mhall no I'm not offended for a minute. I'm not the greatest fisherman but I have good days now and then. I am more partial to Dale Hollow even though I live closer to Cumberland. Dale has a lot of structure, weeds, clay banks and well defined creek channels where Cumberland is mostly verticle banks. At Dale I know that the smallmouth spawn on long gradual sloping points, clay banks and large flats with deep water near by. On Cumberland I couldn't tell you much because there are almost no spawinig flats and very little clay. Very hard lake to pattern. What little I know about fishing comes from articles by Fred McClintock which I collect from In-Fisherman and Bassmaster. So I'm not saying I'm a great fisherman just a fair fisherman. I am blessed to be around people that fish Cumberland 5 day a week some times so this is where I get alot of my information. They know where the stumps are and the better places to fish because they are out there so often so alot of what I say is second hand info. Cumberland is tough for me but Dale is fairly easy in the spring. If the fish are not on the flats they are near the flats in deeper water usually. Billy Westmoreland put out a map of Dale showing all the spawing points and best fishing area's and this map (which some people make fun of) is very accurate for Dale but the one he put out for Cumberland is pretty useless I have found. Of course he hasn't spent the time on Cumberland that he did on Dale. So Billy Westmoreland's map and Fred McClintocks article are my best knowlege for fishing Dale. If you ever get a chance to fish with Fred I would highly recomend it in the spring. Book early because he stays booked up. I guess the most amazing thing about fishing with him is how far off shore he stayed even on deep points. Sometime when fishing flats you will look like you are in the middle of the lake but it may only be 8' deep dropping into deeper water. He has beliefs that would contradict many smallmouth aritcles but he puts fish in the boat for alot of people. He's definately not a bank beater. If any of you can pick up Billy Westmoreland Dale Hollow map I would encourage it. It's not just a scam. He has marked areas where he has caught the most fish over the years and if you study the countours you can see just why. Most of the spawing areas have a very gradual taper but have deep water near or at least a small creek channel that swings near. Well sorry if I left the impression I some great smallmouth fisherman. I just read alot about Dale and use this information when fishing and it works if you are patient and stick with it. Swimming a grub on a clay flat just off the bottom is still the best method I have ever used at Dale. It seems so simple that no one much uses this method. You may go hours without a bite then catch several fish in a row. Also the very early morning bite is so important at Dale. I have caught most of my fish before 10 am. I just caught 3 large smallmouth Sunday by using a bright trick worm like a jerk bait, I was just going on what other fisherman had told me and believed it would work and it did. I just had to keep moving until I found the fish. They were not on the flats as I found out after fishing several hours but were in small pockets near the mouth of creeks ( in this case the creeks just south of the lodge at the state park near the Tennessee line across from trooper island). I will probably switch to night fishing for the rest of the Summer now though as will most of the guides. Fred will switch to striper fishng on the river for the rest of Summer. Good luck everyone.