dale hollow house boat.... fishing advise

[mms]

so going on my frist trip to dale hollow on a house boat with 3 other couples.... i want to do some fishing while im spending all that time on the water.

we got a pontoon boat also so that we are not tied to the house boat the whole time.


what type of fish should i be looking for and how should i be fishing any ideas? should i fish close to shore ? try to troll with the pontoon? we will be more to the north side of the lake right on the ky / tn border.


thanks

 

[pjcalla]

I was down there a few years back on a houseboat. We had an inboard ski boat and a couple kayaks. I think between my brother in law and I we caught a handful of fish the whole week. Granted, we didn't spend that much time fishing.

As for the species, pretty much every warm water fish is going to be there. Bass, bluegill, catfish, etc. We took the kayaks out for a few hours and pounded the banks/creek inlets. We also used crickets to catch bluegill to use as bait for catfish. I was told by the marina to use them live, letting them swim around. We didn't catch any cats, but only tried one or two nights.

 

[mms]

thanks for the heads up. From searching the interwebs seems like alot of small mouth bass which would be cool to catch but i dont think the summer time is peak season for that.

 

[pjcalla]

thanks for the heads up. From searching the interwebs seems like alot of small mouth bass which would be cool to catch but i dont think the summer time is peak season for that.

Smallies are great! That is my favorite species to target on the fly rod in the river. It's amazing how hard they pull for their size.

Summer would be a good time for them. You will want to fish the drop offs to about 20' of water. They'll sit in the deep water waiting for baitfish to swim off the ledge/drop. I'm assuming you'll have a depth finder, but if not, a good chart would work as well. You may also be able to find them in the shallows early morning or late evening. They llike rocky bottoms. I'm really not familiar with the lake down there, so I'm no help, just passing along info that I've read on the species.

Good luck, and let us know how it went.

 

[Zoub]

I was forced to fish from a pontoon once during a week long trip, with no electric motor or kicker motor and what I did that week has worked for us ever since when we are not in our boats. If we go somewhere for a day trip or with a small group where not everyone wants to fish or won't fish much and we rent a pontoon this is what we do now.

I taught my GF the basics of boat control, then showed her how wind and current effect the boats handling. Then I made sure she was comfortable with bumping in and out of gear and going into reverse. The first rule was while we are fishing never turn the motor off and keep an eye on me for signals. I set my expectations low and did all the thinking in terms of wind and drift etc....then would signal her to idle along, bump in gear or out to drift, or reverse out of a shallow area. I taught her how to look for and follow certain contours or depths. Watch for a certain weed line to follow or maintain a certain depth or distance form shore. What is awesome about doing this is you can idle along shore, sight see, people can eat, drink whatever and people up front can fish. It is a total compromise but you can cover a ton of water fan casting with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Trolling is OK but that will depend on wind. If you anchor up, slip bobbers will allow you to work a wide depth range and not have a lot of casting going on.

 

[70worm]

Fishing Dale Hollow is rough. Everytime you go there the houseboat people will tell you some guy caught 39 bass yesterday, but believe me winning the lottery is easier than catching 39 bass out of Dale Hallow. I went with my dad about 22 years ago and spent 3 days fishing (my dad only slept 3 or 4 hours a night). We fished for bass all day and catfish all night and never caught a single fish. My grandma and grandpa lived not to far from there and went fishing there a couple of times a year for about 10 years and said the fishing was always bad.

 

[Leo]

Big catfish, way deep. Lots of pan fish in the fingers. Used red worms, bee moths and earthworms.

 

[PistolBob]

Love Dale Hollow Lake...I believe it was Jeff Foxworthy that said, "If you've ever been too drunk to fish, you might be a redneck.".....well...I guess if the shoe fits, I'll just have to wear it.

