Pickwick Partner 2024

CStan442 reply :

Hey, I am planning a trip to Pickwick to fish for Bass (large or small), below the dam next Saturday 11/5. I recently moved to Southaven from Indiana and have not been there on my own yet. I would like someone who has some experience there so I dont get myself in trouble. I have done fairly well finding fish on other local lakes, but 2 fishing is always better than 1. I would leave early Saturday morning and arrive back after dark. Have boat, will travel.... some gas $$ would be nice but let me know what is possible. Thanks

-Corey

00 mod reply :

I'd sign up now, but Saturdays are tough for me....work! Big football games that day as well, but someone will take you up on the offer, probably RW. He's been there lots and a good guy to fish with!

Jeff

lynyrdsky1 reply :

Hey man pm sent

Long Mike reply :

Be careful of fishing with Roadwarrior. For some reason he has a fetish about stealing boat plugs. I'm not sure what he does with them, but I lost two the last time I fished with him. You will know that he's been up to his tricks when your boat starts taking on water for no apparent reason. The best cure is to have him fish from the front deck with you. That way you can keep an eye on him.

CStan442 reply :

Man, I want to fish with RW too. I'll ask to take his boat I guess.

lynyrdsky1 has signed up to go this weekend. We will post on our day, hope they want to bite for us. Sooo excited to get back on that water!

CStan442 reply :

On 10/31/2011 at 7:54 AM, CStan442 said:

Man, I want to fish with RW too. I'll ask to take his boat I guess.

lynyrdsky1 has signed up to go this weekend. We will post on our day, hope they want to bite for us. Sooo excited to get back on that water!

Well, he had to cancel. Spot is back open. Please contact me if you can go. Thanks

roadwarrior reply :

I'll be there, too!

I'm fishing with my friend and Pickwick guide, Speedy Madewell.

Stop by and say hi! We are fishing from a 2180 BayRanger, white

with blue trim.

This weekend we caught smallmouth, largemouth and

spots. Our best bronzeback was around 4lbs, 3 1/4 lb

largemouth and 2-3 lb Kentucky bass. Probably around

twenty bass, a dozen cats and a couple of drum.

00 mod reply :

Uh oh...somebody made a river trip! Good to hear the report! I knew you had a drum in your future!

jeff

mr.mallard reply :

ill be there nov. 1st so ill give you a report when i get back. making a morning trip. hope its half as good as RWs

sidsmith03 reply :

what did you catch the cats and drum on?

On 10/31/2011 at 9:08 AM, roadwarrior said:

I'll be there, too!

I'm fishing with my friend and Pickwick guide, Speedy Madewell.

Stop by and say hi! We are fishing from a 2180 BayRanger, white

with blue trim.

This weekend we caught smallmouth, largemouth and

spots. Our best bronzeback was around 4lbs, 3 1/4 lb

largemouth and 2-3 lb Kentucky bass. Probably around

twenty bass, a dozen cats and a couple of drum.

:D

sidsmith03 reply :

PM Sent C Stan

00 mod reply :

River shiners would be my best guess.

Jeff

mr.mallard reply :

the fishing was horribly awesome. caught my new pb smallie at a fat 4 lbs. and a 6 lb blue cat. lost a nice striper and a few more bass on the way in. fished 930 -1 .im still pumped over my 4 lb. smallie

CStan442 reply :

Heck yeah! Thats what I'm talking about. Beautiful coloring to that smallie! Great job man

Live or artificial bait?

roadwarrior reply :

That might be the prettiest smallmouth I have ever seen.

Congratulations!

:Applause:

00 mod reply :

Mallard, that thing is beautiful! Congrats on the new pb! Was there any other fish caught that day?

Jeff

mr.mallard reply :

live shiners. out in the channel. thought i was hung up until i felt the head shake. thought it was a big cat because it hugged the bottom for 4 minutes after that. then shot up like a rocket. my dad was on the phone with his biggest client so i had to net the fish alone cant believe i got it in. when i went to put a minnow onto my rig after i released the fish the hook fell off. lucky i guess.

i tried a little bit of everywhere. messed around mostly after the big fish. made the drift from the lock to the second power lines on that side and drift from the botel to the powerlines with only that one fish caught. a couple more loss. unknown type. then tried the current seam right against the dam where the water gets let out and thats where dad lost a striper and i started chunking a crank and had a few follows and bites from white bass or stripers. then drifted over to that area with three deadmans over by the lock. that catfish were thick by the only concrete one. other boats catching too.but we were bass fishing not catfishing so we drifted from the botel to the powerlines again without a nibble. Didnt see many fish caught overall. saw one bass boat working the bank right under the first powerlines. lots of cat fisherman

mr.mallard reply :

oh and marked alot of fish around 3 feet deep in 12-15 ft and think they could have been smallies. saw a few smallies jump clear out of the water. can you say topwater bite?

