Dale Hollow Brown Fish

Wanted to get thoughts on Dale this fall/winter. Me and my fishing buddy have been going down for years. The first report this site had about F&F we were hooked. The next winter we went and did great. We started going down early for the jig bite and later in the year for the Fly. Last year we had a hard time. Didn't catch or graph the large schools of bass we had in the past. I know a lot of people on here had a hard time to. Has anything changed, should we be planning for another lake. Don't fish down there enough to know what is up. I do believe lakes go in cycles and they can change their patterns that will throw off the best. If the lake is in a down cycle we will move on. Fishing pressure will only delay the return. If the fish have changed due to increase of grass or water temp, I love the challenge. Need some help.
Thx
Crank

From everything I've seen the smallmouth fishing on Dale Hollow is off. There was a fish kill last year. People that fish Dale a lot are reporting fewer and smaller fish than previous years. Check out [URL="http://www.smalljaw.com"]www.smalljaw.com[/URL] You'll hve to register to view the forum. Several guides post there, along with some pretty good fisherman. I fished there last October. It was beautiful, but tough.

There is a response from fish and wildlife about that very thing posted at the top of the smallmouth discussion board at smalljaw. Very informative - deals with the kill, fish size, and fishing pressure.

For those who are not members of smalljaw.com here's a link to the response from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA): [URL]http://tn.gov/twra/region3/dhollowfishkill.pdf[/URL]

look into center hill same type lake -the grass best i can tell. the fish are not as big but i have caught many keepers out of there. i dont think it gets the pressure dale does either.

What's the size limit there at center hill

[QUOTE=pastorbass;523303]What's the size limit there at center hill[/QUOTE]

Are you planning on keeping them?

No just curious what a keeper was - trying to get a size perspective

18" on smallmouth largemouth have a slot I think under 16 over 21 but not 4 sure and no limit on spots

Just pulled off dale hollow. Only managed 8 in 5 hours, all smallies. No monsters but one close to 20" and 4 more over 17". These were the healthiest fish i've seen in several years. 6 fish came in the first hour of daylight.

[QUOTE=Jtmeador21;523299]look into center hill same type lake -the grass best i can tell. the fish are not as big but i have caught many keepers out of there. i dont think it gets the pressure dale does either.[/QUOTE]

i fished center hill in the 80s and early 90s with a close friend that put himself through college guiding on center hill. when we fished together that place was phenomenal , when i fished without him it was ok at best, i struggled. we fished the middle of winter usually on the cold nasty dark days, this was during the heyday of jigging silver buddies . pretty much before FNF and waayyy before todays high end electronics. i have often thought since then about returning to center hill in the middle of cold nasty winter with the fly and the help of the HDS, im pretty sure its going to happen THIS winter. Our best days on center hill were better than my best days ever on Dale hollow, but as i said before this was with somebody that grew up on the lake and knew it very, very well.

[QUOTE=Fishin is life;523357]Just pulled off dale hollow. Only managed 8 in 5 hours, all smallies. No monsters but one close to 20" and 4 more over 17". These were the healthiest fish i've seen in several years. 6 fish came in the first hour of daylight.[/QUOTE]

That is pretty cool.............and those are solid fish.

I have two more KY trips, then 6 or 7 Dale trips starting the weekend before thanksgiving.........

Later,

Geo