My Best Smallie

[bigwormy]

my first trip to dale was with my dad. i was 16 years old and we were carolina rigging the first week of march. we had to hold the line between our fingers while retrieving the baits because the ice would build up in the reel. it was freezing!!!!WE KILLED THEM THAT DAY!!!!!

[dh]

best five smallmouth weighed in a tournament was 25.58 lbs mar. 25 - 06 mid west tour. laurel lake. the picture is in this issue of kentucky afield. i have lost count of the 5lb plus s.m. i have caught since i first fished dale hollow in 1974. fishing for smallmouth is better now than it ever has been due to the size limits that ky & tenn. has on sm bass. twra is going to request that all lakes in tenn go to 18 inch on sm in 08 all but d.h. & douglas which 21 & 20 inch.yahoo way to go tenn. so if you like to fish for sm you in luck for this is the best it has been & getting better every year & you can trace this to billy westmoreland who was the first to push for size limits on dale hollow & it has spread from there to cumberland & laurel in ky & i hope to see 18 inch on all ky lakes in the future. love them ole brown fish!!!!!!! john

[WacoWildcat]

That's one big bag of brownfish dh. I hear they are in laurel though. I used to fish there as a kid but we never really caught much. I would like to go back to that lake this fall and try it out...but I hear it's a tuff place unless you have some honey holes.