CStan442 reply :

seat is still open. I have changed my plans to launch from JP Coleman. Had another back out. Message me today if interested in going

00 mod reply :

Sunday would be a maybe for me, but Saturday is a no-go!

Jeff

CStan442 reply :

On 11/4/2011 at 9:18 PM, 00 mod said:

Sunday would be a maybe for me, but Saturday is a no-go!

Jeff

Only going Saturday this time. In a couple weeks I will got for Sat and Sun. I will let you know

Going it alone again..... looks to be a good day and they are pulling major water

00 mod reply :

Good luck and let us know!

Jeff

mr.mallard reply :

yesterday was good. much better than tuesday as far as numbers. we caught a few smallies so im sure that means RW caught 30-40 :lol: caught some spots, largemouth, whitebass, bream, and a bunch of drum including my PB at 15 lbs :P they didnt seem to be on fire but river wasnt really that busy. didnt get on the water until 10ish due to the fog. lots of fun. thanks for introducing me and helping me learn this RW, its helped me spend alot of time with my dad.

00 mod reply :

Congrats again, and I wanna go now! RW???? How many did ya'll catch?

Jeff

bryand82487 reply :

I went from around 1 till dark today below the dam. I caught 2 catfish and 1 decent smallmouth that weighed close to 3 lbs drifting minnows. When it got closer to dark I caught about 5 largemouth on a top water popper and my first smallmouth on top water. They were all around 2 lbs but were still fun to catch.

sidsmith03 reply :

great pics man! I went satruday and the fog on the lake was terrible until about 9...made it hard to make any runs, we didnt do very good but in all it was a good time. We fished indian creek most of the day

roadwarrior reply :

Saturday: eight among the three of us. One for me, +/- 4 lbs

on a Rage Tail Craw (Summercraw) rigged on a Moaner Stroker,

weighted hook. Otherwise, a dozen green fish. My best was

around 3lbs. The cats were on a tear and we caught a few HUGE

drum!

Going up again on Friday for a two day trip with ghoti.

Can't wait!

sidsmith03 reply :

I cant wait to get back to pickwick...I really want to get on some smallies...I caught several during the spring and summer and all Ive heard is how great the fall fishing is and how great the smallmouth bite is...Ive yet to see...I just must not be doing something right lol

bryand82487 reply :

Here's the 2 smallies I got from Sunday. Looking at the picture again I think the bigger one is probably 2-2.5 lbs instead of close to 3 like I previously said.

bryand82487 reply :

On 11/9/2011 at 12:39 AM, sidsmith03 said:

I cant wait to get back to pickwick...I really want to get on some smallies...I caught several during the spring and summer and all Ive heard is how great the fall fishing is and how great the smallmouth bite is...Ive yet to see...I just must not be doing something right lol

