Gone fishin
Well I made it back alive !.
Had a great time, eight of us old buddies on an 80x16 houseboat was a trip for the books.
Fishing, not that hot but plenty of fish around, Smallmouth were hitting on minnows and jointed crank baits, we fished mostly from the bank towards the fishing boats (two additional boats, a 15' aluminum and an 18' glass boat) as drop offs were steep. Also did some trolling and got a few that way.
I had more luck with crank baits, jointed minnow/shad examples did the best.
At night we hung a light over the side and caught bunches of specs and bluegills. Huge schools of shad circled the lights so we netted some of those to use as bait which worked well. We had two excellent fish dinners as a result.
Weather was cloudy most of the time but we had a few days of brilliant sunshine and a bit of warmth. Temps in the low 60's days and low 50's at night with some scattered showers now and again, not enough to dampen our enthusiasm though.
The houseboat was an interesting experience, six double staterooms about the size of a closet but with amazingly comfortable double beds, two marine heads and showers and a huge living/dining hangout room with a 60 inch satellite TV (didn't use it much), full kitchen which made food preparation a breeze and an outside grill on the front deck, big front porch area and nice roomy stern platform and on the top deck, a freaking hot tub and bar area.
Water on the lake was up but over the days gradually went down as the TVA was releasing water daily. The marina was okay since it was a floater.
We mostly changed anchorage every couple of days and fished nearby coves and brush areas.
I can believe we raised the water level substantially due to the amount of beer on board and urinating over the side...ahem....
Cost wise, including the vehicle gas up and back, motels, the boat, boat fuel, food, beer,propane and generator worked out to about $600 each so it wasn't all that bad for twelve days. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Added a few pics, working on an album....
koi
The Dale Hollow Lake system
Scott with a stringer full
Stan with a nice one
