COUNCE, Tenn. – The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division season continues at Pickwick Lake, with some great weather on tap, so we should be in for a good event. Presented by Suzuki Marine, this is the second event of the Central Division season and 126 pros and co-anglers are buckled up to take on the big Tennessee River reservoir.
The layout of the lake
Spring on the Tennessee River is a dynamic time, and on Pickwick, the possibilities are perhaps as varied as anywhere else on the chain. At the top of the lake, the Horseshoe and the tailrace below the Wilson Dam offer massive smallmouth potential. Down the lake, big largemouth are starting to spawn, or staging for it, and, in Bay Springs, with the clear water and abundance of timber, there’s potential for big fish to be caught as well.
Banks Shaw, the winner of last year’s Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event on the lake, has practiced enough to know there are several options.
“There’s not much current at all right now, and it affects down the lake and up the lake,” Shaw said. “But, there’s definitely fish to be caught from one end of the lake to the other, like Pickwick always is. The smallmouth are spawning for sure, the largemouth are spawning and thinking about spawning.”
Correctly playing the three-hour period of forward-facing sonar could be very important in this one. Last week at Grand Lake, LiveScope basically wasn’t a factor, but a few weeks ago at the Kissimmee Chain, the tournament hinged on it.
“A lot of guys are probably going to catch them down lake in three hours, but it’s going to be tough to do that,” Shaw said. “I think you can definitely do it one day, maybe two days, but I don’t know about three days in a row. Pickwick is known to really only produce a handful of bites, and doing it in three hours is tricky. But, the shallow bite is pretty decent right now, I’ve heard of plenty of guys catching them up shallow.”
There might also be the beginnings of a shad spawn, which could be great for boosting productivity without ‘Scope.
“The Nutt boys said there’s some shad spawning, but, personally, I don’t think it will play too much,” Shaw said. “It’s really early for it. From my experience, they shouldn’t be spawning yet. The water is 63, 64 degrees, I think the shad spawn is a lot better when it is 70. There are a lot of shad up shallow on the bars, but they definitely aren’t spawning full-swing.”
Taking out of Counce also gives anglers good access to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, or, more to the point, Bay Springs Reservoir. To the south of Pickwick, it has clear water and big fish, and it has factored big in Pickwick events a time or two over the years.
“I think you’ll see a lot of people make the cut out of Bay Springs,” Logan Dyar said. “But, I don’t know if you can win it there. For me, it’s strictly wood, docks, timber, laydowns. I really came into this event saying I wouldn’t go to Bay Springs, because Pickwick has so many giants, but I cannot dial them in.”
Maybe the consensus safe play is The Horseshoe, a big eddy where lots of smallmouth tend to spawn below the Wilson Dam. But, in Shaw’s estimation, a recent Alabama Bass Trail event may have squeezed a lot of the juice out of it. One of the best things about that play is that forward-facing sonar isn’t the name of the game – which could be great for consistency.
“I spent about five hours up there yesterday,” Shaw said. “It’s not as good as I was expecting it to be; the ABT guys definitely smoked them up there. But, there’s new fish pulling in, by the time we start, it could be game on 100%. When it is game on, it’s not one of those deals where it is easy to catch 24 pounds, but you can definitely catch 18 or 20, and do it without forward-facing fairly well. I think that’s where the majority of the solid bags are going to come from.”
What will it take?
Both Dyar and Shaw pegged 65 to 66 pounds as the winning number. Last year’s Toyota Series event took 84-4 to win, and the Invitationals event took 71 to win. So, expectations are perhaps a bit down.
“I don’t think it will be the typical smashfest Pickwick you’re used to, it’s not really been great for me,” Dyar said. “I’ve had a couple decent days, but I think it’s probably going to take 65, 66 pounds to win this thing. I think it’s probably going to be won at the tailrace. I may be wrong, but you’ll definitely see some Top 10s from there.”
Shaw thinks the winner will likely put together a diverse game plan, and, given the number of fantastic modern anglers in the field, there are many candidates.
“Whoever wins, I think they’re going to mix and match,” Shaw said. “I don’t think you’re going to be able to do it out of one area. I think you’re going to have to have a lot of fish scattered out and found. Almost, catch a lot of fish out of one area, and then pull the plug on it and not even go back to those fish. It’s not near as good as it was last year, I think you’re going to run out of fish, there’s not really many areas that can hold up for three days. You’re going to have to have fresh fish that are going to cooperate easily to catch them in three hours.”
Follow along
Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public daily at Pickwick Landing State Park at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. CT. This event is presented by Suzuki Marine and hosted by Explore Pickwick Lake/Hardin County Tourism. You can follow along with all the coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.