# heading to dale hollow



## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

going down around the 8th of november. i havent been down in 5 years, we used to go 2 or 3 times every winter. i tell you i am 40 years old but i am about as excited as a school boy, really looking forward to catching smallies during the day and big crappie off of the houseboat at night. we fish in the wolf river near illwill creek which is reciprocal water for ky and tenn and the last time i was there ky non resident license wer 26 bucks now they are 50 that was little shocking but still worth it.


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## mjchiodi (Mar 14, 2008)

I am heading down to wolf river tonight for the weekend. I was down in August, the fishing during the day was tough to say the least from what I heard the daytime bite is coming around I will let you know how I do.


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## grumman (Oct 24, 2010)

I had some family down there last weekend, they said it was really slow during the day because of the full moon most fish came during the night.


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## mjchiodi (Mar 14, 2008)

Just got back yesterday and the fishing was a little slow for this time of year compared to years past but we did get into a few overs off of main lake points near the river channel. All of our smallmouth were caught in about 20 to 30 ft of water off of live shad and shiners. I had a few blowups in the early morning on a skitterprop but I only hooked one 10'' spot. Good luck


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## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

thanks for the report i will post when i get back around the 15th


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Hope you knock em out man. I don't go until our annual Feb trip, but seeing the words "Dale Hollow" in a thread has me all amped.

Let us know how you do!


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## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

i read on the corps of engineer website the surface temp is down to 64 degrees and the temp at 10 ft is 62 degrees, it seemed to take for ever for the lake to start cooling off. i think in the fall pattern water temps between 55 and 62 degrees are best for dh smallies. 
we have everything packed and ready to go cant wait for monday to get here!


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## Fish G3 (Jul 16, 2008)

Good Luck!!! It is my absolute favorite lake in the entire world.


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## basschaser (Jun 21, 2008)

DAVELEE said:


> going down around the 8th of november. i havent been down in 5 years, we used to go 2 or 3 times every winter. i tell you i am 40 years old but i am about as excited as a school boy, really looking forward to catching smallies during the day and big crappie off of the houseboat at night. we fish in the wolf river near illwill creek which is reciprocal water for ky and tenn and the last time i was there ky non resident license wer 26 bucks now they are 50 that was little shocking but still worth it.


Have a great time on a great lake. Save some fish for me LOL. I will be down there around Thanksgiving. Have been going for the last few years about this time and have a ball. Last year landed my 3rd. largest smallie ever 4 3/4 lb caught (near Holly Creek) on a 4" shiner in about 20fow. But I normally drag jigs. Let us know how you do. Any other techniques work well this time of year? GOOD LUCK!


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## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

I'm planning a Thanksgiving trip to Dale Hollow with a few _carp_ anglers to try our luck at landing some of the 30+lb fully scaled mirrors. We will most likely be camping and fishing from one of the primitive campsites on the Obey River branch of the lake. Does anyone have any experience staying at the Army Corps managed primitive sites this time of year? I hear that Thanksgiving week marks the start of rifle season and that there could be some safety concerns.


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## redhawk fisherman (Apr 13, 2004)

I am heading down this weekend, and then for five days Thanksgiving week. Fish were scattered Halloween weekend when I was there, but caught some good smalies,and several nice spots. We were dragging tubes slowly. This is my favorite time of year there!


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## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

we had an unbelievable trip to dale hollow. weather for four consecutive days was 75 degrees, sunny and most importantly absolutely no wind.

we ended up getting to the lake wed. around noon and started fishing around 2pm between 4 of us we caught over 20 smallmouth that afternoon alone.
thursday was a great day as well with over 40 smallies that day.
friday morning was tough we did not even have a single hit by 2 pm. then about an hour before dark they turned on and in an hour i caught 7 smallies.
got up saturday morning and caught 3 more and called it a trip, kind of interesting but the moment we got back to the marina the wind kicked up to about 30 mph and the lake started white capping and was almost unfishable.

for numbers this was one of the better fall trips i have made to dale hollow size wise we did not have a large keeper (21" or bigger) but we had a ton of 17 to 20 inch fish. most fish were taken on live shiners in about 25 foot of water but we picked up some on crankbaits and a few on jigs. the fish were kind of scattered we caught one or two on about every spot we fished but never really found a definite pattern, they just seemed to be a few fish everywhere. we caught them on flats, weedbeds, points and hollows. we stayed exclusively in the wolf river area around trooper island. i had hoped to get into some crappie as well but only managed 6 keeper crappie in 3 nights of lantern fishing but did catch a bunch of kentuckies under lights with shad


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## basschaser (Jun 21, 2008)

Sounds like a great trip do you know what the water temps were in that area?


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## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

the day we left the water temp in illwill creek near wolf river was 59 degrees


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## NLC25 (Jan 21, 2008)

How did you rig the shiner? drop-shot style??


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## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

I spent Thanksgiving camping and fishing for carp at Cove Creek with a few Carp Angler's Group members. The biggest was a 32lb 12oz fully scaled mirror, sadly not mine. That lake is a gold mine and I will be back in the spring looking for a 40lb fully scaled mirror.

Here is a 30lb 12oz fully scaled mirror:


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## DAVELEE (Apr 19, 2004)

we did a little drop shot rigging the first day or so but most of the time we "swim" the shiners. we use a number one plain shank hook and a very small split shot and cast the shiners towards the bank and then let them swing back towards the boat trying to keep the shiners just a foot or two off of the bottom the whole way. the key is to keep the shiner swimming as slow as possible but as near the bottom as possible. other times if we drift the flats we just rig a 3 inch shiner like you would a crappie minnow and just drift
slowly along the weed beds or rock piles.


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## Fletch (Apr 10, 2004)

Does the f-n-f bite start when the water temp gets down to 50?
I think that's correct but just want to double check. I checked the corps site and they showed it at 51. So the smallies should start hitting f-n-f really soon. Perhaps I can make a trip over the holiday break :>)

"As of 6:00 a.m., the lake elevation for today is 641.02 ft. above sea level and falling. The surface water temperature is 51 degrees, and at 10 ft is 49 degrees."


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