Dale Hollow 2/11
 

I fished Dale Hollow today with a couple of my old college roommates. Today was the first day I’ve made a cast since Xmas. I was skeptical of what the water was gonna look like but it wasn’t to bad at all. There was plenty of muddy water but the mid main lake water was pretty clean. I started fishing at the boat ramp while waiting on one of my buddies to get there and caught 2 largemouth and lost one in the muddy water. They were as far back in Holly Creek as you could get and they were in a foot of water. I caught them swimming a jig around wood. The rest of the day we fished main lake flats and a few points. We caught some really nice fish and almost all were in less than 8 feet of water. I caught most of my fish on a swimbait and a couple on a jerkbait and a craw. Water temps were anywhere between 47-50.

Nice fish, good to see you back at it

Hey, glad you had good luck on 1st trip out since Christmas. That's what will keep you going back. Good report and very nice fish. Seems to be the only lake around that's producing fish and will only get better leading up through March.

Nice fish!!

Good job. Good fish

Thanks. It was nice to be back on the water.

One thing I forgot to add in my report was a little detail that I noticed but I'm not exactly sure how to interpret the information to help me catch more fish. All of the smallmouth that we caught had either mud or clay on their bellies. Obviously that means that they have been sitting tight to the bottom but other than throwing something on the bottom I'm not sure if I can take that information and catch more fish with it. I also noticed on the graph all day that all of the fish that I was seeing were sitting right on the bottom until late in the day. We pulled up to one point late in the day and I noticed fish suspended on the graph so For the first cast I picked up a jerkbait. I jerked it about 3 times before a 3lb smallmouth about ripped it out of my hands. Do any of you guys know a good tip for catching more fish when you know they are tight to the bottom?

#2 treble hook and a one ounce sinker lol

BTW got me a good one off the bank after work on a rapala ripstop jerkbait :)

https://i.imgur.com/jupesFp.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ffVAn7D.jpg

Yea that'll do I guess! Lol. Nice fish buddy

OK guys, I have never fished DH so needless to say I am clueless. I have looked on google maps and I cannot for the life of me find any public boat launches. I think I'd like to check out the lake this yr.



So where are the launches on the southern or south western corner ? Is it public or private and how much do they charge.

I use 2 ramps mainly. I use Holly Creek Marina and it's a $5 charge. I also use Hendricks Creek Marina boat ramp and it's no charge. Both ramps are open to the public.

Square-bill worked for me last Sunday. Pitched it to a windy bank right at the water's edge. Kept it in contact with the bottom and paused after it hit bottom. Caught one lm, one sm and missed a couple of more. Let that bait do some banging around.

I noticed Hendricks Creek Marina is in KY, Is my Tenn license good there or do I need to stay on the Tn side... I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I don't want to find myself in a situation...

Yep.