One crank and strike. SOLID weight, lift the rod up and keep the line tight, you are hooked up dude!!!!

“Got him that time Gary!”

OK, I thought, you’ve caught lots of smallies elsewhere and now are totally jazzed to have hooked one on the 4th cast into Dale Hollow, but, no problem. This fish is down there 14 ft or so and heavy, but no problem, got it?. OK, the line's tracking up and to the left......its gonna jump! Out comes a head and sholders shakin' like Shakira, ain't never seen nothin' like it in my life. Son of a gun that thing's big, no way did I just see that, I'm dreaming just like I had been for the last month.

But, my rod is bowed and that thing is pullin' in the direction of that 120 ft channel half a cast to my left. This is really happening and I'd better get serious. Give the drag a quick pull, perfect, let her pull all she wants. Fresh spool of 8 lb Trilene XL green, no problem.

OK, she’s out over the deep water, give the troller a kick in that direction, don’t have a clue whats to my right, maybe logs, stumps, other stuff. “Gary, whats the flasher showing?” “50 ft, no 65, no 80 ft.” “OK, cool, lets battle her out here.”

“Line’s comin’ up again Gary, WHOOOOA!!!”, she completely clears the water this time and geez that’s a big fish. Freight train weight, jet fighter speed on a 30, 40, 50 foot run down and toward the dam. Never have I hooked a fish in fresh water with THAT kind of speed and power. Drag screaming on that, (hmmmm, what was it?), oh yeah, Garcia 300 on a 6 ½ foot Blue Diamond rod.

Oh man, where was that fish hooked, I didn’t notice on the jump? “Gary, was she hooked in the mouth?” “Didn’t see it.” Oh well, keep the line tight and rod bowed, let ‘er run when she wants to, get some line when you can. Oh boy, she’s comin’ up again. NO WAY!!! Got a better look this time, and she’s bigger than I thought or could have imagined. And it looks like the Silver Buddy IS in her mouth somewhere. OK, we’ve got a chance.

She freight trains again and here she comes again, pokes a big ole head out of the water and shakes like a rag doll. Yeah, she’s hooked inside the mouth, line comin’ out the corner. She’s tiring a little I think.

“Oh no, Gary, the net’s still below the deck.” “I’m getting’ it, stay focused!” Right!

“OK, leading her to the boat Gary, get ready. Whoooa, what a run, she didn’t like seeing the boat at all.” Gotta remember that next time we lead her up. “She’s got a lot left still.” Line’s comin’ up again. This time shakin’ her head, no way she could get herself airborne again, down, then up again to shake, then back down. “OK Gary, she’s comin’ this time, be ready, don’t show her the net ‘till you know you’ll get her” (what am I thinking, Gary’s netted a thousand fish for me, best in the business, doesn’t need me to tell him what to do……). He’s as focused as me.

The bass sees the boat again and man, where does she get that speed and strength, never in my life. Comin’ up yet again, and she shakes her head. I hear that Silver Buddy jinglin’ in her mouth. Awesome, she’s hooked well and just about done. Ooops, anothere incredibly powerful run, this time down and under the boat. Quick, up to the front and jab the rod down and clear the line under the troller. Whew, a little close but you’ve done that a bunch of times. Good thing!

Here she comes again, just below the surface, this time shearing off a little toward the back of the boat, right toward Gary there poised with the net just above the water. Whoosh, Gary stabs the net just in front of her and lifts, pivots, and lays it on the carpet beside the console.

Total shock and awe, disbelief that this just happened. “That thing has to be over 7 lbs, biggest smallie I’ve ever seen”, and looks bigger than any I’ve seen in a picture. I reach down and grab her lip and pick her up. “Man-oh-man, look at that belly. It might even be 8 lbs. Not a scale out of place. Perfect fish.” Reach in her mouth, “Its my day”, the front hook dead center in the roof of her mouth, buried to the bend, back hook floating in space. Grab the needle nose and pop it out and admire the most beautiful fish I’ve ever seen.

Pop the plug into the livewell and hit the pump switch and let the water run through her gills for a minute. Admire her again, “Man, what a fish” and lay her in the livewell, shut the lid, and double check the latch.

I drop into the seat, shakin’ so much, havin’ a hard time lighting a smoke with a lighter that already is damp from the morning air. “That didn’t just happen.” Get up, flip open the lid, yes it did, she’s in there. “Sun’s not even up yet.”

