Quote Originally Posted by muskie_man View Post
I always wondered, using trout colored swimbaits down deep at dale hollow and seeing what the big smallies would do to it! You know that every once in a while they eat trout cause of the good population of trout that dale has in it! Big smallie would see that thing swimming by and think that this thing could feed me for a full week!!

Big Smallies at Dale Hollow DO eat trout and a lot of them. I know a guide that caught a 5lb Smallie on a live shiner in December 2004. When he got the fish to the boat, he noticed a tail sticking out of the Smallies mouth besides the shiner itself. He pulled out the tail and it was a Trout that measured 10 inches long, MINUS THE HEAD. This trout had to be 12" long or so whent he Smallie tried to eat it and I guess the stomache acids had digested the head but the Smallie was still eating. I saw the pictures of the guide holding the Smallie in one hand and the half eaten trout in the other. If you were a fish and had to pick which one to eat, Trout, Bluegill or Crappie, which would you choose? I pick the trout, no scales, longer and skinnier, no dorsal fins compared to the other two so I guess it would be easier to digest, IMO.