Pickwick Tailrace Report

[Alphahawk]

This is the first time in over two years I have been able to fish in winter....meaning January though March because the past years have been recovering from surgery. My first day out was not so good. Started off on generator side and threw all I had for a couple of hours and got nothing. Then moved down river on same side but didn't catch the first fish. Then drove over to lock side and fished out until very late afternoon. Nothing there either except a bunch of 5 inch Gills that were down on the bottom in 20 feet of water and were so dull in color wasn't worth taking a pic of. There were about 10 folks over at the lock fishing for crappie but no one caught any at all. The water temp was 42 degrees and I saw no evidence of a shad kill. Just glad to be winter fishing again and will hit it again soon.



Regards

[TNBronzeback]

Ive heard pickwick can be great sauger fishing till they open up niagra falls.
There were a ton of the same size gills in the old hickory dam lock area too last time i was there.....surprisingly active hitting much larger baits than they could ever handle.
Bummer on the no fish, but you picked a great day to return to winter fishing.

[Alphahawk]

Ive heard pickwick can be great sauger fishing till they open up niagra falls.
There were a ton of the same size gills in the old hickory dam lock area too last time i was there.....surprisingly active hitting much larger baits than they could ever handle.
Bummer on the no fish, but you picked a great day to return to winter fishing.

LOL.....yeah they were still spilling today a little. Going to have to work hard between now and February 28 to try for some sauger. Then they raise minimum length to 15 inches. Yeah it was a good day to be out. Hopefully we won't have anymore of those single digit days and the water will stay as it is until it starts getting warmer.



Regards

[agelesssone]

Alpha, is that 15 inch length limit just for Pickwick or does it apply to other bodies of water?

[Alphahawk]

Alpha, is that 15 inch length limit just for Pickwick or does it apply to other bodies of water?

The 15 inch limit has been in place on all reservoirs that I know of for years...except at Kentucky Lake which is the body of water Pickwick tailrace is located in. It has been 14 inches there as long as I can remember. I think that is the reason so many anglers travel to Pickwick Dam to fish the tailrace each year for sauger. I guess TWRA thought it needed to be raised as to the rest of the state I suppose it is to protect the specie but I know all the locals are not happy about it. But if that is what the TWRA thinks it should be we will just have to go along. Below the dam there is the only place I could ever get a limit of sauger. I have caught one or two in other places that were just at the 15 inch mark but that was it...all the other fish were short. I ran into a guy today I have fished with in the winter the past 10 years down there. First time he has seen me in 2 years...he thought I had died...LOL. But he is going to hit it hard for sauger through February as he feels the days of sauger limits will be numbered down there with the new length limit. I don't know what is the deal with sauger. There are tons of them you can catch that are one or two inches short of 15 inches and I always think that the next year I will catch tons of legal fish....but that never works out. So what happens to all those short fish in the next year? Each year still catch fish one or two inches short. I don't have a clue what happens to them but one would think all those fish would grow.


Regards

[TNBronzeback]

That is something ive thought about in regards to size fishing below old hickory. I wouldnt think fish in large waterways with plenty of bait would get stunted and never breaking that 13-14" mark for the amout of fish that are caught below the tailraces. There has gotta be some fat, bug-eyed saugers lounging around somewhere.

[Alphahawk]

That is something ive thought about in regards to size fishing below old hickory. I wouldnt think fish in large waterways with plenty of bait would get stunted and never breaking that 13-14" mark for the amout of fish that are caught below the tailraces. There has gotta be some fat, bug-eyed saugers lounging around somewhere.

I'm with you there. I don't understand it all.



Regards

[TerryD]

Alpha,
If those fish are pulled from 30 + ft of water, which is the case at most of Pickwick and a lot of other productive areas of the mighty Tennessee river, a lot of them don't get the chance to grow after release with their swim bladder and eyes bugged out...But like you said, where are the 15"+ fish? We can't be killin em all! Hard to explain.....
TD

[SAMBOLIE]

Alpha,
If those fish are pulled from 30 + ft of water, which is the case at most of Pickwick and a lot of other productive areas of the mighty Tennessee river, a lot of them don't get the chance to grow after release with their swim bladder and eyes bugged out...But like you said, where are the 15"+ fish? We can't be killin em all! Hard to explain.....
TD

I did not realize the water directly below the dam was that deep. I have fished from Pickwick to Wilson and outside the channel it can get shallow quickly.
Have you ever fished near the island a few miles below Pickwick. I know that was a hot spot for sauger years ago.

[TerryD]

Sam,
Yeah it used to be good fishing. I haven't been there in about 15 years, but would dare say the same old holes still hold the fish. With the kids grown and out of the house, we are now empty nesters and I have picked up the fishin pace. May have to head that way soon...
TD

[Alphahawk]

I did not realize the water directly below the dam was that deep. I have fished from Pickwick to Wilson and outside the channel it can get shallow quickly.
Have you ever fished near the island a few miles below Pickwick. I know that was a hot spot for sauger years ago.


It's not...I was fishing over by the lock. Yesterday it was a little over 20 feet deep. They were spilling close to 100,000 CFS. The time before the water over by the lock was at 30 feet deep. But they were spilling more water then. I have fished over by the lock when it has been over 40 feet deep with them spilling right at 200k CFS. About 5 years ago I was fishing 5 days a week up at the Caney....Center Hill. I would at many of those trips stop by and fish below Cordell Hull with my son along. We would catch dozens of sauger there almost every time we went.....it was rare to get a 15 inch fish. I am not a sauger guy but you would think you would catch some legal fish. Read an article about sauger in the TN River that flows through Alabama. The study was done in 2012 the best I remember. It stated the sauger population was non existent....no real conclusions. Talked to a friend today that saw them dump 10,000 sauger down by the Boatell a little while back...he told me about 5 to 6 inches. I know folks that catch sauger and time before last I caught a bunch of short ones down there. This is my first winter at Pickwick in 2 years but back then saw lots of good fish caught.....even I caught them and I am not a sauger fisherman. I have no clue what is up with them but soon as the wind doesn't howl I will be back down there.


