i need to know what its like so i can make my fantasy picks! :exclamation

Another Tennessee River lake. Those who catch early post spawn and maybe a few spawners  on Wheeler and Kentucky should do well here

I would probably look at some crankbait fishermen. I am sure there are some locals as well that may finish decent.

Last Saturday on Pickwick

On the Forum I have stated that "everything

works in the spring, pick your favorite lures".

Saturday I pre-rigged 10 rods, four on deck,

six stored. I fished most lures for 30 minutes,

whether I caught fish or not.

Starting with a small Wiggle Wart, snagged

three "keepers" before changing rods. The only

lures that didn't produce were jigs and spinnerbaits.

I attribute the jig failure to fishing too fast, my

partner was scootin' down the bank and that's

just not my deal with a jig.

The guides I talked with said it's too early for

topwater and spinnerbaits, but I went with them

anyhow. The Cavitron produced several strikes

and 1 small bass. Nothing on 2 different spinnerbaits.

Best structure was gravel bars, shallow. However,

this trip was all about numbers so we didn't fish much in

deeper water.

Overall, mostly green fish and one brown.  The

big bass was +/- 4 lbs, our five best were around

13 lbs or so. We caught bass throughout the day.

If I were fishing to win, I would have stayed with

medium depth crankbaits all day:  Wiggle Wart,

Rapala Shad Rap, XCalibur Xr50, Bandit 200, LC

Rick Clunn 3.5 and Bagley BII. "Moving" baits

seemed to be key. However, soft plastics were

effective.

My big fish was caught on a Rage Tail Lizard,

C-rigged on rip rap in about 8' of water. Found

one more before moving to the next presentation.

This was another rig I could have probably fished

all day.

I think we will be on a topwater bite by May1.

8-)

thanks a ton, that really helped me out

Well now, some of our members go the extra mile.

This is a piece put together by RoLo and sent to me

a few days ago. With his permission, I share it with you:

Sender: RoLo

To: roadwarrior

Subject: Pickwick Document

Date: Apr 21st 2010 at 18:07:07

PICKWICK LAKE, AL

Lake History

On its way through northern Alabama, the Tennessee River flows from east-to-west down the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains. Owing to a series of TVA dams, Alabama boasts four Tennessee River impoundments, namely and from east to west: Guntersville Reservoir, Wheeler Lake, Wilson Lake and Pickwick Lake. The Pickwick Landing Dam was completed in 1938, forming 53-mile long Pickwick Lake that averages 8/10 mile in width and encompasses about 45,000 acres. Mean pool elevation is 412 ft above sea level, averaging 414 ft in summer and 410 ft in winter. Defying classification, Pickwick Lake is an “upland riverine impoundment” falling somewhere between a ‘flatland' and ‘hill-land' reservoir.

Pickwick Lake is inhabited by all three black basses: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass. The sole focus of this report however is trophy smallmouth bass, which is Pickwick's claim to fame. Lying immediately to its east (upstream) is Wilson Lake, the home of the former world-record smallmouth bass. On October 8, 1950, Owen F. Smith boated a 10lb 8oz smallmouth bass that established a new world-record. Owen's fish was taken from the headwater of Wilson Lake, synonymously known as the tailwater of Wheeler Dam. To date, there have only been two smallmouth bass with a certified weight exceeding 10½ pounds and both came from Dale Hollow Reservoir (10lb 14oz and 11lb 15oz). Due to the natural aging process, the waters of Lake Wilson today are better suited to largemouth bass. As a matter of fact, electroshocking in Lake Wilson during 2009 produced “84” largemouth bass per hour, the highest success rate in all 31 electrofished TVA impoundments.

