Well I finally got a day off and decided to take my son to Pickwick. He wanted to get out one more time before he returned to school (7th grader) so we decided to give it a go even in the extreme heat. Focused on humps/ledges in the main lake and threw some topwater in the morning. Started off Sunday evening about 5pm just to the east of Second Creek and according to TVA, they were pulling water- YEE-HAW... but no fish. Next morning out on the water by 6am an on the spot by 630; just to the east of the mouth of Bear Creek. Threw topwater POP-R, Zara Spook, and buzz baits till about 9am with no bites. Shad busting all over, but they were the little ones, less than an inch in length. I think they were probably young shad from a recent spawn in the lake... Anyway, we shifted to deep diving cranks (Strike King, 6XD) and jigs (black/blue with Rage Craw trailer in watermelon) at that same spot- no luck. We then moved to the area on the other side of the lake just to the east of the opening to Second Creek. Fished from 10am to about 2pm at that spot with no bites. The TVA site said water started running about 11am so I expected some action but oh well. Bummer of a trip with no fish but I really had fun spending time with my son before he heads back to school! Anyone heading out in the heat this summer, bring PLENTY of water- we went through four gallons in one afternoon!

I really love PICKWICK but sometimes the skunk rears its ugly head! Guess that's why they call it "fishing" and not "catching"...

Wow!

That's tough. Haven't been out in two weeks, but I was around McFarland when

you were there. Numbers were good, but the size was hard to come by. We probably

had +/- 15 lbs, best five. The winning total was 77 lbs for four days:

http://anglerschannel.com/content/mark-rose-wins-flw-pickwick

its tough out there right now if you cant find any schooling fish. had a tourney last weekend, got a limit in the boat in the first hour or so then went dry til about 1230 when we got on a school of decent fish. the problem was due to the heat, weight-in was moved back to 1 instead of 3 so as always we were a day late and a dollar short......yet again.

Ya, I'm thinking the same thing ---> COME ON FALL!!!! I'm tired of summer already!