8lb Brownie out of Dale??

[hartmacw]

Oh, I absolutely agree about the distinction between a smallie at 7 and a large over 7 - not even comparable. And I also agree that the legends of the lake over the years didn't catch a gigantic number of smallies over 7 - Billy's book is very clear about that. He says several times that he turned down guide trips because the person calling wanted to catch a 9-10lb'er and he knew the odds of putting them on a fish like that were nearly zero. I've seen probably 8-10 smallies in the 7 range brought to the scale (none by me, lol) and I'll never forget one incident about 10 years ago. A guy from Ohio caught his bass of a lifetime and had raced into the dock to get it weighed (dead). He weighted it at around 7-2 or 7-3 if I remember correctly, turned to the dock owner, and asked if that was close to the lake record. The dock owner flat out laughed in his face as did everyone else standing there. How someone could come to Dale and fish for smallies and ask that question is beyond me - and he was dead serious, I was there.

But here's my point, stated in a different way. I think maybe one of the hardest things to do is put a 7lb smallie in perspective when you know the same lake produced an 11-15. A 7 smallie is a catch of a lifetime, and one I've still never made (6-15, dang it) but to me there's just something weird about a 7.5lb Dale smallie making headlines. I dunno.... I just know if I had caught that exact same fish I'd have taken a few pics measured the length and girth, and got that baby back in the water as soon as possible. I'm glad the guy got his pic in the paper, good for him, but personally I just don't see it as news worthy - in TN/KY.

BTW, I'm from VA and location has a lot to do with my point as well. Even though our record is over 8, a 7 is VERY news worthy for VA. I guess I just expect a little more out of TN because I know the quality of the (smalljaws) fisheries is far beyond what we have in VA.

....BillH

[tacoma]

7.5 lb officially weighed on certified (not merley digital) scales in front of witnesses is still pretty rare for smallmouth even at Dale. Story's of such fish are abundant. Fishing from the 1970's to the 1990's at Dale were more legend than fact. The new size limit has done wonders for Dale but there are a lot more fisherman with much better equipment after them now than in the day when Mr. Hayes was trolling a crankbait. There is a Billy Westmoreland mount labeled as a 9# hanging on the wall in Celina fishing store(one stop I think).

[BigSmallie]

I talked to another guy Friday that said he caught a 8 lb 1 oz Smallmouth. It was not the guy in the article. Myself, I caught a 5 and 5 lb 9 oz smallmouth friday.

[mhall]

I talked to another guy Friday that said he caught a 8 lb 1 oz Smallmouth. It was not the guy in the article. Myself, I caught a 5 and 5 lb 9 oz smallmouth friday.

That's a nice day, way to go.....

[hartmacw]

7.5 lb officially weighed on certified (not merley digital) scales in front of witnesses is still pretty rare for smallmouth even at Dale.

Well, I'm not sure I can agree with that because many of the fishermen on the lake now-a-days practice catch and release. Are they rare because 7+ smallies really are *rare* or is it just because fewer fisherman are bringing them to the scales?

I wish we had a polling feature on this board. So here's a poll I made for readers of this thread. What would you have done had you caught that baby? It's all anonymous LOL

http://tinyurl.com/2cz9ha

...BillH

[elnutsmalljaws]

Nice fish... too bad the line that says, "The fish is now with the taxidermist".

Now the real question - I started fishing the hollow about 20 years ago. At that time a 7 lb. smallie didn't raise a lot of eyebrows, especially at the dock where locals saw these fish all the time. Getting over 8 caused some stir. The picture is of a nice (awesome, actually) fish, don't get me wrong, and better than I've ever caught, but does it say anything about the quality of fish at Dale when we're publishing articles of 7½ lb. fish? So, are fish over 8 still in the Hollow? Elsewhere? Is the record 12 lb'er swimming in the Hollow? Elsewhere?

