Beautiful!! If I had one word to describe my vacation to TN. Beautiful would be the word! My wife and I just returned home tonight, and we both wish we could go back tomorrow. The smallmouth fishing is absolutely amazing!
Let me say this first- without BFT ringworms, in black and purple- I very well could have been skunked. I tried poppers, swim jigs, cranks, spinner baits, buzz baits… You name it, I tried it. And I tried every ringworm color from BFT in my bag. That black/purple is now my FAVORITE bait. The water is so beautiful it is unreal. I could watch a smallmouth hit 12-15 feet down, and fight from 75 feet a way. I have never seen this before, it was so awesome, it was like a dream. And they fought so much harder than an upper Miss smallmouth. Simply put, this was the best smallmouth trip I have EVER taken. I am already searching the schedule for the next trip!!
Technique:
Casting and letting the current sweep my ringworm downstream, and BAM, Mrs. Smallmouth would completely SMOKE the bait. Sometimes casting it out, and jigging it back slowing along the rocks brought some big ones in. I had along some of my new St.Croix Tournament Bass rods, one in a med-light 6’6". Tangling with a 20" smallmouth was a memory I will never forget.
I also had the Legend Elites 6’6" mediums along as well.
Both rods performed flawlessly!! The water was fairly cold, coming out of the Smokies.
But all I had to do was put together a pattern, it wasn’t easy, but I did figure them out.
I caught around fifty smallmouth in 8 hours total of fishing. The key was to find fast current, next to slower current, with a steep drop off. I also had to keep moving, it seemed like, when I caught one, there were no more in the spot. Leave it alone for a bit, and come back, and catch another one.
I opted to not hire a guide on this trip. (Which I strongly recommend hiring a guide..as you can learn so much, and almost always catch more fish) I wanted to for some reason, master them myself. The first spot I picked, and the first cast, I had one that went 21 1/2”. Not bad for a river that I have never fished, nor heard about, or was told about. I had one older gentleman that lived right along this river, tell me “you’ll have to have a fly-rod to catch anything it that river”… little did he know!! I also met two very nice guys, that I shared the site with, and the BFT tackle. I showed them the pictures of the one’s I had caught. I gave them some ringworms and jigs. If you have never experienced the Smoky Mountains, or Tennessee smallmouth fishing, I would strongly recommend the area for a vacation. I had the time of my life!! All fish were released!!
This is one of my wife’s cousins. This was his first ever largemouth bass. Caught on the first cast with a BFT ringworm!!
This is a view off the porch, of the house we stayed at.
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Ringworm=yum yum!!
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Even the little rock bass loved the ringworms!
Luke, That is awesome bud! Looks like you had a great time. Gotta love them smallies!
If your going back……..take me with!!!
Great report and pic’s!
Luke, that looks unreal. Please take me with you!!!!! Way to go man.
Great report Luke.
I just want to see open water and some smallies. Its been too long.
Ron
i had a chance to fish dale hollow once….it was awesome!!!! nice report..did you get 2 relax????
Awesome pics and report Luke!
Nice fish and great report!
Wading small rivers is one of my favorite ways to chase smallies. Was that ringworm color “Tequilla Sunrise”?
Chris
Nope no relaxing…lol..
Fishing those smallies is relaxing enough, except when I saw the first one, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
We were able to hike in the smokies.. Shopped in Gattlinburg (SP?)…went to “the largest indoor aquarium in the US”…that was fun, but I don’t think they liked me fishing for the sharks, and redfish..
Just kidding- There is so many things to do up there it was scary- unfortunately all I wanted to do, was fish!
Crankbait…nope..
Texas red shad.. I tried the tequilla sunrise..nothing.
Thanks for the kind words guys- I will take anybody along, as long as they pay for gas..lol..it was a 1400 mile round trip.
Some of the pictures didn’t turn out the best, it is a little hard, when you are using a timer (nobody was with me, so I had to take the pics myself), and trying to release the fish ASAP..
Nice fish Luke!
We have some smaller, underfished rivers in western WI that hold great numbers of smallies…not may 20″ers, but great action on canoe/wading trips. We do some fly fishing for them come mid-summer…they are a totally unappreciated resource.
Thanks for the clarification Luke. Now that I look closer at those pics I can see the red in there. I thought I had every color from BFN but that one I don’t!
Amazing how those fish can shun everything but one color. I’d love to see a brown/orange tail ringy some day
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Chris
Looks like fun Luke, Great report & the pics are great,Good Fishin DOUG
Nice report with some great scenery
The smallies are sure fun to catch no matter what size they are 
Luke,those are some awesome smallies dude!!
Ryan Hale
I’m already packed Luke!
Great report!
Bringing this up to the top for a magazine..
Hey Luke,
Where in TN did you stay?
The wife and I stayed near Gattlinburg with the wife’s relatives. But I am currently trying to plan another trip, only concentrate on dale hollow lake this time… with a certain friend of mine, who has cabin connections up there…
…hey John…