Cabela’s Boat US National Championship on Pickwick Lake In this recap, I will be outlining the techniques that Tristan and I used to record a 6th place finish on Pickwick Lake. This was our first trip to a Tennessee River system lake in the summer, so ledge fishing would be something new to us. •
Practice Day 1
Background research on the lake before practice ever started provided us with the knowledge that ledge fishing should be the dominant pattern. We concentrated our first day of practice on finding productive areas. We were keying on areas where creek beds met the ledges, in anticipation of the fish just beginning to move out. We graphed healthy concentrations of fish on two different ledges during the first day, but were unable to make these fish bite. We decided that these areas could be productive, but we had to figure out how to make them feed. •
Practice Day 2
We were allowed to lock through and fish Wilson Lake for this event, and we figured that Wilson would receive much less pressure, so we decided to spend an entire day fishing Wilson. Wilson Lake is full of grass, so we spent the morning fishing flukes and swim jigs in the grass. We caught all kinds of bass, but could never find keepers. We caught fish in the grass until about 10:00, and then decided that the size we needed was not shallow. We then began to target one of the more prominent ledges on Wilson Lake, and caught two keeper fish on a 6xd. The concentration of fish here was slim however, and we weren’t confident banking our tournament on this one ledge. We were unable to graph any other concentrations of fish on the lake, so we raced to the top end up the lake to fish the tailwaters. The water was extremely hazardous with swift current, but we decided to fish the current seams in hopes of finding smallmouth. We caught everything from drum, to white bass, and even gar here. We were unable to find any bass though. We wrapped up practice on Wilson by catching probably 20 fish skipping senkos underneath private docks. We only caught one keeper bass doing this however, and our practice day was over. •
Practice Day 3
Feeling that we had learned all that Wilson Lake had to offer, we opted to hit the famed ledges on Pickwick Lake once again. We started the day on the ledges we graphed during the first day of practice, and decided we would sit there until we figured out what the fish wanted. We began catching a few fish on a Hopkins 3/4 oz jigging spoon. The fish were still few and far between, and with a lot of boat pressure, we decided these weren’t areas that were reliable. We knew that many teams were going to be making a run about 50 miles from the launch site to fish the lower end of Pickwick, but knowing nothing about the lake, we opted to stay closer to the midpoint of the lake. They were not pulling much current, so the fish were not as active as usual. We decided to concentrate our efforts in an area of the lake where there was more current. Bridges usually cross lakes at the narrowest point, which equates to more current flowing around them. We were able to key in on a ledge that intersected this bridge right next to a pillar. This resulted in quite a few fish hanging out around this pillar, both on the bottom and suspended. We caught probably fifteen fish in the first half-hour on the jigging spoon and a Neko Rig, and although none were keepers, we felt that there were fish in the area. We ran the 20 miles back up to the ramp and fished a few spots around McFarland Park before we had to wrap up our practice. •
Tournament Day 1
Not having caught a single keeper on Pickwick Lake during practice, we had to decide between fishing these famed ledges, or targeting the shallow fish of Wilson Lake. The lock did not open until an hour after blast-off, and we had still not made up our mind upon blastoff. We fished around McFarland Park during the hour wait before the lock opened, and ended up catching two keepers on a rip-rap bank. One of these fish came off of the Neko Rig and one came off of the Hopkins spoon casted to a schooling fish. Knowing we were only fishing for three bites the rest of the day, we opted to stay on Pickwick Lake and try to find some big fish. We immediately made the run to our ledge next to the bridge pillar, and began catching short fish after short fish. We caught our third keeper on the Hopkins spoon once again being casted to schooling fish. My partner caught our fourth keeper on a swimbait fished on the bottom. Noticing the fish were feeding on groups of baitfish, I opted to pick up an Alabama Rig and load it with 5” swimbaits. We caught our fifth keeper, a fish pushing 6 pounds with about thirty minutes remaining. We made the run back to Mcfarland Park where we would wait to weigh our fish. While we were waiting we noticed our big fish had spit up a shad in the livewell, and this proved to be key. The shad that was spit up was a 5” yellowtail shad, and the tail was completely yellow. This gave us a better clue as to what the big ones were feeding on. We weighed almost 14 pounds on the first day, and were sitting about 10 pounds out of the lead. •
Tournament Day 2 – Final Day
Knowing that big fish were present, we started the day with a 20 mile run to the bridge where we had caught fish the day before. Using what we learned from the day before, we were both armed with 5” Kietech swimbaits that had the tail dyed using chartreuse dye from Spike-It. However, we quickly learned that there was intense schooling activity around these bridge pillars. Every time a fish would bust, I would fire the Hopkins Jigging spoon, and my partner a Super Spook Jr. We had a limit in 45 minutes with countless short fish being caught. The majority of fish had came off of the jigging spoon, but my partner had caught a 5 pounder along with a 3 off of the Super Spook Jr. It was at this point that we had our biggest heartbreak of the week. We saw a fish waking the surface chasing bait, and I fired my spoon next to it with no response. Tristan was able to land the Spook right on top of the fish resulting in a massive blowup. The fish was pulling drag, and on the third jump, we lost an 8+ about 12 feet from the boat. We knew this would come back to hurt us. After the schooling activity died, we began casting the Kietech swimbaits up onto the ledge, and catching many short fish and fish that wouldn’t cull. We had no idea where our big fish were holding throughout the day. After studying our Lakemaster charts, we were able to locate an area where the ledge appeared to be a little steeper than the rest, and moved the boat about 50 feet upriver. Here, instead of casting onto the ledge, we began throwing straight upriver. The current was really rolling this day, making it difficult to fish. However, we learned the secret by fate of a backlash. The swimbait was fired upstream, and while fixing a backlash, the swimbait had been tumbling along the bottom. Once the line was tight, there was immediately a 5 pound fish on the other end. We learned that the fish wanted the swimbait presented super naturally, so for the rest of the day we would cast the swimbait straight upstream, and just let the current wash it back towards us. We ended up catching a bunch of fish over 4 pounds using this technique and put together the best day on the water we have ever had. We weighed in 24 pounds on this final day to catapult us to a 6th place finish! It was a great week on the water, and man, we would have loved to have that 8 pounder!!
Lessons Learned
• Go where you know there is a concentration of fish and learn to catch them.
• ALWAYS cast to schooling fish.
• Don’t be afraid to sit in the same place for 8 hours, the bites come in flurries.
• Always be on the lookout for subtle clues that will key you in on the bite (The yellowtail shad)
• Let the fish tell you how they want the bait presented.
• Big fish are rarely in an area alone, especially offshore.
• Areas with bridges have more current typically.
• Kietech Swimbaits are the best swimbaits in the world. Period.
• The University of Alabama will throw across your line after they watch you catch three 4 pounders in a row.
Thanks for reading guys! If you have any questions about this event, feel free to ask!!