Reel Foot Lake

Hello thinking about going on a fishing trip with my son. I was wondering if anyone in here has ever gone to Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee and stayed at Blue Bank Resort?

Yes, since 1995. Good folks and they'll work with you to have a good time with your son and catch fish. Scenic lake, lot of history.

Call up there tomorrow about lunchtime and ask for Billy Blakely. He's the head guide; busy during duck season but probably will be back by lunchtime or just after. Let him know how old your son is, what y'all would like to do - bluegills, catfishing, bass - and when the best time of the spring would be to maximize the possibility to catch 'em and keep your son's rod bent.

I'm going crappie fishing up there in early Spring. Been putting it off for a few years now.

One time. Never caught as many quality crappie in two days as that trip.

New to the forum. New to Alabama. Moved to Smith Lake from Clarksville, Tn about 8 months ago. Hello everybody.

As far as Reelfoot goes, if you never been, would recommend it......however you do it. We go for the bluegill but there is no size limit on Crappie, the scenery is nice and on the plus side.....no recreational boating because of all the cypress stumps. Everyone on the water is fishing. Apologies, I do not know about Blue Bank personally but see them all over the lake. A group of us go every year in May over the holiday. We have it booked out 2 years to make sure we get our dates. We trailer our own boats. This year will be 11 years. We fish the north basin and stay at the Bayou Bungalow (a VRBO)on Walnut Log. Pretty good set up with a boat dock to tie up to, sleeps 6.



















Never figured my first post would be about Tennessee....lol!

Welcome that's a strong first post.

OK, those pictures REALLY seal the deal for me! What did y'all use for bream bait?

We would start digging worms from the creek banks in early May.....Timed out around the time to start hunting Morel mushrooms. We call them DD3 Creek Worms (Deep Diving about 3 feet under the cork). We would take a 5 gallon bucket with dirt to cover and reload the bait box every morning.

The action can get so hot that I had to make me a bait box out of one of those "medicine in the mail" Styrofoam coolers......framed it in and put a handle on it and everything so it would carry enough to last without having to go back to the house.

Welcome, Physiksgeek. Strong post right out of the gate and you know how to post photos, too!

One thing he mentioned - the lack of recreational boats, Jet Skis, cruisers and other zoomers is remarkably wonderful. The boaters (locals mostly) who know the lake zoom around because they know the lanes-channels. But otherwise, it's low horsepower motors and solitude.

I gotta get back up there this spring.

My boat is an old 86 Venture 18' with 185 Johnson. I'd only putt around up there if I took it so I have a question....... do people use boats like this (bass boats) on that lake? Would I be better off to rent a boat there?

I've been with a few pro anglers there in glass bass rigs but that's not the norm. Flatbottom aluminums are the deal.

I don't know about other places there that rent boats, but Blue Bank usually gets new Yamaha outboards for all their boats every year. I think they have 40hp motors.

Talking about the North end of the lake.....Dont know much about the south end.....never fished it. You are gonna have prop strikes it dont matter what you do......no way around it. The south end is deeper but you will still hit a cypress knee eventually......cause you are gonna explore.

If you are gonna stay at Blue Bank I would absolutely rent one of theirs the first time (sometimes it comes with the room depending on time of year). They provide the gas and some bait each day. You will have to bring a trolling motor and battery if you want one.....none of the camps provide those.

We stayed at Grays Camp the first year which is the only experience I have at one of them. They give you an 9.9 and a boat.. thats it....no seat, no anchor and no trolling motor.

If you are staying elsewhere (hotel, VRBO), renting a boat can be a problem. The boat has to be back at dark. So, for us....staying where we stay we would have to pick it up in the morning and drop it off in the afternoon....we did it for a year or two but it was a lot of wasted fishing time.

My fishing partner and I eventually bought a "reelfoot boat". A 16' john boat and a 25hp Johnson with a clutch prop (and a spare prop) to take up there. The locals will use a bigger boat and run a jet prop lower unit.