Doing it with sonar.

[Alphahawk]

Had a great day below Pickwick Dam today. Lost count of number of white bass and some nice yellow bass I caught today. The whites were about a 50/50 mix of male and sows. Those white bass can do some digging...LOL. Also got into some chunky Gills. I used sonar to find the fish....put Ultera trolling motor in spot lock...and fished same spot all day...did not move. Lure of choice today was a Bison colored Trout Magnet on a 3/32 ounce jig head with a #6 hook. The rod was a Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 6' 10" TZ Jig Head Special UL power...rated for 1-3 pound test line. All fish caught using 2# test SOS line. The best for last. I had a trophy fish today.....well a trophy on 2# test line anyway. Quite proud I got this big girl largemouth in. I let her run to deep water then I laid with her. After some good runs got her into the net. Life is good!


Regards

[XxthejuicexX]

Congrats on the day! There are so many fish in that DI. That's a good large mouth no matter what line. I'm impressed you got it in without the hook popping out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TnCreekMaster]

Good fish alpha! Always fun when you get a bonus fish when fishing for panfish, have you tried the yellow bass yet if not you need too man it is quite good

Happy fishing!

[Alphahawk]

Yeah juice the hook is always the problem when you hook one of those. Oddly enough I don't have many problems when hooking 20 inch Smallies. Those fish were in that one spot and I just sat back from them with a marker buoy out. Yeah creekmaster I have had lots of yellow bellies....pretty darn good.


Regards

[AllOutdoors]

Well done Sir. Quality fish!
Thanks for sharing.

[crosshairy]

That's a great-sized yellow bass, in my book. I've mostly caught small ones at Herb Parsons. Sadly, the TN river is a solid 2-hour drive from my house near Memphis, so I don't get to enjoy that place as often as I would like.

My brother and I were at the wall of the dam Friday afternoon. We didn't catch the numbers that you did, but I don't have the equipment to set up on a spot out in the river. I *do* have a jon boat that can get into little pockets, so we fished the current seam below the dam and did OK. I just bought this jon boat. It came with a 15 hp motor and not much else, so I have some work to do to make it a true fish-catching machine.

We probably caught about 40 or 50 skipjack that were very large on average. We boated 7 big white bass, with the largest going about 17 inches. My brother caught a drum that was about 8 lbs, and a striper that was 6 or 7 (it was 22 inches, I forgot to weigh it). He had a lot of fun with those 2 :)

We ended up drifting shiners weighted towards the bottom for most of our edible fish, but the skipjack were a force to be reckoned with and caused us to change tactics several times to get below them. If I accidentally dragged the shiner across the water after a cast, they would often snap it up before I could get the bait down. We caught a few white bass on 2" soft plastics with 1/8 oz heads, but the skipjack finally made me put my jigging rod down.

I've never had good enough electronics to pinpoint them out in the river away from the dam itself, but ONE DAY... :)

[fisher01]

Congrats on a great day!

[fairweatherfisherman]

Those are some dandy fish. I've not been over to Pickwick, since it is pretty far off the beaten path for me. I'd been thinking of a swing through north Alabama to fish Wheeler and Wilson and thought I might ease up there to Pickwick while I was over that way. I was also thinking of going to Shiloh National Park while over that way as well. I was curious if there was a ramp that you preferred there.

[TNBronzeback]

thats a great day indeed when ya stop counting fish!
thats a nice LM too!

[Heiny57]

Nice catch

[Alphahawk]

Those are some dandy fish. I've not been over to Pickwick, since it is pretty far off the beaten path for me. I'd been thinking of a swing through north Alabama to fish Wheeler and Wilson and thought I might ease up there to Pickwick while I was over that way. I was also thinking of going to Shiloh National Park while over that way as well. I was curious if there was a ramp that you preferred there.

I use the ramp below the dam for the river...and the ramp at the state park if I am putting in up at the lake.

Regards

[lupanfreitag]

Keep it up, cowboy.

I had a stellar day at Caney. I bet I caught 60+ blue gill on trout magnet.
Every cast.

[Alphahawk]

Keep it up, cowboy.

