Landing Dale Hollow Trout

 Anyone who fishes for trout on the Sipsey Tailrace can recognize the Dale Hollow Trout. Most are in the 10" size, which was the size I landed this morning on the Sipsey. Mine you; I'm not complaining, trout is trout. I was using my three-wt. fly rod, which is the perfect fly rod to land this size trout.   

I knew precisely the hole I would fish, the nymph, and the technique I would use before I left the house. I have been watching videos all winter on fishing pressured waters and how to fish such waters. To say I was prepared was an understatement. 

I like it when a plan comes together, and everything worked my way for the two hours I fished the Sip this morning.

I forgot the number, either 8 or 9 of these beauties I landed. I stop taking pictures after this last image. There was no need to take a photo of the same size trout, image after image. I was not amazed that all the trout I landed came from one hole. This place became my honey hole for the morning. 

The water was high when I arrived at 9:30. Several fishermen were already on the water, and I was so lucky to fish in the area I chose while I was there. Why didn't I try other spots? When you consistently land trout in one location, why move to another site and leave the one place you know has trout? I was trying to learn a new technique, and to break my concentration would have interfered with MY PLAN!

I was just thankful that I finally got to fish the Sipsey for the first time since last year and had success. I lost as many trout this morning as I landed because of strike detection. I'm still learning. Today was a warm-up for landing larger trout in the future. 

Stocked Trout the Life Blood of any Tailrace

 



 

 

 

 



I know I’ve shared with you guys on numerous occasions about the trout that is stocked in our Sipsey Tailrace here; but I’ve never really shown you the exact way the trout get released into the tailrace.

First stop after they are loaded into the refrigerated tanks for transfer to a tailrace or lake, in this case the Sipsey Tailrace at the base of Smith Lake Dam. All the trout that are released into the Sipsey are either from Dale Hollow Hatchery in Tennessee or from the Steelville Hatchery in Missouri. The best stocked trout come from Steelville, simply because of the size and health of the fish once they arrive at the Sipsey. The Dale Hollow hatchery delivers the same numbers, but a bit smaller than the Steelville Hatchery. The number of trout released vary from month to month; the most could be 3000 and the least could be as few as 1500. 

After being released from the tanks the trout travel over a 100 feet down through a 10” pvc pipe to drop 40 plus feet into the cold waters of the tailrace. You would think that this ordeal would kill most of them, but 99% survive. The water temps in the heat of the summer never get above 60 degrees and in the winter in the low fifties. Stocking occurs every month, so there is always an abundance of trout for the angler to land. A lot of trout reach the 18” mark which is considers a prize. My largest taken on the Sipsey has been a 16” who knows I may reach that 18” mark one day.

The following clip shows you the size trout that comes from the Steelville Hatchery in Missouri.   

This clip shows the size trout from the Dale Hollow Hatchery in Tennessee. This truck was going to deliver 3000 trout to the Sipsey Tailrace the following week. The clip shows the Dale Hollow Hatchery truck releasing trout at the dam at Center Hill Lake. My son-in-law filmed this segment while we were waiting on our guide to join us in his drift boat to fish the Caney that morning. This tailrace is fantastic to fish because it is stocked with browns, rainbow and brook trout. I try to fish this place at least three to four times a year.