As Wilson's reputation as a smallmouth fishery began waning in the 1980s, Pickwick Lake was just entering its heyday. A historic catch took place on Pickwick Lake during the 10-bass legal limit. A local fishing guide named Leon Tidwell weighed-in a 10-fish limit of smallmouth bass that tipped the scales at 52½ lbs, an average of 5lb 4oz for ten fish! In his lifetime, Bill Dance caught three smallmouth bass weighing over 8 pounds and two came from Pickwick Lake. The certified lake-record on Pickwick Lake is 9 lb 10oz taken by Mike Curry in April 1989. More recently in 1997 noted fishing guide Roger Stegall won a tournament on Pickwick Lake with a five-bass stringer weighing 27lb, 6oz.

Lake Profile

“Water clarity” in Pickwick Lake varies according to lake section, seasonal period and rainfall.

On balance, the water is moderately clear with a light greenish-brown tint, where water visibility ranges between 20 and 40 inches. The mean shoreline elevation is 412 ft, which averages 414 ft in summer and 410 ft in winter. The main river channel is maintained at a minimum depth of 11 ft but natural depths are present that exceed 100 ft.

Pickwick Lake is located at the southern range limit of smallmouth bass, and provides the longest growing season for the species. The bronzebacks of Pickwick Lake grow about twice the rate as those in Lake Erie, but the smallmouth bass in Lake Erie enjoy a significantly longer lifespan.

Largemouth bass are a valuable and growing resource in Pickwick Lake. Based on 2009 electrofishing results, seven largemouth bass were produced for every smallmouth bass. The emergence of hydrilla and milfoil have lent to the burgeoning population of largemouth bass, particularly in the quieter reaches of the reservoir's lower end.

                                                                TIMING

The sport of angling consists of three major components: “Timing” – “Location” – “Presentation”.

It would be presumption to say that any one element is more important than another, because the lack of any one element will result in failure. Nevertheless, “location” is unquestionably the most complex and most violated component of angling. Inasmuch as “timing” alters the location and presentation, it shall be treated first.

Seasonal Periods

Pre-Spawn

(March)

“Trophy” is a subjective term, and though 4-pounds is the accepted benchmark for a trophy smallmouth bass, many trophy hunters are looking for 7-lbs or more. In Pickwick Lake, the heaviest sows are typically taken in the dead of winter nevertheless the greatest number of five-pound smallies are usually taken during late winter when the activity picks up.   

The most promising period for boating a trophy-class smallmouth bass is the pre-spawn period. The pre-spawn season is a prolonged period that may be subdivided into three sub-periods: ‘early', ‘mid' and ‘late' pre-spawn. The ‘early' pre-spawn is arguably the best time for a wall-hanger, a time unfortunately when bass are quite torpid and when natural bait outperforms artificial lures. In the Far North, the early prespawn may not take place until late spring, but in the Deep South it typically begins in mid winter. On Pickwick Lake, the best mid-winter fishing normally occurs during the “floodgate pattern” when warmer water is released during hydroelectric generation.

There's usually a noticeable improvement in fishing activity during the ‘late' pre-spawn. On the downside, buck bass dominate the action, while the cows become increasingly preoccupied with spawning and less interested in feeding. The ‘mid' pre-spawn is the sweet spot, a brief fuzzy period separating the early pre-spawn from the late pre-spawn.

There's a generous overlap in the three sub-periods (early, mid, late) consequently the transition is vague and undefined. In any case, when your timing is right (more easily said than done), the mid pre-spawn will offer excellent trophy potential combined with excellent fishing activity. Spawning activity is not linked exclusively to surface water temperatures, but water temperature may nonetheless be used as a coincident indicator. Below is a proprietary table delineating the crude link between the pre-spawn sub-periods and their relative water temperature ranges:

·      “Early” Pre-spawn:      45 to 50 deg F

·      “Mid” Pre-spawn:      50 to 55 deg F.

·      “Late” Pre-spawn:      55 to 60 deg F.

