Muddy water got you down ? Think Dale Hollow smallies

[txnative]

With the muddy conditions on Priest and Old Hick negatively affecting the fishing, Dale Hollow smallies are a good option to satisfy the fishing addiction. They are busting shad on top everywhere...10 ft to 100 ft, points, bluffs, flats, open water, etc. The key is finding shad (not hard) and getting on the busting fish quickly (not easy in a kayak, should be much more doable in a boat). Shad are around 2-3 inches, but the smallies aren't picky on size...they'll happily smash a 4-5 inch bait as long as it's moving in the kill zone. Vertical jigging spoons, blade baits, and tail spinners around bait balls should pay off during the gaps between surface feeding.

I fished Horse Creek and the areas around Pleasant Grove and the dam this weekend. Hard to get to the fish quickly in my kayak, but hits were pretty much guaranteed when I did. Rainbows were in the mix, too, as porman2006 will attest. Don't let crappy water conditions on nearby lakes keep you off the water...just find new water.


Chris Bryant

[browntrout]

With the muddy conditions on Priest and Old Hick negatively affecting the fishing, Dale Hollow smallies are a good option to satisfy the fishing addiction. They are busting shad on top everywhere...10 ft to 100 ft, points, bluffs, flats, open water, etc. The key is finding shad (not hard) and getting on the busting fish quickly (not easy in a kayak, should be much more doable in a boat). Shad are around 2-3 inches, but the smallies aren't picky on size...they'll happily smash a 4-5 inch bait as long as it's moving in the kill zone. Vertical jigging spoons, blade baits, and tail spinners around bait balls should pay off during the gaps between surface feeding.

I fished Horse Creek and the areas around Pleasant Grove and the dam this weekend. Hard to get to the fish quickly in my kayak, but hits were pretty much guaranteed when I did. Rainbows were in the mix, too, as porman2006 will attest. Don't let crappy water conditions on nearby lakes keep you off the water...just found new water.


Chris Bryant

Thats a nice fattie right there. I thought about heading up there this weekend but decided not to due to the long drive. I bought a jet ski trailer and I am going to work on converting it to a kayak trailer instead.

Roy

[Travis C.]

It's not the muddy water that's got me down...it's this work keeping me off of it. :)

[jad2t]

Very nice, Chris. I fished on Old Hickory last week and saw balls of shad being busted all over the lake but the shad were very small, probably 1.5" at the most. I didn't have any lures that small with me but I did toss some 4" swimbaits through there with no luck.

Did you get anymore besides the one in the pic?