tjwhite1

Today was OK but not great, fished all day caught 6 or 7 bass mostly 2-3 lbs with one going 5.6, we did run into a small group of big stripes and caught 3 10-15 lbs each that was fun but that was all for the day, water was very low hoping for slightly better results tomorrow with 4 or more running until noon

I know someone who is going to the lake tomorrow and I am going below the dam so hopefully between the two of us we can find something, now they are basically showin 3 generators all day which has got me nervous if they will even bite but all we can do is try! I've been below that dam before when I didn't expect to do good and killed em and vice versa!

I haven't been on the lake in about two weeks but have heard it is super tough

Update on the winter trail tournament for all. This past weekend we had our last tournament and we ended up winning it with 24.16. Most fish weighed in seemed to have come from people that trailered below the dam. I know for a fact 3 20 ish lb bags came from down there. The water was 90,000 last weekend and is showing to be only 52,000 this weekend. Think that will completely shut off the bite or just cause the fish to relocate? Looks like the weather will be decent this weekend so who all is going down??

I have some friends coming down from Knoxville to fish with me Saturday, pressure is on for me to put them on smallmouth they have never caught any over 2 lbs lol so I'll be down there

I fish down there all the time and pretty much live down there in October but typically I have trouble drifting at 70+ that's what I was curious about , it becomes a game of add more weight and/or let more line out until I hit the bottom which usually results in an immediate hang up lol, people think this is weird but I like it 50k or less personally

How did they even drift a live bait with the gates open? I didn't figure those fish would be out in that current with it flowing that fast and being that cold ?

Well the river did not treat us great this past weekend, but not terrible. Both days we only caught about 10-12 in about 6 hours fishing time, I normally expect a little better from the river. But, we did have one 4-5 lb smallie on both days overall only caught 5 smallmouth total. The wind on Saturday really hurt us with the drifting. Maybe if the river was slow like I like it we would have done better, lol

What speed do you guys normally drift?

That's funny I was down there last Friday also and actually stopped fishing about 10 because I was getting tired of the fast water. Went back to the cabin ate some lunch went back when they were only running 20,000 and caught 7 smallies 4 between 4 and 5 lbs lol. Clearly I am not doing the right thing when the water is moving lol, that just makes me want to figure it out more though. I'm glad to know that is indeed something I'm doin wrong

Just realized I posted this in the fishing reports board, probably not the best idea

Cool, I appreciate the help, I guess my definition of drifting close to the bank is a little off from what it needs to be haha

That's what I use also. I usually use two small split shot, I don't know what number or size but the ones I use are about the size of a bb from a BB gun if even that big. Seems like even In 50,000+ kind of water if I upgrade more than that I'm either constantly feeding out line trying to get the bottom or finding the bottom and getting hung immediately lol I almost had it in my head that when the water is really moving they get out of the river channel altogether but I just don't believe that's the case haha. I'll be down there tomorrow and Saturday I know that much

That's whats interesting to me, seems I do my best between 30-50,000, after that it seems like it is almost impossible to keep my split shot down, maybe it's simply a matter of me needing to add more weight. Everyone I talk to seems to like 60-80 ish.

I have a question for you guys that I can't seem to figure out myself. I've been fishing pickwick for a while now and in the last few years have started fishing below the dam and do this mostly now in the fall. Everything I read, people I talk to, and my overall intuition tells me that faster water = better fishing down there ( for smallmouth at least). However, I clearly seem to do way better when the water is not running much at all, matter of fact when it is running a lot I don't seem to like it. I like to drift with either live bait or artificial and it seems that when it's running a lot it is just too much to handle sometimes. I'm certain this has to do with something I am doing wrong because I know it is supposed to be better when the water is running. It is just interesting to me because I've gone down there a lot of times expecting to do bad due to low generation and done really well and also have gone down there when the water is cooking expecting to kill them and come to find out it is just hard to drift. Any advice on my little problem would be greatly appreciated , thx!

No I caught him on artificial

Yea sorry should have clarified yes it was a bass my biggest on the lake yet actually I will try to post the pic.

Well so far we have stayed on the lake and it has proven to be pretty good, didnt get to fish today due to a boat issue but Friday I caught my biggest ever at Pickwick being almost 10lbs. and Saturday had one almost 8. Have not been catching the huge strings or lots of fish so we still got something to put together

Hey guys me and a friend are taking our spring break next week and going to spend the whole week at Pickwick. I know the lake has been on fire and probably will continue to be that week but what I was really wondering about was below the dam. I know last fall my dad and I caught a lot of nice smallies drifting bait down there and I was wondering if this same type of deal works in the Spring? Also wondering if the umbrella rig works down there? My friend that will be with me all week has never caught a real big smallmouth and I figure we might can catch one down there if it is right. Any help is much appreciated and I will try to post some reports next week if we get down there. Thanks!

I like to catch fish every time I am out obviously so some dinks do not bother me. However, if I become plagued with little dinksters after about an hour I will get tired of it and do things more suited to catch a big fish. Also for some reason it seems more times than not the days when I catch bigger fish I seem to catch less fish.

Thanks for the suggestions I'll try to post an update on Friday

Getting anxious......where can you catch bait below the dam right now? or can you at all?? I have a throw net so since I will be down there for 4 days this weekend I would rather catch the bait then buy$100 dollars worth of minnows if at all possible.

My best Jerkbait bite seems to be water temp between 48 and 58 degrees....but I have always done good between 58 and 70 ish on other patterns too...IMO

Well I had planned on going this Saturday but I need to take this weekend and get ready for mid term exams....the following Friday through Tuesday though we will be there for sure so i will look for you if you are there....we will be in a yellow and white skeeter

Sounds good thanks for the info I will try to post some updates when we go down there