# 02.15.08 - 02.17.08 Family Trip to Dale Hollow Lake, TN



## G3_Guy (Feb 17, 2008)

Well, we are back from our family trip to The Hollow as most of you know by now. We had an absolute awesome time. Great food, fellowship and fishing was had once again. The fishing was a little slower this time but in all honesty we didn't dedicate as much time to it this trip as other "Family Duties" took precedents. We arrived at Eagle Cove around 9:00am Friday morning. We checked in, headed to the cabin, unpacked and grabbed a quick snack. Since our friends (_the other family we would be spending the weekend with_) had not arrived yet, the wife and I loaded up the boys and headed for the water. It was a perfect day as the sun was shining with an air temp of around 55 degrees and absolutely NO wind.







Now for the specifics of our adventure...

*Day 1 - 02.15.08*

Launched: 10:30am
Air Temp: 55 Degrees
Water Temp: 42 - 45 Degrees
Location: Upper end of the lake

We launched the boat around 10:30am that morning and headed out in search of the elusive 21" SM. The bite was particularly slow, but to tell the truth we weren't fishing our hardest as my wife and I spent more time trying to help the boys fish and keep them from jumping and/or falling into the lake.  There excitement to be out on the water eventually dwindled and they decided to sit in the bottom of the boat and watch us for a while. I finally took my first bite and set the hook around 45 minutes into out trip. The boys were busy talking and did not realize that I had hooked up on one. When my wife saw what I was doing, she told the boys, "look what daddies got." My oldest boy said, "dad, do you have fish?" When I responded that I did, my youngest started screaming, "BIG FISHEE... BIG FISHEE!" I continued to fight with it as my oldest kept saying, "Hurry Dad, we want to see it... hurry!"  On the first pass it made where I could see it, I thought I had caught a toad of a KY. We continued to fight for another minute or so before my wife was finally able to dip it. After all was said and done, I had caught a 19" 4lb LM. The boys were ecstatic and had to see it, pet it, etc. We all three huddled on the front deck of the boat while my wife took our picture (_seen below_). I continued fishing the same stretch of bank for a little while longer but there were no more takers. The wind began to pick up and the boys began to get a little hungry, so we headed back to the cabin around 12 to eat lunch and wait for our friends to show.









Our friends arrived around 12:45. We helped them unpack and get everything situated. The wives and kids then headed to the playground while David and I headed to the water. We launched around 2:30pm and headed back to the bank where I had caught the big LM. We fished it for 45 minutes or so but there were no takers. We decided to move up the lake to another spot where we had had success during our New Years trip. On David's first cast, he missed one and on his second cast he hooked up on a small KY at the exact same time I did. We moved down the bank a little ways and I hooked up on a small SM. We continued a little farther down the bank but there were no more takers there. We then decided to move on up a little further. There we were able to finish out the afternoon around 5:30 with a 14" LM that David caught and a 14" KY that I caught.

All but one fish was caught on the FNF. The other was caught tight-lining a grub. Given the amount of time we had to dedicate to fishing on day 1, I considered it a pretty successful evening. For the day we had 7 bites and hooked-up on 6 them. Of the 6, there were 3-KY, 2-LM & 1-SM. Our largest was the first fish of the day, the 19" LM.














*Day 2 - 02.16.08*

Launch: 7:30am
Air Temp: 48-52 Degrees
Water Temp: 43-48
Location: Upper end of the lake

This was by far the best looking morning on the water for FNF I had seen in a long time. The air temp was cool but not cold, the skies were heavily overcast and the water was like a mirror... you could have seen a fish breath on it, let alone bite it. We were excited as we thought this would turn out to be a great morning... Boy Howdy, were we wrong. We fished from 7:30am-11:30am and only had 1 3lb drum, which was caught tight-lining in 45' of water, to show for our efforts. A little disappointed we headed back to the cabin for lunch and to spend time with the family.





