visiting family and caught a smallmouth off the dock using a spinnerbait, no action on any other lures. i got a kayak but was looking for advice. it was pretty windy today but shouldnt be too bad tomorrow. i look fwd to the rain in the afternoon. i have never fished in alabama before so i was wondering what lures work better than others. how would i fish for catfish and carp? i am at a house on the water about a mile from the dam. all info is appreciated. if anyone is going to be fishing by boat i would gladly cover fuel and expenses. i appreciate all help. 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/146618-pickwick-dam-smallmouth-and-stripes/

so this was my experience fishing near wheeler dam. north of the dam was filled with billions of shad. the bass bite was not happening. i tried using all the lures in my arsenal and caught only a 12 inch largemouth on a lipless crank. the shad was so thick that my crankbait would hook them 2 at a time. 

below the d**n i kayaked the shallows. i caught one smallmouth on a spinnerbait and hooked into a decent largemouth which jumped and spit the spinnerbait out. on a gold jerkbait i caught several small largemouth in the 9-12 inch range. they wouldnt take any senko, poppers, or anything else. while trolling a rapala shad rap i caught a 9 inch white bass. lots of shad ranging from large schools of 2-3 inches and some smaller schools of 5-8 inches. i saw some very large bass but they wouldnt hit anything i threw at them. maybe it was all of the bait in the water, maybe it was the cold front that came in. there was frozen rain on the morning of the 13th. any advice on what i can do would be appreciated. 

thought i would get more responses. is this an area that most ppl here dont fish?

There are not a ton of members that fish there regularly.  That being said, the TN River could really benefit from a shad kill.

 

Jeff