TnRiver46

There’s a guide on Wilson/Pickwick lake that was on an episode of scott Martin challenge that specializes in 25+ limits of smallmouth. I feel like his name is David something. He said that when randy Howell won the bassmaster classic on guntersville with 67 lbs of those “piddly little green fish,” he guided the same three days on Wilson and had 3 limits of smallmouth well over 80 lbs

I would also try this spot, where the black lines are stacked on top of each other. Smallmouth seem to use bluffs year round. Toss a tube or shaky (or hair jig) up against it and let it fall while watching the line.

Don’t expect to catch many fish but the one might catch could be quite large. That lake is extra tough fishing from everything I have ever heard. Never fished it personally but I would like to. Hard to catch Smallmouth in clear water are the only fish I seem to have success with

Scott Martin did a video with one recently and he had a treble hook in it

And I thought west coast bias only existed when selecting teams for the mens NCAA basketball tournament......... On the surface, it does seem odd to hold fishing competitions in a desert

I agree once again, lipless are very good for me. I also fish mostly for smallmouth. Not on purpose, they just seem to be what ends up on the hook most often

I have fished pretty solid for 30+ years and I still can't catch fish with a spinner bait or a crank bait. I don't think I can bring myself to fish these baits anymore than I already have

They only work if you pull them with a gas motor from what I can tell! I never catch anything casting crank baits or spinner baits. I have never owned a chatter bait. I never catch fish shallow (in lakes). I need all kinds of work but I will probably just end up fishing deep with soft plastics. There's plenty of shallow water in the lakes around here, I just never get any bites there. Now rivers, I can catch fish shallow there

Honestly, this question can only be answered with opinions and not facts. To actually truly know the effects this would have on the spawn, you would have to lower the lake on March 1st for several years and sample fish populations before and after.

Same as pre spawn and spawn, a plastic worm!

I still hate muddy water.

Tried Melton hill today, also muddy and fast and skunky

That's how it is done! Grandma knows best

My river muddied up yesterday with more rain coming, maybe I should follow this for ideas

Nice!

Nice fish and nice job learning the pictures! Love to see those largemouth. You did better than me yesterday, water is muddy and fast on my end. I got skunked and didn't see an eagle...... But I heard one! Things are everywhere now

They could just run the tournaments like kayak fishing and let the fish go after a measurement

People do that here with gar. They don't quite realize that all the native fish in the water have coexisted for a few thousand years

Sweet

dip the fillet in milk, although I guess soaking would have the same effect. If doing a batter, I dip them in buttermilk, then cornmeal, then into the pan/fryer

How long did the battery last? I can usually get 3-5 years even from a cheap Wal Mart battery

In East TN the food is so abundant the population can easily withstand anything that has to do with a rod and reel. They say in most cases, a certain percentage of fish populations (usually well over half) die every year. Drought and flood are the main enemies of the fish and thousands of them die every year regardless of how many get hooked with a rod and reel. You could legally catch an 18" smallmouth off a bed in the spring and use it for live bait. No one actually does that but you could do it legally and our population of smallmouth is extremely healthy. Once again, wildlife survival is all about food. I personally never bass fish beds on purpose because I don't fish tournaments and hungry fish are way more fun than breeding fish

Go birds!!! So glad it didn't end predictably, it was looking like it would be another Brady comeback. My brother lives in passyunk and he said all he could hear was fireworks and horns honking

Nice smallmouth @Hawg - Wild, did yesterday's rain stain the water down there at all?

When I slow troll I let out as much line as I can get away with. Always err on the side of too much line out, that’s why they call it longlining. Might try some of that myself before the super bowl, have some crappie appetizers for the party