PickwickLake Elevation 413.5
Water Temp. 85
Bass
When bass fishing earlyin the morning, don't forget about the grass bedsin the lake. Over the past few weeks we have caught a large number of fish inand around those beds using the Strike Kine Spit N King. The easiest wayto fish the grass with this bait is to just work it around the edges of thegrass and not in the middle. Sometimes you can catch good fish in the middle ofthe grass beds but you will need to switch to a weedless frog. There area lot of shallow areas visible from the Pickwick Dam that have grass just underthe water surface and these areas usually hold a lot of fish and are easy tofish baits over the top of them without getting tangled in the grass everycast. You can also fish a creature bait through these areas on a weightedhook or texas rig and this method sometimes works throughout the day. The deep water humpsand ledges are still holding good fish right now. In the deeper water throwa deep diving crank bait or a heavy spinner bait. 1oz Aggravater Spinnerbaits havebeen a favorite on Pickwick for years but they are no longer makingspinnerbaits. Stike King has a 1oz spinnerbait that is a hot lure on Pickwick,Bay Springs and other lakes would good lakes using this heavier spinnerbait aswell.
Stripers
The Strike King "Spit NKing" has been an all around great top water with stripers and bass in the TennesseeRiver below the Pickwick Dam. Popping thisfeathered tail bait attracts fish in the area that are activelyfeeding on the surface. If you are after stripers and you have alreadycaught a few big ones on the top water baits you might want to switch over to ajerk bait because you can usually hold on to the fish longer with the jerkbait. Right now you can find small stripers busting the surface all daybut the bigger stripers will be in deeper water afterthe first few hours of daylight. Throughout the middle of the day you will needto switch to a live bait rigand drift downstream with a live minnow on a bait hook. If you can catchskip jack minnows in the river for this method of fishing you will be moresuccessful catching good stripers but you can use minnows from a bait store.The store bought minnows usually produces fish if the natural bait are notpresent below the dam.
Catfish
We have caught severalcatfish drifting the Dyna-Bites in 25-30'' of water. Liver and shad guttsare very produtive baits as well right now. This is also a good time ofyear to fish a little deeper, you may improve the size of catfish yourcatching.