Just got back from 4 days at Dale.
Thursday Overcast, No sun all day, spitting rain started around Noon, full downpour from 1pm to dark(miserable fishing after 1, no bites, pouring rain, windy, cold but I did not give up). Fished FNF the majority of the day hitting main lake bluffs to start but water clarity was not good enough so went to bluffs just into the creeks with great success. Caught 17 fish total, the majority of them around 1-2 pounds each but did have 2 just over 3. Most came off the bluffs in the creek. All came before 1pm when the COLD front started coming thru. Saw 2 other boats all day and one of them put in at Holly Creek the same time I did. Same boat took out at dark as did I and the 2 of them said they boated 23 for the day. All of my fish came on FNF, 10 feet deep right up against bluffs some on craft hair jigs but most on Duck hair jigs, except for 3 smaller fish that was caught on ovacado/tennessee orange hair jig on a secondary rocky point in 20 feet of water.
Friday, COLD, launched with air temp at 14 degrees wind blowing and TV said with wind felt like 2 degrees. Major cold front coming thru, high skies, slight wind, tough conditions. FNF all day in creeks on bluff walls. Was fishing a bluff in creek around 8am and came upon a small pocket with about 45 degree bank with no cover or anything holding the fish but I graphed a BUNCH of baitfish for whatever reason. I would not have fished this pocket if you guaranteed me a fish would be caught. Nothing told me it would hold fish. No bluff, no cover, no rocks, nothing that I have ever learned would hold a fish. If I had not looked down at my graph to see the bait as I was trolling past it I never would have fished it. GLAD I DID. Boated 3 just over 2, a 3-11, a 4-8 and my biggest of my life 6-4 plus broke off 2 times on fish I never saw and broke off on about a 4 pounder that went completely under the boat and jumped up behind me and cut the line on the bottom of my boat. All of this happened between 8am and 11am. Put 6-4 in my livewell to mount but the the old CONSCIOUS(Spelling) started playing on me that I have never kept a Smallie in my life. I ended up taking 12 pictures of the fish, giving her a big kiss and letting her go after 45 minutes in my livewell. Caught a few more small fish on the creek bluffs but only fished until 2pm for I had to find a place to 1 hour develop the pictures. Again all fish came about 10 feet deep, Duck jig with a little Chartruse hair with Garlic Fish Dope on jig hairs to streamline them to look like a threadfin shad. Drove to Celina TN to get the pictures developed, came out great. I only wish somebody was with me to get me in the photo. Nobody stupid enough to launch when it was that cold. I took several pictures with the big girl laying on my deck at all angles and another holding the fish out in front of me. They turned out great and there will be a replica made of her (Anybody reading this that can offer a suggestion for someone to make a replica from pictures please respond). Saw very few boats all day very cold.
Saturday Started the first hour and a half by myself, boated 2 3 1/2 pounders and broke off twice at the same honey hole as the day before in between sunup and 7:20am. Met my brother in law and a buddy of his back at Holly Creek at 7:30. Had them hurry up to get in the boat so we could get back to the honey hole for the bite went away the day before just as the sun came over the trees, about 10am. We hurried back for NOTHING, not a bite for over an hour with 3 rods in the water. I am totally stumped. I was fighing the 2nd of the 3 1/2 pounders as my "alarm" was going off in my pocket telling me to go pick up the fellas. I got her in the boat and put her in the livewell with the other and took off. I believe I made the mistake of firing up the big motor right in the small cove instead of trolling out to the main lake. Yes both of these were slot fish and I know I was temporary illegal but I wanted to show the fellas what we were after. I did release them after showing them to the fellas. We fished other places that looked just like this one with no luck. Fished creek bluffs in several creeks with each of them landing a smallie about 2 pounds each. It was one guys first and the others 2nd smallie on the fly. Boats everywhere on the water. Many many times I went to bluffs or places and there were boats already fishing. We fished from daylight to dark and boated the 4 total.
Sunday in at daylight, CLOUDY and we are loving it. I am sure that it is going to be a good day. Went to the honey hole first, NOTHING. Went to another bluff that a couple were caught on Thursday and I boated a massive 10 inch Spot. Wind was swirling but NO SUN at all. Very few boats on the water. We ran all over the lake. I filled up Saturday night and then put in 13 more gallons tonight before putting the boat in the garage. At 3 mile to the gallon = 39 miles of running and gunning on Sunday. Main lake bluffs, sencondary bluffs, creek bluffs, you name it we fished it from Holly Creek to Trooper Island. I boated a 2 pound Smallie around Noon and had about a 3 pounder break me off during the fight by running under my boat again. The other 2 fellas had nothing. One of them fished a jig and silver buddy in between the fly with no bites at all. I will never understand today, NO Sun extremely overcast, it was very windy but still thought we would catch some fish with these conditions.
In general, the majority of the fish were caught in the creeks on bluff walls. FNF, Duck Hair jig with Chartruese added, 10-11 feet deep, Garlic Fish Dope on jig matting down to resemble a threadfin shad. Water temp was around 50 on Thursday but was down to 48-49 this morning. Water clarity would allow you to still see the jig 6-8 feet deep in the creeks. I fished as deep as 14 feet deep and tried other colors plus no fish dope but Duck Chartruese with Dope was best producer. Only my second winter FNF at Dale and lake is extremely low. Watch the water level when navigating lake. Corp has put out some new markers for shallow water but even then you will find yourself in water less than 10 feet just next to 50 feet deep. Hope this helps some for the next couple of weeks the bite should only get better until the temp hits 43 or so. Side note: I caught way more quality fish this trip than any of the 30 or so days I FNF Dale last winter. The slot has defineately helped the quality of fish at Dale. I talked in depth with one of the better guides Friday night and he says that he has it on good authority there is a 12 pounder swimming in Dale. Evidently a couple of scuba divers saw the fish this summer and it looked like a 2x12 to them. Says it is definelately the new world record. Go get him boys. I believe the 1955 record smallie was caught by a guy trolling for Muskie behind his pontoon boat. It would be nice for a Smallie fisherman have that record, not some guy that lucked into the record.
Hope this helps some, for me last trip until January for too much going on the next couple of weekends.
Tight Lines
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