Dale Hollow Lake

[troossien1]

well, August 10th through the 14th my family will be staying on a house boat on The beautiful Dale Hollow lake.  I am very excited for the trip as we will be towing the bass cat down,  however, I am not getting my hopes up because of the time of year, I hear they are tough fish to catch that time of year... Have any of you fished that lake? I have been given guidance to fish at night and to fish the rivers, I would rather not do that if at all possable..  I hear it is absolutely beautiful though!

[t-bone]

I've fished it in the spring. My family has rented a houseboat and we bring several fishing boats. Never fished the late summer.
Bring an ultra light setup and use a splitshot rig with night crawlers to catch shellcracker on bluffs and brushes for shell crackers and bluegills. For bass, the Spots are pretty easy to catch on laydowns - jigs and senkos. Never really figured out the smallies down there. It is beautiful and you'll have a great time.

[troossien1]

Thanks, where did you get your house boat from?

[bigjc]

Unfortunatley, you could NOT be visiting D/H at a worst time!  By mid May D/H is deep into a summer pattern and really tough to fish, during daylight hours.  Plan on fishing dusk/dawn and possibly even after dark.  The locals mostly fish at night after May/June.  For that matter it is a pretty tough fishery year round. 

Make sure to get yourself some BigHammer swimbaits.  This is the GO-TO bait of most of the guides and locals.  You may also want to visit the website: smalljaw.com  as it is a wealth of local fishing info.  Not as good as this site, but it is pretty darn good.  You can register and post questions to locals and guides.

I myself went last year in May, and I plan on returning next month.

Good Luck!

[t-bone]

We always go to Eagles Cove and usually fish the Wolf River

Thanks, where did you get your house boat from?

[troossien1]

Unfortunatley, you could NOT be visiting D/H at a worst time!  By mid May D/H is deep into a summer pattern and really tough to fish, during daylight hours.  Plan on fishing dusk/dawn and possibly even after dark.  The locals mostly fish at night after May/June.  For that matter it is a pretty tough fishery year round. 

Make sure to get yourself some BigHammer swimbaits.  This is the GO-TO bait of most of the guides and locals.  You may also want to visit the website: smalljaw.com  as it is a wealth of local fishing info.  Not as good as this site, but it is pretty darn good.  You can register and post questions to locals and guides.

I myself went last year in May, and I plan on returning next month.

Good Luck!

You just confirm my fears... oh well... Ill show those fish how we Michiganders do it! haha
Good luck to you as well! keep those lines tight!

[troossien1]

ahh thats the western end of the lake isnt it? Were getting ours from Eastport Marina

We always go to Eagles Cove and usually fish the Wolf River

Thanks, where did you get your house boat from?

[Firefighter Jeff]

  Vacationed there in August about 18 years ago.  We hired a guide to fish the evening and after dark.  He let us use his black light the rest of our trip.  No monsters but we did catch fish after dark on jigs.

[t-bone]

No, that is the northeast part of the Lake - just east of the state park. It's real close to the Kentucy Tennessee border.

ahh thats the western end of the lake isnt it? Were getting ours from Eastport Marina

We always go to Eagles Cove and usually fish the Wolf River

Thanks, where did you get your house boat from?

[troossien1]

Are you talking buck tail or what we use up here? I have heard things about people catching em on buck tail down there...

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  Vacationed there in August about 18 years ago.  We hired a guide to fish the evening and after dark.  He let us use his black light the rest of our trip.  No monsters but we did catch fish after dark on jigs.

[troossien1]

And who was your guide! Maybe he will let me borrow a light too! Lol

[Firefighter Jeff]

   Well, it's been so long ago I can't hardly remember to be honest.  Think they were just small rubber skirted jigs,  Also some small texas rigged worms.  I do remember seeing the bats hitting the fishing line though.    Really can't remember the guys name, but it really was a comedy of errors with him, but that's another story.  lololol

[troossien1]

Ha! My grandpa has killed a bat or two with cranks at night!! Oh man the backlash was awful..... Lol!!

[Firefighter Jeff]

   You could just barely make them out every once in a while but they would buzz the line.  Not sure if they sensed it was something to eat or what, but the line would jump when they did it.

[River Rat]

"While the sky is falling" on your trip to the big D, don't fret. You will find some good fishing - even during the day - on the Obey and Wolf River channels.  Go back into the smaller creeks with running water and work a CB, stick bait, swim jig, and have some fun. If conditions are too tough, you may have to go to a deep vertical presentation but that is the extreme.

I'm not a local Dale Hollow expert but with the family farm house in Byrdstown since 1918 and fishing there about 35+ yrs my opinion is you'll do alright.

[bigjc]

"While the sky is falling" on your trip to the big D, don't fret. You will find some good fishing - even during the day - on the Obey and Wolf River channels.  Go back into the smaller creeks with running water and work a CB, stick bait, swim jig, and have some fun. If conditions are too tough, you may have to go to a deep vertical presentation but that is the extreme.

I'm not a local Dale Hollow expert but with the family farm house in Byrdstown since 1918 and fishing there about 35+ yrs my opinion is you'll do alright.

Byrdstown, TN is my fav. place to stay AT DH.  I love that town!

[troossien1]

"While the sky is falling" on your trip to the big D, don't fret. You will find some good fishing - even during the day - on the Obey and Wolf River channels.  Go back into the smaller creeks with running water and work a CB, stick bait, swim jig, and have some fun. If conditions are too tough, you may have to go to a deep vertical presentation but that is the extreme.

I'm not a local Dale Hollow expert but with the family farm house in Byrdstown since 1918 and fishing there about 35+ yrs my opinion is you'll do alright.

thanks for the info I'm sure we will use it! It will be fun either way though. We are going with family.

[bigjc]

Well, the weather sucked for my D/H trip a few weeks ago, and the fishing was a grind.  We landed one smallie about 3 pounds and all the rest were a mixed bag of small brown and green fish.  However, it probably is the most beautiful lake that I have ever been to. 

I would agree that you probably want to concentrate up in the obey and/or wolf rivers.

Once again, you really should look at smalljaw.com