pickwick chain of lakes!

[United_Bass_._Com]

Ok its been months since i have visited the board. I sold my house and moved into a small duplex until I get my new house built. Â*No room for my comp or desk. >

I have at trny to fish in June on pickwick-wilson-wheeler lakes and i know there are a few that fish these lakes that visit this board. Â*Would like a little info on what to throw and where to throw it. Â*Will be launching out of McFarland park ramp.

Also throw this at ya'll. Â*Went fishing last Tue.,wed.,fri., caught 28 fish 16 were keeper LM (15inchlimit). Â*4lb was biggest but rest were all solid 2 lbers. Â*Throwing char/white spinnerbait in shallow bushes. Â*;D

I fish Lake Cumberland in south central Kentucky.

PS: where is a good place to order Pickwick lake maps?

[zman]

I just buy my maps in the local stores.

Lets see, Pickwick in June......sounds nice to me sitting here. The summer should be in getting into full swing by then, so I would look for topwater early around laydowns. There are some laydowns just downstream from the Mcfarland ramp that I like, starting a little past cypress creek on the north side. You can also hit the backchannel around sevenmile island, basically circle the island, then start working you way back towards McFarland in the midday I would check out the bluffs on the south side of the river- I like to splitshot flukes especially if a little water is running.....and there is always the tailwaters.

But don't go into this tourney thinking that I have told you any secrets.....Pickwick is a community type lake and these spots are all very obvious to those on the water - you may have to wait in line for some of them! If you want to get away from other fishermen you will have to take a boat ride west, towards the steam plant and the natchez trace area.

[Makitcnt4u]

I've fished there before but it's been so long. I usually just fish Old Hickory every week. Right now the newspaper says fishing is slow and jig/pig combinations are the best but I don't know what will be best in June.

[RebelBasser]

Pickwick, Wilson and Wheeler are my home lakes. I only live a few miles from Macfarland Park.

WTL named a few of the most obvious spots for Pickwick and I'll add a few more. There is excellent fishing around the Natchez Trace bridge area, Bumpus Creek in the Waterloo area as well as many, many submerged Indian mounds along the river but especially in the areas that I just named. You can find some of them on a good topo map. I saw a 5 fish limit last year that weighed 31.25 lbs come from these mounds. All hard fighting smallmouth!

Wilson offers some excellent fishing as well but it seems to be either feast or phantom. There is a 15" size limit and sometimes they can be very hard to come by. On the other hand, 5 weeks ago we fished a tournament and was the first boat to weigh in. We had 17.75 lbs and was out of the top 5 by the 12th team to weigh in. The winner weighed in 29.5 lbs. It can be very frustrating indeed.

I don't fish Wheeler a whole lot but when I do it's either in the Decatur Flats area or down around the Joe Wheeler State Park area.

Good Luck!
Anthony

[zman]

Hey Anthony, I was just thinking if he wanted to get away from some of the other fishermen could he try Coffee slough? I have only tried it a few times before when the water temps were way up and it didn't seem to get good water flow, but as far as getting off the main river its one of the only options as far as I know. Do you ever fish back there? Any luck?

[RebelBasser]

I've never done much good in Coffee Slough but I've heard of others that have. Believe it or not but the barge canal can be very productive as well and it's in sight of the boat ramp. I really like Cypress Creek as well. There are SO many cypress stumps to fish as well as a ton of blowdowns.

[zman]

By the barge canal you mean that line of riprap on the southern end of the lake? I junked a prop on that once! But I have caught some fish around it before.

Cypress creek is one of the most interesting tribs running into the river. I normally hit it everytime I put in to McFarland. Not many cypress trees on the TN river that I've seen, but there sure are a lot there. I have even caught some smallies wading Cypress creek up at wildwood park (and there is another place north of that at a bridge).

[RebelBasser]

The barge canal is to the left of the harbor. When you leave out of the harbor, go under the bridge and bear to the left. It carries you up to the locks. It doesn't have a lot of cover so to speak but it does have a lot of bass in there.

My favorite place to catch fish below Wilson Dam is on the point of Jackson Island. The point is big enough that you can pull your boat up there out of the current and throw a grub or crankbait into the eddy closest to the flowing water and tear them up! It may be a smallie, largemouth, white bass, striper or whatever. That's what makes it so fun.

[United_Bass_._Com]

Thanks for all the info. When I get my maps i will have to mark these spots. Maybe when it gets a little closer to the time of trny I can get a fishing report.
Maybe try and get in touch with you guys when we are there practicing.

[zman]

OK, I've been up in that little chute before. You're right not much cover, there is a little bit of water flowing into the back where I saw some guys trying to catch some yellowtails.


I thought you were talking about the old muscle shoals canal. I've always assumed that structure on the south end of the lake is the remnants of it. I'm pretty sure that the "chute" on the southern end of the lake across from waterloo is the remnants of it as well.

Heres a historical link about it that I found. Its got some old pictures.

http://www2.una.edu/geography/Tn_web/History/canal.html

[RebelBasser]

Nice pictures! That 2nd one looks like it was shot from where the bridge is today at the bluffs looking west towards 7 Mile Island.

[macgyver]

Nice posts guys, you gave a lot of info to folks for fishing this water, that's the way it should be, unless of course you're competing against them

Lizards

[RebelBasser]

That is what makes this site so great is the fact that it's like one big family. I'm glad to help anyone out with info because if I was in the same position I would want someone to help me.

Trigr,
When it comes time for the tournament, I will pre-fish during that week and try to put you on some fish.

Anthony

[United_Bass_._Com]

That would be great. All the info is very usefull and if ever you fish any of the lakes i fish i will be more than glad to give anyone any info that i can.

This truely is a great site for fishermen, and fisherwomen.

Would be glad to take you out fishing when we practice.

[ryan7261]

[url http://www.tennesseelakeinfo.com/pic...lakemaps.shtml /url]



Try this site might help you a bit.

Robby.