naturalnbama

Fishing the shell beds is the easy part. Actually locating them is the hard part. You have to really watch your sonar graph. Your looking for a hard bottom with a 3-6 inch softer bottom on it. Usually they should be in an area with some moving current. the spot might be as small or smaller than your boat to slightly larger depending on where you are. One thing that I am trying to do is locate someone around here who mussels and have them show me a few so I can run over them with my 997c si and see exactly what shows up when I know for sure there is one down there. there is an older gentleman that I knew who I should have got more info from years ago before he passed away but you just think they will be here forever I guess but he had a brother who musseled for a living. the old guy fished in an old flat bottom catfishing rig that most "bass fisherman" wouldnt be seen in. it had a 40 horse Johnson with the stick handle drive on the motor. no steering wheel. country river folks know what I mean. anyway he caught more small mouth than anyone I ever met. turns out that he would follow his brother around the river and he knew where all the active shell beds were. when they were active the small mouth would follow the brother also. he said they would be all around him down there scoopin in to catch craws and stuff that he would stir up while he was gathering the muscles. pretty kool. wish I had spent more time listening back then.

has anyone been having any luck catching smallmouth on wilson or pickwick lately?? please share

Fat Ika rigged Tex backwards and weightless is the best bait for skipping docks hands down. when you rig it hook through the skirt the plain fat end goes first and its shape and weight just make it perfect for skipping and pitching. PLUS when rigged this way it actually runs away from you after it hits the water which makes it deadly under a dock or overhanging tree limb. slow fall with a swaying motion that fish cant resist and wont spit.

One of my goals for this year is to spend more time fishing the fat ika. I have been fishing it on a 4/0 or (5/0 at times) hook mostly on a 6 foot spinning rod with the yo zuri 6 line. seems to really work well for pitching under docks and into rock piles and stuff. I have also tried it some on my new pfluger bait caster mostly for a flippin type presentation. I just cant seem to get it to work as smooth on the underhanded pitch type cast under tree limbs and docks and stuff on the baitcaster. I feel like such a rookie pitching and flippin with my spinning reel but dang it just works soo well. The fat ika will skip like crazy way back under just about anything with a little rolling underhand cast from my spinning reel. why cant I get that from my baitcaster. I went out and bought the new 10 ball bearing pfluger and everything. How do you guys fish it?? and what do you fish it on?? Naturalnbama

if your kid has braces the little rubber bands that are used for pulling the braces around work great for wriggin. swipe a pack your kid owes you at least that

RW how and where are you fishing your jerk bait. I went below Wheeler yesterday and fished the heck out of a jerkbait with no luck. no luck on a tube or ika either. water temp was 50-52 I thought they would be near the gravel banks but only caughht 2 drum and someones old anchor. the anchor was a keeper lol

beautiful day on Lake Wilson in NW Alabama yesterday. water temp 50 +- 2 light south breeze but it was bright and sunny. I thought the smallmouth would be on or near gravel banks ready to or in spawn. no luck I threw tubes, fat ika, couple of different worms, drop shot and a lucky strike suspending jerk bait ( dang thing costs $14.00 how can it not catch fish) lol. this is my first year ever for cold or cool water fishing and Im ready to quit and turkey hunt. lol HELP???

Im ready to give Pickwick a try. what part should I try to get the hang of first. I have been once below wilson dam but never been down any further than 7 mile island. Im from Lawrence County Alabama and usually fish below wheeler. What parts of Pickwick would you suggest????

I notice that on lots of the new bass rigs I see in tournaments there is a pole looking thing to the right of the motor. what is it?? not the ladder I usually see it on the left but on the right side.

I went to a tournament and was walking around looking at some of the boats. I noticed that underneath the lids on the storage areas most of the tournament guys had something rigged up where they had pack after pack of baits hanging under there. I didnt go up and look close enough to see how they did it. I have now bought a boat and would love to be able to use the storage areas like that. can anyone give some tips or better yet maybe photos of this. Chris

I went again today below wheeler. water temp was 45-48 +-. there was water running at the dam. overcast and not much wind. I fished the downstream side of an underwater island which as best i can tell is the first structure drop from what i believe is a spawning flat. I tried a c rig with a 4'' senko, a crig with a fluke, I tried a hula grub, a suspending jerk bait. I put the boat in about 20 feet and threw back to 10-12 to fish the drop off. caught 2 catfish. then I tried to fish some cuts in the bluff banks. some of the holes were filled with shad I could see them with eye and also in balls on the graph. there seemed to be larger fish underneath but i threw everything i had but no luck. Im new to winter smallmouth fishing. I have been several times this winter since getting our new boat in january. my 14 year old is so frustrated he doesnt want to go anymore. Im about ready to quit also. can anyone give me any help here?? chris

I have been struggling with the same thing. I am trying to locate a channel that I can see on the map. Im zig zaging back and forth slowly over what I thought was the right area but cant see it. I thought about the aqua vision thing but it looks like something that you could see about 5 feet with?? anyone have experience with one?? I love the look of the side imaging deal.

