dale hollow this weekend

[GATORS]

I am going down this weekend to fish. Will be fishing out of Wisdom. I havnt been down since this summer. I have the FNF but from what I have read the FNF bite is not on yet. What is the best thing to throw and what type of banks are the fish holding on? Thanks for any help. I will help anybody if they need help on Laurel Lake.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Don't give up on the fly bite yet. The cold temps this week will help and you will catch fish up the Wolf River for it was clearer than mid lake last week and these temps will clear it up even more. If you don't want to FNF, then hair jigs will work well all thru the winter 20-30 feet deep on main and secondary points.

[smljaw]

I agree with Elnut. I was at Dale 10 days ago when the water temps were 51-52 and the air temps were pushing 70 degrees. We did not burn them up on the FNF but caught a few. Get on your first spot right at daylight and throw the FNF. All of our better fish were caught early in the morning... Good luck. Make sure you post your results.

Hey Elnut, that was a really cool post about your new GLoomis FNF rod. I hope you lose count of the 5+ brown toads you catch on it! I also want to say thank you. I always enjoy reading the posts on this board and learning from all who post. I outfished my partner on the FNF recently at Dale. Everything I focused on for 2 straight days I learned by what I read on this site, most of it came from your info and knowledge. Thanks!

Happy New Year to all! I want to wish everyone a prosperous and safe 2007. May you all catch the fish you dream about. Mine is that 15 pound LM at Lake El Salto this July!

[elnutsmalljaws]

Appreciate the kind words Scott and glad you caught a few good ones. The G Loomis will have to do a lot of catching up to match the results of the All Pro. Sad to say but I used to know EXACTLY how many Brownies over 5 I had caught on the All Pro but I don't anymore but I THINK it is around 18-20. It did land 2 over 6 to be exact and another that was 5-15 but 6-0 with the wind at her back a couple of weeks ago.

Since it was brought up, there is a BIG difference between the G Loomis and All Pro FNF rods. I have always said the perfect FNF rod would be about 4 feet of backbone, 3 feet of middle and 3 feet of tip. If I could take the bottom half of the All Pro and glue it to the top half of the Loomis it would be perfect. What I mean is the All Pro is heavier, a little more difficult to cast but flat out gets the hook set and is a bit on the stiff side when fighting the fish which I actually like. The Loomis is much more flimsy, lighter, casts with very little effort, but takes a little different approach to really get a good hookset. I sit down when I fish so I wedge the All Pro between my big belly and leg with the rod tip at aobut 10pm and all it takes is one swoop up and the hook is set. With the Loomis, I missed 3 fish in a row the first day and that is after missing 2 fish in 2 years with the All Pro. I have to keep the rod tip lower when working the jig and really get a huge hookset to get the jig buried in their mouths. The Loomis is a great rod if you enjoy the fight for it takes longer to wear them down on this Ultra Light outfit. Steve Headrick was working with a certain manufacturer on designing a FNF rod and they asked my opinion in his store a few weeks back. I said sturdy bottom for hookset, smooth middle section for fighting and soft tip for casting. If the All Pro and Loomis had kids their offspring would be perfect.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Since I can't edit the above, I will say that if Silstar made a 10' rod it would be pretty close to perfect as far as the rod goes. Improve the eyelets and it would be pretty close to perfection. Still is the best bang for the buck in my opinion.

[redneckshadrap]

The Loomis is a 9'6"...Are you using the 9ft or 10ft All Pro.....

Also the first few seconds of the fight will help finish the hookset....