After lunch, a nap and some play time with the boys, we went back out on the water around 3:30pm to see if our luck had changed. We headed up the lake to another spot we had caught fish on during New Years. As odd as it may sound, the water hear in this creek was 48 degrees (_the warmest we saw all weekend_) and had begun to turn-over. As we made our way back out to the main channel, the water temp dropped, the water cleared and I finally had a fish shake the bobber. I set the hook and the fight was on. I had fought with it for a minute or so when it turned it's head and the hook popped out. I never saw it but the way it was pulling told me it was a decent fish. We fished there a few more minutes but could not get another bite. We moved back down the lake to a spot where my dad and his partner had caught several during New Years. It wasn't long until my float just fell over... I set the hook and brought a 14" or so SM to the boat. In a few moments my partner's float went out a site and the fished headed to the channel. He took 4-5 cranks and the fish came unbuttoned. From there we continued back in a little cut. I flipped my bobber over on the left-hand side (_where we had not been fishing_), shook it once and down it went. This fish like a ton brick and immediately started spooling line. We fought for several minutes and I was finally able to land it. It was a 21" 4.5lb SM that was as broad as my two hands. We continued on down the bank but with no additional success. It was dark and we headed back to the cabin. On our way, we decided to stop and throw a jig for a few minutes under the moon... no luck. 

We ended the day with 5 hook-ups and 3 fish. Of the 3, 0-KY, 0-LM, 2-SM & 1-Drum. Our largest was the last fish of the day, the 21" SM.






*Day 3 - 01.17.08*

We woke up around 8 and had a big breakfast (_Bacon, Eggs, Biscuits & Gravy_).  After eating and cleaning up, we had a 30 minute Bible Study/Devotional and then began packing everything up. As we placed the last bag in the car, the rain drops began to fall. We headed back around 11am. On our way back we took a little detour over to the Dale Hollow Dam. It was cool to see as I had never been that far down the lake before. We saw Mitchell Creek and Horse Creek which I had heard several people talking about. The rain and wind were terrible on the way back. We saw a couple of different wrecks on the interstate but we finally arrived home around 4:30 this evening.

Again, it was a great trip. Our two days of fishing produced 12 hook-ups and 9 fish, with the biggest being a 21" SM. We saw the community deers at the cabin which were there last time, we saw a red-tailed hawk, 8 turkey, and several other types of birds. Below are some pics of the different creatures. I have also provided a link to the gallery for this trip with additional photos as well. Thank the good Lord we had a safe trip.

God Bless & Good Fishing!

02.16.08 Dale Hollow Trip Gallery


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## SMDave (Feb 17, 2008)

Another GREAT report! Thanks for sharing!


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## Jim (Feb 17, 2008)

Thanks for the report! Nice Smallie in that one picture!


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## Captain Ahab (Feb 18, 2008)

Thanks for a great report! You are blessed with a fine family, friends and good fishing.

Thank you for sharing


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## kentuckybassman (Feb 18, 2008)

Way to go G3 !! Sounds like you all had an awesome time and lots of good fellowship!! I can't wait until my vacation so I can spend some good "quality time" with the wife and two boys!! Congrats again on the great trip and thanks for posting the awesome pics!! =D>


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## bAcKpAiN (Feb 18, 2008)

Looks like everyone had a great time. Thaanks for the post and the pics!


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## mtnman (Feb 18, 2008)

great report. im glad to here all went well withyour trip.


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## slim357 (Feb 18, 2008)

Nice large mouth and smallie, the drum isnt too bad either. glad to see your gettin the youngters out there with ya nice report.


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## jkbirocz (Feb 18, 2008)

Great report, nice fish, and a great time with the family is always nice to hear about.


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## G3_Guy (Feb 18, 2008)

Thanks for all the comments guys. The Lord blessed and we certainly did have a great time. I hope to get the boys out more this spring. I've been at home all day due to Presidents day and all I have heard from my youngest is, "_Cole wanna go fishing like daddy does again_". :lol:


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