# Dale Hollow Report 1/15-1/17



## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Back, and still trying to thaw out my toes!

Day one - 42 degrees, bright sunny skies. Caught 3, missed 3. First fish of the trip was a beautiful 5.5lb smallie (also the biggest of the trip!). http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3942&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

Day two - 30 degrees, blizzard conditions. Boated 5, missed 4. Biggest went 4lb on the nose.

Day three - 15 degrees not a cloud in the sky...BRRRR. fished 3 hours, boated 1 4lb, missed 3.

AWESOME trip. Didn't expect a lot in numbers, but hoped (and were rewarded) with some nice fish. Not a fish under 16", avg was 3.5 lbs, with 2 4's and the big 5.5 thrown in. Fished the dam area creeks, all fish on the float-n-fly with a 10 foot 6lb leader, 1/16oz duck or grey hair jig (caked with fish dope). I can't stress this enough, but if you've never caught a football on a 10 foot light action rod with 6lb test, you're missing out on some serious fun. These fish take a while to boat, so your net man has plenty of time to get things squared away  (sorry D, couldn't resist!)

We missed as many as we boated, either from spit hooks on the jump or just complete oblivion on our part. We had pulldowns while grabbing a drink, looking down at the fishfinder, you name it. It seemed like everytime we took our eye off that float it was gone, and you had all of 5 seconds of fight and you'd lose em.

Lisa @ Horsecreek Marina was great to us, and the trip was a cheap 6 hour drive from columbus (3 nights lodging at the marina, covered dock with electric was $125 split by two!). Worth every minute, and perfect cure for cabin fever.

Can't wait until March!


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## riverrat66 (Jan 10, 2005)

Nice job "B"


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## redhawk fisherman (Apr 13, 2004)

Great report!! Wow what a smallie! Have you ever tried the float and fly in Ohio lakes?


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## crappielooker (Apr 5, 2004)

nice fish maaan..


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## Lewis (Apr 5, 2004)

Man...sounds like a great trip Shake!
Lookin forward to March!


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## TritonBill (Apr 9, 2004)

Looks like you had a great time! Awesome smallie Shake!


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## baby bass (Apr 11, 2004)

great smallie ,great color good job shakedown.


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## Action (Apr 8, 2004)

What kind of fish dope was you using ? Did it have Amstel Light in it ?


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Hah...Amstel is liquid heat when it's 15 degrees out 

Redhawk. I've wanted to try it, just haven't found the opportunity. It's a technique that is only used to catch suspending smallies, which the water needs to be clear and colder than 50 degrees. Haven't found that combo yet on inland lakes, but I would think somewhere like Alum would be the place to try it!


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## mengerk (Apr 19, 2004)

I was the guy you met there at the resort saturday morning before hitting the water. I will try to post a couple of the pictures we have from our trip. We did not fish the float-n-fly but for a couple of hours on Sunday. All of our fishing was done with Silver Buddy's and Little George's. We caught a couple of nice fish but all in the slot. Sounds like we would have been productive if we would have fished the float-n-fly the entire trip. Oh well. Any day on the water is a good day even when it is freezing cold. I will try to post the photos later this evening.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Glad you found us mengerk! I meant to tell you guys about the site, but didn't realize you were not stickin around for sunday...looks like you found us anyways, which is cool. Post those pics man! Looking forward to seeing them. Sounds like Larry makes that trip quite often. After the trip we had last march, we go down in the cold with the sole intention of 100% f-n-f fishing.

The guys that were in the room next to you (who won the 2 day guided trip) boated a 21" rainbow on the f-n-f. Nice bonus fish.


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## mengerk (Apr 19, 2004)

Larry does go down to the Hollow quite frequently. The other guy(brother-in-law) and I try to get down there or to Cumberland once in the winter and once in the spring. We have not had much luck the times we have gone. It seems like we always have adverse weather just before the trip that turns the fish off. Hopefully things will change this spring. 
I have been on the site for awhile checking out the reports for the local lakes when I have a fishing trip planned. I have to rely on my brother-in-law that lives a couple of hours away to come up with the boat to hit the local lakes. I do alot of my fishing in south eastern Ohio and north eastern Kentucky because that is where the boat is.
Where did the name shakedown come from? Are you a GD fan?


