Pickwick Lake water temps are coming down (67 this evening 10/31). TVA is messing with me. They posted a decent schedule (35,000cf +) and then, when I take off early from work, cut off early - to zero!! >. The river was as smooth as glass. I had three hrs of fishing time and only managed a couple of smallies. One decent one (18", 2.3lbs)

and one just legal (15")but fiesty as you can see by the bristling golden fins

Caught both cranking JSR-5's in crawdad red.

still waiting on primetime down south!

TVA lied? I don't believe it.   :

Those are some pretty pictures in that light.   8-)

Yeah, the river has been slack lately huh? I was inside the 800 foot sign Saturday with no sign of current. Or smallies. I did manage to wear myself out on drum though. I'm going to try below Wheeler on Wilson next week. Word is it's pretty good up there right now.

Yeah Bob, I know what you mean about the drum. This one had me guessing until right up to the boat.

At first sight, I thought I had a PB smallmouth. Most of the drum I catch are a grayish/white color. This one must have been "trick or treating" as a smallie!!

Yeah, that happens, but what about a buffalo? Man, those are everything about a smallmouth except the jump.

I've caught a couple of World Record brown fish that got "transformed."   :  

Dang electrikal! I thought it was a brownie for a second there too!

RW, how big are the shad you typically catch trophy smallies on? I have a small cast net, so I'm mostly limited to the 2 1/2" sized minnows you can see near the top. Got any pics? I really hope I'm not wasting my time out there with tiny minnows...

RW - alot of the bigger smallmouth I've caught never took a leap. Just quick runs towards the bottom, But the 2lber above took 5 leaps and definitely didn't like the look of my boat ;D.

The baitshops sell three sizes of minnows: small for crappie, medium for sauger and large for bass. I like a 4+ inch minnow or yellowtail as big as they get, but we fish all sizes of wild bait.

electrikal excellent pics and nice fish 8-)

Agree nice pics and fish