Smallmouth Poaching on Dale

[elnutsmalljaws]

I dont normall respond to this stuff but if they can catch coolers of smallmouth,depending on what size cooler, well I would love to go with them and learn their tactics!

In December one boat with 2 fishermen can catch 12-15 Smallies a day on average and with Dale's average fish weighing 3lb, easily to fill a cooler with 6 fishermen who had been there for several days. As a matter of fact, I think they were from Missouri just to add to the "lie" that I posted. You take 40 fish a day between all of them at 3lb average over several days and can fill up a cooler pretty quick. The day before I had landed the 9 fish in a short time in that small pocket in Sulphur Creek, which I ended up posting the EXACT LOCATION OF THE POCKET ON THE TN/KY STATE LINE that I know many on here will remember, that would have weighed 35-40lbs total.

[zx150]

Elnut he ain't worth it! Glade to see you are doing better. Ryan.

[lunkerbustin]

I know it happens a lot not only to fish but ever edible creature around. I know some people don't care and that is sad. I wish the penalties fit the crime. Maybe if that judge were an outdoorsman things would have gone down different. Elnut I don't know you but I will have to say you are speaking the truth. To gain nothing why would anyone make up a story like this. So type on and we will read.

[kygorski]

Very few states actualy enforce possenion limits.Minnesota does, and the fines are steep!You are required by law to leave a skin tab on each fillet you have in your possesion. This was fought by some resort ownrers, because they claimed it would hurt long time renters, but it went into effect on a lot of lakes. The cause of this was keeping small walleye and mixing them with yellow perch limits. I know one guy in Indians who was turned in by fellow coho fishermen, this guy could catxch more fish than they could.Even though he only caught and kept his daily limit, he would fish 4 or 5 days a week. On lake itaska in minn. you may not cull fish. You catch it and if its legal you keep itor put it back.

[know1]

Hope that's not happening, but if it is, those guys are much better fisherman than I am (which isn't saying much). Perhaps they should be entering tournaments. I've been lucky to catch 12-15 smallmouth a SEASON.

[Owskiwoski]

That is the dumbest " tale" I have ever heard in my life. Coolers full of fillets and a hundred pounds a smallmouth waiting to be cleaned. You out did yourself this time. You told some good tales on here before but this tops all the rest of them. It's insulting to even read this. How many people do you really think are going to read this and not know your lying? I can tell you not many.

There is no need to attack someone on this site like you did. Can you please explain why this is not believable. Do you even fish Dale? If one person can win a tournament catching 20lbs of bass on plastic, wood, silicone or whatever, why can't 6 people catch 100lbs in a couple of days off a houseboat probably using live bait. I believe the story! I don't post here alot, but c'mon man. Be civilized and keep that kind of garbage off here.

[Mean Morone]

I think the point is that there are some out there that still ignore the law. We pay good money to the state for the privilege of fishing. In return we expect to be able to go out and catch a few fish. These guys are basically over ruling your hard earned money. I've only fished Dale once and got skunked but I've seen some things on Lake Cumberland that got my hackles up. One was seeing a dad and his young son on the boat ramp as they were leaving. I asked if they did any good and the dad opens his live well and holds up what looked like a 12 inch smallmouth and an 18 inch striper. He was talking about the fish fry they were going to have that night. I couldn't see in his live well, but he said he had several more just like the ones he held up. Another instance was seeing a guide cut the line of his client as a big striper came to the boat because they already had their limit and continued to fish. They were fishing down lines and the stripers were deep. There are reasons why the state puts limits on size and numbers. It's to maintain a quality fishery that all can enjoy.

[nightbasser73]

The easiest way to stop this is to stop the shad and shiner fishing which would be hard to do. Cumberland has been raped for years Striper and smallmouth!!!! Have personally seen more than one guide boat catch way over the limit on shad. IMHO live bait makes it far easier for someone to abuse the fishery. Take cumberland for example Average striper size in the 70s and 80s was much better than it will ever be again due to the effectiveness of live bait for removing fish from the population before they can reach trophy size

[sglass]

2 years ago at Jacobson Park I was bed fishing for big gills and was filling the cooler up with some good ones when a mexican gentleman walked up, walked out in front of me where the beds were in the water and started throwing a casting net. It pissed me off since I had been wearing these fish out and was trying to get enough fillets for fillet Sunday with the guys. I packed my stuff up and walked across the cove on the richmond road side. A game warden walked up to me about 30 min after I was there and checked me. I told him about what happened and he stood with me until the guy threw the net again. The warden looked at me and said "I kicked that guy out last year for doing that too." The warden walked over and they mexican guy left. I went back to my spot and was not catching much but to my suprise the mexican guy came back with the net this time throwing in the center of the cove. I got to watching him and he was keeping anything in the net. He had several bass around 8 inches long. Made me sick and got me thinking that if this guy has balls to do this in Lexington then I wonder what goes on around other lakes in KY.

[bassin_bug]

If I saw a stringer that big I would have followed them! How exactly do you think they caught all those sm, a trotline?

How long have you been confused?
Followed them?!! Now how do you think I knew where they were catching the fish? Most fishermen won't tell where their "honey hole" is so there was no point in asking a stupid question like that. I don't know if I'm being interrogated here or not but do you really think a trotline is the ONLY way to catch massive numbers of fish? How about traps, baskets, and gill nets?

We show respect for other fishermen and if they are fishing in a certain area, we don't run in over them. I can tell you that NOBODY was catching fish that day except those two men. I even talked to a fishing guide and nobody in his boat had caught anything all day either.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Fishing in Winter 2005 was the best winter to date that I found at Dale Hollow since 2004. Water level was normal and had good water temps pretty much all thru December and January. When the incident happened that I posted on this post as I did back then when it happened, was pretty much prime time Big Smallmouth catching. In looking at my notes that I keep the actual date that I caught these fish and the same date the guys were busted was Dec 9th 2005 for I caught my first one over 6 that day and had another one over 6 on the same spot on Dec 30th, exactly 3 weeks later. We caught a lot of good fish during that month as well as January. My boat was averaging 12 fish per day with 2 days of 22 fish and a bunch of days in the 9-15 range with a 3lb average. One boat catching 35-50lb of Smallies a day and you have 3 boats on the water could easily fill up a cooler over a few days of fishing.

[floatman]

I'm asking, if a game warden found that many fish cleaned and in a cooler and that many short fish, wouldn't or shouldn't they confiscate equipment or arrest somebody, like they would if they caught a deer hunter, doing the same thing?