Oh gee, nobody was at Cedar Hill when we got here earlier. Don’t have a TN license yet. Look across and see a couple of pickups in the lot that weren’t there before. “Gary, we gotta take a boat ride”. Pull the troller, fire up the 150 and light ‘er up back to the dock. Casually (hard to be casual given what happened 15 minutes ago) walk in, “Hi fellas, need a non-resident license……” OK, got ‘er done. Go back out, hop in the boat and motor out, cruise up the lake, turn around and come right back, 10 minutes tops.

“Fellas, you ain’t gonna believe this. Motored out around the point just now, stopped, 1st cast and got a biggun’.” “How big?” “Well, not real sure. Thinkin’ maybe a little over 6.” “Bring it up, we’ll slap it on the scales”. Go out, reach in and take a vice-grip in the lower lip and lift her up. “What a fish”!

Step back inside and hold her up…… “Whoa, big fish of the year there boys, gotta be over 7”. We walk outside and put her on the scales 8 lbs 6 oz. No way! Pull her off, lay her back on, 8 lbs 6 oz. MARK IT! Gary gets his tape measure, 25 ½ inches. “Man, what a fish”.


That fish graces my office wall here to my right as I tap this note out as it does every day I come to work. Got two green fish over 12 lbs to my left but they don’t come close to being as special a fish as the brown one over there.

7 or 8 years later I was at Cedar Hill leafing through a stack of old Polaroid pictures there on the glass counter. 2/3rds of the way through the stack I find the one they took, my name, March 28th, 1986. 25 ½”, 8 lbs, 6 oz. Silver Buddy.

“Man, what a fish”. I am blessed. Thank you Lord!

You guys are breakin my heart just kiddin man I would have thought I died and went to heaven on either yours or Phoenix's thanks for sharin. I WILL get my chance one day ,,,,,,Joe

Slimy Deck;
I wish I had the education, or knack, or practice, or what ever you call it to tell a story as well as you. This is absolutley a beautiful peice of writing and storytelling, the fact that it is true and about the subject we all love most, makes it even more interesting. It's great to hear from someone who knows the same thrill of catching a fish of this stature. Evidently there were several SM. of that quality caught during the mid to late 80s, I remember a story in the Smallmouth magazine of an 8+ caught on the lower end, in much the same way as yours and on a silver buddy. If i remember the article correctly, that fellow was retired and lived near Horse Creek, can't remember his name though. Congratulations on your trophy and may the fish gods shine on you always.

By the way, them writers at Bassmaster aint got a thing on you !!!!

I love it, I absolutely love it, Get-R done.

[quote=mhall;293837]I love it, I absolutely love it, Get-R done.[/quote]


Yep i agree nice stories--make,s a person want to go out and hook the boat and go on down to Dale and fish a little oops alot lol :)

Heck I was sweatin and nervous as heck reading about the fight. With each run the biggun made I got a little more excited and continued to read on...The anticiaption of the fight and leading up to the big girl being netted was great....Way to go netman, helped your pal get his big ole Brownie for the wall..... Maybe one day I'll get the chance to fish that lake. I do believe our Bass Club has a fall tournament on Dale Hallow, might be my chance for sure....:)

Fella's, thanks for your kind comments. I always wanted to take a stab at writing up the story of catching that fish. Just read it back through, and relived the experience again.

Was at DH 3 weeks or so ago, first time in over 20 years we had 4 straight days with temps in the 70's and low 80's, and light winds, in March. Best fishing trip ever for Gary and me, anywhere, and we've taken a few. 127 smallmouths, 113 of 'em over 16", 19 over 21" and 8 over 22". The lake is as healthy and has more 4 - 6 lb fish in it, in my opinion than it has in 21 years. I have seen trends over that time that tell me the management practices are selecting for "quality" fish rather than truly huge smallmouths. With so many "quality" fish in the lake, is it only a matter of time until a big one comes out?......maybe.

I wonder if a 10 lb + fish swims in DH today? World Record?

The dream of catching such a fish is with me every moment I'm on that lake. And every cast I make into it I'm at the ready with the hope that the next bite is gonna be "That Fish". I'm guessin' I'm not alone!

great story....