sidsmith03 Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 great pics man! I went satruday and the fog on the lake was terrible until about 9...made it hard to make any runs, we didnt do very good but in all it was a good time. We fished indian creek most of the day Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted November 8, 2011 Super User Posted November 8, 2011 Saturday: eight among the three of us. One for me, +/- 4 lbs on a Rage Tail Craw (Summercraw) rigged on a Moaner Stroker, weighted hook. Otherwise, a dozen green fish. My best was around 3lbs. The cats were on a tear and we caught a few HUGE drum! Going up again on Friday for a two day trip with ghoti. Can't wait! Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 I cant wait to get back to pickwick...I really want to get on some smallies...I caught several during the spring and summer and all Ive heard is how great the fall fishing is and how great the smallmouth bite is...Ive yet to see...I just must not be doing something right lol Quote
bryand82487 Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 Here's the 2 smallies I got from Sunday. Looking at the picture again I think the bigger one is probably 2-2.5 lbs instead of close to 3 like I previously said. Quote
bryand82487 Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 I cant wait to get back to pickwick...I really want to get on some smallies...I caught several during the spring and summer and all Ive heard is how great the fall fishing is and how great the smallmouth bite is...Ive yet to see...I just must not be doing something right lol Fishing for smallies can be tough. I learned a lot from Roadwarrior and have gradually progressed on my own as well. If your drifting minnows you will eventually get your share of smallmouth. From my experience and I know someone will disagree with this, but if I'm not fishing rip rap, under water boulders, gravel, anything with rock, etc. I'm wasting my time for brown bass. That goes for live bait or artificial lures. All the mud banks banks and trees farther down from the dam I've never had any luck. I've never caught a smallmouth on the river over a about 1 1/2 miles below the dam. I'm sure they are there, and with that being said I've definitely not fished those areas as hard either. A good current, eddies, current breaks, and where shad build up in these pockets are key. Smallmouth fishing with artifical lures can be really tough, and if you don't have all the right factors in play or if they are there and you don't use them to your advantage you can easily consistently not catch smallmouth. Another factor that makes your chances of catching a smallmouth more difficult is that there simply isn't near as many smallmouth as there are largemouth below the dam. If you click the link below and scroll down to Pickwick it's a survey of the fish shocked up. Notice the smallmouth population is increasing every year but notice for every smallmouth shocked up there's about 4 largemouth. I'm not sure about below the dam but my guess would be that the ratio of smallmouth to largemouth would be even less since you rarely catch smallmouth on down the river but again this is just a guess. Don't get discouraged though it will come together. I've had days (fishing artificial s) where I've caught them consistently every couple of casts, but I've had more days where my main bag is largemouth with a couple of smallmouth in the mix. The river is really low right now and a lot of the big rock structures that are great for smallmouth habitat are above water right now. Don't get me wrong though there is still plenty of smallie structure under water too right now. Use that to your advantage and take pictures or mental notes of your surroundings because when the water goes back up you will know the layout and that big rock pile you were staring at on the shore this week could be a rock pile that's 10 ft under water your bouncing your crankbait off of a month from now. Try to base your trips if possible off the hourly discharge of Pickwick Dam on the TVA website. The more generators going and higher hourly discharge usually produces a better day of fishing because the current is better. I know a lot of guys just have to go when they can but if you can go on Saturday or Sunday look at it and see which day looks better. After each trip I record the weather, water temp, Hourly discharge, number of generators, how my fishing was, how far under or above water my favorite spots are, and the water level below the dam. I've fished there enough now that I can look at the water level on my computer and know which spots I can fish, which spots are going to be above or below the water, or to deep or shallow to fish. Now I'm no expert fisherman by any means and even with all these factors I take into consideration, I still don't always have good days but it definitely helps. You have to be willing to put time in down there though for sure. Yes, you can go every now in then and catch a lot of fish but if you want to consistently catch brown fish down there you need to learn as much as you possible can and try to go 3 or 4 times a month atleast. The conditions and patterns change so frequently down there, mainly the water levels, what worked last week doesn't always work the next. I hope this helps and again this is my experience below the dam. I'm sure people will disagree and if so would love to here what you all have to say. I'm always up for learning more. http://www.tva.com/environment/water/catchtables.htm Quote
