I am spending next Thursday (May 1st), Friday and Saturday at Dale Hollow. It is our yearly work outing and this year we are going to Dale Hollow and will be putting in at Holly Creek. Will the crappie be done with spawning by then? Where do you think they will be on the lake? How deep? Is it best to use jigs or minnows? Anything else you can think of? I really appreciate the help. I have no idea how to catch a crappie on that deep, clear lake.
Never fished that lake, but G or ScottV from the MS board have, google search the lake you might get some hits.
Might want to check out trolldh.com Dave just posted on a few other sites about catch a 16" and several others, before starting the day (I assume he was fishing suspending fish in a marina).
I don't know if the bluegill and shellcrackers will be hitting by then but you might look into that. There is crappie in Dale Hollow
but they can be difficult to find/catch. For the gills and crackers try splitshot and worms in 3-6 feet of water. I hope to get there the following weekend.
We had some pretty good luck crappie fishing with jigs and minnows in 20-30 feet of water on Dale Hollow but we were there in late September last year. We were on the Obey River section near East Point marina. My fishin' partner Debbie caught a 14.5 inch crappie on a minnow within 3 minutes of fishing ! We used two hooks above a bell sinker fishing on the bottom for the most part. It was "different" fishing a clear highland reservoir but we decided not to "overthink" and just stick to techniques that worked well for us on Chickamauga Lake. I would think most of the creeks around the lake would have a lot of crappie in them right now.
Sorry guys for this late report but I been fishing the Ky. side of the lake and not been on here in a while. The crappie are still in the flooded brush trying to spawn and the shellcrackers are trying to start. The walleye are chasing the shad on the banks from dusk til about 11 pm. I use the blue ghost bobby garland baby shad tipped with a minnow around the willows
Not familiar, but I'd look for dirty water (muddy in fact) coming out of ditches/creeks, and start in 5-7 fow, fish down bout 2 feet and work you way into the 3-5 fow range, and shallower, till you find em.... Lite, clear water....lite, clear jigs. I prefer jigs tipped with minners, but its personal taste. If the wind is from the South, find a North cove, and fish its mouth, and work your way in. Good chance you'll run into them along the way.
Wind blows plankton, shad eat planketon, crappie eat shad. Not rocket surgery!