Reelfoot Lake TN

[Busy]

Anyone fished this lake in the past or lately?  I'm considering taking a trip over there and wanted to see what you all had to say about the lake first.

[bowfish12]

Don't take a fiberglass boat, and take your time gettin around, a lot of stumps and the water isn't very deep.

[Busy]

We were planning to take a fiberglass jon boat with a 20 HP engine.  We'll be moving very slow.  I hear this lake has tons of timber in it as nothing was cleared before the lake filled.  The lake was made by an earthquake in the 1800's.  Sounded interesting to me.

We'll be getting some maps in soon and do some preliminary scouting.  Are there any spots that you might recommend?

[Al Wolbach]

I went last year(spring) with a group to crappie fish.  We had a cold front come thru the night before we started fishing and dropped 3 inches of rain. So I didn't learn much that will help you. We had one of those deals that includes boat, motor, bait and motel, etc.

Are you fishing for crappie or bass?

[Busy]

We'll be targetting LMB bass and setting some lines for catfish.

We noticed there were some cheap resort type spots around.  $130 for two days really seems like an unbeatable deal, just for the rooms.  Don't know if we'll do that or not yet.

[tnhiker44]

First of all... that lake is in the middle of friggin' no where. I happened to be working in Martin, Tn. and took a drive up there just to look at the lake. It was wild for me to see Cypress trees that far north. Second... heed the advise about an aluminum boat or prepare to go very slow. I did not fish it but I walked out on a couple of docks/ramps and saw Cypress 'knobs' sticking up from the bottom, no where near any tree. Just jutting up from the bottom, waiting for a boat bottom to scratch/break. I saw nothing but flat bottom aluminum boats everywhere I looked... and very small motors to boot. If I remember correctly there were a few mom and pop fish camp type restaurants around the lake, but it was a long long way to any real civilization!

[Busy]

Perfect

Thanks all for the replies.

[bowfish12]

I know some guys that have good luck using yo-yo's for cats in the cypress trees in the spring, the lake ain't that deep so I would guess you could still have some good luck this time of the year.

[grizzly1654]

I fished a couple days up there in May, the fishing was slow but i managed to find a few. I caught them on black and blue lizards fishing in the grass along the canals in the lilly pads and around the duck blinds. Late in the afternoon i moved to cypress trees with a spinner bait and caught just as many crappie as i did bass.