Billy

[elnutsmalljaws]

Loomis is 9'6 but my All Pro is 10'. I had to adjust my hookset on the Loomis for I am not bragging but I NEVER miss a pulldown on the fly with the All Pro. Seriously, I missed 2 pulldowns in 2 years on the All Pro and missed 3 in about 30 minutes with the Loomis right out of the box. I even set the hook and a fish got off on the Loomis right after before landing 2 on back to back cast. I had to change my hookset on the Loomis to get it set. Cliff even commented that I never miss a strike and asked what is going on. It took no time to see difference. The All Pro is defineately sturdier than both the Silstar and Loomis, All Pro is heavier than both, Silstar is second and Loomis is lightest. Loomis cast the easiest but Silstar is second, the eyelets on the Silstar are pretty poor but overall the Silstar is well worth the money at around $50. If Silstar made a 10 footer, with better eyelets, it would be worth $100 easy. I will use both my Loomis and All Pro but will have to get used to changing the hookset in between rods to be effective with both.

[redneckshadrap]

Hooksets on shorter rods take a little getting used to. I had that happen to me 2 yrs ago at Dale. I know 6 inches doesn't sound like a lot, but to the unexpected pull-down...well let's just say the adrenaline will outrun to brain to the muscles quickly.I used the 10fters for two days straight. On the third day I used a 8.5 St Croix. When I went to set the hook, the rod was so far back over my shoulder...I WAS DONE. I got about 5 cranks on the fish and it came off.
Those that have been using the Loomis+braid+florocarbon have been boating fish a little quicker(Tourney folks). I've heard the term, I can turn the fish....Also heard of some straightening out the hook in doing so.
I, personally, don't have to boat one that quick. But I do like to at least get a look at them.
I have 2 rods. The Bronzeback...9'6 and the GL2 Salmon Rod 10ft. I have actually caught more on the 10fter than the Bronzeback. Really the only factor is that I keep both rods rigged and will switch rods a lot. One maybe a foot deeper than the other and have a different color tied on. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw.
That Salmon Rod is a really good rod for the F-n-F. It's not a noodle. I had to modify the reel seat. I've loaned it out a couple of time. Those that used it were impressed.
With the line I use I can sling it a lot further than the Bronzeback, Silstar, St Criox, or my AllPro...

Hopefully will get to string them back up at Laurel next weekend.

Billy

[dcbasser]

Anybody us the Bass Pro Micro Lite 9'6. That is the rod that I have decided to start with. It seems to cast real good but as far the fight of the fish goes I do not no yet for I missed the only fish that I had to pull down due to inexperience if I was guessing. It is a little heavier than the other rods I checked out but overall feels good. The hardest part is learning how to use the dang thing. That is a monster of an outfit to throw and I believe I have got my partner a little worried but as I told him his boat is 21ft my rod is only 10 and with a 10ft leader that gives me a whole foot before I come even close to snaggin him LOL Hope to know more after I get back on Laurel this week. Hope I can get it down pretty good for I plan on sitting on Dale next week.

[smljaw]

DC... This is the rod I have but mine is the 8'6". I had 5 pull downs the first time I used it and landed every fish. The rod performed well IMO. I did just order the balancing kit to screw on to the end of the rod. I thought it was a little heavy at the tip. The balancing kit will help distribute some of the weight to the butt of the rod.

[dcbasser]

smljaw,
I thought about the balancing kit as well but figured I would give it one full day of hard work at Laurel this week before I do. It takes a little while to get used to that 9'6 length but man it has to be fun once you hook into one of those brownfish.

[smljaw]

I jumped the gun and bought the BPShops FNF rod for $30. It's a fine rod for a guy who will FNF fish 3-4 times all winter if I'm lucky. However, after using the 8'6" rod at Dale for 2 days I wish I had purchased the 9'6" instead. It was a little bit challenging using an 11 foot leader to get the fish in the net. Using a 12-14' leader would have been really tough. I would have probably been stading on top of the motor to bring a big girl to the net.

For anyone wanting to buy their first FNF rod, I would 100% recommend the BPShops rod for $30. They come in 8'6", 9' and 9'6". Buy the 9'6"! I wish I had. I can certainly see where a 10 footer would be even better.

Billy, where's Mr. T? Why the change from A-TEAM/Rocky 3 to Happy Days?