Back from Dale...

[elnutsmalljaws]

Went down to Dale Hollow and fished Monday and Tuesday night. Water had a Green tinge to it and was not as clear as I remember it being but the last time I was on Dale was in December and it is always clearer in the winter versus the summer.

Got to the motel and tried to take a nap before heading out but Cell phone and idiot realtor that is selling my house in Indiana kept me up. Wide awake at 3pm, in Burkesville so might as well go fishing. Put in at 4:30pm at the state dock and started fishing deeper ledges and grass beds for whatever would bite (which was nothing). Water temp was 86 when I put in Cloudy and overcast. Joy boaters still out in force (nobody works anymore). Hit all the spots that I knew of for a ledge bite in mid lake with no takers. Had plans on focusing on 20-30 feet deep on main and secondary points with jigs and deeper grass beds for Smallies. Tried several spots that I knew of like this after darkness with still no takers, not even a bite and it was a bit after 11pm. Went to a spot that has a grass bed but not as deep and fished the outer edge of it with no luck. Just for kicks, I moved the boat in closer and casted my 3/8 oz Booyah jig way up shallow and before I got the slack out of my jig, it was already dancin. Set the hook, rod loaded up and it was either a Good one or a small one in the grass, turns out I had casted shallow enough that I was behind the grass bed and it was a good one. 21 1/2" Smallie for first bite of the trip, which took 7 hours to get. Time to go home on a good note. Started targeting much shallow water, depths of 8-15 feet deep and continued to catch very good quality fish, another over 20" right down the grass bed after the first one, several more good fish over 16" on my next couple of spots that are the same pattern. Then another keeper over 21" off a stump field that is in 22 feet of water just off the main river channel on a Booyah Night Spinnerbait, more off the grass beds then back to the Stump field for another. The fish were at the base of the grass and it took a 3/8oz jig fished very slow to come thru the roots of the grass. Spinnerbait bite was slow rolling ticking the bottom and caught a coupld of good Smallies out on the edge or over top of the grass with same spinnerbait ticking the grass. In all, 19 fish total, including 5 Smallies over 20" with 3 of those between 21" and 22", 1 good 4 1/2 lb largemouth and all the fish were good quality with about 15" fish being the smallest. All 5 of the Smallies that were over 20" were VERY VERY VERY thin to say the least. Not the footballs that I am used to in December and none of these broke the 5lb mark. Ended up running 6 spots shotgun style for the last 3 hours of the night with last fish of the day being one of the 20" fish on a Zara Spook just at daybreak over a shallow grass bed. Make a cast around 5am on my ledge with stumps and the rod was taken out of my hand. I had taken my left hand off the rod to wipe some sweat and was holding the rod with just the handle in my right hand when she hit and I caught my Loomis / Curado in mid air. Set the hook and she came to the top of the water and I got a real good look at her for I had Willow Grove Marina lights in the background. She was an absolute horse. She dove and was stripping drag when she got off. I don't have a clue how she got off for she was taking drag when the line went limp. I reeled in my Spinnerbait and it is as straight as a string. She had pulled it plum straight and my knot was up near the swivel. She was defineately fatter than the other fish that night and was the first one to take that much drag so I don't know how big she was. Took out at 7:30am after 7 hours of fishing and 8 hours of catching. It had threatened rain all night with thunder in the background but only sprinkled a bit. Started raining more as I ran to the ramp and complete total downpour came as I was putting on the ratchet straps and got soaked in the last 2 minutes. Headed to the hotel to sleep and it came a gully washer for the next several hours with the thunder and lightning to boot.

