MFBAB

I like the Atlantic Mapping lake maps for TN river lakes, here's a link: http://www.atlanticmapping.com/pickwick.htm As others said, you shouldn't have a problem finding this map at most of the local bait shops but you can order it online at that link. Fishing HotSpots makes a Pickwick map also but the one above is a little better, IMO. Now, the easiest way I know to get around the ledges on the TN river is just to look for the marker buoys. They are there to mark the channel of course, but most of them will be strategically positioned to mark some kind of underwater/low water hazards that happen to be along the channel, and often these are great fishing areas(Rockpiles, Humps, etc.). The buoys are also marked on your lake maps so if you can find the buoy, you can reference your map to see what it's marking without a GPS or sonar, and then use your sonar to fine tune what you want to fish there - handheld marker buoys are extremely useful at this stage. Before I started fishing the TN river, I noticed on Bassmasters and other fishing shows that almost every time they were fishing the ledges there would be a buoy somewhere on the TV screen most of the time, and once I started getting out on the lakes myself it made a lot of sense Any visible current breaks you can find on the river will have potential too, as long as the current is running or you've got some wind, look for heads and tails of islands, points, bluff banks, etc., you don't have to commit to the main river channel in other words. Hope that helps a little.

You guys were busy!!

Here's a nice Smallie she had last Fall. We were fishing RW's private pond below Pickwick dam so try to keep it on the DL

I use jigs w/ weedguards some, just push the weedguard up through the tube first as you insert the jighead.

My wife fishes w/ me a lot, in fact we're camping at Sardis to crappie fish this w/end. She isn't into bass fishing w/ artificials too much but she likes live bait fishing a lot, probably because it gets the bites. Also, she is pretty bad about waiting until I know there's a good bite going on somewhere before she comes, she likes "catching" more than "fishing".

Airborne, you are in serious denial If it makes you feel better, you could say the "boat monkey" got ya.

Got another good one...My cousin and I were driving down I-55 running about 70 w his boat in tow about 10 years ago and the trailer came off of the hitch. Basically, it just ran along side the truck for about 100 yds and rolled off to the side, we just hooked it back up and went fishing. That could have gone really bad, can't believe it didn't cause an accident or do serious damage to the boat and trailer. This was a 15' jon boat, not a big bass rig but still, dang....he just forgot to lock the trailer onto the hitch that time, don't think he's ever forgotten it again.

I forgot, I caught the smallie in my avatar that same day so it wasn't all bad.

A few months ago I was fishing the TN river and left my livewell on "fill" instead of "recirculate" for about 45 minutes, saw water in the floor after a while and finally figured it out Had to replace a couple of electrical relays but still better than sinking I guess. I've probably done dumber things but that's the most recent one.....

On that point pattern above, I'm not really talking about camping on an area for 3 hours. More like hit a primary, work it 15 minutes or so with several baits, then hit a secondary, etc...Before long, you should have an idea of whether they are shallow, deep or inbetween and also whether they are in the creeks or on the main lake points, you just eliminate water (in this case the miles of straight banks in between points)to speed up that process. Once you figure out the general depth and speed, you can start looking for structure or cover anywhere in that depth and try to replicate your pattern on it.

I don't go snooping around in her closet and she doesn't go in my tackle box

This is close to my general strategy. By choosing to start by targeting "points", or whatever you deem to be the prominent structure feature of your lake, you can essentially eliminate 90% of the water right out of the box. By running points you can then systematically present a variety of baits in a smaller amount of water, covering the water column from top to bottom until you figure out a consistent presentation. Then just replicate that depth/speed/structure combo all day. As relates to the original question, if points are holding fish that day but I decide to only drag a c-rig on points all day, what happens if the fish are feeding on shad? I'm in the right location but presenting under them. If I throw a rig and then a crankbait and then a topwater or whatever it takes to cover the water column, I find out how they are feeding that day a lot faster

I use EWG's in sizes 1/0-5/0 almost 100% for T-rigging. Usually get the BPS hooks, never had a problem w/ them.

That's the age we live in, a guy with a gps can do some damage. KVD says he can't even fish the same ledge twice when he comes to KY lake but he still dominates, pretty sad. The thing I always liked about fishing was learning how to catch em myself, not learning how to copy someone else doing it. Is there actually some satisfaction in that somewhere?

I talked to Speedy, he said try some live minnerz Seriously, good luck.

Haven't fished it yet this year but SB'a and Traps along the grass edge usually work well early there.

Nice read!

+1, I'm righty but I switched everything out about 6-7 years ago and never looked back. It was wierd for a couple of weeks but after that no big deal. It actually feels really odd now whenever I use a righty baitcaster, I troll for crappie in the summer and the line counter reels I use don't come in LH models

That is a great deal, I'm glad TWRA does that. I got my lifetime license the year before they raised the rates, nice not to worry about renewals anymore

Trip license usually runs about 50% of annual cost. If you think you'll use it again it would be worth it to get the annual. I'm pretty sure Arkansas is good for 1 year from date of purchase, doesn't expire on a set date like TN.

Arkansas=World class trout MS=World class crappie TN&AL= World class smallies. Watcha gonna do? Get's a lot worse if you're a hunter also

I've only been to Browns Cr once, maybe 5-6 years ago. We caught a lot of bass but nothing giant, up to 4-5 lbs maybe. It's fairly shallow with a little stain to it, one of the smaller lakes in the chain so no skiers.

koulaid - Beech Lake and Pin Oak have ski boats in the summer, I wouldn't want to be on those 2 with a rowboat. Most of the others are smaller and no wake for outboards, the lakes range from around 150-1000 acres so you have a choice. Look up Natchez Trace state park, most of the lakes mentioned are in the park or just outside of it. hogrustler - I mentioned Browns Cr because TWRA shocked up a bass larger than the state record there 2 years ago

Nobody likes Browns Cr?

Probably not. If you're not getting the bites maybe go down to 6. You basically want the smallest line diameter you can get by with because it will handle better with the lighter baits and also give them better action.