BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. – In the months since Major League Fishing announced the Bass Pro Tour would bring its catch-weigh-immediate release model to Dale Hollow Lake for PowerStop Brakes Stage Three Presented by Mercury, anglers have anticipated an epic shootout, with some even predicting record weights. However, a chilly three-day practice period brought a trickier bite than many expected, causing some of that excitement to be replaced with trepidation.
Through one day of competition, at least, the lake is living up to its pre-practice billing.
Drew Gill stacked 26 scorable bass weighing 77 pounds, 15 ounces onto SCORETRACKER® Tuesday, giving him more than 16 pounds of cushion over Jeff Sprague at the top of Group A. In all, 10 anglers eclipsed 40 pounds on the day.
Complete results can be found here.
Gill smashing non-spawners
Gill believes most of Dale Hollow’s bass are currently in the midst of their annual transition from the prespawn feed to spawning mode, but the majority haven’t locked onto beds yet. While the Day 1 results might not show it, that’s made it tough to find a consistent bite.
“We really hit it just about as perfect as we could have hit it between what I’d call prespawn and the spawn,” Gill said. “If we’d been here just a hair earlier or a hair later, it would have been a lot more consistent.”
However, in the final hour of the three-day practice period, Gill found a more stable, and totally separate, population of bass to target.
Gill firmly believes that not every bass spawns every year. He’s chasing those fish on Dale Hollow, targeting them suspended in 20 to 30 feet of water. While they’re not necessarily relating to schools of baitfish, having shad or other forage nearby seems to help.
“I’m fishing 20 to 30 feet deep – like, the fish are that deep,” he explained. “And I’m trying to stay around the forage if I can. I’m not directly fishing bait, but I’m trying to stay around it. It makes the fish a little bit more agreeable.”
Gill, whose fishing mind belies his 21 years of age, explained that those fish are more willing to bite because they’re solely focused on feeding, not spawning. As a result, even though there might be greater numbers of bass around the banks, he’s able to catch more offshore.
“The issue on this lake is I’m fishing for the easiest-to-catch population,” Gill said. “Here, it’s not like I’m trying to get around fish. You’re around fish everywhere on this place. What I’m trying to do is get around the population that’s the easiest to catch.”
The one thing that surprised Gill Tuesday was that, after he caught mostly smallmouth in practice, 22 of his 26 scorable bass were largemouth. That proportion more or less mirrored the rest of the field, as smallmouth accounted for about 22% of the 406 scorable bass that hit the scales Tuesday.
However, the quality of those brown bass – which normally wouldn’t be reflected in tournament weights due to Dale Hollow’s strict slot limit that prohibits anglers from possessing smallmouth between 16 and 21 inches – made up for the lack of quantity. The highlight of Gill’s day was a 5-12 smallmouth that earned him $1,000 as the Berkley Big Bass, and the three heaviest fish caught on the day were all smallmouth.
Gill hopes to continue targeting both species.
“Today, the largemouth showed up, and they showed up in droves,” he said. “And I’m super cool with it. Largemouth here are a little bit less fickle, they’re a little bit less condition prone – the offshore largemouth, anyways – those largemouth are a little bit more consistent than the smallmouth are. So, I’m tickled that the largemouth showed up. Because my plan was to fish for smallmouth, but if you can fish for both on a lake that has good ones, both smallmouth and largemouth, by all means, fish for both.”
Gill caught his fish Tuesday using forward-facing sonar and finesse tactics. That’s no surprise; his Garmin LiveScope mastery is a major reason he’s launched himself into the national spotlight this year, racking up a Tackle Warehouse Invitationals win at Sam Rayburn, a third-place finish at Toledo Bend in his Bass Pro Tour debut and three other top-11 finishes in 2024 alone.
Gill has no plans to change techniques, saying what he’s doing is going to win the event. The key over the coming days will be keeping track of the fish as they move and finding new, unpressured schools. Gill plans to take advantage of his 36-plus-pound cushion over the cut line by using the second day of qualifying to prepare for the Knockout and Championship Rounds.
“It will be really important for me to look around a lot,” he said. “But it’s not quite what I’d call true – like truly practicing for a tournament, in my opinion, is trying to like reinvent your wheel. I’m not going to be practicing a new ‘what,’ I’m just going to be fishing some new ‘wheres.’ Generally speaking, on this lake, if you’re fishing the right type of stuff, if it’s a deal and not just a spot – like, you’re going to run all over and you’re going to catch them everywhere that sets up that way.
“It’s going to be really important to me to be able to fish free on Thursday and have an opportunity the whole day to just play the conditions and see what happens. Really, it’s not as much a day of trying to collect spots as much as it is a day for me to try and understand what’s going on a little better.”
What’s next for Stage Three
The 40 anglers in Group A will have Wednesday off as Group B takes the water for its first day of qualifying. Group A will then return to action Thursday, when a fierce battle to finish in the Top 10 and earn a spot in the Knockout Round will commence. Keith Poche currently sits in 10th place with 41-2, but seven anglers lurk within 10 pounds of his total – just a few scorable bass away.
Keep track of Wednesday’s results on SCORETRACKER® and tune in to MLFNOW! on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app Thursday through Sunday to watch complete live coverage of Days 3, 4, 5 and 6. Coverage will stream from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT.
Fishing Clash Angler of the Year
The 79 anglers taking on Dale Hollow this week aren’t just battling for a first-place trophy and $100,000 payday. Valuable points in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race are also up for grabs. The winner of the season-long competition will take home an additional $100,000 check.
Fishing Clash, an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide, is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League. You can download Fishing Clash for free in the App Store and on Google Play, or log on to www.fishingclash.game for more information.