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Old 05-21-13, 08:59 PM   #1
keithdog
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Default So about Dale Hollow?

Now that Zooker Fest is in the history books for 2013, I thought it would be interesting to hear from those who were there first hand about Dale Hollow. What kind of body of water is it? Is there much in the way of vegetation? What's the average depth? What techniques work well? Is the water usually clear or off colored?

I hear a lot about the small mouth, but what about large mouth bass fishing? Are the large mouths harder to locate than the smallies? What are some of your favorite lures for both species? Are there shallow back water areas? I think your thoughts would be interesting for those who are thinking about maybe making a trip there some day.

I would think fishing the Hollow in the fall would be a great time of year. Beautiful scenery for sure, and a bass migration to the shallows.
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Old 05-21-13, 09:30 PM   #2
bcklash
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A deep lake. We (me and Adam) have found no vegetation, lay-downs in coves are plenty. We have used plastics and top water. The fight of a small mouth on DH is so awesome, we don't care about large mouth. Though We have caught Large mouth and the fight is good.

Caught most of our fish in the back of coves this year. We did see bassboogieman catch a small mouth on top water over 75' of water.

We MIGHT be going back in the fall. We hope.

WE have fished Okeechobee--Guntersville--Kentucky lake--SML--Kerr and others. We'll take Dale Hollow over these others by far.
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Old 05-21-13, 09:38 PM   #3
nofearengineer
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Keith, here is my take on Dale Hollow.

It is very deep, cool and clear (usually).

It is exceptionally unpolluted, as there is no industry and very little farming upstream.

Vegetation is pretty limited, as it has very little in the way of shallows. However, since it is so clear, there is some extra deep grass in certain areas. The upstream end of the lake tends to have more vegetation, as is common with most lakes, since it is by definition shallower.

Brown and green fish are both in abundance, and for the most part either will take all of the same presentations. Though there might be somewhat of a seasonal slant; i.e. the largemouth are still in a pre-spawn feast while the smallies are stuck on the beds, and the smallies are probably feeding more when the largemouth are doing their thing.

I too really want to hit it in the fall, though like I said, "the shallows" means something different at Dale Hollow. More like, "right up against the cliffs".
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Old 05-21-13, 09:49 PM   #4
keithdog
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nofearengineer View Post
Keith, here is my take on Dale Hollow.

It is very deep, cool and clear (usually).

It is exceptionally unpolluted, as there is no industry and very little farming upstream.

Vegetation is pretty limited, as it has very little in the way of shallows. However, since it is so clear, there is some extra deep grass in certain areas. The upstream end of the lake tends to have more vegetation, as is common with most lakes, since it is by definition shallower.

Brown and green fish are both in abundance, and for the most part either will take all of the same presentations. Though there might be somewhat of a seasonal slant; i.e. the largemouth are still in a pre-spawn feast while the smallies are stuck on the beds, and the smallies are probably feeding more when the largemouth are doing their thing.

I too really want to hit it in the fall, though like I said, "the shallows" means something different at Dale Hollow. More like, "right up against the cliffs".
It sounds like if you can find a deep water hump or rock pile, you could get into a good haul using proper presentation, such as jigging spoons, deep diving suspending jerk baits and crank baits, jig-n-grub combos, and so on.
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Old 05-22-13, 05:37 PM   #5
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there are mountains of grass in there...
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Old 05-22-13, 06:02 PM   #6
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i was talking with the guide. june july and aug you must almost night fish for smallies with jigs. top water bite is about over they do good in april and may. fall pattern is again some top water and plastics most for lg . nov dec jerk baits and dec thur march float and fly. we caught are top water on a #3 rapla minnow black or gray back. they lg would look at it but really hard to get to take it. smallies different story. it is really neat to see a smallie come up from 10 or more feet and watch your bait when you see the fish stop bait and let it get close shake your rod tip and hold on. the dale hallow smallies are like nothing i have ever caught for fight. will not quit till in the net which is no easy task. like all have said no or little veg mostly lay down. coves you can be fish 15 feet off bank. see a 2/3 ledge at shore line and its in 5 foot of water. comes off ledge be in anything from 10 to 30 plus feet. there where time i was throwing to lay downs on bank 20 feet away and sitting in 50 foot of water. the dock is 27 foot deep. shore fishing is almost immpossible. but the fishing is like no other place you ever fish. i would be more than will to go back in fall. lake also has spots or ky basss and lots of red eyes. big gills crappie are plentful and some are in 2lb rannge. if you never fish there a guide would be a great help to learn lake.
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