I have met and talked with Bobby Westmoreland, Billy's Brother, and also talked with Steve Headrick many many times on fishing Dale Hollow past and present. Bobby tells stories or truths, whichever you believe, of him and Billy going out and catching 10-20 fish over 5lbs in a day. Bobby made a comment that he was the biggest poacher around for he would keep the fish and sell them for money as a kid and that is how he made part of his money back then. Bobby can't remember how many fish over 7lb that he has landed and he did not fish NEARLY as much as Billy so you can only imagine how many big girls Billy caught out of Dale Hollow back in the day, (never heard a word of Billy poaching for the record). Years ago, 7-8 pounders were about as common as 3-4 pounders are today. Muskie was stocked in the lake regularly and they impacted the amount of baitfish back then and too many big Smallies were taken out of the lake. Catch and Release was not practiced and people ate these fish for supper. There were several years where the quality of fish suffered by today's standards much less 20 years ago. Several years ago they stopped stocking Muskie, they increased the number of trout stocked in the lake, and imposed the slot limit on Smallies allowing only 1 fish over 21" and 1 fish under 16" per day to be kept and all others had to be released. I know people don't always follow this rule and have first hand knowledge of some guys from Missouri that got busted back in Winter of 2005 for poaching Smallies ( I know because I watched the game warden pull them over, then he called in the troops and they searched their houseboat that had MANY MANY fillets in the freezer) Catch and Release, not stocking Muskie, increased the stocking of trout, and the slot limit has brought back Dale Hollow to what it is today and what it will be tomorrow. Another 3-5 years of the same and I think you will see a lot more 7 pounders caught out of the lake. I have seen a noticeable difference in the quality of fish that I catch out of the lake from December 2004, when I first fished the lake to this past winter. I have caught 2 over 6, 1 that was 5-15 (6-0 if I held her into the wind), I guess another 20 or so over 5 and no telling how many 3 and 4 pounders in the few trips that I go every winter FNF fishing. A 5 pounder is an excellent fish, but around Dale Hollow today nobody really brags on the fish until it gets over 6lbs. The guides and people around Dale talk of keepers over 21" more than weight. I saw a fish that went 4 1/2 lbs and was only 18 1/2 inches long and another fish that was just under 5lbs caught on a Shiner that had a 10" rainbow trout in its gullet MINUS the head. There are pictures on a particular guides website of him holding the Smallie in one hand and the trout that he removed in the other. This trout had to be 12" long to begin with and was still eating to be caught on the shiner, amazing. There are plenty of 7 - 10 pounders in the lake and more of these will be caught in the future. There is even a 12 pounder swimming in Dale and she is waiting on me to get healed up and get back down to Celina to make my acquaintance. Good luck in your quest for the big smallies in Dale Hollow and rest assured the lake is coming back to its storied hayday. With all the fishing pressure, high tech electronics, high tech baits and other stuff, it may not get back to catching 10 - 20, 5+ pounders a day but I will say(Not trying to be cocky or anything) that I expect to catch at least 1 - 5 pounder plus every day that I put my boat in Dale Hollow. I have certainly caught my fair share and maybe more than my share but I love it more than anything on this planet next to my wife and kids and can't wait until my 3 year old has his first tangle with a "Big Ol Brown Fish".

[chunknwind]

Well said Woody. The only thing that I can add is that I think all the grass at Dale has a lot to do with the quality and numbers of BIG smallies. I personally am not very accomplished at fishing the grass, and I don't troll with live bait, so I am limited to catching my dream fish on the fnf. Btw,that fish in the article was a bute. I know that thanks to Woody and a lot of people on this board, my views of keeping a wall hanger have changed. I now carry a digital camera and tape measure to get all the info I need for a replica(can you say jinx).

[mhall]

Will do, but please, leave the bells at home. Be veeery, veeery quite, I huntin strwipers

Andrew

I will be so silent you won't know I'm in the boat.......

[fishbum]

7lb and 8oz was the offical weight. The is a article in the Courier-Journal about it. It is a HOG!!!!!

Talked to Strange Bait and Tackle.. it weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces at the store and was 24 inches long.. When it made the paper it had grown by an inch and 6 ounces.. LOL..
Fishermen and their stories..
Jim Dicken

[mhall]

Talked to Strange Bait and Tackle.. it weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces at the store and was 24 inches long.. When it made the paper it had grown by an inch and 6 ounces.. LOL..
Fishermen and their stories..
Jim Dicken

That's what I meant by how many TRUE seven pound plus bass have been caught over the years. I've been doing this a long time and I truely believe the number of that size fish are not as great as some believe.

[Tim_T]

I can believe that. I know if I ever caught a smallie of that size, I would probably think it was at least 9 pounds because I haven't (yet) caught anything close enough to compare it to. I once caught a hybrid at Barren that I would swear went 12 pounds, but when weighed it actually was slightly over 9 LOL. Then again, it is my story and I am sticking to it!

[tacoma]

Most of the tournaments I see there are just for an example 50 boats X 2 anglers X 8 hrs on the water. The large fish at most of the major tourneys is usually under 6 lbs that I have seen. I'm not talking about the local clubs. So that's 800 hrs total fishing to land a big fish of usually the upper 5 lb range sometimes over 6 (usually a largemouth) I could be wrong but that is what I'm seeing at Dale. The big tourney they had on Cumberland last year no Smallmouth over 6. Big fish is usually 5.5 to 6 lbs. I could be wrong but thats a lot of hours to come up with a fish this size and these guys are proffesionals. If there are some truly huge smallmouths in Dale which ther very well may be as many boaters that are fishing live will eventually catch one. I love Dale but I'm not seeing the super large fish at any of the MAJOR tourneys. Maybe a local club claims7-8 pounders . I know there are some 8+ but I've seen very few.