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| Dale Hollow Lake Fishing Report 4-23-09 |
| Thu, 23 Apr 2009 5:04 PM |
 The big weekend is here - that is, the 1st Annual DaleHollowFishing.com Copeland Classic has arrived and with the new moon & awesome weather this weekend it should make for a killer first tournament. It's still not too late to register - you can register all the way up to launch on Saturday morning, so all of you guys that were waiting to see what the weather was going to be like, start making your plans. Cancel the BBQ this weekend with the neighbor you always talk about when they leave, call your favorite fishing buddy, pack up the pick-up, and get down to the Holler ASAP! There's a huge sale at the Dale Hollow 1 Stop all day tomorrow so you can stock up on your favorite tackle & accessories too, which is just another reason to get down here. To give you an idea, there's a $25 savings on the new Punisher CASTGLO L.E.D. fishing light just in time for night fishing, discounted spinnerbaits, power worms, hair jigs, and much more...DON'T MISS IT! For more info on the tournament click here.Well, enough about the tournament, let's get down to business. We've all been waiting for that Spring awakening when the fish start hammering everything in sight and guys come off the water with that "OH YEAH!!!" look like they just hit the Mega Millions. Guess what...it's here, and it's going off this weekend. You've got several ingredients for that "perfect storm". 1 - The new moon. With the action delayed because of the flip-flopping weather, the moon phase will have even more of an impact on the fish. 2 - Weather. Studies have shown that the single most important factor that affects fishing is weather. When weather becomes more stable, so does the fishing. Big fluctuations in weather will cause fishing to be hit or miss, which is what we've seen in the late Winter/early Spring season. The weather has been pretty stable this week and the warm weather will cause the lake temps to rise creating more feeding activity. Quote of the Week: "The solution to any problem -- work, love, money, whatever -- is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be." Lake Stats Waterlevel: 653.2 MSL - 2.2' above full pool of 651'. Water Temp: 54-58 degrees on the lower end, 55-58 on the upper end. Clarity: Clear on the lower end, stained on the upper end. Smallmouth What's Working Smallmouth fishing has really picked up in the last few days and will be HOT this weekend. The go-to bait for us has been Berkley swim shads in Firetiger or TN Shad and using a Punisher lead head instead of the wide-gap fluke hook that comes in the package. Although the wide-gap hook makes the swim bait weedless, the Punisher lead head gives you an exposed hook increasing your chance for a good hook set. Fish it on flats in 10-15' of water, and SLOW DOWN your retrieve. The Guru says, "When you think your fishing slow enough, slow it down some more and you might be slow enough." On windy days the spinnerbait bite has been really good. A 3/4 oz. Ghost Punisher is what a lot of guys are using and what the Guru recommends for those types of conditions. Some guys have called in having success on white flukes in 8-10' of water too. Fish the shallow flats next to deep water - wind blown banks are the best. 300 series Bandits in a red crawfish or brown crawfish color are still producing, as well as Hot Lips in the same colors, and if you don't have any, grab some X-Rap Deeps - they should kill 'em this weekend. Live Bait - work your shiners the same as in our other reports: grab some shiners (minnows) from your local baitshop. Put a split shot 12" to 18" up your line and either drift the minnow behind your boat or cast the banks. The key is to keep an eye on the wind & your boat speed and use the proper size split shot. If you're moving too fast and you have a lighter split shot, you're minnow won't get deep enough. If your split shot is too heavy you'll get hung on bottom a lot. Slow it down in this cold water - baitfish don't move fast in cold water, so if you're minnow is screaming through the water it looks pretty funny to the Smallies and they'll pass it by. Jigs - Football head jigs , Smalljaw Shaky Jigs , and the Yellow Hoss Fly are still solid - 10' to 20' of water, and work it slow. If any of you are having success with another type of bait or technique, please let us know in a comment below and help our readers for their upcoming trips! Hot Spots Like always, we give you a little headstart in our reports to two spots that should produce. FYI: Geo-Coordinates are used in Geocoding - the process of using digital values to tag locations, common in online services or media. GPS Cooridanates are your standard values used on maps. * This week we decided to use the same hotspots as they are still big producers for the time of the year and conditions. Illwill Creek - the northern bank right before you get to Wisdom Dock is a great Spring time bank. Geo-Coordinates: Lat.: 36.661773 Long.: -85.253134
GPS Cooridinates - Lat: N36 39' 42.3822" Long: W85 15' 11.2824" Trooper Island (south end) - just like Kemper Flatts, an ideal location for pre-spawn fishing. Geo-Coordinates- Lat.: 36.532964 Long.: -85.443764
GPS Cooridinates - Lat: N36 32' 0.0306" Long: W85 26' 37.5864" Click Here For This Map.... Trout Trout fishing has been fair but will pick up soon. Troll shallow diving rapalas or husky jerks on long lines anywhere from the mid section down to the dam. Start in the creeks and work your way out to the channel until you pattern them. I've found them in the creeks one day and in the channel the next. They are really on the move right now following the schools of shad. I have caught smallies and walleyes in the same spots & I caught trout on the same baits. Use large baits to avoid all the stocker trout that have now spread out from the backs of the creeks. Night fishing under lights should pick up using shad or night crawlers. Courtesy of Dave Clark, multi-species guide on Dale Hollow. Walleye Walleye fishing is definitely picking up. Look for them on the bluffs in around 2' to 8'. Bandit and Husky jerkbaits with short lips at night. During the day fish the old night crawler rig for some action. Largemouth As you can see by the first picture in this report, largemouth fishing is hot right now. David Thompson of Moss, TN (pictured above) knows this all too well as he holds his prize - a 10lb. 8oz. bucketmouth that was ginormous in person. The fish will be on display at the Dale Hollow 1 Stop soon, so if you're in the area it's a must see. Largemouth are biting spinnerbaits half-way to 3/4 back in the creeks. White, watermelon, and firetiger colors seem to be producing the most action, like the Punisher Firetiger. Find any old wood (our first hotspot is a good spot for this) and hold on! Don't forget about flippin' or pitchin' jigs directly on top of brush and on the banks - David caught his giant on a flippin' jig (hint hint). Crappie Crappie haven't made the move up quite yet but by Sunday evening they will fill the bushes full. Fish the back of the creeks and use little flys and tuffy minnows against the tree tops. Bluegill & Shellcracker Watch this weekend for the Shellcracker and Bluegill to be up - crickets around willow bushes should be fun! Our goal at DaleHollowFishing.com is to keep you updated on fishing Dale Hollow Lake, not just on the famous Smallmouth Bass, but the rest of the species as well. We are assembling a team of area experts and will post reports for all species found in Dale Hollow Lake very soon. If you are interested in writing for us, please contact us... Contribute to our fishing report! Take a minute and leave a comment below about what's been working for you, what types of locations have been holding fish, and what time of the day you've had the best success. You can help us make our fishing report the most informative report on Dale Hollow Lake!
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