The nucleus of the “mid” pre-spawn period will vary from year-to-year, but generally coincides with surface temperatures between 50 and 56 deg F (Optimum: 53-deg F.). Local fishing guide, Jim Duckworth pinpoints the top trophy season as “mid February to mid March” (Mean = March 1). Noted fishing guide Roger Stegall specifies the “last week in February and first two weeks in March” (Mean = March 4). Former pro and TV celebrity Bill Dance specifies the end of February through the end of April (Mean = March 25). The average of these three highly informed opinions is March 10, which may serve as a reasonable benchmark for the trophy peak (“mid” pre-spawn).

Spawn

(April)

Rather than a seasonal period, the actual spawn is more of an event. On any given bed, spawning per se is a one to three-day affair. On Pickwick Lake the spawning cycle usually takes place during the month of April. During the actual spawn, female fish tend to fast and are only marginally catchable. Though sight fishing is commonly practiced for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass nest in deeper water just beyond the feasible visibility for sight fishing. Despite the fact that April is the bedding month, it's also an excellent fishing month. Thanks to the charitable overlap in seasonal periods, April usually provides a fine mix of quantity and quality fishing. For the most part, trophy bass that are reportedly caught during the bedding season were actually bass in pre-spawn mode.

Post-Spawn

(May)

Water temperatures vary from season-to-season, from day-to-day and sometimes from hour-to-hour. To help protect cold-blooded creatures from yo-yo mood swings and mixed messages, transient water temperature changes exert a lesser influence than “seasonal trends”. A seasonal uptrend in water temperatures spurs an increase in aggression, and increase in feeding and thus increased fishing activity. The post-spawn period in Pickwick Lake centers on the month of May. Due to the seasonal uptrend in water temperatures, the post-spawn provides the fastest fishing of the year for the smallmouth bass, albeit dominated by buck bass.

Summer

When surface temperatures exceed 80 deg F., smallmouth bass become highly nocturnal in their feeding and tend to suspend offshore. This is not true in the Great Lakes however where water temperatures rarely if ever exceed 80 deg. F. In Pickwick Lake, the months of July and August are characterized by inactivity and passivity, especially during a hot spell. On the contrary, “night fishing” on Pickwick and Dale Hollow can be red-hot during the summer months. This is particularly true during moonlit nights with a gibbous or full moon. As you'd expect, the best time to night fish is when the turbines are generating power.

Fall

A strong fall pattern on Pickwick Lake occurs about one-third back in the creek arms, not the least of which is Bear Creek. Focus on bends in the creek where accelerated current forms the steepest drop-offs. Thereat, pinpoint isolated features such as a change in soil content and favor lures colored silver or white.

Time-Of-Day

Even though water movement may be imperceptible, the Tennessee River is the lifeblood of Pickwick Lake. In any riverine ecosystem, “current” exerts the major influence on fishing.

To that end, feeding activity is closely linked to the “generation schedule” at the nearest dam, similar to the tidal influence in saltwater.

Generation Schedule

Pickwick Lake is sandwiched between Wilson Dam to the east and Pickwick Dam to the west.

Wilson Dam is the largest of all TVA dams and only Raccoon Mountain Dam in Chattanooga, TN generates more electricity. You may obtain a generation schedule for the nearest dam, but understand that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reserves the right to change the release schedule without notice. Intraday adjustments on spill times may be necessary due to rainfall impact or power demand by Alabama Power. Since release schedules cannot be predicted with certainty, the turbines may release water at any time. Before the turbines are actually activated, strobe lights flash and horns sound as a warning to boaters who must vacate the dam area forthwith!   

