Fishing Deep....What would you use?

[CTFSHWHISKER]

the ones i caught in canada had real red meat and seemed a little boney,they were pretty good.i'd take a walleye crappie bluegill first..up there we used down riggers and used cut bait on a big spinner type rig..

[aceoky]

Using your trolling motor (faster you go more weight you have to have so SLOW is the ticket here--- plus the water that deep is cold) there are some choices besides 'riggers to get that deep.

Snapweights and the 50/50 method will get many cranks/spoons that deep (50 ft line out, then the snap weight then 50 more feet of line) The book "Precision Trolling" comes in quite handy when fishing this deep. Also IF you have some large capacity reels, lead core line would be nice for you not expensive and with 5-6 colors and trolling < 1 MPH (GPS -SOG) you should be "in the zone" but again you'd need large capacity reels for this.

You can also use dipsey divers (but you'd need pretty heavy action rods and heavier line as they pull HARD to get down that far) IMO Lead Core Line is the "ticket" here, "stealth approach" (with a longer clear leader) also use a heavy duty swivel (especially with spoons) between the lead and the leader IF possible(depending on leader length which should be based on water clarity IMO) you can if need be use the swivel ON the leader if you need to.

One doesn't have to have 'riggers to fish that deep (but they are the most precise method) lead core is not expensive, doesn't require the equiptment , is more of a "stealth presentation" over the others IMO however all that being said, IF you're going to do much of this fishing as Elnut suggested, a GOOD quality line counter reel would sure help you a bunch!

Good fishing!

[indyls]

Just got back from a week-long trip to Dale myself and can also confirm that the fish were that deep. We marked them in shallower water but the only decent smallies we caught were in 55+ feet of water. They seemed to be hanging around large balls of bait . . . if you found the bait you found the fish. Biggest one was just over 5lbs but they were few and far between. Tough week for sure!

[mybentrod]

Thanks for the back up. I though they were smallies. There were too many of them bundled up. I have never seen Walleyes schooled up like that. I have seen two to four, but 10-15 together....had to be some form of bass, and at 50 foot deep...SMALLIES.

[MagikSmallie]

Walleye's are famous for schooling up big time. I can't speak for KY as I've never walleye fished in KY but I go to lake Erie every year sometimes 3 or 4 times a year and schools of Walleye up there can be in the hundreds of thousands....I don't mean hundreds OR thousands I mean like 100,000's...the schools can be a mile wide by 2 or 3 miles long. those charter boats up there will get strung out side by side by the hundreds of boats trolling all together and its really amazing and kinda hard to believe unless you've done it before...so I don't doubt that there could have been a school of walleye on dale in the 50-100 fish range..number wise.

[smljaw]

Couple yrs ago I read on this site where some guys really whacked em on DH with jigging spoons in December. They were marking fish, if I remember correctly, in 35-50'. Me and my buddy were down there at the same time throwing FNF and Little George. We marked fish in 35-50' but didn't have spoons with us. When I see that again on DH I'll be ready.

How many guys on here catch fish at DH or C-Land on jigging spoons? If so, what months do you have your best luck?

[mhall]

Couple yrs ago I read on this site where some guys really whacked em on DH with jigging spoons in December. They were marking fish, if I remember correctly, in 35-50'. Me and my buddy were down there at the same time throwing FNF and Little George. We marked fish in 35-50' but didn't have spoons with us. When I see that again on DH I'll be ready.

How many guys on here catch fish at DH or C-Land on jigging spoons? If so, what months do you have your best luck?

When I set out to do it for some reason I usually fail. However I have had some good success sporadically when chasing fish in open water. I keep one tied on for when they are schooling or in the jumps. After the jump dies down and the pod or pods of shad go down pulling the fish throw that spoon under where you were just catching fish on top or your shallow water column you were in. Bingo, they will usually whack it and I mean hit them hard to. Let it fall and rip it up aggressively and hang on, it can be bone jarring strikes or just a simple little tick on the line. They usually hit it on the fall after ripping it up.

I did this a few yeas Ago at Dale and was catching Smallmouth, largeheads and Magnum Spots doing this, too much fun.

[mybentrod]

What time of year was that?

[mhall]

First week of June believe it or not. I whacked'em that week, I caught alot of fish that week with several honker smallmouth. Had one that weighed 5lb and 2oz, but that one came on a spinnerbait. All of it was daytime early morning bite to, it was a family vacation and I was sneaking out when I could.

[mybentrod]

Thats why Dale Hollow is so hard. Wouldn't have expected to get that kind of bite in June. Thats a rewarding sneak away. I always think that the Karma God is watching when I do that kinda stuff. OHHHHH SNEAKING AWAY HUH???......How about some mechanical trouble. or a good morning storm. It seems to always keep me true.

[mhall]

If somebody would have told me I was gonna have that kinda bite that time of year on Dale I would have laughed at them but it happened. I had four mornings in a row where I was catching fish on topwater and slightly subsurface. Two of those four mornings I caught fish in the jumps busting threadfin shad pods. Maybe it was just meant to be I guess. Go to the photo board and I think it's on page four or so and you can see the pic of that 5.2 brown one. All fish released and hopefully still swimming. I did keep a few Spots one morning for a family fish fry, but certainly no largeheads and especially no smallmouth.