21 hours and counting.....until it BEGINS

[elnutsmalljaws]

21 hours from now, my behind (and the rest of me as well) plus Catchemall will be sitting on the BEAUTIFUL Dale Hollow Lake with FNF rod in hand making cast after cast looking for the 12 pounder, which I hope I don't catch until Sat or Sun during the Billy Tourney but if she happens to come aboard tomorrow I will not complain a bit. 21 hours until Day 1 of 16 days of fishing between now and Dec 20th on Dale. Can't wait to see my favorite lake again because there was a time in the past coupe of months that I never thought I would see her again. Heres to all that will be fishing, working or whatever you do in hopes that your days are PERFECT because it don't get much more PERFECT than Dale Hollow in the Wintertime with my All Pro / Okuma in hand just waiting for somebody to yell "BOBBER DOWN"!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing that is a pretty good bet is with 13 days on the water before Dec 18th Winter Get Together, I should have a pretty good pattern of the fish to tell the fellas when they get there. All I can say is bring your Carolina Rigged Double Pink Buzzbaits with 10 inch Powerworm trailer just in case this is what they are hitting.

Tough job but somebody's got to do it and I will make that sacrifice for all

[mhall]

Have a safe and productive trip Woodrow, you boys have fun.

[roadrunner]

ELNUT YOU DESERVE IT SO ENJOY IT!!!! But I'm a little envious.

Beep Beep

[FlyLie]

Enjoy your time in the Hollow . Now just to be sure you understand your responsibilities, they are as follows: (sure others will add to this list as appropriate)

* Log and report accurate GPS locations for all locations fished to include time of day, water/weather conditions, lure(s) cast, number and size of pulldowns and size of fish caught . Oh, Photo's would be great also . Note, your log should include any "dry holes as well".

Hope to meet you on the water soon .

[elnutsmalljaws]

[QUOTE=Boone;391681]Enjoy your time in the Hollow . Now just to be sure you understand your responsibilities, they are as follows: (sure others will add to this list as appropriate)

* Log and report accurate GPS locations for all locations fished to include time of day, water/weather conditions, lure(s) cast, number and size of pulldowns and size of fish caught . Oh, Photo's would be great also . Note, your log should include any "dry holes as well".

Hope to meet you on the water soon .[/QUOTE

Only a few problems to your request: I don't own a GPS, don't wear a watch and since my cell does not get service on the lake I turn it off or it keeps scanning and runs down the battery, I tell time by the sun - launch just before it comes up and take out just after she goes down, Lure I can report now - Punisher 1/16oz Duck Feather with Either Red, Blue or Purple and Chartreuse jig, fished from 10-14 feet deep with a little Garlic fish dope on the jig head, pictures if my camera works but it has issues from time to time when it gets cold, and there are absolutely no Dry Holes in Dale Hollow because it is still dammed up and about 9 feet over where it was last year. See you on the water

[know1]

Good luck! I'm jealous.

[elnutsmalljaws]

12:30 can't sleep, looks like I will be up for about 23 hours before I get to attempt sleep again. But these next 23 hours will include the 3 1/2 hour drive to Dale, all day fishing on the water, then have to get to the firehouse next to Horse Creek by 6pm CST to register for the Billy Westmoreland Tourney. This happens on every trip when I plan on leaving early, drive straight down and fish. Just like a 6 yr old kid waiting for Santa Claus way too excited. See you later, signing off.

[GeoFisher]

12:30 can't sleep, looks like I will be up for about 23 hours before I get to attempt sleep again. But these next 23 hours will include the 3 1/2 hour drive to Dale, all day fishing on the water, then have to get to the firehouse next to Horse Creek by 6pm CST to register for the Billy Westmoreland Tourney. This happens on every trip when I plan on leaving early, drive straight down and fish. Just like a 6 yr old kid waiting for Santa Claus way too excited. See you later, signing off.

BE CAREFUL buddy..............cannot wait to hear the details and some reports.

Give me a call when you get a chance.

Later,

Geo

[kygorski]

Go get em elnut,I left em all for you. will be back out again maybe monday, after the tourny.

[Owskiwoski]

looking forward to the report. It looks like you may hit it just right. Good luck.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Water temps 55-56, lake is turning over from First Island south to the Dam, done turned over north of that with good color. Catchemall and myself had a fair day, 1 over 21 1/4 inch 5-1 that Catchemall did in fact catch plus he had a good 15 and change under fish plus 1 slot, I had 11 total with 4 unders and 7 slots, 3 of our 5 unders were perfect 15 plus inch fish and fat, a good 2 1/2 pound fish. We would have weighed in just over 10lbs if the Billy was today but that is fishing for it is tomorrow. We caught our fish in singles and left fish because I know we could have caught more if we stayed on spots. All fish were caught on 4oz tungsten Pink jigs flipped into the laydowns with no weedguards and a 10" Pink Powerworm trailer. That is all I can say until Sunday after the Billy is over. Fishing is Fishing and Fishermen are Fishermen that tell more lies than truths but based on what I heard at the dinner tonight, I do like our chances. The only lie I told on this post is the pattern but anyone that knows me, fully knows how I caught my fish but where and with what is a bit of a secret that I will let out of the bag later, at least with what but not where. I will give you a small hint, they were all caught in Dale Hollow Lake, where there is water, from the Dam to Wolfe River Marina. Hope this narrows it down for you. On a sad note, I broke off the first 4 fish on the hookset which I will tell later because it may just give away a bit more of the pattern. I should have caught 15 and we should have had 18 between us but a 10lb sack is still pretty good in a Smallmouth only format. tomorrow we will NOT leave fish until we have 2 overs and 2 unders then we will head back to the marina for some lunch and take our chances. 63 boats in the Billy and there are some pretty good fishermen here so we will wait and see.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Inquiring minds want to know so all that sent a PM, here is the info. We had 13 today, with 3 unders and a very dissapointing weigh in because a fish that we measured 4 times both sides and it was 15 3/4 was rejected by their board for it was 16 1/8. I don't have a clue becasue I have 2 golden rules and it measured on both boards the last time being 30 minutes before weigh in. That fish went 2 1/2 lbs and cost us from being in 6th place after day 1. We threw back another under fish that we could have weighed because it measured several times that if kept and we stil crack the top 10. We can't explain it. Catchemall had 6 today and I had 5, all on the same bait as the day before. We had 3 really good fish but not good enough for Dale but certainly any tourney on Cumberland would loved to have these that went between 18-20 inches and FAT. Sitting back in the pack with only getting to weigh in 1 fish but that is the good thing about the Billy, you can't lose it on Day 1 and you certainly can win it on Day 2. 2 overs and 2 unders tomorrow by 11am weigh in time and we will take our chances. We certainly have the spots to give these up but Fishing is Fishing. Funny watching all these fancy rides passing my aluminum junker at blast off. Today it was 22 of them tomorrow it will be 47 of them, big difference when your boat runs 38 mph, down hill, down current, with a stiff wind behind it and 75mph of Triton, Skeeter, Ranger, Procraft, Basscat and whatever else manufacturer boat is here goes blowing by. I think there are only 2 boats of the 70 that my boat can outrun and even then 1 of them is questionable. Nice ride this morning with 1 inch of snow in the boat, snow/sleet smacking me in the face with an 18 mile run to spot number 1. took a bit but at least nobody was sitting on it when we go there.