WILSON DAM

http://lakeinfo.tva.gov/htbin/lakeinfo?site=WLH&DataType=All&submit=View+info

PICKWICK DAM

http://lakeinfo.tva.gov/htbin/lakeinfo?site=PKH&DataType=All&submit=View+info

                                                          LOCATION

Lake Sections

A “lake section” is the largest subdivision of a waterbody and the logical starting point for location.  Every lake contains sections that are inferior or superior to other lake sections. The TVA impoundments are under constant scrutiny and the Tennessee Valley Authority assigns a rating to all lake sections, which they continually upgrade. Following are the major lake sections of Pickwick Lake in descending order:

Pickwick Lake Headwater

The “Pickwick Lake Headwater” also known as the “Wilson Dam Tailwater” is rated as the best smallmouth trophy stretch in Pickwick Lake. Some bronzeback anglers focus their game on the first ten miles between Wilson Dam and the lower end of Sevenmile Island. Many anglers utilize the first twenty miles of Pickwick Lake, working to the end of Kroger Island. The 20-mile stretch from Wilson Dam to Kogers Island descends 90 feet in elevation, providing optimal water flow and dissolved oxygen levels for smallmouth bass. In Pickwick Lake, the predominant forage of smallmouth bass is “skipjack herring”, a prey fish that favors an ecosystem similar to smallmouth bass. Consequently, some of the heaviest concentrations of skipjack herring are also found in the headwaters of Pickwick Lake.

Bear Creek Embayment

“Bear Creek Embayment” is a broad lake section encompassing Bear Creek. It lies about 18 miles east of Pickwick Dam and is rated the second-best lake section for smallmouth bass. Bear Creek Embayment has produced many outstanding specimens and holds enormous potential.

Other Lake Sections

The lake section known as “Mid-Reservoir” bridges the gap between Bear Creek Embayment and the Pickwick Lake Headwater. The mid-reservoir produces a broad variety of freshwater species, and though it sports the lowest bronzeback rating it undergoes the lowest fishing pressure and is full of surprises.

The lower third of Pickwick Lake (western third) is known for its largemouth bass fishery. Hereat,

weed-beds of milfoil and hydrilla thrive in the backwater sloughs outside the main river current.

Habitat

Each species occupies a unique niche in the ecosystem, where the components of their habitat form a remarkable synergy. For example, smallmouth bass prefer rocky bottom, and due to its resistance to erosion, rocky bottom and drop-offs are inseparably linked. In a riverine environment, the wedging action of sloping bottoms and drop-offs cause an increase in the flow rate, which in turn elevates the level of dissolved oxygen. In the final analysis, rocky cover, depth drop-offs, increased flow rate and elevated dissolved oxygen all dovetail together.

Drop-Offs

The bottom composition of Pickwick Lake ranges from soft mud to hard bedrock. In the quest for smallmouth bass, soft-bottom areas should be callously bypassed, where sharp depth drop-offs are nonexistent. In Pickwick Lake, roughly seven-percent of the lake floor consists of bottom drop-off, but it's estimated that this seven-percent supports about seventy-percent of the smallmouth population. The supremacy of the “drop-off” is due to 3 mutually inclusive features:

Rapid Depth Change      (Game fish & prey fish alike are attracted to areas of rapid depth change)

Hard Bottom      (Drop-offs indicate hard bottom because soft bottoms are rapidly eroded)

Current-Break      (Drop-offs are accompanied by areas of low-pressure and high pressure)

Similar to crappies, when smallmouth bass are in suspension, almost invariably they'll be vertically alignment with a bottom breakline, usually the edge of the river channel. From all indications the main attraction is the “drop-off” per se and not the physical source. Differently put, ridges, channels, humps, bars, points and submerged Indian mounds all function the same.

That is, all drop-offs provide hard bottom, rapid depth change and a current break. All drop-offs are not created equal, and can be quantified by their “gradient” and “magnitude”. Simply put, the gradient of the drop-off is the steepness of the slope, ranging from a slow taper to a sheer bluff.

The “magnitude” of the drop-off refers to the difference between the base depth and crest depth. During the summer and winter seasons, the greater the magnitude of the drop-off the better the holding site. One glaring exception is the bedding season, when smallies take their game to the shallow flats. Wherever the drop-off is tangent to the bedding flat, you have found a “year-round” holding site.

