Dale Hollow Float-N-Fly Warriors
If you want it to snow, just plan a smallmouth trip to Dale Hollow in February. I've done it three times in the last couple of years... it has snowed everytime. But this time we had snow AND wind. Aren't we lucky! Saturday came bright and beautiful... that's not what you want for float-n-fly smallmouth. About an hour after daylight the wind began... and then grew, and grew, and grew! It was a solid 15-20 with higher gusts. I knew it was coming but really thought we could find some good places to hide in the Dale Hollow hollows. Instead I learned that each one of those hollows serves as it's own little wind tunnel, funneling the wind wherever you go. When we woke up Sunday it was snowing... hard. An inch on the ground and still coming. 23 degrees and the wind had already started. I had to sacrifice the hot coffee in my thermos to thaw out my steering cable which was frozen solid. I've hunted and fished in a lot of raw conditions in my many decades.... not many were tougher than Sunday morning. HOWEVER, it was also beautiful. For just a few minutes in the AM the wind laid down and it was so quiet on the lake you could hear the snowflakes. One of the "outdoor moments" you live for. Now to the fish... between raw weather conditions and being novice "float-n-flyers," it was tough. Saturday me and Ed McCoy boated four smallmouths...most 2-3 lbs. but anchored by a 4.8 lb. fish. Our three friends (in another boat), far more experienced float-n-flyers had 8 smallmouth, 2 spots and a 4 lb. trout (but I still had big fish <grin>) Sunday (in the snow, winds and bitter temps) me and Ed managed one spot, one largemouth and one smallmouth... nothing special size-wise, but they were all special considering the weather conditions we caught them in. Our friends only managed one small trout. It was a great road trip... "memorable" weather, good friends, the folks at Horse Creek Resort http://www.horsecreek-resort.com sure were good to us and just enough brown fish to make you want to go back. Here's few pics:
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A "typical float-n-fly Dale Hollow smallmouth
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"Big fish of the trip" displayed by my Outdoor Writer friend Larry Self from Greenville, TN
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Ed McCoy fishing in a winter wonderland... toughin' it out in drivin' snow
http://www.chattanooga.net/outdoors/forumpics/dh5.jpg
Lo and behold, there are a few largemouth on Dale Hollow
