Pickwick Lake report 9/25 and 9/26

[southernbassguy]

Alright guys I made it back. Sorry it took a couple of days to report just been busy. Friday my fishin buddy and me met up with our guide in Iuka, Mississippi. I must say this guy really knows his stuff when it comes to Pickwick. I will give him props, his name is Roger Stegall and if you need a guide for Pickwick he is the man! F.Y.I. his website is www.fishpickwick.com (http://www.fishpickwick.com).

Anyways conditions were less than ideal to say the least. Recent torrential rains had the lake up quite a bit, but they had both dams open and pulling current just as fast as possible. This in turn made for a fair fishing day with the current, using plastic worms, spinnerbaits, and red eye shads. We fished from Bear Creek down river. Just guessing we caught probably 20-25 largemouth and 1 smally. The size of the fish were good chunky fish in the 2 to 3 pound range, no big fish.

Saturday, safe daylight came and we hammered down from McFarland park upriver towards Bear Creek. This was alot longer run than I had antisipated. We got there and started fishing with topwater and spinnerbaits. Had our 5 fish limit fairly quick. and then started noticing the skies tuning black and rumbles of thunder in the background. Saw the rain coming and we took off down river to a bridge(have no idea what bridge this was, the first and only bridge coming from McFarland Park) bridge to seek shelter from the rain and lightning. The water level had dropped about 2ft! and NO CURRENT:( Totally different conditions from the day before. After getting rained on for a couple of hours we started hunting for bigger fish. I hate to say it but we could not find any bigger fish. We ended up with only 9lbs for 5 fish. Oh well. Still had a great time and would like to go back to find the bigger fish and some smallmouth. 1st place had an amazing 18lbs. Knowing him and his partner they probly flipped all day. 2nd and 3rd place was in the 12 pound range and the wieght went downhill from there.
Still had a great time!

[lilmule]

Sounds like all were tn racing bass instead of bama boomers,but glad you had a limit and a nice time.

[southernbassguy]

Sounds like all were tn racing bass instead of bama boomers,but glad you had a limit and a nice time.

I really did have a good time. Always good to fish unfamiliar water and see the diferent sites.
I will be lookin for those bama boomers next weekend in Guntersville. :D
Been hearing good reports lately and with this cool weather its going to be great.
Its the last tourney of the year for my club, :( the classic. Two day tourney. I'm gonna take off a couple of extra days to really find some fish. Got a good idea where they are gonna be, the reports are saying the grass is breaking up and they are fishing the holes in the grass by flipping jigs or some kind of plastic. Thats probably what everybody will be doing. SOOO that probably why I am gonna find those underwater humps and bumps that not everybody knows about. This time of year is when those places really shine for me.
Also the Stren series is gonna be there along with the college league. So I figure there will be plenty of pressure on the grass clumps and the ones beatn the bank.

[RedAllison]

You couldn't have chosen any better a guide than the legendary Stegal, HE DA MAN!!! You should book him in March and have him show you them brown pigs that Pickwick is infamous for.

I bet that 18#s came from ledges. There's still deep fish, the shallow fish are just SCREWED right now. There are MILLIONS of shad and with all the rain the water level has been yo-yoing 1ft a day back and forth. It's just a tough bite but the deeper fish are less hampered by that. But then the weekend is typical, TVA quits generating because the local plants are closed so they shut the generators down and the current dies.

The TVA hates us, :(
RA

[southernbassguy]

You couldn't have chosen any better a guide than the legendary Stegal, HE DA MAN!!! You should book him in March and have him show you them brown pigs that Pickwick is infamous for.

I bet that 18#s came from ledges. There's still deep fish, the shallow fish are just SCREWED right now. There are MILLIONS of shad and with all the rain the water level has been yo-yoing 1ft a day back and forth. It's just a tough bite but the deeper fish are less hampered by that. But then the weekend is typical, TVA quits generating because the local plants are closed so they shut the generators down and the current dies.

The TVA hates us, :(
RA


I dont think that Alabama power or Southern Company likes us either.:( They run generators all week and when Saturday's get here theres nothing going on.
Anyways yes Stegall IS THE MAN!!! He kept us laughing all day and at first didn't think we had gone very far figuring he was like other guides and show ya around close to where ya launched from to keep from burning his gas, but at the end of the day and a LONG ride back especially with the wind howling made for an....interisting ride back to Eastport Marina. Once we got back he showed us on a map whereall we had been and where else to try, we had been much farther than what I thought. He's a great guide and all around nice guy, would recommend him to anyone wanting to fish Pickwick. He showed us stuff that I could use down here. I guess what really got me was when we fished we weren't beating the banks. Underwater structure and ledges were the way we were going. A LONG way from the bank. Almost in the middle of the lake at times. I really learned a lot from him and may just do like you said in March and get him to show me what Pickwick is famous for!:)