Dale Hollow Long Line Trolling Pre Spawn

I’ve got a trip planned to take my daughter in March to Dale Hollow lake to pull jigs with planer boards. I’m taking my boat up from north Mississippi. I’ve got a pretty good game plan I feel but have noticed how deep and clear that lake is. Very different from my home lake Sardis. I’ve seen several videos on fishing it. Shows most fish at the time are suspended 10 feet or less from top fishing in around 20-30 feet of water. Do you just pull close to the bank where it shallows up to that depth? Pull up In coves and drive down the side? It seems the middle of ditches and lake would be too deep. Will the fish still suspend in the real deep water too? We are staying at Dale Hollow marina. Is that a good area of the lake to fish during that time? Any advice would be appreciated.

Lot of the guides pull planer boards. I fish the wolf river arm in march and it usually has excellent watercolor in March. Several different methods work. A lot of people are using livescope to catch there crappie. I like to spider rig usually with 2 people up front. I use sixteen foot poles double rigged with minnows. This time of year the fish are usually suspended 12-18 feet in about 25 feet of water chasing schools of shad. usually don't fish to close to the bank as most of the fish that time of year are a little deeper.

Bigdawg you are on the other end of the lake from wolf river. I have been wanting to come down in March and fish Eastport marina. This area is on the obey river. They have some excellent cabins in this area. There are a few videos for that end of the lake. Lot of standing timber that I would love to try with a cork and jig or a good ole minnow. This area usually has excellent water color in early spring. Good luck.

The biggest reason I asked about fishing close to the bank was because looking at the NAV chart it looks like you almost have to get on the bank to get in shallower 20-30 foot water. Trolling across some of those ditches/channels are extremely deep!

I'm sure that is true on that end of the lake . Never been on that end of the lake before. Wolf river has some nice flats with 25-30 foot depth. Maybe some of the local guys will give you some insight on the area you are going to. Beautiful lake and hope you do well. Hope your daughter gets a hold of one of those black nose crappie. They sure are fun.

That is what we are going for! We live about 45 mins from Sardis Lake in MS and I took her this summer pulling cranks. She caught six big slabs and reeled them all in on her own. Was really happy for her and couldn’t believe how much fun she had. She is seven years old. She has been watching crappie videos with me and saw some big black fish on Dale Hollow in TN. Asked if we could go to TN. I said well of course! To TN we come haha

Love to see kids involved in the outdoors at early age. Wish more kids were like that. Good Luck on your trip.

Sent you a PM

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Originally Posted by dwightparks

Bigdawg you are on the other end of the lake from wolf river. I have been wanting to come down in March and fish Eastport marina. This area is on the obey river. They have some excellent cabins in this area. There are a few videos for that end of the lake. Lot of standing timber that I would love to try with a cork and jig or a good ole minnow. This area usually has excellent water color in early spring. Good luck.

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I second dwights advise, in early Spring the Obey is where you want to fish, the water is much shallower then most of the lake and there is plenty of structure to fish. I have spider rigged the area in Spring with little luck, had better luck dead sticking laydowns and brush piles, You will catch Whites, Blacks and Magnolias at Dale.