Pickwick Dam Tail waters

[bryand82487]

Had a good day fishing last Thursday below the Dam.  The flood gates were open and the water was rising!  I haven't gone in about a year, but decided it was time to get back out there.  My buddy caught a 5 lb PB and I caught two that were around 3 lbs and one that was about 3.5 lbs.  We fished from daylight to about an hour before dark.  We caught those 4 and another one that was prob 1.5 lbs.  We had a great time and I really enjoyed getting back out there again.  They were all safely released!

 

 

[WCWV]

Looks like a Good Day!!

[SWVABass]

Always love seeing fat smallmouth. Would love to try fishing for them someday down there!!!! Nice catches!

[roadwarrior]

Nice fish, great pics!

 

[moguy1973]

Nice fish, did you catch them all at the same time or did they end up as table fodder?

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

Nice fish, did you catch them all at the same time or did they end up as table fodder?

Last line of the report says safely released

[flatcreek]

Nice pigs.planning to get back out that way as soon as i can.love Pickwick Lake and the whole area.Mighty fine eating at The Catfish Hotel, I'm due for some of that,been missing it

[Dwight Hottle]

Nice December smallies. 

[soflabasser]

Nice smallmouth bass. Did you catch them from land?

[bryand82487]

On 12/27/2017 at 9:20 AM, moguy1973 said:

Nice fish, did you catch them all at the same time or did they end up as table fodder?

They were all released.  I never keep bass of any size whether it's largemouth or smallmouth.  Those fish probably range from 3-7 years old so I completely understand the significance of not putting them back and would never do that.

On 12/27/2017 at 1:45 PM, soflabasser said:

Nice smallmouth bass. Did you catch them from land?

No I caught them from a boat.

On 12/27/2017 at 9:45 AM, flatcreek said:

Nice pigs.planning to get back out that way as soon as i can.love Pickwick Lake and the whole area.Mighty fine eating at The Catfish Hotel, I'm due for some of that,been missing it

Thanks it's a fun area to fish for sure.  I've actually never eaten at the Catfish hotel, but I need to give it a try sometime for sure!

[moguy1973]

Just now, bryand82487 said:

They were all released.  I never keep bass of any size whether it's largemouth or smallmouth.  Those fish probably range from 3-7 years old so I completely understand the significance of not putting them back and would never do that.

I was just wondering how they all were in the same picture.  I'm guessing live well?  Why not just snap a picture after catching and then release then?

 

I just had a sickening experience with something this past summer when I was putting my boat in one day and a dad and son were taking out and asked if I could take a picture of them holding up all the bass they caught during the day.  When they opened the live well, 3 of the 7 fish they had caught were belly up with one of them being about a 6lber.  Then to my surprise they then dropped them off the courtesy dock into the water and left to take their boat out.  The three belly up fish stayed that way and they didn't have a second thought about leaving them that way.  I just shook my head and left to go fishing.  Not saying your fish weren't taken care of and were fine when released but unless you are in a tourney why keep the fish in the well all day?

[bryand82487]

On 12/27/2017 at 8:15 AM, roadwarrior said:

Nice fish, great pics!

 

Thanks Roadwarrior!  Time has flown by.  It's hard to believe it was 7 or 8 years ago when we got together and you showed me the ropes on catching these smallmouth!  I fished them hard for a year or two then with school, getting married, and starting a family i haven't made it down there but maybe once a year for the past 3 or 4 years.  We will have to get together soon and try to make a trip out of it.  Are you fishing down here much anymore?

[bryand82487]

5 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

I was just wondering how they all were in the same picture.  I'm guessing live well?  Why not just snap a picture after catching and then release then?

 

I just had a sickening experience with something this past summer when I was putting my boat in one day and a dad and son were taking out and asked if I could take a picture of them holding up all the bass they caught during the day.  When they opened the live well, 3 of the 7 fish they had caught were belly up with one of them being about a 6lber.  Then to my surprise they then dropped them off the courtesy dock into the water and left to take their boat out.  The three belly up fish stayed that way and they didn't have a second thought about leaving them that way.  I just shook my head and left to go fishing.  Not saying your fish weren't taken care of and were fine when released but unless you are in a tourney why keep the fish in the well all day?

I completely understand where your coming from and your right there's no safer way to go about it then to release them immediately.  I normally do that and had it been any other time of the year I wouldn't have even considered keeping them for a picture and I wouldn't have done it if I would have had to leave any of them in there all day.  The day started off slow and we didn't start catching them until around 1:30 that afternoon.  We boated all 4 between 1:30-3:30 pm and were taking the pictures and releasing them probably around 4 PM.  I put 1 in the live well with the plan to leave it in there for about 15 minutes to bring out the markings on the fish for a picture and while that was going on we kept catching the others.  I clean my live well really good after each trip and continue to put fresh water in it and keep it aerated.  I also put a few ice cubes in there from time to time to keep the water temp down since the water that's used to fill it up is water from the surface and not the same temp as the water the fish are caught in.  They were closely monitored during this time and released one at a time to insure they were okay before I let them swim off.  Smallmouth also don't travel far from the area they live in so it's not good to take them far from where they were caught when you release them.  These were released within a few hundred yards from where they were caught.  That may not be true for other lakes where smallmouth inhabit the entire lake, but for the TN river I believe that they mainly only inhabit about a mile or two of tailwater below the Dam.

[roadwarrior]

Let me know when you are available, I'm ready!

 

[soflabasser]

It wound of been a awesome catch from land. Still a decent catch from a boat.

[BillP]

Nice catch

Glad that you released them. I only keep small walleye and panfish to eat.