Fishing for smallies can be tough. I learned a lot from Roadwarrior and have gradually progressed on my own as well. If your drifting minnows you will eventually get your share of smallmouth. From my experience and I know someone will disagree with this, but if I'm not fishing rip rap, under water boulders, gravel, anything with rock, etc. I'm wasting my time for brown bass. That goes for live bait or artificial lures. All the mud banks banks and trees farther down from the dam I've never had any luck. I've never caught a smallmouth on the river over a about 1 1/2 miles below the dam. I'm sure they are there, and with that being said I've definitely not fished those areas as hard either. A good current, eddies, current breaks, and where shad build up in these pockets are key. Smallmouth fishing with artifical lures can be really tough, and if you don't have all the right factors in play or if they are there and you don't use them to your advantage you can easily consistently not catch smallmouth. Another factor that makes your chances of catching a smallmouth more difficult is that there simply isn't near as many smallmouth as there are largemouth below the dam. If you click the link below and scroll down to Pickwick it's a survey of the fish shocked up. Notice the smallmouth population is increasing every year but notice for every smallmouth shocked up there's about 4 largemouth. I'm not sure about below the dam but my guess would be that the ratio of smallmouth to largemouth would be even less since you rarely catch smallmouth on down the river but again this is just a guess. Don't get discouraged though it will come together. I've had days (fishing artificial s) where I've caught them consistently every couple of casts, but I've had more days where my main bag is largemouth with a couple of smallmouth in the mix. The river is really low right now and a lot of the big rock structures that are great for smallmouth habitat are above water right now. Don't get me wrong though there is still plenty of smallie structure under water too right now. Use that to your advantage and take pictures or mental notes of your surroundings because when the water goes back up you will know the layout and that big rock pile you were staring at on the shore this week could be a rock pile that's 10 ft under water your bouncing your crankbait off of a month from now. Try to base your trips if possible off the hourly discharge of Pickwick Dam on the TVA website. The more generators going and higher hourly discharge usually produces a better day of fishing because the current is better. I know a lot of guys just have to go when they can but if you can go on Saturday or Sunday look at it and see which day looks better. After each trip I record the weather, water temp, Hourly discharge, number of generators, how my fishing was, how far under or above water my favorite spots are, and the water level below the dam. I've fished there enough now that I can look at the water level on my computer and know which spots I can fish, which spots are going to be above or below the water, or to deep or shallow to fish. Now I'm no expert fisherman by any means and even with all these factors I take into consideration, I still don't always have good days but it definitely helps. You have to be willing to put time in down there though for sure. Yes, you can go every now in then and catch a lot of fish but if you want to consistently catch brown fish down there you need to learn as much as you possible can and try to go 3 or 4 times a month atleast. The conditions and patterns change so frequently down there, mainly the water levels, what worked last week doesn't always work the next. I hope this helps and again this is my experience below the dam. I'm sure people will disagree and if so would love to here what you all have to say. I'm always up for learning more.

http://www.tva.com/environment/water/catchtables.htm

mr.mallard reply :

very well written and informative

roadwarrior reply :

Great post!

CStan442 reply :

Well, I went on my own Sat morning and as mentioned the fog was thick. I fished in the cove at the boat launch and missed 4 fish. Not sure what I was doing wrong or if I was still in a fog myself. Tried to fish the rip rap right outside of the launch and by then the wind had kicked up and it was too rough for my liking. I went to the first bay and fished there most of the day. Ended up catching over 50 fish. 35 largies, 1 smallie, perch, gill, drum, catfish and striped bass all came in the boat. I caught 2 small fish all day, the small mouth was about an 8 incher and 1 small green fish. All the bass were in the 2 to 3 1/2 lb class. I considered this trip a success for never having been there before. I will be going again the afternoon of the 19th and all day the 20th if all goes as planned. The scenery was great as well!

My link

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/CStan36/311460_315789505104807_100000212802313_1470424_1916078089_n.jpg

00 mod reply :

Sounds like a great trip! over 50 fish is an awesome day!!

Jeff

sidsmith03 reply :

that does sound like an awesome trip and thanks bryan for that informative post earlier....lots of helpful information

00 mod reply :

Heading down Friday. Will report back!

Jeff

bryand82487 reply :

Let us know! I'd love to keep a page going on Pickwick reports if anyone's interested.

00 mod reply :

Just got back.... we fished from 9:30- 4:45 and caught a bunch just not alot of what we were targeting LOL!

11 LM, 3 SM, 4 spots, 3 grennel, 4 crappie, 2 bream, 1 drum and 2 catfish!

Overall good day, but tough sm fishing!

Jeff

bryand82487 reply :

On 11/12/2011 at 10:39 AM, 00 mod said:

Just got back.... we fished from 9:30- 4:45 and caught a bunch just not alot of what we were targeting LOL!

11 LM, 3 SM, 4 spots, 3 grennel, 4 crappie, 2 bream, 1 drum and 2 catfish!

Overall good day, but tough sm fishing!

Jeff

Doesn't sound like too bad of a day. I was hoping to go tomorrow but I don't think I want to put up with the wind.

00 mod reply :

Yea the wind was a little tough yesterday as well! Just had to deal with it! RW was down there as well, and I think they did a little better on the brown fish. Our best smallie was 2.5 and green fish was around 4. Don't quote me, but I think rw and partner caught 10 sm and 8 lm?

