Billy Blakely Catches All Kinds of Fish at Blue Bank
Resort on Tennessee's Reelfoot Lake
Bass Fishing at Blue Bank Resort
 Editor’s
Note: Billy Blakely, the manager and the head guide
of Blue Bank Resort on Reelfoot Lake near Tiptonville,
Tennessee, says Reelfoot’s fishing in the late
spring and all summer is as hot as a recently-shot pistol.
The first week in May, while at Bluebank, my fishing
friend and I saw good limits of crappie, bluegills,
catfish and lunker largemouth being brought in every
day, even on the days when the rain was pouring down.
This week we’ll show and tell you what’s
being caught at Reelfoot, and how anglers and guides
are catching them.
Question: Billy, where are you finding bass at this
time of year at Reelfoot, and on what are you catching
them?
Blakely: Right now at the first of May, 70 percent of
our bass have spawned, and 30 percent are spawning on
the stumps in the lake. The bass that have already spawned
are moving to the trees and the grass in the lake. We’re
catching those fish on a 1/2-ounce Strike King Premier
Elite jig. We’re taking the bass that are still
on the beds on Strike King’s Red Eye Shad and
the King Shad, a swim bait. We’re also catching
a good number of big bass on the Pure Poison, a bladed
swimming jig. Last week, Shane Upchurch made three casts
with a Pure Poison while he was putting out Yo-Yos to
catch catfish. One of the bass he caught weighed 3 pounds
and the other largemouth weighed 5-1/2-pounds.
Question: How are you finding the bass on Reelfoot?
Blakely: Look for tree lines close to the numerous underwater
stumps in Reelfoot, and you should catch some of the
bass that have just come off the beds and are feeding-up
before they move back into deep water. After the bass
have fed heavily, when they have completed their spawn,
then they’ll move out into the lake. Wherever
you find baitfish, you’ll locate bass. Most of
the baitfish will be holding around different groups
of trees, grassy shorelines and trees in the water along
the shoreline. They’ll also be feeding in the
lily pads.
Question: How many bass can two fishermen with a guide
expect to catch in 6 to 8 hours of bass fishing?
Blakely: Right now, at this time of the year, you should
catch 15- 25 bass per boat. Our average bass will weigh
3 to 3-1/2-pounds. In an average day of fishing, you
should have no problem catching a bass that weighs 6
or 7 pounds. Although the biggest bass I’ve ever
personally caught here weighed 8-1/2-pounds, I’ve
seen a bass caught here that weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces.
Question: What’s the best time to catch really
big bass?
Blakely: From April through July or August, and then
from September until the beginning of duck season. Bass
fishing may be good during duck season, but I really
don’t know because that’s when I’m
duck hunting.
Question: What’s your number-1 bait to catch
big bass?
Blakely: My favorite for catching big bass is Strike
King’s Premier Elite jig in the black and blue
colors with a Denny Brauer 3X Chunk on the back of it.
I’ll be fishing it by flipping it around trees
standing in the water on 20-pound-test monofilament
line. I do have one rod with braided line on it. There’s
advantages to fishing both braided line and monofilament.
One of the reasons I don’t fish braided line very
often is because it’s so tough and so strong that
you usually can’t break it, even if you get hung-up.
Because of the small diameter of the braid, it can easily
get under roots, cut into those roots and help hold
the fish  down,
which keeps you from landing that fish. If you’re
fishing with monofilament, the monofilament will slide
down the root and help you get your bass out of the
root. So, if I’m fishing around trees with roots,
especially live trees, I prefer to use monofilament.
But if I’m fishing tree tops that are blown-down
on the bank, I prefer the braided line.
Question: If a fisherman comes to this lake for the
first time, how does he or she know how to find the
bass?
Blakely: This lake has so many standing trees, so much
good shoreline and so much grass and lily pads that
the cheapest and quickest way to find and catch bass
here is to hire a guide, at least the first day you
fish here. Let that guide teach you how and where to
pinpoint bass while you’re here. If you don’t
want to do that, then fish fast, and eliminate water
until you locate the bass. The real secret to finding
big bass on this lake is to not be afraid to use unusual
techniques and fish in places that no one else will
consider fishing. Because this lake was formed by an
earthquake, and all the timber fell into the lake during
the earthquake, there’s no place you can float
a boat over at Reelfoot that doesn’t have cover
under it. For ins tance,
if you go by a small patch of lily pads out in the middle
of the lake that everyone drives over every day, I’ll
just about guarantee you that little patch of lilies
will home some big bass. If you see one or two trees
out in the lake that everyone drives by, and you never
see anyone fishing it, those trees are holding some
big bass. If I want to catch a really-big bass, I’ll
search for overlooked places where no one else is fishing.
Question: What do you do, and where do you fish if
you just want to catch a lot of bass?
Blakely: If I want to catch numbers of bass, I fish
the shoreline, primarily with a spinner bait.
For further information about Blue Bank Resort, you
can call (877) 258-3226 or (731) 253-8976 or visit www.bluebankresort.com.
Until May 31st, Blue Bank has a special where you can
fish (includes boat, motor, gas, bait and ice) for 4
days and stay either 3 or 4 nights for $169/person,
with the cost $209 per person after that time. To learn
more about Strike King’s top-quality lures, go
to www.strikeking.com
Tomorrow: The Crappie King
at Reelfoot
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