Dale Hollow

[James]

Anyone got a report on the smallies? Planning a trip next weekend.

Thanks for any information!

James

[elnutsmalljaws]

I talked to a buddy of mine that guides on Dale Hollow on Thursday and he said "The fish have their heads stuck in the mud". You can figure out the rest. For whatever reason, the fishing has been off since about the 3rd week of December or so. First 2 weeks of December it was absolutely on FIRE, hit or miss since with mostly misses is what he says.

For whatever reason, I hear Cumberland is hot at this moment. Fish are up in the creeks on the bluffs and deep sloping walls.

Tight Lines

[Don Smith]

I'll give you a fishing report, but not much of a catching report.

I had a friend come down from Indiana this week, and we went to Cumberland where we have been catching several fish on the FNF. My fish, or Jigman's fish moved and we didn't take a bite in the few hours we fished from 2 pm. On the way back to Conley, we pulled into an area that we usually catch fish in late winter, a bluff that has several deep pockets that have not had fish in them this winter. Praying I could put him on a spotted bass at lest, we fished the first of 2 pockets without a bite. With only 15 min of daylight left, the 2nd pocket produced 1 short smallmouth, a 3 lbs 6 oz LM, and got my line stretched by either a very good SM or Spot that pulled off. 3 or 4 casts and 3 fish on, I think I'll take him to Dale in the morning, its going to be cloudy, temps in the low 50's.

Dale produced 1 short SM about 10 AM in Sulfer Creek, about half way back, nothing in any of the pockets, nothing on points. At about noon I gave in and told him I had no idea where to find a fish, they just were not there or they had lockjaw. We mainly fished the FND and Silver Buddy. He replied with "Just get the Aqua Vu out and see if they are there!"

Had never used an underwater camera, and with the clear water at Dale, I was willing to check it out. I checked several areas on Dale that fish have been on the FNF for at least a month, and didn't see a single fish. Didn't see anything for that matter, but it was interesting to say the least. The depth I was using the camera was around 10-20 feet deep, and I decided to check the main lake walls with small pockets and cuts. Same thing there, down to 20 feet I saw nothing, till we came to the first small pocket. The bottom dropped out, and I had to lower the camera down to 30-35 feet, and thats where I found the brown fish. Not just one, but several. My day was shot as far as fishing goes, that dang camera is addictive to say the least. We checked 3 walls on the main lake, and all were loaded with fish. The majority of the browns were between 25-35 feet deep, and most were either within 100 feet of a main lake point, or on the outside of the small cuts/pockets. I had no idea there were that many stumps on Dale, especially when most of the walls look like just bluff banks with no structure other than ledges. Most of the ledges that are 30 feet deep right now are covered with stumps, I know I counted at least 25 stumps on one section of wall with fish on just about every stump. Fish were relating to the wood, but were not on the bottom, they were suspended all around.

We did try a drop shot, silver buddy, and jig on several areas we had checked earlier but never took a bite. I played with that camera for about 2 hours total. Still don't know what is worse, not catching fish or knowing fish are there are not being able to catch them. Needless to say I'm going to invest in a camera, its worth the money just to see the structure, and how fish relate to it during certain times of the year. Makes me wonder if all those fish we were catching 35-40 feet deep back in the Summer on Cumberland were there on the nights we couldn't catch them.

Like I said, not much of a report, but a good trip, I learned something, (besides take elnutsmalljaws with you, lol).

I did go back to Sulfer and check 2 or 3 spots that a friend had caught quiet a few fish a couple of weeks ago. Fish had moved from the areas he was catching fish out to a break in 25-30 feet of water. Much to my surprise, I found about 3 or 4 laydowns in 30 feet of water that were covered with largemouth. They were suspended about 2 feet off the bottom, and some looked like bruisers, but that camera can fool you. One thing that was very intersting is the fact that the Largemouth were more curious about the camera, they didn't spook at all, and some of the smaller fish would swim in the same direction as the camera was moving.

As you can tell, I could rattle on about this little toy forever, so take the information and hopefully you can put it to use.

If figure a few would like to know exactly where the walls are I am talking about. The wall we check that had the most structure, and fish is located directly across from Sulfer.

Don Smith