I had a stellar day at Caney. I bet I caught 60+ blue gill on trout magnet.
Every cast.

Congrats!...that's my kind of fishing.


Regards

[Alphahawk]

That's a great-sized yellow bass, in my book. I've mostly caught small ones at Herb Parsons. Sadly, the TN river is a solid 2-hour drive from my house near Memphis, so I don't get to enjoy that place as often as I would like.

My brother and I were at the wall of the dam Friday afternoon. We didn't catch the numbers that you did, but I don't have the equipment to set up on a spot out in the river. I *do* have a jon boat that can get into little pockets, so we fished the current seam below the dam and did OK. I just bought this jon boat. It came with a 15 hp motor and not much else, so I have some work to do to make it a true fish-catching machine.

We probably caught about 40 or 50 skipjack that were very large on average. We boated 7 big white bass, with the largest going about 17 inches. My brother caught a drum that was about 8 lbs, and a striper that was 6 or 7 (it was 22 inches, I forgot to weigh it). He had a lot of fun with those 2 :)

We ended up drifting shiners weighted towards the bottom for most of our edible fish, but the skipjack were a force to be reckoned with and caused us to change tactics several times to get below them. If I accidentally dragged the shiner across the water after a cast, they would often snap it up before I could get the bait down. We caught a few white bass on 2" soft plastics with 1/8 oz heads, but the skipjack finally made me put my jigging rod down.

I've never had good enough electronics to pinpoint them out in the river away from the dam itself, but ONE DAY... :)

It is a 143 mile drive for me to Pickwick......but I go there because it is an awesome fishery....in the spring it is off the charts. I know the area below the dam really well. I wanted to fish up by the wing wall at dam, but when I launched I noticed a couple of boats up there so I went elsewhere.


Regards

[fairweatherfisherman]

I use the ramp below the dam for the river...and the ramp at the state park if I am putting in up at the lake.

Regards

Thanks

[FlipaYak]

Alpha,

Passed you on Friday pulling out at the dam and heading to the Outpost. Had the family and mother in-law with me. I said, "Look at that Trout Magnet boat." and then, "Hey that's AlphaHawk!" They said, "Who?" Your celebrity does not extend to the non-fishing crowd.

Glad you had a good day. I fished Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Bluff Creek on the lake. Fished from the bank. Took till Saturday, but I found the crappie. Most came on a purple/chart tail slider grub rigged on a 1/32 oz jig head. Largest was 14.5" and 1.6 lbs. Lots of fun on #2 lb SOS and the trout magnet rod you hooked me up with.

[Alphahawk]

Alpha,

Passed you on Friday pulling out at the dam and heading to the Outpost. Had the family and mother in-law with me. I said, "Look at that Trout Magnet boat." and then, "Hey that's AlphaHawk!" They said, "Who?" Your celebrity does not extend to the non-fishing crowd.

Glad you had a good day. I fished Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Bluff Creek on the lake. Fished from the bank. Took till Saturday, but I found the crappie. Most came on a purple/chart tail slider grub rigged on a 1/32 oz jig head. Largest was 14.5" and 1.6 lbs. Lots of fun on #2 lb SOS and the trout magnet rod you hooked me up with.

LOL...I don't think I have any celebrity to extend. The boat does get a lot of attention I think because it is so small...yet wide.....and of course the Trout Magnet wrap. Glad you found some fish. I love fishing at Pickwick. I stopped in at the Outpost to get a sandwich. Hard to believe that for about 60 years there was just the one small building there that was Adams Bait Shop. When the Outpost first opened I thought it would not stay open long....boy was I wrong. Glad to hear the TM rod is working out for you.

Regards

[crosshairy]

Alpha,

I forgot to ask - do you normally cast and retrieve with/without a float, or vertically jig beneath the boat?

I rarely fish with a float, but I see a lot of folks using one when fishing with the trout/crappie magnets.

I ended up doing a cast and freeline until my jig could hit bottom, then hopping it back towards the boat. It gets a little sketchy when you are trying to hop a little jig in the midst of all that swirling current at the dam.

I think pulling out the ultralight would help (which is what you are doing, with 2-lb line!), because the heavier line drags the water too much.