Dale Hollow Baits

[woody]

I thought we should start a thread about baits and colors that we should bring with us to Dale Hollow.

I'll start by posting an article by Stephen Headrick in which he talks about jig colors during the different moon phases.

Headrick’s study of crawfish – the smallie’s favorite food – taught him that the little crustaceans also change colors in sync with moon phases. “During the period of the first-quarter moon,” he said, “crawfish have a reddish tint to them. That’s when I throw a black and red jig with a red plastic chunk trailer. As the moon goes into full, crawfish take on a greenish tint, and I’ll go to a black and green or olive-green jig with an avocado or green plastic chunk.”


Headrick always tries to match is baits with the natural forage. His penchant for changing colors continues as the moon completes its cycle.


"As the moon goes out of full and into the third quarter, I like a black and blue jig with a blue chunk or a black chunk with blue glitter,” Headrick continued. “For the new moon, the crawdads are at their darkest. That’s when I use a black or dark brown hair jig with a black or brown plastic chunk.”


Here's a link to the source of the information.http://thesmallmouthguru.com/index.p...d=14&Itemid=26


-Mark

[bcklash]

Good info Woody.

[bassboogieman]

Did you read Headrick's write up about the "dancin' lizzard". I think it sounds more like a collaboration between 'Bama and Bill Dance, but it's a different way of rigging a lizzard. It would be a bit time consuming to do it on the water, but you could always pre-rig a few and keep them on hand, ready to go. I'll probably have a few rigged up prior to this trip.

[IUbass]

Guys if I come down, MAKE me throw a jig, infact take everything out of my boat but jigs.

[bassboogieman]

infact take everything out of my boat but jigs.

NO PROBLEM I can do that.
Uhhhhhhhhh you don't want any of it back do ya?
And just to make it a legal trade, I'll leave all my jigs and trailers in YOUR boat.
What a deal - I got to him first guys, it's all mine, but I may be willing to deal some of it for cash.

[BassMoJo]

Get some elaz tech strike king finesse worms 4 or 7in, Idk about DHL, but the SM love them up this way!

[bassboogieman]

Well, I made up a few of Headricks rigged lizzards and they do take some time. Not something I would do on the water, but spending a little time prior to fishing isn't too bad. I only did 4 in two colors, one each rigged with a single #4 mosquito hook and the other two with a #6 treble hook. I like the treble but I have a couple to try, at least. It's easier to repair the plastic after inserting the weight with an electric wood burning tool, but heating a screwdriver also works.

[IUbass]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

NO PROBLEM I can do that.
Uhhhhhhhhh you don't want any of it back do ya?
And just to make it a legal trade, I'll leave all my jigs and trailers in YOUR boat.
What a deal - I got to him first guys, it's all mine, but I may be willing to deal some of it for cash.

Hahaha, you were the first one to get me. But seriously, I need to fish jigs more, I cant stand them... I dont know if it is setting the hook on a jig, or just the fact its so slow, I dont know, all I know is I have to fish them more, and learn to love them.

[woody]

You're right, at first you have to force yourself to love them.

Like you said, put away all your other baits and just fish the jig exclusively. This is the most effective way to learn to use them, when they are not your go-to-bait.


-Mark

[coldbasser]

Thanks Woody
I put the Headrick site on my favorites bar. Great info.

[woody]

You're welcome guys!

I like what Elwood had to say about the greater importance of depth and presentation of your bait as opposed to bait colors.

Let's just hope for some normal lake levels this time around, so we can find the differing rocky points and banks.


-Mark

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

Well, I made up a few of Headricks rigged lizzards and they do take some time. Not something I would do on the water, but spending a little time prior to fishing isn't too bad. I only did 4 in two colors, one each rigged with a single #4 mosquito hook and the other two with a #6 treble hook. I like the treble but I have a couple to try, at least. It's easier to repair the plastic after inserting the weight with an electric wood burning tool, but heating a screwdriver also works.

If I read his write-up right, you run the line through the lizard, starting between its front legs, and out the tail, right about where it turns, and put the tee-tiny hook there? Interesting.....

Man, the more I read his stuff, the more I realize how far out of my comfort zone I'm going to be. 1/8th oz hair jigs, 6 pound line (I didn't know they even MADE 6 pound line.), 20-40 ft of crystal clear water, weeds growing 35 feet down....