Jeff

mr.mallard reply :

still have never picked up a crappie there. you catchin those down river?

roadwarrior reply :

Good on Friday, a little better on Saturday.

ghoti has a few pics I hope he posts in the "Fishing Reports".

We caught some numbers, our better fish were 3-4 lbs, with

lots of short fish. My best came in just under 4 1/2 lbs,

weighed. Maybe 30 brown fish, about the same green plus

every other species in the river!

Big time had by all.

00 mod reply :

Crappie were down river some and ALWAYS in slack water!

Great time RW, and next up is me and you out there!! Look forward to those pics!

Jeff

PS> All the crappie were HUGE...all 4 were in the 2lb range..should have taken a picture!

roadwarrior reply :

I look forward to fishing with you on the river.

-Kent

sidsmith03 reply :

Sounds like some great reports on the weekend...Wish I coulud have gone.

sidsmith03 reply :

I will be going Friday afternoon and Saturday moring! hope the fishing is good....I will post reports

00 mod reply :

Who are you going with friday afternoon? Have an open seat?

Jeff

sidsmith03 reply :

Partner that I usually fish with. Hes picking me up in baldywn about 1:30 friday and we are heading up. Gonna fish for a while then try to find us a hotel room! I'll ask if he minds fishing 3 deep

sidsmith03 reply :

is there a website to see how much and when they are pulling water? Thanks

Also any suggestions on where we should try this weekend....We are wanting to expand are areas, we typically just launch at JP Coleman and fish Indian Creek and We sometimes launch at Scruggs bridge and fish yellow creek....

brianwhite reply :

yea last few times have been tough for us, where are most of the numbers being caught? and any larger bass being caught shallow or are they still deep?

roadwarrior reply :

On 11/16/2011 at 1:25 AM, sidsmith03 said:

is there a website to see how much and when they are pulling water? Thanks

Also any suggestions on where we should try this weekend....We are wanting to expand are areas, we typically just launch at JP Coleman and fish Indian Creek and We sometimes launch at Scruggs bridge and fish yellow creek....

http://www.tva.gov/river/lakeinfo/index.htm

roadwarrior reply :

On 11/16/2011 at 4:29 AM, brianwhite said:

yea last few times have been tough for us, where are most of the numbers being caught? and any larger bass being caught shallow or are they still deep?

We drift both sides of the river, but the inside (gravel bottom) is too

shallow unless TVA is releasing 30,000+ CFS. This morning would be

great. Average discharge of 50,518 is projected for today!

The key is staying off the bank, ideally, casting distance plus 5 yards.

Boat management can be challenging. The goal is to keep the boat speed

the same as the bait so you are in effect fishing "flat water". Easier

said than done.

Warning! Stay OUTSIDE the red buoys unless you are VERY familiar with

the river AND are VERY experienced controlling the drift with your trolling

motor. Ridges and boulders on the outside run can be life threatening if

you aren't paying attention.

bryand82487 reply :

I should be fishing below the dam all day tomorrow and maybe Friday too. The rivers up 5 or 6 feet and the current is looking good, just hope the cold front doesn't shut them down. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

CStan442 reply :

I am planning on going somewhere local (around Southaven) maybe Horseshoe or Tunica on Saturday around noon and planning a trip to JP Coleman on Sunday early morning if there are any takers, let me know. Will be chucking lures all day

brianwhite reply :

Thanks roadwarrior for the info. And bryan im glad its back up. Past two times I have been it had gotten lower each time

lynyrdsky1 reply :

On 11/17/2011 at 11:42 AM, CStan442 said:

I am planning on going somewhere local (around Southaven) maybe Horseshoe or Tunica on Saturday around noon and planning a trip to JP Coleman on Sunday early morning if there are any takers, let me know. Will be chucking lures all day

Tunica should still be holding pretty well but horseshoe may be getting good right now with the lilly pads dieing off.

00 mod reply :

Tunica is still going to be low with the river not getting above 1 foot in the last 2 months!

Jeff

lynyrdsky1 reply :

On 11/17/2011 at 11:52 PM, 00 mod said:

Tunica is still going to be low with the river not getting above 1 foot in the last 2 months!

