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".Originally Posted by hartmacw
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