[bassboogieman]

I did mine slightly differently. I cut the pocket in the head starting just rear of where the head is wider than the .22 shell. I used a 1/16 oz cylindrical weight. I ran 6# flurocarbon from nose to about 1/2" back the tail with a wire, running the leader through the hole in the weight. Sealed the hole by melting the plastic plug into the hole ahead of the weight. Attached the hook in the tail and a swivel about 6" ahead of the lizzard. I can always slide the hook farther back the tail, but I didn't want the hook dampening the wiggle of the tail as it falls, so I stuck the hook closer to the lizzard body.

As I said, they are a bit of a pain to rig, but if they work I can see doing something similiar with a 10" worm to get a smaller hook farther back in the bait where it can do it's job, rather than using a HUGE hook in the front of the bait. If you could do that, get the smaller hook point skin hooked, with the weight inside the worm, it should go through grass without any hangups. I may have to try something like that on the Potomac.

[bcklash]

Originally Posted by MississippiBoy

If I read his write-up right, you run the line through the lizard, starting between its front legs, and out the tail, right about where it turns, and put the tee-tiny hook there? Interesting.....

Man, the more I read his stuff, the more I realize how far out of my comfort zone I'm going to be. 1/8th oz hair jigs, 6 pound line (I didn't know they even MADE 6 pound line.), 20-40 ft of crystal clear water, weeds growing 35 feet down....

That makes 2 of us or should I say 3 ofd us.

[woody]

I think we are all gonna be out of our comfort zone on this one.

One thing I have found really helpful is the detail of the DH Lake chart made by Atlantic mapping. What make it fisherman friendly is the ease of distinguishing the different depth of the lake. The depths are color coordinated. 0 to 11 feet is shown in the dark blue, 11ft to 31ft is shown as medium blue, and 31ft and deeper light blue, this makes it much simpler to plot potential spots at the right depth and structure on the lake chart. Remember what Elwood said about the different structures to be looking for in the 10 to 20ft range relatively close to the deep channels?

I got my map from Headrick's bait's shop in Celina. Headrick was kind enough to even highlight a couple spots for me on the map. Great resource


-Mark

[Jesse James]

Interesting article. Do you guys think that color variation of crawdads throughout the moon cycles that he talks about is something that happens everywhere, or is it something he noticed locally?

[woody]

Originally Posted by Jesse James

Interesting article. Do you guys think that color variation of crawdads throughout the moon cycles that he talks about is something that happens everywhere, or is it something he noticed locally?

I am not absolutely certain about this, but I believe it all depends on how clear the water is that you are fishing. With water that is darker it become less of a factor. With the clarity of Dale Hollow's water being gin clear, crawdad coloring could be used at your advantage. Like I said, I am not certain about this.


-Mark

[bassboogieman]

If they love crawdads - and what smallie doesn't - should you happen to get one in the boat, stick it in the livewell for a while. Often times smallies with regurgitate their latest snack. You can get an idea of the color phase they are feeding on from the carcass they throw back up.

[nofearengineer]

Also do not hesitate to throw an alewife or shad imitating bait. It's not just about crawdads at Dale.

[bassboogieman]

Also do not hesitate to throw an alewife or shad imitating bait.

Just for you NFE, my Alewife BSJ. For you $14.99 (everyone else just $3.50)


I also have a few in shad patterrns...................... NFE I can do a "Special" package deal = 3 for $50.00.



One of the shad patterns - just SHAMELESS I am, blatent opportunistic, commercial hack. HA!

[MississippiBoy]

Has anybody else been looking at smalljaw.com's forums? http://www.smalljaw.com/forum/default.asp

It's pretty much 100% dedicated to Dale Hollow fishing, and smallmouths in particular. A lot of the guys on there swear by the Big Hammer swimbaits, so much so that I'm probably going to pick up a few packs and jigheads to give them a shot. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descp...HAM-BHSBT.html
I've never caught a fish on a swimbait, but it really looks like it might be worth it. Whatcha think?

[nofearengineer]

Daniel, I catch bass all the time on the small swmbaits like that. I like pearl and shad colors. I even put them on a drop shot and it still works.

[MississippiBoy]

After shamelessly begging for info, looks like I got some good advice from the Smalljaw forum...
http://www.smalljaw.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9805

[nofearengineer]

It looks like good advice indeed. Though I will obviously be spending a lot of time on my downriggers (I don't really get to use them anywhere else), I like the swimbait/grub/topwater talk there. Like I said, I am bringing my map software and printer, so Bruce and I can provide some prints of areas we catch fish earlier in the week.

[bassboogieman]

so Bruce and I can provide some prints of areas we catch fish

Now there is OPTIMISM.