Jeff

Yea thats true, you think that happy jack over at Horseshoe is gonna be dry as in probably only a foot of water in there?

00 mod reply :

I don't know the answer to that. I do know that supposedly they have a well system to keep horseshoe at a good level now but they are charging owners the well pump costs and it is causing a big stir especially with the farmers.

Jeff.

sidsmith03 reply :

ready to go friday afternoon, hope we can do some good!

bryand82487 reply :

On 11/17/2011 at 9:46 PM, brianwhite said:

Thanks roadwarrior for the info. And bryan im glad its back up. Past two times I have been it had gotten lower each time

Well by this morning it had already gone back down. It looks like they've been raising it about 5 ft through ought the day and dropping it back down all night. Fishing was tough today, I fished from 7:30 till 1 with only 4 small LM. The wind kicked up out of the north at about 12 or 13 mph making it tough to fish. When it's out of the north it's blowing at an angle up river so it's hard to drift down because it's blowing up and towards the bank. I think I'm going to fish the river near Cliftoin tomorrow since I didn't have much luck today.

brianwhite reply :

that sucks, wind isn't "supposed" to get over 5-10mph tomorrow but we'll see how that goes. we're gonna give it a shot and see what we can do. saying it's gonna be cloudy saturday too. have had better luck on overcast days. only time will tell......

sidsmith03 reply :

On 11/18/2011 at 10:46 AM, brianwhite said:

that sucks, wind isn't "supposed" to get over 5-10mph tomorrow but we'll see how that goes. we're gonna give it a shot and see what we can do. saying it's gonna be cloudy saturday too. have had better luck on overcast days. only time will tell......

well guys we are gonna give it a shot this afternoon. Cant wait to turn these kids loose for Thanksgiving break so I can get out on the water, they are about to drive me crazy in this class room. COME ON FISH BITE

sidsmith03 reply :

also guys...what techniques would your go with this afternnon and tomorrow morning? any help is appreciated as brianwhite and myself are still rookies trying to learn how to fish

bryand82487 reply :

I fished on the river in Clifton on Friday and Saturday. On Friday I caught a couple that morning then a friend came up and we probably caught 10 in the 1 to 2 pound range on rage craws. We couldn't find any decent fish though. Saturday was the same way. Eventually we got into some crappie on the baby rage craws, then switched to grubs and did a little crappie fishing. We managed 6 keepers but caught prob 20 crappie and a couple of stripes.

CStan442 reply :

On 11/17/2011 at 11:42 AM, CStan442 said:

I am planning on going somewhere local (around Southaven) maybe Horseshoe or Tunica on Saturday around noon and planning a trip to JP Coleman on Sunday early morning if there are any takers, let me know. Will be chucking lures all day

The forecast scared me off on the trip to pickwick. Ended up going to Horseshoe and only managed 4 keepers all day and 1 BIG cat on a jerk bait

bryand82487 reply :

On 11/16/2011 at 6:56 PM, roadwarrior said:

http://www.tva.gov/river/lakeinfo/index.htm

Also if you have a droid or iphone tva has an app for the water release schedules that's pretty handy.

My link

lynyrdsky1 reply :

Anybody going anywhere friday or Saturday let me know can put you on fish at horshoe and tunica

sidsmith03 reply :

anybody been or had any luck the past week or couple of days?

00 mod reply :

only report I have heard from this past weekend and yesterday are the catfish are biting! LOL

Jeff

sidsmith03 reply :

I dont discriminate! lol

00 mod reply :

Well the guy I know went Saturday and yesterday. Saturday they vertical drifted liver in the lake for over 100 lbs and yesterday on a short trip less than 3 hours over 50 lbs. Big fish was a little over 20 lbs.

Jeff

lazeebum reply :

I went Friday below Wilson Dam. There were about 10 spillways on. I caught three smallmouths, the biggest about four pounds. I caught five largemouths, the biggest was five plus. And of course I caught a bunch of drum. Do NOT work a crank bait into the eddies.

Pete-K reply :

Can't belive theres not any of you below Pickwick dam fishing. Most years when the waters like this, The brown fish are eating it up. If I can swing it this week, I hope to make a trip. SmallMouth and Sauger.

They have flood gates open, but if we can keep the rain west of us. The river should be slowing down by thursday.

