Vfw 4-21-2013 - FishingTN.com Tennessee's Fishing and Boating Community

Alphahawk · #1 04-21-2013, 06:45 PM

Decided to drive down to Laurel Hill with my girl friend and have lunch and get some lake info. Water is still only 60 degrees.....dropped since last week......was at 64 degrees. They have been catching some really nice crappie off the bank. There have been some bluegill caught but not many...it is coming and going with the weather. Did not fish Laurel Hill but stopped by VFW hoping to get some Gills and Shell Crackers. Only spent an hour and a half there. Not a Gill to be had but got a half dozen Shell Crackers. All of them were at the 8 inch mark. Not big as far as Shell Crackers go but boy they sure are pretty and can make the drag sing using 2# test line. A lot of fun. All fish were released. The bluegill bite at both of those lakes is ten days to two weeks away.....maybe more. Of course all that depends on the weather. But the shell cracker bite appears to be on.

Regards

Reel Tune · #2 04-22-2013, 08:28 AM

Glad you got on some fish. We had those back home and called them redear. They averaged in the 9/10" range, and caught them up to 11.5".

Jeremy

Alphahawk · #3 04-22-2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MidTNKayakAngler

Glad you got on some fish. We had those back home and called them redear. They averaged in the 9/10" range, and caught them up to 11.5".

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy. We call them red ear down here too. But sometimes some folks don't know what that is...LOL. VFW Lake has a lot of 10 inch ones in it.....and some that will go 14 inches. For years I have tried to time the red ear bite up at Dale Hollow. When you hit it fish in the 10-12 inch range are every cast.....and 13 inches and bigger are not uncommon. But the timing is the problem. I went last year but was off by a few days. Will try again this year too. Doug Markham also missed the timing last year. Hope to hit it at Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkely also. When I catch those out of a big reservoir I will keep some. But when I get on them in these small lakes they all go back. To me it is like a trophy fish in the smaller lakes and just not enough to be harvesting.

Regards