Dale Hollow Fish Kill

[Fishin is life]

Hello guys...long time since my last post...hope you are well.

In talking with some of the best anglers on Dale over the last few weeks it is taking catching about 200 fish to get an over. That seems about right, although in reading through these posts I see some folks are catching them more frequently. Sounds like they got something special worked out.

We've been avg about 15-20 day with a majority of them being in the 19-20 range. Some of these are already pushing 5 lbs so I don't know if they'll ever make it to 21". Perhaps some of these upper end slots will grow some length, but I'm sure it will take a few years.

The overs I have seen are largely old river fish that are just long and skinny...some barely over 4 lbs.

The largemouth are substantially abundant and schooling up with the smallies and spots. It's a good time when you get on them.

One thing that I found interesting this year in the tournaments was that the people who caught the numbers didn't catch anything over. To me, this might mean that the big ones are loners not really schooled fish.

Ya'll take care,
Mark

Back 3-4 years ago when catching an over or two every trip was the norm, we noticed the same thing that a lot of our overs were long and skinny. 4 out of every 5 would be that way, and the 20" healthy fish would outweigh them nearly every time. Makes me wonder that if given the water quality, food supply, and growth rate, if the dale fish dont top out at 20" and not reach 21" until their lifespan is ending and they start losing weight. I still think you stand a better chance of catching a giant (8+) out of cumberland, but youll never catch the numbers or overall size there

[GeoFisher]

Trying to post pictures from my phone, hope it works. These are some smallies from sunday. We had atleast 3 that we measured and maybe as many as 5 over 20", but no overs. All very, very healthy fish. Had one spit out a rather large bluegill on its way to the boat with the bluegill still swimming

That is the second time I've heard of a smallie spitting out a GIANT bluegill this december.

Cool.

Nice Fish.

Later,

Geo

[mhall]

I'm thinking we need to start slow rolling a bluegill pattern crank and see what happens.

Good thing the smallmouth will only eat small baits and fnf in cold water....

[rickhise]

Trying to post pictures from my phone, hope it works. These are some smallies from sunday. We had atleast 3 that we measured and maybe as many as 5 over 20", but no overs. All very, very healthy fish. Had one spit out a rather large bluegill on its way to the boat with the bluegill still swimming

I talk an listen to a lot of reports, yours tops any I've heard for this cold weather, the day was so perfect for my style, the glass like conditions along with the low light, two days in a row nearly 3, was the best

[Fishin is life]

I talk an listen to a lot of reports, yours tops any I've heard for this cold weather, the day was so perfect for my style, the glass like conditions along with the low light, two days in a row nearly 3, was the best

We had 19 fish total. 12 smallies and 7 largemouth. Only one short largemouth and one smallie under 17". We didnt catch fish bunched up anywhere, but caught 1-4 fish pretty much everywhere we stopped. It was an above average day for us. We did have an over the weekend before but only had 8 fish and had no live bait

[Swift1]

We fished Dale this past weekend and all I can say is WOW! Yes 21" fish are rare as of now but the 18 to 20 inch fish are plenty,alive and rowdy. There is nothing like seeing a 20 inch brownie getting Air in the middle of December! Our biggest 5 daily went right at 20 pounds and we didnt even come close to winning the tourney due to the slot but Ive never enjoyed loosing a tournament so much! The brownies are to say the least "very aggressive" and there is absolutely no need for finesse......I believe the over 21" fish will be as common as ever in the next year or two.......And you may want to bring along a Pedigo Spinrite "HINT HINT" if your heading down any time soon. Good luck , Jarrod

[barkleyhawggitter]

Remove the Slot and there would be tourneys there all through the normal season, and a **** ton of winter tourneys there too.

You can regularly catch a 20lb sack of smallies on that lake using a standard 15 inch size limit.......

Yea, LEAVE the slot..........

I just spent three days on dale and caught a ton of 3 to 4 1/2 pound smallies. I like the slot and the fact that it keeps the big tourneys off the lake. we had the lake to ourselves for three days including last Saturday, not one other boat was ever in the same creek we were fishing at the time.