 

[Wheezy50]

I've been to Dale Hollow and Cumberland on 5-6 different houseboat trips, I even started dating my wife on one of them! I've never spent much time devoted to fishing, but unfortunately haven't had much luck. We've tried the coves and fingers during the morning/evening and caught a few largemouth but never any good size and few and far between bites. Caught one smaller channel cat at night and have seen stripers but couldn't get them to hit. I would try catching smaller blue gill and pan fish during the day and use them for catfish bait at night. Try both live and cut. (Assuming this is legal)

One local guy told us to try a light at night hung down in the water. They make submersible fishing lights you can hang a few feet down in the water off the back of the houseboat. Light will attract small shad etc which will then attract stripers at night. We were able to attract several large schools of baitfish and even saw some big (5-6lbs) stripers in the water but couldn't get a bite.

Weather and time of year affect the fishing a ton there, maybe some locals would be nice enough to share tips.

Be prepared for a good time, every houseboat trip I've been on has been a lot of fun. As long as you get along well with the company, it can be a little tight quarters too.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I'd hire a guide for a day and learn from him, then fish the rest of the week the way he showed you. That is one tough lake to fish in the summer. I've never had any luck at all there.

 

[gcoop]

I have fished Dale Hollow Lake for the last twenty years. Pretty much during the spring and fall time of year. I can highly recommend Hendricks Creek Resort to stay at or rent a houseboat. The place is very nice and the people there are wonderful. Most resorts that rent houseboats require an extra boat of somekind for emergencies. Your pontoon will work fine for this need and great for fishing as well. Fishing in the summer months is better in the early morning before the weather gets hot and then later in evening hours especially just before dark and well into the night. Drifting along main edges and points of the lake should produce smallmouth and big shellcrackers, or sunfish, and walleye occasionally. Nightcrawlers and big bass minnows on the bottom have allways worked for me. Be sure to get a lake map for more information and directions. Hope this bit of information helps and goodluck.

 

[xM3RC1L3SS1x]

Haven't had the luxury of goin there.....yet.

 

[tmschuller]

Been there on many houseboat trips.. where are you going to be exactly? Fishing there can be fun or a crap shoot... I have always been there in the late spring when the bass are sitting on the beds and you can see several feet down... they wont bite on much.. hybrid bluegills (shell crackers) get huge. largest one we caught was 2# 14 oz. Yes its mounted.
Get bait here and take it with you.. we took night crawlers lots of them.. hundreds of them (parking lots at night when its there is a good rain is a great place) The night crawlers there are about the size of a red worm here. Plus you will pay premium at the marina. Long hook and thread them once from the end.. believe its a texas worm rig, small gills will bite off the tail and big ones go for the head. We fished them by throwing them close to shore and letting it just sink.
Just depends on where you are.. it wont take long to find out by moving and fishing different structures/areas.
We worked coves for big gills and caught big crappies on jigs. Nice size channel cats were plenty around dusk. Crank baits for small mouths, really you never know what you can catch.. there are some really big fish there.
Just make sure to mark your house boat if you go out and dont get back until dusk.. they all look the same in the dark and the surrounding will all look the same if you dont know your way around. You can park your houseboat in coves to get away from the wind and fish very well off them.. we chummed the water and caught some really big catfish .. beautiful place, have room for one more?

 

[deer hunter]

I'd hire a guide for a day and learn from him, then fish the rest of the week the way he showed you. That is one tough lake to fish in the summer. I've never had any luck at all there.

This is so true. I went with a group in late September years ago. We had 2 bass boats that we took along. We fished all week and no one caught a single fish. It's a good thing we took along steaks and other food. When we were ready to leave, we met a group of guys that had caught a lot of fish. When we asked them their secret, they said they hired a guide the first day. If I go back, I will definitely do the same.

 

[Hotdoger]

We always found a cove and beached the front of the boat for the night . Ran a rope to a tree to keep it there.

 

[JollyMon]

Cant say for certain about Dale Hollow, but on Lake Cumberland I have had quite a few successes catching stripers. Usually use blue gill as the bait.... But as always its easier to catch them when you go with a guide versus going at it alone.

 

[mms]

we leave friday morning..... house and pontoon boat are from eagle cove marina. ill report back i got my casting net to help obtain some live bait and ill grab some night crawlers here instead of down there thanks for the suggestions, on that and the rigging.

 

[Brandon]

I can't speak for the fishing other then the 2 times I was down there, not a single fish was caught.
We did catch a tornado however.

That is all.