The first thing I can say is that I have been spoiled by all my HUGE fish that I have caught at Dale Hollow since Dec. 2004 and this week HUMBLED me to no end. Absolute perfect weather Mon thru Fri in that the sun NEVER shined, rained most of the day Monday, ALL day on Tuesday, Some on Wednesday, and very little on Thursday but rained again this morning. Put in Monday morning before daylight and 63 degrees per the TV but it had dropped to 37 by noon. Massive Cold front came thru as you can tell by the temp drop and pretty much shut down the bite for us for 3 days.
Mon - Cliff spanked me 3-0, yes 3-0. I got no bites all day long, Cliff got 3 and that was it for the day. Wet a line from Lillydale to South of Mitchell creek, you name it Deep grass, black shale points, black shale banks, limestone points, islands, bluffs, pretty much every structure on the lake. Second day EVER since 2005 that I was SKUNKED on Dale Hollow in the winter time. All fish were caught on the fly. All 3 fish came early and then when the bottom dropped out of the thermometer nothing.
Tue - We tied 3-3 for the day. Again no pattern, fished all different structures caught one here and one there. Hens lands one on a jig and the other 5 all came on the fly. Rained ALL day long and high 30's for the temps which as anyone that fishes the winter at Dale makes it a LONG COLD day on the water.
Wed - Monster day today. I finally get on the board and SPANK Hens a whopping 2-1. The second of my fish came within eyesight of Wolf River Marina and we had made cast from there to First Island and everywhere in between. Again, no pattern, one bite here one bite there and the last bite in the Wolf.
Thur - We never saw or heard any wildlife at all the previous 3 days and thur was totally different. Birds, squirrels and other wildlife stirring in the woods and it was the first and only stable weather day of the week plus stable water. We caught a few early on this one particular spot which was the first time we had multiple bites in the same area all week. Cliff caught 3, I caught 1, plus Cliff broke off one, I broke off one at my leader then retied and very next cast broke one off above my bobber on my fireline. This was the first time I have EVER broke one off at the fireline. The first breakoff for me was a good 3 1/2 Smallie for I saw her clearly as she jumped. Guess just a kink in my lines both times. He continues to spank me around and has me doubled up at 6-3 for the day as we run this pattern of black shale chunk rock banks with about 60 degree slope or so. Then IT happens. We move to another bank on the same pattern and Cliff gets hung up and he tells me to move to the front and run the trolling motor. Not much on standing up on a pro pole, at least in the past, but after losing all this weight it was much easier than I thought it would be physically on me. As he is putting on a new leader and I am in the front, WHAM, I land a 2 1/2 lb spot, then WHAM a 2lb Smallie, WHAM another Smallie about the same size and Hens is still trying to get back in the game but he keeps getting interrupted by manning the net. He breaks off and it is 6-3 and before he cast again it is 6-6. He jumps up in the back seat and I tell him to get back up front for it is his boat but he says he wants to see just how many fish we would have caught if I was up front instead of him. He rocks and fires his FIRST cast after tieing and puts too much mustard on the hot dog and gets hung up, not a happy camper so he snaps it off. He is now re-tieing his second in a row and I make a cast and hook and land a 3-11 Spot. Beautiful fish, great pictures. This is my second biggest Spot of my life next to a 4-6 that I caught at Dale in 2005. This the last fish of the day, 13 total with 3 break offs and compared to the others that came down and stayed at Hendricks as well and fished that day we did pretty well. One boat had 3, one boat had 6 and one boat (got his butt kicked by a 6 inch trout, you know who you are Reynolds) and caught only 1, plus another boat that had 1 trout. Our 13 looked pretty good compared to the rest and we were very pleased to say the least. What made the day even better was when 6 of us met at the Mexican restaurant in Celina that night for supper and had a good hour and a half of food, lies and truths.
Fri - I knew it was going to be a dad day today. High pressure coming thru temps going to soar to 60+, wind howling 20-25 out of every direction at any time (that is why they call it the Holler). Fished again with 3sons so there was 3 of us tossing the fly and if 3sons had not caught a suicide 12 incher then we would have blanked. 1 fish all day, boat on the trailer by 1 and homeward bound we came. Rained off and on all morning with wind howling, temps rising and by the time we go Mike's and Cliff's boat on the trailers it was almost high blue skies and suntan lotion weather. My experience with Dale has always been that one day with a High like today after a week of cold below temps will make that day a bad bite day. It was for us. Sort of like a big cold front hitting the spring bite and knocking it off almost instantly. We had a major low pressure come thru Monday morn and major high pressure come thru Fri morning.
Pretty much only one pattern worked and that was thursday. Nothing else worked for more than one fish. We pretty much could have gotten a bite or fish then left before making another cast except for Thursday. Great forecast, great weather mon thru thur except that it took a massive cold front monday a couple of days to get the water and fish stable. If you told me that I would have blanked 2 of the 5 days before going I would have told you that you were nuts with what the forecast looked like. But that is Dale and it can be very finicky at times and I am HUMBLED as one can get. I expect to catch a 5 pounder every time I launch on that lake just because of my track record of what I have caught versus the amount of time spent on the water. No more will I expect that when I launch. Every fish came on the fly, Duck / chart / and any other color with these 2, red, blue, black purple, fish dope the head only and 11 foot leader being the best.
Always great to spend time with my buddy Hens plus with 3sons, Bassman30, Preston, Reynolds and his Brother in Law, plus seeing Gunpilot made it all the better. Had a great time as supper Thur night and looking forward to doing it again.
Looking to get several together to go down around the Marting Luther King holiday weekend for 3-4 days. Anyone interested send me a PM and if we can get enough Hendricks Creek will give us a good rate on all the cottages.
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Originally Posted by skunked