Got a late start on Tuesday and did not get on the water until 6pm(ha ha). Water temp was 79 to start with a 7 degree drop in one day due to all the rain. The houseboat crowd had decided to come out and play and one way to kill a fishing spot is to park a houseboat RIGHT ON TOP OF IT. As I was running to my first spot I look over at the spot that produced 2 over 20" and a couple more good ones and there is a houseboat sitting right on top of it, not to the left or right, right on top of the exact spot. STRIKE ONE. I turn on my GPS to get it ready with the cloud cover and surely expected fog, NO RECEPION, Monday night 7 different sattelites, Tuesday night NOTHING. STRIKE TWO and hoping not for Strike 3. After trying my GPS again and again over the next couple of hours, nothing. Now I was navigating Dale Hollow lake at night with no moon, very cloudy skies and fog rolling in thicker than pea soup. Glad I know the lake for it could have been very bad. Spent the first couple of hours of remaing daylight trying to find new spots and located a bunch of new holes, dropoffs and flats with some good cover and structure on my map. Darkness falls and I hit a couple of my weaker spots to let my good ones to some good darkness on them. Nothing happens until I run towards the dam a couple of miles and hit a spot that produced some good fish last year including a 20 incher for Chunknwind in a night tourney we were in. Caught a couple of 15" fish on jigs in the grass and one that almost went 20" on the spinnerbait right on the ledge next to the grass bed. Went and fished one of the new spots that I found and it was a much bigger area than I had first thought with the trolling motor down. Threw out a marker bouy that I put a glow in the dark stick and found it was a good 50 yard square area of humps and grass with holes all over it topping out at different spots from 6', 10' to 16' right next to the main river channel. Jigs and Spinnerbaits produced a couple largemouth right off the bat but they were higher in the water column. The jig bite was after I moved it up the stalk and it came free. I ended up switching to a 1/4oz jig with 10lb mono to keep it up in the grass instead of down near the roots. Started throwing a Stan Sloan smaller short arm spinnerbait with a smaller blade and lighter head to keep it up for the same reason. Landed 3 more largemouth in the same area for 5 total in the first hour of fishing my new spot. It is not as deep as the others and I was hoping for some Brownfish but I guess I will live with the green variety. Started running some of my other spots with not much happening and really could not run to the best ones due to the fog and NO GPS (Garmin Stinks). It was getting thicker by the minute and I decided to go back to my new found hole and really fish it to eliminate all the running. It got to the point that I heard a boat flat out flying up the lake and never saw a light coming or going and this is in an area that he had to pass within 75 to 100 yards of me or else he is hitting rock. If I got more than a cast away from the bouy it dissapeared so I just trolled around and fan casted jigs, spinnerbaits and texas rigs in the same area for 3 more hours. Make a cast and my line goes slack pretty quick then it starts pulling as I set the hook on my texas rigged paddle tail worm. The rod doubles and she is just tugging away. No fast runs just constant tugging, drag is pulling and after a good struggle I put the net under her and she is a 6-4 largemouth (my biggest ever). I get her turned loose and turn the boat around and make what I think is the same cast but since all I see is fog, I can't tell, but the line goes slack pretty quick and then it pulls and I set the hook on a 5-4 largemouth. 11-8 on back to back cast with Texas rigged worm. Needless to say I fish it pretty much the rest of the time and had 3 more good 15-17" greenfish on it. Stayed here the rest of the night and could not see more than 15 yards away with a 10Million candle spotlight the fog was so thick. Daybreak comes around and I try some topwater to no avail, the fog lifts and I head to the ramp. Ended up with 13 fish for the nigh with the first 3 Smallies and the last 10 Greenies. Now I am going to sleep, have a nice day. Considering hitting Guist Creek thursday night for my first trip there in 3 years. Maybe the bite will be just as good (ha ha) I will be targeting Smallies there as well in hopes of catching 10 greenies by mistake.

[bigwormy]

wow!! great trip!!!

[Bonefish]

Thanks for sharing. Great Report!

[Cajun78]

Holy sh*t elnuts, thats a great trip! Any pics or are you just making stuff up?

Hey I am taking the wife in a few weeks, got our reservations today, but will be on KY side only. Can't wait after hearing a story like this. Great job man.

