Brian Needham

LOL, I don't think it could have fit in the camera!!!! I am trying to post a bunch of pics but my files are too big....

and from the opening evening sorriee to the telling everyone goodbye it was a total blast. I did not meet anyone the entire week that was not a complete gentlemen or lady. The eats were great, the fishing was great, the nightly speakers were awesome. You owe it to yourself to try to make one the trips. Pickwick is now my new favorite lake! There are MANY great people here on the boards and I am glad I got to meet and fish with some of them last week. Thanks for a life long memory!

Road Trip Chronicles Get there Wednesday morning and meet bassinisaddicting. We get on the water at 8. Make a short run to the dam and immediately start catching fish on a jig. Wind kinda blew us out and I was still jittery. Make a short run to a creek catch fish, and a gar. We replicated this throughout the day. Met up with 00mod and fished a windy bluff to knock some out on shakeyheads………the pattern begins. Total fish: 19 with several 2#s and big fish of 3 ½ # Highlight of the day: Jon catching his 1st ever jig fish (he’s hooked now) Quote: “don’t let there be a jig bite up in here…..” Thursday Fished with 00mod. We start at dam again and knock out 23 fish in 2 hours. Ran some creeks and points but got on some bluff walls with current breaks and started to find quality. Bite dies down so we run to a big open bay and catch more fish…..pattern getting stronger. Graph deep fish on points but wind too much…. Total fish: 49 lots of 2#ers and a few 2 ½# smally big fish 3 ½ Highlight of the day: jeff catching his PB drop shot fish. Quote: "these buck bass are just cruising these shallow, looking to munch on my drop shot." Friday I fish alone, as there is a strong chance of rain and I didn’t want to pair up and then not fish. I decided to head out later….run the history spots from the last 2 days and pick up 4 fish. On the way in I notice a point in the protected marina cove the depth I was looking for. I sidescanned the flat/hump/point and saw bait and predator fish. I dropped a buoy, turned around and caught 3 out of the first 5 cast all solid 2#ers. I saw swabby and Jon idling by and told them to drop trolling motor cause I felt like we were going to knock their lights out, as these fish seemed more active and bit harder…..naturally the bite goes cold….I follow the pod down a ways and catch another one. Only fished for 3.5-4 hours Total fish: 8, all pretty good ones. I feel now we got a solid pattern if the weather will help. Highlight of the day: catching my 1st “offshore structure” fish. Finding them, marking them, and turning around to catch them was an awesome feeling. Regret of the day: Not running more water and staying out to fish longer. I needed a nap. Saturday I fish with Glenn. I really felt confident we could catch offshore today, as the FLW boys were knocking out lights on blackbass. I ran to some spots I caught earlier in the week and other spots I wanted to check….. never really found what I wanted, and I got impatient really quick…. Thank goodness Glen had a solid shallow fish pattern. We run to his spot and Glenn quickly starts kicking my head with a senko. He figured out with a quickness that they wanted a subtle do nothing fall, and color didn’t matter. Total fish about 40 with Glenn catching at least 25 of those, with plenty of 2#ers mixed in. Highlight of the day: Hearing lots of great info from Glenn and getting a senko lesson. I feel confident on how to fish a senko now. THANKS GLEN!!! Quote of the day: “Needham, I wish you knew what this felt like.” As he was outfishing me by at least 8-1 at the time. I quickly rigged up a senko. (edit: change "some" to "plenty" of 2#ers, since I know how to judge tn river fish now) Sunday I fished with Kerri. Started off slower, as I was trying to fish deeper fish. We started to flip trees and picked up some fish in the next few hours. We ran into Gene and Jon and asked why I couldn’t see fish on the graph. Gene informed me with so much current they were flat on the bottom and you had to trust they were there. We looped around them and headed back into a cove. Flipped more trees and bush and caught some fish albeit slower. Coming out of the cove I threw across a rock point I just “hunched” had a quick drop…..then it happened. Rock, rock, rock……..THUNK, rod load! 3 ¾ in the boat!!! Few mintues later another, then Kerri boats a 2 ½ . I really thought we had found a school of 3#ers. We beat that point up for an hour until we had to go. It was really a classic textbook spot, a point with 2 rock ledges with milfoil on one side. TOTAL BLAST and great feeling to know they are there but more importantly to understand WHY they were there. Those fish either just came off the bed or waiting to go back in, either way they were looking to chomp on a ¾ ounce jig. Total fish: about 25 Highlight of the day: finding the big bite and understanding why Quote: “get the net, I got a SEA BEAST!” Regret: having to leave. I really think we had them pegged from that last spot and given the chance I REALLY think we could have put the beatdown on some big fish.