Pete

JJS reply :

river was comming up fast yesterday. i would like to go wed if water is not up too much

roadwarrior reply :

I have only missed three Saturdays since August. I haven't decided exactly where

to fish next weekend, but I'm leaning towards Wilson below the Wheeler Dam. So

far this fall we have had a couple of good days in terms of numbers, but have not

found the big girls yet. Maybe this weekend things will improve.

roadwarrior reply :

On 12/5/2011 at 8:42 AM, Pete-K said:

Can't belive theres not any of you below Pickwick dam fishing. Most years when the waters like this, The brown fish are eating it up. If I can swing it this week, I hope to make a trip. SmallMouth and Sauger.

They have flood gates open, but if we can keep the rain west of us. The river should be slowing down by thursday.

Pete

I have an appointment in Selmer Friday morning. If you have room for me in your boat,

maybe we could get together for half a day. If you are interested, let me know.

-Kent

Pete-K reply :

On 12/5/2011 at 11:58 PM, roadwarrior said:

I have an appointment in Selmer Friday morning. If you have room for me in your boat,

maybe we could get together for half a day. If you are interested, let me know.

-Kent

Kent I will not know for sure if I can make a trip Friday until Thursday evening. But if we can make plans Thursday we may just make a evening of it. I only live about 7 miles from Selmer. Will Pm you my phone number. But remember I have not done much bass fishing in the last 15 years or so. Or than live bait for brown fish early fall. But grew up on the river there below Pickwick.

Also never fished it with the water this high for them. But had buddy's that wear them out when its like this. Shoot I bet I can learn a lot from you on a trip.

Pete

sidsmith03 reply :

Id like to catch some Sauger, a buddy and I ran into guy fishing off the bank at the d**n a couple weekends that was fishing strictly for Sauger and said that they were amazing fish to eat. Ive never even saw one.

lazeebum reply :

I like to fish Pickwick when some spillways are on. I catch a lot of drum, but sometimes....

00 mod reply :

nice fatty! When was this caught?

Jeff

lazeebum reply :

It was caught Friday afternoon. I love Pickwick this time of year.

00 mod reply :

Nice! Congrats!

Jeff

sidsmith03 reply :

very nice! I have fished pickwick a lot since the spring and Im still trying to learn how to bass fish would love to get a hold to some that size very nice

lazeebum reply :

Although it makes for tough handling in a small boat with a 40 lb trolling motor, I like to fish when there is current. The western end of Pickwick is more challenging to me, but I am getting better.

Mr. Swabby(aka westtennessee1) reply :

Me and a buddy are headed to Wilson on Friday, fishing below the dam near McFarland Park. Hopefully the water will settle down by then. Gonna fish live bait and probaby some spinnerbaits and bandits. Anyone have advice on where to focus and other potential offerings that might draw the attention of a big brown fish? Thanks!

sidsmith03 reply :

how do you guys fish with livebait for smallmouth?

Pete-K reply :

On 12/7/2011 at 3:03 AM, sidsmith03 said:

how do you guys fish with livebait for smallmouth?

Check out this video it will give you an ideal. Along with get you ready to go fishing.

http://www.myoutdoortv.com/fishing/fishing-with-roland-martin/live-bait-smallmouth-bass

lazeebum reply :

Let me clarify. When I say I am fishing Pickwick that means from below Wilson dam to above Pickwick dam. Road Warrior can tell you better than me, but fishing the current below a dam can be fun or frustrating. Try to find slack water near the current. If some spillways are on and it ain't too muddy you can do real good.

Pete-K reply :

On 12/7/2011 at 1:52 AM, Mr. Swabby(aka westtennessee1) said:

Me and a buddy are headed to Wilson on Friday, fishing below the dam near McFarland Park. Hopefully the water will settle down by then. Gonna fish live bait and probaby some spinnerbaits and bandits. Anyone have advice on where to focus and other potential offerings that might draw the attention of a big brown fish? Thanks!

Heres a link to a little better water info. It shows what they think the water will be for friday and saturday.

Tn River Stage Florence AL

Pete-K reply :

On 12/6/2011 at 2:56 AM, sidsmith03 said:

Id like to catch some Sauger, a buddy and I ran into guy fishing off the bank at the d**n a couple weekends that was fishing strictly for Sauger and said that they were amazing fish to eat. Ive never even saw one.