Cover

LARGEMOUTH BASS

The cover preference of fish can be misleading because it often hinges on area availability. Broadly speaking, the cover preference of largemouth bass runs from soft to hard: “plants” followed by “wood” and lastly “rocks”. The term “plants” embodies submergent weed-beds, surface mats and emergent vegetation. Although bigmouth bass prefer vegetation, woody cover is heavily utilized in manmade impoundments, particularly where plant life is scarce. The term “wood” includes stickups, blowdowns, standing timber, stumps, pilings and the like. “Brush” is a gray area, a cross between weeds and wood. Largemouth use rocky cover the least, but are commonly found nonetheless over stony bottoms and along riprap banks.

SMALLMOUTH BASS

In sharp contrast, the cover preference of smallies runs from hard to soft: “rocks” followed by “wood” and lastly “weeds”. Smallmouth bass gravitate to hard bottom areas such as bedrock, boulders, chunk-rock, pea-gravel or sand. One exception is during the bedding season, when smallies migrate to shallower water and flatter bottoms. With a limited choice, bronzebacks frequently spawn on flats of clay or marl, especially those peppered with stumps, pilings or other cover. Lastly, smallmouth bass may patrol a weed-line that adjoins hard bottom in fact this is an untapped frontier that more and more smallmouth guides are beginning to exploit.

Current

Given a choice, largemouth bass prefer plant life in a backwater slough with neutral water current. In the opposing camp, smallmouth bass have a higher demand for dissolved oxygen and prefer rocky cover, open water and mild to moderate current. “Current” may be enhanced in three ways:

> Rainfall

> Hydroelectric Generation   

> Natural Bottlenecks

“Rainfall” is Mother Nature's contribution to water level maintenance and increased water current. On the downside, heavy rainfall normally causes reduced water clarity and sometimes lowers water temperatures. Though rainfall carries no dissolved oxygen, the surface disturbance it creates serves to oxygenate the water. The risk associated with rainfall is when runoff water offsets the benefit of rainfall oxygenation. Manmade water current produced during hydroelectric generation has three advantages over rainfall:

> Water clarity is relatively unaffected

> Water temperature may be raised but not lowered

> Dissolved oxygen content may be raised but not lowered

Be that as it may, “rainfall” and “hydroelectric generation” are both matters of Timing.

In keeping with the element of Location, “current” herein must be confined to “natural bottlenecks” formed by the outline of the waterbody, peninsulas and islands. A bottleneck is formed by the narrow passage between two islands, a strait between the mainland and an island and so on. The benefit of a natural bottleneck may not override the influence of dam generation, but the effect on current is fixed, reliable and year-round.

Depth Zone

Like most species of fish, smallmouth bass tend to be shallowest during the pre-spawn and spawn, middle depths during the post-spawn and fall, and deepest during the summer and winter.

In Pickwick Lake, the month of MAY embraces the “post-spawn” period, when smallies are breaking ties with the shallow gravel flats and setting up camp on moderate to strong gradients. For smallmouth bass in Pickwick Lake, the key depth range during the post-spawn is 10 to 20 ft. The actual catch-depth can be highly deceptive, because the 15 and 25-ft depth lines may only be yards apart. All that said, “location” is not carved in stone and it can and does vary.

Arched Rods,

    Roger a.k.a. RoLo

Pickwick is a very good lake and its the only lake that I fish year round.  In the spring, a shaky head (pumpkin seed/watermelon) works best for me.  I try to focus on the creek channel side of coves and flats associated with main lake points, especially those associated with a creek channel.  Look for gravel bottoms in 10-18 feet.  Over the past week, some of the females have begun to move into shallow water that ranges from 3-5 feet -- just follow the creek channel to the back of the coves.  I primarily fish from the dam to Yellow Creek but will venture into Indian and Bear as well, its all good. 

Good Luck.