Wow I have a lot to learn. I thought the water temp of 50 was too cold for smallmouth to spawn. what is your water temp on pickwick?? I will start to search for gravel beds. what about submerged islands?? or humps? I would love to get down below wilson but Im just not as familar with the water there and the rocks are a little scary looking in water that swift if your not familar with it.

RW, how deep is the water below Pickwick? how far below the dam are you fishing? I have caught smallmouth below wheeler but the water there is only about 12-15 feet deep. I didnt think smallmouth would be that far up with the water cold. water was 50 +- a little today. I tried to fish off some main lake points in deep water but had no luck at all. dang that wind was rough today. had to fight it allllll day

Hey RW Im going above Wilson tomorrow. Do you still fish the fat ika when smallmouth are deep this time of year? if so how and where?? I have really been itching to fish my new fat ikas but I just dont know how to fish them this time of year when smallmouth are supposed to be 20+ feet deep. do you still fish the water close below the dam this time of year? below wheeler its only about 10-15 feet deep. are smallmouth that shallow this time of year. Natural

I got a navigation type map of the lake I fish (Wilson Lake) Im trying to locate areas thhat would be spawning flats and then find deep water drop offs near there. what do I need to look for on the map to find these areas? One thing I notice is that on the map it looks like some areas are 58' deep but I was there last week and on my depthfinder it shows 20-25' deep. whats up with the depth shown on the map?? Are they measuring from somewhere other than water surface?? Im sure that others have the same kind of questions about how to read the map to find good spots. Please help?????

Hey RW are you fishing right below the dam? I would have thought that it was too shallow up close to the dam. Below Wheeler its only about 10-15 feet in most places. All of this stuff I read says they should be 20+ deep??? whats up with that? Im not giving up. Im gonna try again this weekend. I know where there is an underwater island that is near deep water. I have been fishing pretty far from the dam down toward Wilson on what appear to me to be main lake points. or cuts in the bluffs what ever you call it.

Ok, I got a chance to go fishing today. Went below Wheeler way down. I fished cuts in the bluffs and points in about 25-30 feet of water. I saw fish on the graph off the points. I fished a skirted grub. a suspending jerk bait and a float n fly. I got one bite on the grub. sad. it was cold, raining and windy. they had water running so we had current. It seemed like a perfect day. water temp was 39-41. Can someone help me out??? what am I doing wrong?? what else should I be trying. I started to try a fat ika but the water around the bluffs is 17-20+ deep. tryin hard but needing help

I know there are a few articles on electronics help and I have read them but Im still having problems. Ill bet others are having similiar problems also. I have the Lowrance x75 and x47 front and back. What type structure should I be looking for this time of year and how do I use the graph to find it. Im trying to use it to find where the points come into the main lake but I cant seem to find a big difference. There are big cuts in the bluffs and it looks like the bluff would be extended and come out into the lake under water but on the graph I just dont see it. ????? can some of you guys with more electronics experience help us out???

Ok went yesterday below Wheeler. water temp was 40-41. we looked around main lake points in 20-30 feet of water. we could see fish suspended. they looked staked up off the point but they looked to be only 6-10 feet deep. fished the fnf x2 with a white / green jig and also chartruse. caught one huge drum but that was it. what do I look for on the graph to know im in the right spot. we have a Lorance x75 and also Lorance x47 on front. Im trying someone help.

Is there already a thread that covers winter tactics for smallmouth?? If so can someone please direct me? If not lets start one. Temps here are gonna be in the teens this weekend so I guess Ill do my fishing on here. Natural

I did talk to a gentleman yesterday who said that he and his son had caught 20+ pounds in a tournament on pickwick last weekend. All were smallmouth. said they caught them on "grubs" sure made me want to go. I just got a new boat. well new to me and ready to go as soon as I get a free day.

Is anyone catching any smallmouth in my neck of the woods below wheeler. Just got a new boat and my son and I are just dying to try it out. can warrior or someone else who fishes this area in winter give me some pointers or ideas for this time of year. Naturalnbama

Good luck "pickin up" a pack. I have looked everywhere and couldnt find any in stock. I Ordered mine online. One thing I noticed is that there is another company kanami that has them for what seems to be 1/2 price but they only put 5 in a pack where gycb puts 10 so dont get fooled on it like I did.

get a far away look in your eyes and start a little tic type jerk witn your head and just tell the guy that you have been doing really well since you got out on parole and that the doctors say they dont think you would ever do it again but that he really should move on. then start lookin around the boat muttering " where did i put that d**n hatchet". tell him he reminds you of a guy you knew in prison and tell him he has a pretty ***. It works for me but Im 6'6'' and 307lbs with a shaved head and goatee and a couple of nice tats. Natural