Regards


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[Tnriverluver]

Yes the water is that deep. When the level is at 358 or so almost all the water below the dam is 30 feet or deeper all the way to down to the sharp bend in the river. It gets much deeper as you approach Diamond Island. There are many holes I have run across that are 60 feet or more past as you head north even farther all the way to Kentucky dam.

[SAMBOLIE]

Alpha, I may have been misleading. I was not fishing for sauger between the dams. I was fishing for SM and with my skills I caught a lot of quality drums.
I did catch one sauger while bass fishing on Joe Wheeler lake
I wonder what the depth was at Pickwick when we met there last year.

[Alphahawk]

Yes the water is that deep. When the level is at 358 or so almost all the water below the dam is 30 feet or deeper all the way to down to the sharp bend in the river. It gets much deeper as you approach Diamond Island. There are many holes I have run across that are 60 feet or more past as you head north even farther all the way to Kentucky dam.

I thought Sam was referring to the dam right at the boils. It is not deep at all where the generators come out.......which is where a lot of bank fisherman fish for sauger.......but yes you are correct the river gets deep farther down. The hole there at Shiloh I remember as being over 60 feet deep.



Regards

[Alphahawk]

Alpha, I may have been misleading. I was not fishing for sauger between the dams. I was fishing for SM and with my skills I caught a lot of quality drums.
I did catch one sauger while bass fishing on Joe Wheeler lake
I wonder what the depth was at Pickwick when we met there last year.

Where I was fishing it was not that deep...meaning maybe 20 feet to where I could cast. The river is much deeper on the other side of the wing wall to the old lock than it is from the wing wall to the bank where we were fishing. But it drops off quickly after the water gets off those pads at the generator outputs.



Regards

[Tnriverluver]

In the boils themselves it varies from 25 to about 30 feet. Normal water levels. Holes, boulders, ledges and such. It is all deeper right now than in years past because of how much they have had the gates open and all the turbines running almost non-stop the last 2-3 years. The bright side is it has also washed away 99% of all the snags that were between the wing wall and the locks:)

[bfish]

T.... There are tons of them you can catch that are one or two inches short of 15 inches and I always think that the next year I will catch tons of legal fish....but that never works out. So what happens to all those short fish in the next year? Each year still catch fish one or two inches short. I don't have a clue what happens to them but one would think all those fish would grow.

It shows that the size limit is working. The exploitation rate is 63-84% (ie 2/3 plus of all keepers in the population are kept). 15" size was chosen so that males and females could spawn twice before being harvested. Macenia and Bettoli have a few technical papers, if you want more details.

[Tnriverluver]

Everyone fussed many years ago when they changed bass from 12 to 15 inches. Look how well that helped the size of bass being caught in all the tournaments now. 8-10 lb fish are common place when beforehand that was almost unheard of. The Asian carp are what we need to worry about before they destroy one of the greatest fisheries in the world.

[Alphahawk]

In the boils themselves it varies from 25 to about 30 feet. Normal water levels. Holes, boulders, ledges and such. It is all deeper right now than in years past because of how much they have had the gates open and all the turbines running almost non-stop the last 2-3 years. The bright side is it has also washed away 99% of all the snags that were between the wing wall and the locks:)

I lost 3 anchors fishing between wing wall and old lock back between 2001-2004. Only time I used them and one toss and each was gone forever...LOL.



Regards

[Alphahawk]

It shows that the size limit is working. The exploitation rate is 63-84% (ie 2/3 plus of all keepers in the population are kept). 15" size was chosen so that males and females could spawn twice before being harvested. Macenia and Bettoli have a few technical papers, if you want more details.

Yeah not many throw back keeper sauger....good point.



Regards

[MNfisher]

Yeah not many throw back keeper sauger....good point.



Regards
Reminds me of a lake in MN that I fished a lot, it had a 16" minimum on walleye. In the winter it was common to catch 5-10 walleyes from 13-15" long without a keeper. One winter I kept track on my fish house wall. I caught 76 walleyes that winter and 1 was 16 1/8" the rest were under 16". Now this was a unrealistic year, but there has to be some reasoning to it.

The following year, all those 13-15"ers were 16-17, but we caught much less of them. because everyone of them went to the bottom of a bucket by everyone fishing the lake.

[bd-]

It shows that the size limit is working. The exploitation rate is 63-84% (ie 2/3 plus of all keepers in the population are kept). 15" size was chosen so that males and females could spawn twice before being harvested. Macenia and Bettoli have a few technical papers, if you want more details.

I haven't been following the sauger studies for a little while. Has there been any new data on how many fish showing up in the creel are spawned fish vs. stocked fish? Last time I looked at it, the spawning success was low enough that sauger were in danger of turning into a put/take fishery. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how many time the fish spawn before harvest if the spawns aren't producing harvestable fish. I'm hoping some progress is being made - it didn't sound encouraging last time I read much on the state of the sauger population. I'm pretty out of date on the subject though.

bd

[bfish]

bd, I am not current either. However, I do know that the spawns are very flow dependent. Flows that are good for Pickwick, usually mean failed spawn in eastern TN due to being too low. Good spawning flows in eastern TN means failed spawns further down river due to excessive flows.

IMO, if there were no barriers in the way, the sauger would mostly seek out their preferred flow but with the many dams blocking passage, they tend to hang out and wait for their "magical" flow. While hanging out, they get targeted pretty heavily by fisherman.