From Horse Creek Resort it's about a ten-minute boat ride to Miller's Camp. If you study a map of Dale Hollow Lake however, you won't ever find a place called Miller's Camp.
"My friends call it Miller's Camp because I'm camped out in here all the time," Jim Miller said laughingly. "These two coves have really produced a lot of smallmouth for me this year."
This excursion began months ago when Miller told me, "Richard, call me next February and we'll go Float & Fly fishing for smallmouth. Man, it's something!"
In the cold weather world of angling for smallmouth bass, the Float & Fly technique is all the rage. Diehard smallmouth addicts have been using it several years and who better to teach me than a game warden.
Jim Miller is the Area 32 Assistant Law Enforcement Supervisor for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. A 25-year veteran lawman, he's also a veteran smallmouth addict. And nearly every avid smallmouth angler I know these days is drawn to Dale Hollow like a moth to a flame.
"With the size limit and the number of baitfish, this lake just produces an amazing number of quality smallmouth," said Miller. On Dale Hollow you can keep one smallmouth less than 16-inches long and one fish more than 21-inches long -- nothing in-between however.
As a rainsquall poured across the surrounding hillsides, we hunkered beneath our rain hoods and Miller gleefully exclaimed, "this is perfect smallmouth weather." Duck hunters are perhaps best known for their affinity to foul weather, but smallmouth anglers run a close second. Miller says January, February and March, when the water temperature hovers between 45 and 50 degrees, are peak months for the Float & Fly technique.
The smallmouth bass, while still somewhat cold and lethargic, are just beginning to prowl the shallower points and coves in search of food and spawning areas. Rarely will they pursue a warm weather lure such as a crank bait or spinner bait. Dangle a Float & Fly in their face however, and it's like offering up a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
"The key is to get a bait in the strike zone and leave it there until they have to eat it," said Miller.
I was astounded by the size of the "fly," which is actually a tiny feather jig. The standard is a one-sixteenth ounce, smaller than many crappie lures. We used a variety of color patterns. They all seemed to work.
The flies are simply tied 8 to 12 feet beneath a regular float the size of the end of your thumb or little finger, depending upon the wind and waves.
The real trick to fishing a Float & Fly is having a rod that will cast the lightweight rig. A fast-action 8-foot spinning rod loaded with 4-pound test line is the best. You can go up to 6-pound test, but 4-pound test casts better and is harder for fish to see in the gin clear waters of Dale Hollow. And yes, when you've got a trophy smallmouth on the end of 4-pound test, your fishing skills will be tested to the limit.
Other than casting, the Float & Fly technique is very inactive. You let it sit a few seconds, wiggle it a tiny bit and then wait a few more seconds. Again, it's more like crappie fishing than bass.
We hadn't been in Miller's Camp very long when Jim's float wiggled when it should have waggled, and then slid beneath the surface. The 8-foot rod helped take up the slack line, the tiny jig with a sharp hook didn't require a heavy hook set, and the fight was on.
Two or three minutes later, as the fish bored toward the depths, Miller gave him line and exclaimed, "man, these things just won't give up." Wintertime smallmouth don't jump as much, or as high, as their summertime brethren, but that leaves them that much more power to stay far from the boat. Four-pound test line doesn't do much to discourage those awe-inspiring runs. Patience is the key to Float & Fly fishing - before and after the strike.
After the chunky 3-pounder was netted and released, Miller trolled toward a somewhat nondescript point of rocks, put his rod down and instructed me to "cast right over there."
"Oh boy!" he exclaimed as the Float & Fly plopped down right on target. A wiggle and a jerk later, the fish was on. My guide knew Miller's Camp well.
The "perfect" weather -- heavy clouds, intermittent rain and a light chop on the water continued throughout the day. When it was over, we had boated 10 smallmouth, lost a couple and missed a couple of strikes. The fish all weighed between 2-and-a-half and 4-and-a-half pounds. And I cannot tell a lie (well I can, but I won't). The 4-and-a-half pound fish came when I sneaked out a fox hair jig & pork rind. Every other fish came on a Float & Fly however.
Day Number Two dawned with 20-degree temperatures and winds high enough to make it snow sideways. Heading out of Horse Creek, the only other boat we saw was trolling back to the dock, it's owner moaning about a frozen fuel pump. Miller just grinned a little, checked his bag full of Float & Flies, gunned his purring engine and carried me off into a snowy smallmouth heaven.
Horse Creek Dock offers a variety of options for fishermen, including boat rentals, cottages, motel, house boat rentals, or they'll hook you up with professional guide. To learn more, just send an Inquiry. Or give Jack Huddleston a call at 800-545-2595 or 931-243-2125.