What days can you fish? When the water gets back down and I can find the fish. We will try to get a few hours fishing in. And I can only say this for my self. But Sauger to me is the best tasting fish in the Tn river. Just a hint of sweet taste and man bring them home still swimming in the livewell, Fillet them out. Make a batch of Hushpuppys and then right into the oil. No way to beat them fresh and hot.

Pete

roadwarrior reply :

On 12/7/2011 at 1:52 AM, Mr. Swabby(aka westtennessee1) said:

Me and a buddy are headed to Wilson on Friday, fishing below the dam near McFarland Park. Hopefully the water will settle down by then. Gonna fish live bait and probaby some spinnerbaits and bandits. Anyone have advice on where to focus and other potential offerings that might draw the attention of a big brown fish? Thanks!

So, how did you do?

sidsmith03 reply :

I usually fish on the weekends, I get a lot of days off around this time of year being a teacher and a coach allows plenty of time to fish and hunt.

On 12/7/2011 at 10:41 AM, Pete-K said:

What days can you fish? When the water gets back down and I can find the fish. We will try to get a few hours fishing in. And I can only say this for my self. But Sauger to me is the best tasting fish in the Tn river. Just a hint of sweet taste and man bring them home still swimming in the livewell, Fillet them out. Make a batch of Hushpuppys and then right into the oil. No way to beat them fresh and hot.

Pete

Mr. Swabby(aka westtennessee1) reply :

Well trip started out slow, we got to the McFarland ramp about 0700 and the fog was thick! Had to carefully navigate close to the dam, and started with cranks, jerks and jigs. After losing about four baits, we reverted to drifting live bait about 0900. Fairly productive day using live bait catching other species but the brownies did not come alive till about 1500. WHAMO!!! Caught about five in ten minutes all small ones. Then the toads got active, and I could not figure out why. Dam spilling all day so it was not the current. The sun came up about 1100 burning off all the fog so it was not the sun. Anyway, my buddy Mike landed a 5 lb fish at 1515 and then I hooked up with what I thought was a 15 lb Drum ten minutes later--- NOPE!!!

WHOOP-WHOOP! I'm now in the 7 lb club. This fish went 7.25 lbs and put up the fight of my life. Did not know if my 6 lb Yozuri line was going to hold up but it did! As a matter of fact, thankfully, I had just tied a fresh knot prior to catching this fish which is now my PB!!!!

00 mod reply :

Congrats on the great trip!

Jeff

roadwarrior reply :

WOO-HOO!

You da MAN!

CStan442 reply :

Glad to see my thread still alive and kickin! Would this weekend still be good to fish above around the Coleman launch? Total noob on fishing this time of year here and the family will be gone and I need to go fishing somewhere or should I just stay local?

sidsmith03 reply :

Thinking about giving it a shot sat morning hopefullyit will make for a good trip...

00 mod reply :

sid....let us know how you do, as we are planning a trip on the river for Sunday!!

Jeff

sidsmith03 reply :

Will do!!

On 12/16/2011 at 1:11 AM, 00 mod said:

sid....let us know how you do, as we are planning a trip on the river for Sunday!!

Jeff

roadwarrior reply :

Anyone know about visibility? I hoping it's not chocolate milk!

sidsmith03 reply :

Ive never fished with live bait before....how do I use this technique of drifting with live minnows? what type of rig and how is it done?

brianwhite reply :

also what about the water levels & temps???

CStan442 reply :

I made it over there today (JP). Not a single bass.... all I could get to bite were bluegill, perch a few drum and cats. Water temp started at 49 and ended at 51. Water was still pretty clear and down a few feet from a month ago. I was all over the bait fish, I mean ZILLIONS of them, with bass bustin' them quite frequently. I couldn't get them to bite anything..... 5 or 6 different topwaters, cranks, worms, jerk bait, spinnerbaits. Im thinking I needed a Alabama rig today. I caught all the bluegill and perch on topwater and jerkbaits slow. They came home for dinner

roadwarrior reply :

Yesterday was HUGE!

00 mod reply :

On 12/19/2011 at 7:54 PM, roadwarrior said:

Yesterday was HUGE!

YES IT WAS!!!

roadwarrior reply :

Who's fishing this weekend?

bryand82487 reply :

I'm hoping to take off Friday and get down there with a buddy of mine. The weather looks great towards the end of this week and weekend. If I make it I'll let you guys know how I do. Was anybody out last weekend or yesterday?