Pickwick Lake elevation: 416.78 ft. and rising at the time of this report. Last week’s and weekend’s rainfall has raised lake level about 2 feet over summer pool. For bass, anglers are catching good numbers of fish, but the quality bite is a bit tougher to come by. 40-60 fish days are common right now, but most of the fish are less 15 inches long. It took 23lbs to win a local team tournament this past weekend. The spawn is continuing, but fluctuating lake levels has hindered it somewhat. A variety of lures are working right now. Some anglers are reporting a decent buzzbait bite in some of the backwater areas where grass and bushes are flooded. Others are throwing weightless and T-rigged soft plastics for those more lethargic fish. Some anlgers have resorted to using shakeyheads to catch some of these fish as well. ^^^^^ this was the fishing report published on 5/1/13, Wends. of the road trip. And basically EXACTLY how it went down. Glenn, Rhino and others were on the senko bite Gene, 00mod, myself and others were on the shakeyhead/ jig bite and Bassinisaddicting Fishydaddy and others reported a topwater bite Are we good as a group or what????

I had the pleasure to fish with both Glenn and Kerri at this year's roadtrip. I have a pretty good pulse for who in the world are genuine good people, and these two fit the bill. While fishing with Glenn, I was able to hear the story of BassResource and its beginnings. I also heard the beginnings, motives, and accomplishments of Tackle the Storm. I was moved by the concept and thought behind it, to know what can be achieved in the heart of a child. Simply the smile it must bring knowing they have lost everything, but in some small way reach towards normalcy by fishing. A sport we all love and ourselves would hate to lose. As I told Glenn, the world is a cold, cruel, evil place and that's not going to change. But to know that I can somehow change that for a child for the price of a pack of plastics or crankbait......well I am all in. so here is what I am going to do, I hope you may also follow suit. For every "big un" I catch this year I will donate to Tackle the Storm, enough to purchase a child a rod and reel. Everyone's "big un" will be different, as everyone's water is different, so you decide. I have chosen 4#.

I had a blast all week. GOOD TIMES! I am going to try to get a full report up with pics in the fishing reports section in the next few days.

all said in and done forecast dont look that bad....http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Pickwick+Dam+TN+USTN0397:1:US This time tomorrow I hope to be on the water, see ya there!!!!

I use vmc spinshot hooks, but that's not the point. If I am getting bites but not landing fish or hooking fish in the bottom lip I will change colors. The bites tell me I have the bait and profile. But fish coming off or hooked in bottom lip tells me they don't like it enough to inhale it. You can also add scent it will help as well Just my opinion and experience

the Joe Thomas show adds a "zing" with every hookset. but the Faircloth hooksets and this seasons of major league fishing is just good ole singing braid.

long mike, I just had a friend get that warning on his truck last year (chevy avalanche).. I just text him to see what fixed it. He said they had to get a new wiring harness, I don't know which one, but I wish you luck and hope it is a quick fix. see ya on the water!

OH MY!!!!!! thats awesome!

sorry to hear that steezy , prayers and thoughts for ya man.

I hear ya Bighead, I am pumped and ready to go!!!! I might be most excited about just being around people that fish, LOL. 95% of the time I fish alone so I almost feel sorry for the guys fishing with me cause I will talk your ear off. HA HA I still got some things to do......update the humminbirds, get grocercies for the week, tie new knots, nick knacks. Drill a hole to run my charger wire out of. ARE WE THERE YET???

I know I said I wouldnt look until next weds..........but the weather is looking better and better, will be dealing with about a 10 degree front on thurs... but looks to be very little rain chances.

drum major? What? http://youtu.be/kamf6qBiCOw

I am liking the sound of that Jeff! 6 fish in 40 minutes is a full day for me, LOL.

bring the chicken just in case ............. I live 2 hours west of pickwick and its dicey IMO.... I will say the weatherman aint been right yet this spring over here. Also it is 1 weekout, even though it is a 60% thurs and Friday I have seen it completely taken off the forecast more times than I actually seen it rain as predicted 7-8 days out. It might be different this time because it does look to be associated with a small front. but without fail, it is the first weekend in may and it always rains, LOL...I am not worried about it until Wednesday night next week.

Paul........your sarcasm is OUTSTANDING! but your photoshop might need some work, lol

I with ya Procraft.......I cant even catch golf course fish this spring, and my golf course fish are all but pet fish. I fished with 00mod a few weekends ago and caught 4, knowing the spring I have had thus far I felt like Bill Dance after those fish... I got black bass fever and the only cure is ROADTRIP. lol