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## Fletch (Apr 10, 2004)

Nice work ShakeDown. I'm jealous to say the least!
So what does a F-n-F rig cost approximately?
I might be going down in March and would like to try the FnF.
thanks.
Fletch


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

GD fan I am 

Fletch...a $30 10 foot rod and a light action spinning reel is all it takes man.


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## Freeze (Apr 10, 2004)

Thanks for the report... My opinion a great trip! Your description of catching a 5lb smallie on a light action rod is right on, I'm so jealous


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## Fletch (Apr 10, 2004)

ShakeDown said:


> Fletch...a $30 10 foot rod and a light action spinning reel is all it takes man.


I've heard some guys mention a couple of brands of poles but I'm pretty sure they weren't $30.00 , more like $100.
What kind did you purchase?
thanks ShakeDown.
Fletch


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Fletch...last year i used an 11' wally marshall crappie rod (bought at BPS) for $25. A few weeks back, I bought a 10' Pinnacle light action rod (at Gander Mtn) for $30. The pinnacle has more backbone than the marshall, and being 1 foot shorter it's easier to work with. The guides down on DH mostly use St. Croix or All Pro rods, which will run close to $100. These $30 rods did the job perfectly, and I've fished the f-n-f with a $100 All Pro before.

One thing that SAVED THE TRIP were the $30 quantum hypercast reels we used. Those suckers were worth their weight in gold, because with that firing pin mechanism you don't need to physically touch the line to cast. Came in handy yesterday when the temp in the morning was 14 degrees...you can cast em with a full thick winter glove on! However, any spinning reel will work...it was just too cold to fish for 11 hours without gloves on!


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Now here's something wild I learned on this trip. Something that I had never seen before, or really heard discussed.

Last year I was running just regular 6lb trilene on my spool, nothing fancy. Most of the guides down there run a super mono or firewire. This year, with the new rod/reel setup I decided to experiment and used Yozuri Hybrid 6lb. Brought with me a spool of 6lb trilene in the event I didn't like it...here's how it went.

First off, that YH line has got to be the stongest non-braid I've ever seen for the diameter. It was incredible, considering how well it casts. One thing I noticed on the package, was that it says it's "100% Waterproof Fishing Line". Didn't think much of it, but just enough that I can't recall ever seeing line marketed as "waterproof" (aren't they all?). Anyways, once that cold spell rolled in, ice on the guides/reels became a major factor....but not for me. My buddy was using regular trilene, on an identical setup...and he had a spool full of ice...mine did not. Only diff between our setups, was the line. It was a night and day difference!

Just something to consider if you're fishing anywhere really, in below freezing temps. Made a believer outta me.


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## Action (Apr 8, 2004)

The ole electric socks are a must have in those conditions also. I make people jealous every time were in real cold conditions with the warm feet.


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## Fletch (Apr 10, 2004)

I wish Gander Mtn had an online catalog so I could check out one of those Pinnacle rods.
I did find some Wally Marshall Rods online at Basspro.com. But before I buy one I'd like to hold it to make sure it had enouhg backbone.
Thanks for the info SD.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

No problem man. I think Pinnacle might be a silstar with a diff name on it.


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## Tom G (Sep 26, 2004)

thats a nice smallie looks like you caught it across from Cedar Hill on that ledge love that spot to bad it was so cold there for your trip but it does beat workin


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

> 100% Waterproof Fishing Line". Didn't think much of it, but just enough that I can't recall ever seeing line marketed as "waterproof" (aren't they all?).


Years ago it was always recomended to soak our mono line in buckets of water before fishing tournaments to make it run better since it took in some water which then made it cast and perform better... Looks like for cold temp fishing you've struck on something that will help us all out here...
THANKS Brandon!!!


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

WOW Tom. That's exactly where I caught it  That's wild that you could pick that out from that picture. Hell, even I had to think about it for a second and I was just there!

Clyde...only complaint I have about the stuff is it seemed to have a fairly high memory. Not nearly as bad as iron silk, but it was noticeable (didn't effect anything). I'm really looking forward to trying it in warmer temps this spring.


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

I'll look forward to how it works out for you when things warm up 
(ITS NASTY HERE AGAIN)...


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