CStan442 Posted November 9, 2011 Author Posted November 9, 2011 Well, I went on my own Sat morning and as mentioned the fog was thick. I fished in the cove at the boat launch and missed 4 fish. Not sure what I was doing wrong or if I was still in a fog myself. Tried to fish the rip rap right outside of the launch and by then the wind had kicked up and it was too rough for my liking. I went to the first bay and fished there most of the day. Ended up catching over 50 fish. 35 largies, 1 smallie, perch, gill, drum, catfish and striped bass all came in the boat. I caught 2 small fish all day, the small mouth was about an 8 incher and 1 small green fish. All the bass were in the 2 to 3 1/2 lb class. I considered this trip a success for never having been there before. I will be going again the afternoon of the 19th and all day the 20th if all goes as planned. The scenery was great as well! My link http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t261/CStan36/311460_315789505104807_100000212802313_1470424_1916078089_n.jpg Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 9, 2011 Super User Posted November 9, 2011 Sounds like a great trip! over 50 fish is an awesome day!! Jeff Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 9, 2011 Posted November 9, 2011 that does sound like an awesome trip and thanks bryan for that informative post earlier....lots of helpful information Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 9, 2011 Super User Posted November 9, 2011 Heading down Friday. Will report back! Jeff Quote
bryand82487 Posted November 10, 2011 Posted November 10, 2011 Let us know! I'd love to keep a page going on Pickwick reports if anyone's interested. Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 12, 2011 Super User Posted November 12, 2011 Just got back.... we fished from 9:30- 4:45 and caught a bunch just not alot of what we were targeting LOL! 11 LM, 3 SM, 4 spots, 3 grennel, 4 crappie, 2 bream, 1 drum and 2 catfish! Overall good day, but tough sm fishing! Jeff Quote
bryand82487 Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 Just got back.... we fished from 9:30- 4:45 and caught a bunch just not alot of what we were targeting LOL! 11 LM, 3 SM, 4 spots, 3 grennel, 4 crappie, 2 bream, 1 drum and 2 catfish! Overall good day, but tough sm fishing! Jeff Doesn't sound like too bad of a day. I was hoping to go tomorrow but I don't think I want to put up with the wind. Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 12, 2011 Super User Posted November 12, 2011 Yea the wind was a little tough yesterday as well! Just had to deal with it! RW was down there as well, and I think they did a little better on the brown fish. Our best smallie was 2.5 and green fish was around 4. Don't quote me, but I think rw and partner caught 10 sm and 8 lm? Jeff Quote
mr.mallard Posted November 13, 2011 Posted November 13, 2011 still have never picked up a crappie there. you catchin those down river? Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted November 13, 2011 Super User Posted November 13, 2011 Good on Friday, a little better on Saturday. ghoti has a few pics I hope he posts in the "Fishing Reports". We caught some numbers, our better fish were 3-4 lbs, with lots of short fish. My best came in just under 4 1/2 lbs, weighed. Maybe 30 brown fish, about the same green plus every other species in the river! Big time had by all. Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 14, 2011 Super User Posted November 14, 2011 Crappie were down river some and ALWAYS in slack water! Great time RW, and next up is me and you out there!! Look forward to those pics! Jeff PS> All the crappie were HUGE...all 4 were in the 2lb range..should have taken a picture! Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted November 14, 2011 Super User Posted November 14, 2011 I look forward to fishing with you on the river. -Kent :D Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Sounds like some great reports on the weekend...Wish I coulud have gone. Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 I will be going Friday afternoon and Saturday moring! hope the fishing is good....I will post reports Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted November 15, 2011 Super User Posted November 15, 2011 Who are you going with friday afternoon? Have an open seat? Jeff Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 Partner that I usually fish with. Hes picking me up in baldywn about 1:30 friday and we are heading up. Gonna fish for a while then try to find us a hotel room! I'll ask if he minds fishing 3 deep Quote
sidsmith03 Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 is there a website to see how much and when they are pulling water? Thanks Also any suggestions on where we should try this weekend....We are wanting to expand are areas, we typically just launch at JP Coleman and fish Indian Creek and We sometimes launch at Scruggs bridge and fish yellow creek.... Quote
brianwhite Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 yea last few times have been tough for us, where are most of the numbers being caught? and any larger bass being caught shallow or are they still deep? Quote
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