Fishing Report For Pickwick Lake, TN

Current Report: Good To Very Good

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.

Current Report: 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.

Current Report: Good To Very 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.