11/2 & 11/3/07 Dale Hollow Fishing

Caught three fish on Friday, 11/2 and one on Saturday 11/3. Dad also caught a couple Friday and Saturday. Dad and Charlie caught 10 fish on Wednesday and Thursday before I arrived. It was cold and clear overnight and was about 38 degrees both mornings. The afternoon was in the 70's...hot enough to get sunburnt, but cool and breezy enough for jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. The water was in the low 60's. Most of the day the wind was almost nil. It was very easy to control the boat with the trolling motor, which in turn made it easier to concentrate on getting the grub and jig head to the bottom.

I attribute my success on this trip to the easier trolling motor job. If you look back at last year, my results were not as good and I believe this was in part due to the challenge of keeping the boat on course against stronger breezes. Interestingly, if you compare Charlie's results this year to the same weekend last year, his were opposite of mine. I think wind could also play a factor here...Charlie is very good at catching fish when dragging behind the boat. Stronger breezes translate into greater grub activity when dragging - not much, but think of the suttle bounces and dashes the grub would make on the lake bottom as the boat bounces and dashes in the wind and waves. Less wind and waves translate into less grub activity and could possibly result in fewer strikes.

The break, albeit only one day, from work at the Tennessean and gigging at the Full Moon Saloon was much needed. I haven't spent a couple of solid days on the lake like this in awhile. And, making it even better was the fact that we had the lake mostly to ourselves. The Fall colors were full scale, the silence in some of the coves was piercing and the fishing action was good. Just the way I like to remember Dale Hollow the rest of the year.

Most of the fish were caught on smoke grubs with quarter ounce jig heads. Charlie did throw pumkinseed for awhile, but it didn't seem to be the popular bait. I caugh a 4 lb 4oz, 21 inch fish on Friday - fish like these are the fish that make Dale Hollow the only place to fish.

Here is the proof:

First up - Dad with his three catches. This is the guy that blue prints our fishing trips to Dale. He knows the line to use, the bait, the hooks, the places to fish. I can't remember a trip we haven't caught fish on. However, I can remember several trips were others have not caught fish. I can remember last year at the tournament as we watched others weighing their catches, I was thinking our catches were competetive. Interestingly, he is still curious and concerned with what others say about lake tactics. If anyone should be advising anyone on how to fish Dale Hollow it should be him. However, also interesting, our tactics don't change. We did change hook size this year, but only because the smaller hooks were no longer available.

Below: This is the 4lb 4 ouncer...he was just over 21 inches. We are using a slighter larger hook than we did in years past and I think it is working to our favor. We don't seem to lose fish like we did in years past. Below: This guy was 3lbs 11 ounces. He was caught near the cottonwood tree cove. He was caught on Saturday morning. We revisited this location because the 4lb'er above was caught nearby on Friday morning.
Below: This was my first catch of the trip. I was glad to land anything at this point. So far my 2007 $136 hunting and fishing license had legalized one turkey and this little bass...not a good "price-per-unit" for the year. Don't want to discuss cost effectiveness of hunting/fishing licenses with the wife at this point.

Below: This was my third catch of the trip. He was caught in the "Kentucky Hole." We were in the shade of the nearby ridge, it was late afternoon and the sun was going down. He was 2lbs 11 ounces and 19 inches long. Here is Charlie with a catch from Wednesday or Thursday. To really get a full grasp of Charlie's fishing expertise, readers should check the Dale Hollow notes from the same weekend last year. This man rocks!