PICKWICK LAKE
By Reed Montgomery / Reeds Guide Service
Website: www.fishingalabama.com
Impounded 1938
Lake Level: Winter pool / down 4-5 feet (varies)
Water Temperatures: Low to mid 50's
Winter on Pickwick Lake
There two Lakes on the lower Tennessee River System that produce trophy, smallmouth bass traditionally during an 8 week period from about mid January until mid March. Wilson Lake and Pickwick Lake. Both Lakes have boulder strewn tailrace waters coming off of upper lake dams at their headwaters.
These lake headwaters are very dangerous places for inexperienced boaters, where water generation creates a tremendous amount of current every day. Caution is advised.
Pickwick Lake and upstream Tennessee River Impoundment Wilson Lake are both trophy bass waters with distinct characteristics of their own.
Wilson Lake is a small lake in comparison with other lakes in north Alabama at about 17 miles in length. It is also a deep water lake with rock bluffs, deep original river channels and plenty of deep water cover and irregular bottom features. Wilson is kept at or near full pool all winter long. This provides an aquatic weed habitat of a various weed types, some weeds that thrive very well year round, even during the cold winter months.
At Wilson Lakes headwaters is the tailrace waters coming off of massive, Wheeler Lake dam (the second largest impoundment in Alabama). In addition to plenty of current with Wilson Lake not being drawn down during the winter months it is safer to navigate. Wilson Lake also has many feeder creeks with a good population of both predator and prey year round. See more about Wilson Lake at: www.fishingalabama.com at the "fishing tips and lake reports" links.
Pickwick Lake is drawn down during the winter months and then brought back up to full pool in the spring. It can be 2-3 feet down, 4-5 feet down, or at times even lower. Fishing Pickwick Lakes headwaters, during low water winter pool, an angler will immediately notice one very important aspect that pertains to his boating activities this winter on Pickwick Lake.
Once an angler navigates his / her boat past the two bridges that span the Lakes headwaters, use extreme caution for it gets shallow. Unlike during the summer months when anglers make a habitat of running the boat all the way up to the face of Wilson Lake dam in Pickwick Lakes headwaters, this is not advised during winter.
Boulders and huge rocks (some just under the waters surface), and a hard bottom spell disaster for fiberglass boats with a low draw to them. Idle your boat in these Pickwick Lake headwaters and trim up your outboard motor. Always wear your life jacket and outboard motor kill switch. Again, these are dangerous waters and lives are at stake.
Now how about the fishing? Well, on Pickwick Lake, at times, its as good as it gets. But cold fronts and low, 20 degree nights can make for some miserable daytime fishing. Some days it barely reaches 50 degrees. Others its 60 or better! So be prepared for some long days with little or no bites, especially when following severe cold fronts with bright, bluebird skies.
But never give up! Some of the biggest smallmouth bass I've caught, my father and uncle have caught, good friends of mine have caught and clients of my guide service have caught, were taken in terrible winter weather. These are friends, clients and relatives that have fished with me for the last 30 plus winters on these Tennessee River impoundment's.
Most trophy smallmouth bass anglers will agree their most memorable and best days (when they have caught a / some really big smallies), were during some downright miserable weather, with only a few bites in day time...but big ones!
Trophy smallmouth bass feed a lot. They have to, their big! Any big bass must eat constantly or eat big meals if it only eats occasionally. This means consuming meals that can fill a belly fast or chasing down many small meals (that must be consumed daily), to put on the needed fat reserves for winter.
This prepares the huge female smallmouth bass with the needed body weight for fasting during the spring spawn ahead, when they eat very little. So throw out the book! Smallmouth bass fishing does not always mean thinking, "they always eat small meals" or to the angler, small lures.
Some of the biggest smallies I've seen have hit lures fished from top to bottom, big lures usually associated with their old lazy cousin the largemouth bass. For instance:
From top to bottom would have to include Topwaters
Yes, smallmouth bass will hit a topwater lure during the cold, winter months. Most anglers that fish the Tennessee River Lakes with any regularity during winter know this. A big, 3 hooked 5 inch long Zara Super Spook topwater lure, slowly walking across the surface of the water (with a surface temperature of 50 degrees) can be very enticing for a big smallmouth bass looking up for an easy meal.
Its no different from a big, old wounded or weak gizzard shad struggling to swim as it slowly dies, floating along in the current, trying to swim on the waters surface. How many times during the cold winter season have you been fishing and heard a loud explosion break the silence as a huge bass explodes on some hapless baitfish? Same thing.
Suspending jerkbaits. In the mid water column my second choice for attracting big smallies in clear water situations would have to be a suspending jerkbait. These slim minnow type lures attract strikes from weary bass, big smallmouth bass that pass up other lures and often bass that even refuse other anglers jerkbaits. Jerkbaits that were just not fished slow enough.
Mark Menendez a Bassmaster Touring Professional angler once showed anglers that patience is very rewarding. When fishing a few years back with slow, enticing suspending jerkbaits during a cold wintertime Bassmasters Tournament held on Pickwick / Wilson Lakes, he hit the motherlode.
On three cold, consecutive winter days, Menendez caught big smallmouth after smallmouth and after culling 3 pounders each day, he won. He had a 5 bass limit each day weighing over 20 pounds, for a 3 day total of 15 bass over 60 pounds. All while anglers in other boats right beside him could not even get a bite. How did he do it? A very slow presentation, where he paused the suspending jerkbait in between twitches...often for a very, very long time before moving it.
Spinnerbaits fool a lot of big smallmouths during winter on these lakes. Some anglers drift with chartreuse and white 1/2 ounce model spinnerbaits in the main lake current, bumping bottom with these flashing, vibrating lures that simulate injured or dying baitfish, as they feed in the current close to the bottom.
Deep diving crankbaits, and shallow and mid divers, are all tools you use to find what depth, lure action, color and retrieve they want on any given winter day. Shad colors in clear water work best and colors like lime, yellow, red, orange or chartreuse and other brighter colors work best in stained water, along with crayfish colors as well, in any water clarity.
Rattling lipless lures such as Bill Lewis rattletraps and Cordell Rattling spots are great search lures. They can be fished fast for a shallow retrieve, or yo-yoed in deep water, or fished with slow lift and drop method close to the lakes bottom. Chrome / with blue back, or gold / with black back or red and orange and brown / crayfish are good colors.
On bottom smallmouth bass can have a certain preference. So try all sizes, shapes, and colors of soft plastics and jig combos. Worms, lizards, crayfish imitations, jigs, jig combos, tube baits, shad imitations, creature baits, single tailed grubs and double tailed grubs, and finesse fishing with small plastics on jig heads or rigged Texas style and Carolina rigged, are all good choices during winter. Also try jigging spoons, tailspinners and inline spinners too, this winter season on Pickwick Lake.
Looking for a guide on the Tennessee River System? Always call on Reeds Guide Service...first!
" Over 30 years fishing / guiding on all of Alabama's Lakes for bass and stripers."
See my website: www.fishingalabama.com for more info.
Thanks and Good Fishin'
This report provided by:
Reed Montgomery / Reeds Guide Service
Producer / Host "Fishing Alabama" With Reed Montgomery Radio Show
"6 Years on the Radio / Jan 2005"
Birmingham, Alabama
Call Reeds Guide Service...First! (205) 787-5133
"Over 40 Years Fishing Alabama for Bass and Stripers"
E-mail: ALABASSGYD@aol.com
Website: www.FISHINGALABAMA.com