Road Trip: Opportunity Knocks

[Savage]

Well guys, I'm getting laid off for one week starting April 6th, so of course the first thing I thought of was "ROAD TRIP!"

Seeing as I have never towed my boat anywhere outside Michigan, I'd like to hear some ideas of lakes to visit that will be within a day's drive, but will be good fishing when I get there.  I've got a 4 day window for this.

I'm considering Kentucky/Barkley lakes becuase of proximity, but is there something closer that would be good too?  Barkley is still over 9 hours from Saginaw....

I'd like to push south far enough to get into the spawn, but I'm not sure where that would be.

Your thoughts?

[Savage]

Anyone ever heard of Williamstown Lake in Dry Ridge, KY?  It is 6 hours away according to mapquest...

[djkimmel]

Never...? I think a smaller, shallower lake would be your best bet within a day of here this time of year. I'd consider Santee-Cooper real hard! Your young. You can drive a little farther in a day and make it!! Think buzzbaits and X-worms!

[djkimmel]

Oh... and BIG bass!

[joshimoto son]

I second the Santee-Cooper in the first part of April.
McCarter and I have been there at that time, I can narrow some things down for you.
You can make it in about 15-16 hours depending on the strength of your bladder.
If you can get a reservation, I would stay at Ray Sedgewick's place on the Diversion Canal between the two lakes.

joshimoto son

[McCarter]

I second the Santee-Cooper in the first part of April.
McCarter and I have been there at that time, I can narrow some things down for you.
You can make it in about 15-16 hours depending on the strength of your bladder.
If you can get a reservation, I would stay at Ray Sedgewick's place on the Diversion Canal between the two lakes.

joshimoto son

Bring plenty of bologna

McCarter himself

[Buckeye]

Williamstown Lake in Dry Ridge wouldn't be worth the drive IMO.  I live about 45 minutes from there and wouldn't drive over to fish it.  KY Lake and Barkley, at least the south end, won't be spawning for a little bit yet in my experience.  If I was in Saginaw, and had a whole week off, I would drive to the Big G or one of the southern TVA lakes.  The G is 7 hours from my home, so, you're looking at 11 or 12 hours I would figure.

Good luck! I would be thinking the same thing if I got laid off.  Which at times, isn't such a bad deal after all.

Eric

[TCook]

I would go to Guntersville

[jgip087]

Guntersville, it would be closest and has some giants, Santees fish might be a little bit bigger though but it is a dangerous place to go if you are not similar with running boat lanes and channels because it is full of trees and stumps.

[motocross269]

I would go to Dale Hollow......

Where ever you decide to go with only a day or two I would leave my boat home and hire a guide....Think about it...350 bucks for a guide you will blow more than that in the extra gas hauling your boat down, Gas in the Boat running around trying to find fish, not even taking into account the chance for mechanical failure....Grab one of your Delphi buddies to split the fees and head out..
Show up with your rods and some tackle and go fishing with someone that knows...

[River Walker]

 No doubt about it,Guntersville hands down! Dale Hollow or Norris are good bets too,but you would definitely want to hire a guide on either one of them,at least for a day or two.No need to hire a guide at Guntersville as long as you have a little bass fishing knowledge.Just concentrate on the grass flats that are fairly common,or the many stumps.Spinnerbait city this time of year.If you do decide on Dale Hollow or Norris,bring along a minnow bucket !

[Durand Dan]

I would promote Gunterville as well. Dale Hollow has some giants but it will take you some time to figure it out. Center Hill in Tenn. is another option. If your looking foer a guide Jim Duckworth is the man!!

[Savage]

OK, so I'm starting to refine my options a bit.  My wife and 9 year old son are coming so I'm thinking 12 hours of....

"Are we there yet"
"Are we there yet"
"Are we there yet"
"Are we there yet"
"Are we there yet"
"Are we there yet"

might not be what I'm looking forward too.  I'm really taking a close look at Patoka and Monroe in southern Indiana.  They both look like they have some fairly good structure and cover.  Plenty to explore and check out.  I am not looking to catch hogs all day here guys, I just want to get onto a lake with a reasonable change of catching a fair number of bass.

If I didn't have a wife I'd live on Guntersville already.....

I also thought about pushing a bit further south to Rough River, Nolin and Barkley.  That would also put us close to mammoth Cave for some "family" time.  We'll be gone for at least 4 days, so if the first lake is close I could drive there after my wife gets out of work and then have the entire first day to fish.

[djkimmel]

Monroe and Patoka are not known for numbers some of the time. Possibility of really big bass in either, but they can be pretty tough. I've only talked to a bunch of anglers who have been on Patoka (talk a lot about fishing deep), but have been on Monroe. It is an interesting lake to fish despite being somewhat easy to skunk on.

[Savage]

That does not sound too promising.   I would think in the spring the fish would all be relatively shallow, but I've never fished down there as I mentioned.  Maybe it would be worth pushing further south to Nolin and Barkley...

[Buckeye]

Savage,  I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but I live about equally south as Patoka and Monroe and I highly doubt either will be in the spawn mode in the time frame you're looking at.  I fished this weekend in a small lake here and the water was 53 or 54 degrees, and I would think that most of the bigger impoundments would be slightly colder than that. 

Guntersville, if I miss my guess, is probably in spawn right now, as the Elites were just there and they were in a prespawn pattern.  They had moved somewhat shallow though, and that's just not the case here in SW Ohio (as I would suspect would be the case in south central IN).  I have found some small fish moved up in aone cove of a 2500 acre lake, but I don't think they're up there to spawn.  It just warmed enough to get them interested to eat and thats it.

Dale Hollow is a beautiful lake, and I'm sure there are just giant fish there, but I've been there twice and the only consistent bite was on live bait.  Very disappointing IMO.  I hope I can go there someday and figure it out, but I just have zero confidence in the place, and I consider myself a smallmouth angler. I guess the Great Lakes have spoiled me.  Those fish in DH just aren't as aggressive as the GL smallies.

What if you made a trip out of it for your wife and child?  Drive down in two steps, stopping somewhere to have them stretch their legs, visit some place cool, and then carry on the next morning.  That would silence the "are we there yet?" and you get to go to a lake that was recently on fire.  If I was free this weekend, I would drive to the Big G, and if I was laid off a week, I would go to Amistad or Falcon.

Good luck, we're all pulling for you!

Eric

[Firefighter Jeff]

Can't say that I've ever fished there, but there are a lot of good reports coming from Kentucky/Barkley.  Check out Bassboat Central and click on postings for in/ky/tn      Jeff

[motocross269]

I would stay in Michigan and Catch Walleye....LOL   

Whatever you decide have fun....Will you be gone from the next Team Bass Meeting..?.

Great Post Buckeye, I am sure Savage appreciates all of the first hand Info...

[blakstr1]

Will you be gone from the next Team Bass Meeting..?.

Sounds like he might be.... i have a feeling he will be blast off boat for every tournament this year...hmmmm...

[motocross269]

Sounds fair to me...At least we won't have to worry about ducking peices of Nitro as they break off if he is behind us on LSC...Those screws and Duck tape will only hold up to so much