[dcbasser]

Great trip elwood. Bout time you had a good one. Now it's time to come down to laurel my friend. I need some help finding some brownfish and can't wait to see your aproach to what I call the most intimidating lake in Kentucky. Let me know when you get a chance to fish her and I'll take a night out with you. You probably hold the key to fishing her for I feel the fish come in the wee hours in the morning ,just hard to find the night owls to fish her that long.

[jeremys]

Congrats on the great trip and Thank You for the story.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Holy sh*t elnuts, thats a great trip! Any pics or are you just making stuff up?

Hey I am taking the wife in a few weeks, got our reservations today, but will be on KY side only. Can't wait after hearing a story like this. Great job man.

Did not take a camera for just moved and really don't know where it is anyways. Even if I did, I rarely take pictures since I fish by myself and they don't come out too well laying on my boat floor. Ky side, I suggest Illwill and North Sulphur. You should find some fish but I don't fish that area too often. The way these fish looked, the summer and drought had really taken an effect on them physically. I never got that outstanding fight like I get in the winter. In a few more weeks, especially if it stays as dry as it has been, less oxygen and they will be stressed even more. My guess is the jig bite fished EXTREMELY SLOW anywhere from 25-30 feet on points and dropoffs will be the ticket by then. Good Luck. I find that anyone spending the money in making a trip should spend a little more and get the TN liscense for the majority of my Better spots are in TN water. There are some good spots to fish on the KY side but so many more in TN water. $41 bucks was the cost for my non-resident liscense for the whole year, heck I spent more than that in gas the first night alone in shotgunning my spots. Add in the motel, gas down and back, food, boat gas and you easily get a couple of C Notes spent (If you are staying on the water - many more C Notes), what is $41 more for a better chance at a Trophy.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Great trip elwood. Bout time you had a good one. Now it's time to come down to laurel my friend. I need some help finding some brownfish and can't wait to see your aproach to what I call the most intimidating lake in Kentucky. Let me know when you get a chance to fish her and I'll take a night out with you. You probably hold the key to fishing her for I feel the fish come in the wee hours in the morning ,just hard to find the night owls to fish her that long.

Bought me a Laurel map last week and sat with Chunknwind and located several spots on the map to begin the venture. Probably marked 40 or so spots and just have to get the C Rig out to drag to see if any cover is on them to really hold some fish. I have my approach in mind and it is similar to Dale Hollow except for the grass since there is very little in Laurel that I know of or hear of. I bet I did not make 15 cast that landed in less than 5 feet of water in the 27 hours on the water at Dale the past couple of days. I have been really trying to get away from just beating the banks like I used to and it has taken me a couple of years to learn but I have no problem pulling up in the middle of the lake to throw out a marker bouy and make a cast into no mans land. It has paid off well and I will be doing the same at Laurel. With it so close, I will be fishing it even more than Dale so we will share a boat together and both learn a bit. No problem in spending 12-15 hours on the water fishing or catching. We all have to do our share of "Fishing" before we can "Catch". I did a couple of hours last night before dark of nothing but running to spots with my map and looking at the depth finder or dragging a C Rig to see what was down below and added 5-6 new spots to fish but probably looked at 15 or so but settled on the 5-6 to add to the map. Worked out well and will be doing the same to learn Laurel soon. Later

[Dover]

Elnuts --- way to go.....sounds like you fished a great spot for those green fish...... hate to hear about all the fog but guess that rain / front cooled things down a bigt and probable cause of the fog :-( ..... again, thanks for the report .... tight lines....

[rickhise]

You might want to save this for your next trip I live here and try to stay on the fish through out the changes, we are agents for several seasonal rentals, which will have the room and features, not quite set up for a single person but if u get a few buddies we can help in lots of ways thanks

[300ZX]

Thanks for the post. Really enjoyed it. Sounds like you had a really good trip! Chris.

[redneckshadrap]

Thanks for the post. Really enjoyed it. Sounds like you had a really good trip! Chris.

Nice trip neighbor....

I have some good info on Laurel F-n-Fing....

Give me a yell this weekend.

Billy