jisrael83

Thanks men! According to the ruler in the picture, she was between 19 1/2" and 20" but closer to 20". I had her all lined up for the photo, then she flopped and I wanted to get her back in the water, so I took the picture very quickly... didn't get to measure the girth. Itchin to get back to catch another!

I caught this below Pickwick dam near Shiloh this afternoon on a t-rig pumpkin tube. It was close to 20" and very healthy. Unfortunately I left the digis in my other boat, but I'm thinking 4 - 4 1/2 llbs. Any guesses?

Very nice! Are those the gravel bars across the river from JP Coleman?

Thanks alot RW! Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some nice pics after this weekend.

RW – How much water was the TVA releasing at the time you were catching those fish? Sunday 5:30AM, we were fishing the old river ledge in this area: http://binged.it/NN9Rpr. We could see numbers of fish and bait on the depth finder. We tried numerous baits including running XD5 crank baits parallel and perpendicular to the ledge, with and against the current, dragging Texas and Carolina rigged rage tail worms, Carolina rigged spoons as well as 1oz brown football jigs and couldn't pick up any fish. There really wasn't much current being generated at all, so I assumed they just weren't feeding, at least not on what we had to offer. We did pick up a few nice LM, shallow, back in the creek later on. According to the TVA, more current is being generated later in the day, so conditions permitting we are going to hit the ledges up again this weekend when there are at least 4 or more generators running. Do you have any advice? It would be greatly appreciated! J

Gotcha... I haven't ever had much luck with running crank baits down there, but we've hit 'em on top like that before with spooks and pencil plugs. From my limited experience, it's been a crapshoot. They're either feeding or they're not. Thanks for the info!

Nice catch! We fished below the dam Monday with live shiners on a 2oz split shot with one generator running and didn't catch any between 10:30AM-12:30PM. What were ya'll using for bait, how many generators were running, how close to the dam and how deep? Any topwater? We may go back Sunday early AM.

My experience with the striper topwater bite has been a crap shoot, but when they are on, it can be awesome! I thought about fishing the tourney, but it had for me to commit to something like fishing that far out. I have little ones at home. I'm planning on going this weekend, but I may put in at JP Coleman instead of below the dam. Did you catch bait or buy it the last time when you did so well below the dam? I might wet myslef if I tied into a 5llb smallie. The largest one I've caught is in my profile pick. I didn't weigh it, but it measured 18". It looks smaller in that picture. That may have something to do the fact that I'm 6'6". Hoggard sounds familiar. I'm a native Memphian, but have only been in OB for 2 1/2 years. Seeing your from Brownsville... I did play Junior Olympic Basketball against Tony Delk when I was in high school around '91. He was a rock star!

Same here Swabby... http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/97447-pickwick-is-on-fire/page__st__15 (see last post)

Thanks banker... I just need more hours on the water. On the main lake, I've attempted to fish offshore humps and ledges, mainly during the summer months by running deep diving crank baits, heavy football jigs, c-rigged spoons and plastic without catching fish. The only success I've had has was in the spring after surface temps reach 55, running crank baits into the gravel bars on the river across from Coleman boat ramp and t-rigged plastics in the same area. I've had some success below the dam fishing for stripe using top-water Spooks and salt water hair jigs during summer months. Using live bait just isn't as sporting to me. After seeing what Roadwarriror was able to do below Wilson dam, I was hoping I could mimic some of that below Pickwick.

That is awesome! Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't so good. I fished there (http://binged.it/ySInEK) with an A-Rig setup using 3 baits, two PowerBait swim baits and a Johnson silver minnow spoon and didn’t catch anything. I knew there had to be fish there. I also threw a black/blue Paca Craw, white spinner bait with whit grub trailer and still nothing. Just so I wouldn't get skunked, I switched to a white 200 series Bandit to try and pick up some white bass and landed small male. I fished both banks of the river (various spots) from Botel to Shilo and didn't catch any black bass. I keep reading on the internet about anglers having record days at Pickwick both below and above the dam, but I just don't get it. I need some advice and am determined to learn how to successfully fish both the river and lake. Conditions permitting, I am going back to fish either or both next weekend. Anyone who claims to know how to fish this water is invited to fish with me. I have a decent setup (for me at least): 1994 Javelin TE, 1989 Mariner 200 (newly rebuilt), Minn Kota PowerDrive 24v 65lb, Humminbird 500 Series 587ci HD Combo I'll provide the boat if someone is willing to share some knowledge. If you are interested send me a message. Jason (frustrated)

10-4... I thought he was below Pickwick dam and I was going to hit it up tomorrow, but it looks like below Wilson is hotter. What do you think? (Thanks Jeff!) Jason

RW, Were you fishing with all 5 hooks on that rig below the dam? I assumed that Tennessee laws were enforced over there and that anglers could only use 3 hooks. Do you know which is correct? I'm planning on fishing below the dam tomorrow and am going to try using an A-rig (and others). Would you mind telling me what pattern you were fishing? Water temp, depth, retrieval, structure, etc... And possibly include any GPS cords? Thanks!