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Fishing Report For Pickwick Lake, TN

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By Rick Seaman

June 2, 2025

Fishing Report Pickwick Lake, TN

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Pickwick Lake, TN


Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass

Rebel Pop-R Jerkbait Livingston Lures EBS Jigging Spoon Rapala DT-6 Crankbait Berkley PowerBait Atomic Tube Jig

Current Report: Good To Very Good

Outlook: Very Good To Excellent

Pickwick Lake is one the Bassmaster Top 100 bass lakes in the country, top 10 in the Southeast USA. Smallmouth over 7 pounds are occasionally caught here, and smallies over 6 pounds are fairly common. Now that the spawn is in its late stages, look for these smallmouth to get aggressive and feed heavily. Rock and gravel are their favorite areas to hunt crayfish when they are shallow. Mid-range crankbaits, jerkbaits and spinnerbaits are catching lots of bass shallow. Ned rigs, jigs, spoons and tube baits are popular smallie lures when they move away from the shallows to points, ledges and channel edges. Smallmouth fishing is often good on cold, windy, cloudy and rainy days. Early and late in the day topwater can be effective throughout the warmer months.


Black Crappie & White Crappie

Fishing For Crappie

Live Minnows Uncle Buck's Panfish Creatures Curly Tail Minnow Rigged Crappie Jigs

Current Report: Good To Very Good

Outlook: Good To Very Good

With the spawn coming to an end, crappie remain in fairly shallow water, generally just outside the area they recently spawned. Expect to find crappie in 8 to10 feet of water. Docks, brush, wood and deep vegetation are a good place to cast small crappie jigs or live minnows. Once the spawn is over, and the hot Summer sun warms the shallows, crappie retreat to depths of 15 to 25 feet or deeper. Light tackle with 4 lb to 8 lb line is ideal. Anglers are reporting good success using fish finders and forward facing sonar to locate schools of crappie, which tend to stack vertically around cover.


Blue Catfish

Blue Catfish

Shad Cut Bait

Current Report: Good To Very Good

Outlook: Good

Blue cats grow exceptionally big here, with plenty of fish exceeding 100 pounds. The upper reaches of the lake, in deep holes along the river channel, is where many of the larger cats are being taken. Fishing for blue catfish is often productive around any kind of structure, especially when water is flowing. Road beds, creek channels and rocky points are all good places to begin. Cut bait is the best producing approach, but many other catfish baits are also effective, using slip sinkers, 3-way rigs, or Carolina rigs, close to the bottom.


Fishing Video

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, blue catfish, black crappie, white crappie, walleye, bluegill, redear sunfish, warmouth, white bass, yellow bass, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, paddlefish and sauger at Pickwick Lake in Tennessee.

Pickwick Lake Reports Pickwick Lake is a 43,000-acre lake with over 490 miles of shoreline. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are the featured species here. In addition to bass, crappie, catfish, walleye, sauger, white bass, striped bass, hybrid stripers and sunfish are here in abundance. Bank fishing is available all around the lake.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Largemouth Bass Smallmouth Bass Spotted Bass Channel Catfish Flathead Catfish Blue Catfish Black Crappie White Crappie Walleye Sauger Bluegill Redear Sunfish Warmouth White Bass Yellow Bass Striped Bass Hybrid Striped Bass

Today's Weather & Forecast

Fishing Boat Rentals

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Marinas

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Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

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Fishing License

Click here for a Tennessee Fishing License.

Map - Fishing & Access


Rick Seaman Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".


Pickwick Lake, Tennessee Contact Information
Pickwick Lake
Pickwick Landing State Park
116 State Park Rd
Counce, TN 38326
731 689-3129

 

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