OPENLAKE reply :

I tried to fish last Friday, but the wind and temp was brutal.

I'm hitting it this Saturday. If the forecast holds, it will be sunny and warm for this time of year. Should be some good fish caught this weekend.

roadwarrior reply :

Anyone have an open seat Friday?

brianwhite reply :

anyone fishing today?? im thinking about goin to pickwick saturday myself, probably launch from JP

bryand82487 reply :

Caught some nice fish below the dam yesterday.

brianwhite reply :

Nice catch! Using live bait??

lynyrdsky1 reply :

Went yesterday and today and have been killing them!! Not below the d**n though. Friend caught a 9 yesterday and a bunch of 4 and 5s and I caught a 1 big 6 and a few others today. Ill try to post pics

brianwhite reply :

I went today out of jp but didn't have any luck. Any tips you guys could give for this time of year?

lynyrdsky1 reply :

Man if you are not using an alabama rig right now you probably are not gonna catch fish.

soopd reply :

I went today out of Waterloo and caught 7. Two of them were on A rig, 2 on small spoon, 3 on rattle trap. I was catching them on drop offs at the mouth of creeks. I went to McFarland yesterday with some junk fish and that's about it.

00 mod reply :

Fished yesterday on the river.. Caught a lot of fish.....mostly drum, carp and catfish, with a few white bass, one striper, one sauger one LM and 8 smallies!

The drum/carp and even one catfish were HUGE!!! The smallies were all good size as well, 2lb- 3 1/2 lbs!

Jeff

oldgolf4 reply :

00 MOD, what bait were you using to catch such a variety of fish? Live bait?

Would you consider fishing below the d**n to be too hazardous for someone that has never fished there? I have fished right below the d**n, but not further down river. I felt the ramp was not real conducive to launching and loading for someone fishing by themselves, because there didn't seem to be a good place to tie up your boat while pulling your vehicle in and out of the launch.

I caught 5 good LM Sat., mainly close to Dry Creek dragging a heavy swim jig with a plastic shad. Since I've never fished the lake in Jan. or Feb., I'm wondering how much the LM pattern will change from what it is now. I suspect that when the water temp. gets much below 45 the bass will go even deeper. True? And yes, I have an A rig order!

roadwarrior reply :

You can put in safely at the Botel, but I STRONGLY advise you NOT to fish the river right now, especially by yourself.

Before tackling high water, you need to be comfortable with release under 60 cfs. Boat control is very difficult at 100+ .

00 mod reply :

On 1/3/2012 at 12:10 AM, roadwarrior said:

You can put in safely at the Botel, but I STRONGLY advise you NOT to fish the river right now, especially by yourself.

Before tackling high water, you need to be comfortable with release under 60 cfs. Boat control is very difficult at 100+ .

x2! Always have 2 people on boat that are experienced enough to run the boat very well while on the river and especially with lots of water like now!

Live bait was used!

Jeff

oldgolf4 reply :

Thanks for the replys. To show my ignorance of the area, Roadwarrior, what is the Botel? Is the water high most of the Fall or just at certain times?

roadwarrior reply :

Just beyond the TVA campground and ramp:

http://www.thehistoricbotel.com/

oldgolf4 reply :

Thanks RW. Would you recommend the Botel as a good place to stay?

OPENLAKE reply :

x2! Always have 2 people on boat that are experienced enough to run the boat very well while on the river and especially with lots of water like now!

x3! That river is rolling at 100K of water flow. Be very cautious, especially when the water is this cold. There is no room for error. That being said, if you play it safe, good fish can be caught.

roadwarrior reply :

On 1/3/2012 at 4:58 AM, oldgolf4 said:
Thanks RW. Would you recommend the Botel as a good place to stay?

It's quaint. I think you would like it just fine.

lazeebum reply :

The water below Wilson is muddy and moving fast! I plan to fish Wilson lake, " above Wilson dam" tommorrow after noon if it ain't too windy. Dang Beam and coke messes up my typin'.

lazeebum reply :

No go, water too muddy for me.

roadwarrior reply :

Fished Wilson and the river below the dam on Saturday. One bite, one small green fish and that was it!

I won't be going back until the gates are closed and the water clears.

13545

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