Dale Hollow

[BKH]

I Have only fished Dale Hollow a couple of times and I want to go again soon. I need a little advice as to whether to come down this possibly this Saturday the 21st, or would I be better advised to wait for the weather to cool the water temps down for a better bite. Just wanting to fish at the best possible time. I don't have a lot of time as work kind of gets in the way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[elnutsmalljaws]

Considering a trip to Dale myself either this weekend or next. From what I hear from guides on Dale the fishing has been pretty bad for the past 2-3 weeks. For what it is worth, I hear that Cumberland is the hot spot. Creek Bluff walls has been producing upwards to 15-20 fish a day. I hear this from a pretty reliable source. Take it for what it is worth.

Tight Lines

[James]

Going down in the morning and will be launching out of state ramp. A bunch of guys are coming down and fishing a tourney on saturday. hopefully this past weeks cooler weather will drop that water temp down some. I will report on what we find on monday!

Skeeter James

"Beware of the Brown Fish!"

[BKH]

Thanks Elnut and James,
I just found out I had a death in the family so won't be coming down this weekend. I am looking forward to your post as to what is going on. I hope to get to go next weekend providing we get some cooler temps. Elnut, I don't know anything at all about Cumberland so I probably won't make that trip but I certainly do appreciate your advice. I fish primarily Barren for largemouth and know very little about fishing for smallmouth but I am excited about going to Dale to give it a shot. I have gone as far as to go out at night to a creek near my house and catch some nice fantail minnows. I am told, or as one of my buddies told me..."they are like candy to a smallmouth". Now I don't know about that but I've got some anyway. I have watched people with a FNF and I don't know why I couldn't attach a slip floater to my rig and fish the minnow at a specific depth. Could you guys enlighten me to the drawbacks, if any, to a method like this. A slip floater would allow me to cast with a 7' rod, would allow me to fish at a specified depth and would allow me to fish away from the boat as opposed to hanging a minnow rig straight down under the boat. I can see fishing directly under the boat possibly causing the fish to maybe spook and be a little more reluctant to bite.

Any help is to be appreciated.

[elnutsmalljaws]

I never tried a slip bobber and probably never will on the FNF. My guess is that a tiny 1/16 or even smaller 1/32 oz jig would not be heavy enough to pull your line thru the bobber. But if you are using a large enough creek chub or whatever then it may be heavy enough to pull the line thru. Another reason I use the doctored up foam weighted bobber, is that it will let you know when you are on bottom or when a fish has come up from underneath and took the jig by laying on its side. This is very important information to know for with the bottom weighted bobber, you will not have a clue if your jig is on bottom or in a fishes mouth because it stands up no matter what. Line size does play a big part in catching reluctant biting fish in gin clear water especially this time of year. Using a 7' rod with 8lb test may work but I don't think you will get as many bites. I use 6lb to start the FNF season usually as the water drops below 53 or so and will move down to 4lb test as the bite grows tougher, ususally as the water temp drops in the lower 40's or below. I need my 10 FNF rod to really take all the stress off the smaller test line so the BIGUNS don't snap it like thread. With a 7' rod and light line, my guess is that you will break off more than you will boat. All of these are just my opinion. You can get a decent FNF rod for $50. I started with a Silstar 9' rod which I got from punisher for $49 and it worked great until the last trip when I stepped on it and broke it in half. I moved up slightly to an All Pro 10' rod which I love even more. Hope this helps.

Tight Lines

[TEE]

You'll lose that bobbin' action of the jig if you use a slip bobber. Just think of it as early crappie fishin' with jigs and a slow pull on the bobber will entice them sometimes and sometimes wave action alone will do the trick.

[jb577]

BKH me and some of my friends went down to Dale Hollow earlier in the year and had 7' rods and caught several good small mouths on fnf. It makes it harder to throw the fnf with the shorter rod, but it can be done. You also may need to go up to 8lb test with the shorter rod. And as far as the weighted floater, it is the best floater to use, in my opinion. Good Luck!

[LH]

You can use a slip bobber with a minnow. It works well. I sometimes will under hand it with a spinning reel to bluffs or points with no bobber, just a small sinker and minnow and stair step it down but I have had success with a slip bobber. Be sure to match your slip bobber to the size of your minnow and sinker, you don't want something oversized, or undersized. I went to Dale Monday and the bite was tough. I threw minnows, float and fly and several other lures and we only caught a few small ones. I use fantails and creek chubs a lot and have better luck with them in late fall and early spring, when the lake gets so cool there are artificial lures like the float and fly that will get more bites. I have taken minnows with me on the last several trips I have made to Dale just to bring them home because smaller artificial lures was out fishing them. I don't know if this will help but if I was going to Dale soon with all the rain I might look for some off colored water, up in the head of some of the creeks. Good luck.

[BKH]

Guys,
This is some of the best information I have ever seen to help a fellow to be more productive on the water. The specifics you have offered will certaily help me to determine both when to go and how to fish once I get there. If I can be of some help to any of you in the future just holler. I am, most of the time, pretty well in tune with the bite on Barren as I live about 15 minutes away and fish it avidly (sp). I will let you guys know how I did when and if I get to go down. I hope I will be fishing it soon. My father has been talking about the smallmouth he used to catch in Indiana in a creek or river he refers to as Big Blue (I think), when he was a kid so I am taking him with me in hopes of bringing back some great stories and memories. If any of you get to go over the next couple of weeks send me an email ([email protected]) and let me know what is up. Thanks again and as always, Good luck on the water where ever you fish.

[BKH]

I meant to post my above message under the bottom so you would see it but didn't know how to do that. Hopfully I figured it out. Thanks again for the great advice!!!

[TEE]

It's great to hear and I am personel witness to the lake making a tremendous comeback. I can't remember out of almost 40 years of fishing at Dale that the fishing has ever been better and it just keeps getting better every year due to the fact of educating the public of how a wonderful resource we have. Man with a little help from God made a beuatiful lake with some of the best fishing in the country. :)

[Stcroix123]

If I had limited time to schedule a trip to the Hollow I would always schedule it around the moon phase. The three days leading into the new or full moon will typically but not always produce the best fishing. I firmly believe the moon phase has an effect on the bite.