Quote Originally Posted by thebassman30 View Post
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