Dale Hollow 1/6/2020

**kyfishman** · 01-07-2020, 12:06 PM

With the pretty day yesterday, I made another Dale Hollow trip. I decided against Cumberland for I figured Fishing Creek would be wrapped up with boats and most of the other areas of the lake I fish are really muddy. I arrived at the "Hollow" just as the sun was peeking over the hills. I was the only boat there (not a good sign). As I came down the hill to the ramp, I noticed the lake was socked in with heavy fog and the water was just on the edge of being very muddy with debris floating everywhere. But, I was there so I thought....what the heck, I might as well give it a try. I unloaded the boat in fog that was so thick I couldn't see the other side, so I decided to motor carefully and slowly down the near-side bank while keeping an eye on my gps. The floating logs and debris required that I go slowly. About halfway down my run, the fog began to lift and I could see the sun and blue sky....and...by the time I made my destination, the water was in much better shape...still not clear, but a far sight better than what it was at the ramp. I motored to the spot where I caught a very nice limit last week and started fishing. I was spider-rigging with double rigs and minnows. The water was about 3 ft higher than last week with no shad present that I could see on my Humminbird and areas of floating debris made spider-fishing difficult. I fished that area until 11:15am and only had a small bass and a bluegill to show for it. So I decided to move downstream to where the water was deeper. At 11:30, one of my Southern Crappie rods bent down quickly and a put my first crappie in the boat. The rest of the day was like a fishing dream come true. In water 22 to 27 ft deep, I caught one big crappie after another, catching and releasing over 50 really pretty fish and keeping a limit of 15 that I would proud of anywhere. The neatest thing was I had the lake all to myself. I didn't see another boat until around 3pm when two guys came down the bank bass fishing. There's just something special about Dale Hollow crappie. The way they fight is reminiscent of big black specks down in Florida. Can't wait to go back!