Thanksgiving
on
ic
I’ve
Dale Hollow
been fishing on Dale Hollow actively since 2010, so there
was no doubt in my mind that I was you going to fish
Dale Hollow again this thanksgiving vacation. After spending three
thanksgiving weekends on Cove Creek and not doing very well, I’ve
decided to go back where it all started for me, a small spot located
on Kentucky side of the lake. Having fished the spot this past Christ-
mas, catching only one carp which also was my new PB at 38.10lbs,
I couldn’t wait to go back
there. Finally, after huge an-
ticipation it was time to go,
as luck would have it, I had
a fairly easy day at work, so
I managed to get to the swim and cast the rods into desired spots
before the dark. What made me even happier is that I got a call from
my buddies that would join me on this session. The session started
off real slow, with the first carp being caught by me after 24 hours, to
be followed by a huge channel catfish a few hours later then, there
was silence for another 24 hours. We decided to fish 2 rods at range
and 1 about 15 yards out. From the very beginning we had liners,
so we baited up 2 areas, 1 at range and 1 close to the weed bed that was in front of us. My buddies except
for some liners did not have any action at all. While on the other hand, I had a few fish under 20lbs. Time
went by real fast and on Saturday my friends had to leave. Sad to see them go but it was time to get down
to business. After they left I repositioned the rods, this time 1 at range and 2 rods close to the weed bed. The
weather was changing from warm to cold overnight. Knowing that this change would be a good triggering a
need to feed instinctively in the fish. The plan was to get into bed fairly early thinking it would be a very early
morning. It was! Waking me around 3 am with a run, that resulted in an upper teen common. Back to sleep
and 1 hour later, another screaming run, which after Twenty plus minute fight another Dale Hollow stunner
was in the net. Weighing in at 32lbs a beautiful fully scaled stunner, After that there was no sleep for me.
What seemed like an endless night was graced with a nice 22lb common just before dawn. After releasing
this fish, the sun started its rise over the mountains. With the light came time to take footage of the stunner
that was in the sack. Sadly after taking some photos and releasing this beauty back to its home it was time
to pack and with that the same old question arises.
What rod to reel in first? After smoking a cigarette I
decided to start with the 1 that hasn’t produced any
action the whole session, as I was wiping that rod
down cleaning it before packing it away. The beau-
tiful sound of a Delkim alarm was to be heard once
more! Fifteen minutes later there it was, another
stunner in my net, this one turning out to be 31lbs. I
could not believe my luck! Quickly packing my gear
away into the van so I could get some good footage
of my last capture. After a very successful session
on Dale Hollow, I got back on the road to the every-
day routine and the wait to go back to that magic
place that is called Dale Hollow.
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