COUNCE, Tenn. – The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division heads to Pickwick Lake next for what should be a great event on one of the best reservoirs in Tennessee. Presented by Suzuki Marine, the Pickwick tournament should offer big smallmouth and largemouth, some spawning fish, and high weights.
What to expect
Finishing third in last year’s Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event on Pickwick, Alabama pro Jacob Walker has high hopes for this one. Last year, Walker relied on a strong tailrace bite, which he thinks may not be the play this time.
“It’s a little bit earlier than when we were there last year,” he said. “When we fished, it was postspawn and we had some good rain, so the fish were heavily in the current. They had left The Horseshoe and they were feeding back up.”
The Horseshoe is a huge eddy below the Wilson Dam, and when it is on, it’s really on.
“This year, it’s a month earlier; we have a full moon, if the moon has anything to do with the spawn, you’re talking about prime conditions,” he said. “We might see an all-out smallmouth spawn bonanza. It might be a Horseshoe beatdown – that doesn’t require LiveScope. I’ve fished events where 100 of us have made the run up there. It gets crowded, but there are enough fish to go around.”
Another possible pattern is spawning largemouth, maybe visible to the naked eye, but also spawning on stumps and shallow offshore targets. For that play, the middle and lower end of the lake may be the move.
“When we were there last year, a lot of the largemouth were late in the spawn, so we may be right in the middle of the largemouth spawn too,” Walker said. “I think fishing pressure at the dam is going to depend on how guys do down the lake.
“If I were fishing, I would definitely fish up the river, because I think it’s going to be the most consistent way to catch 20 pounds a day,” he said. “But, I think someone could find some big prespawn or spawning largemouth, and they could make magic happen within three hours. It’s going to be hard to beat them, too. But that place is a long body of water, it’s very spread out, it’s going to be difficult in three hours.”
Though forward-facing sonar could be important for some patterns, Walker believes there’s also an opportunity to fish traditionally.
“They don’t all spawn at the same time – anglers who understand how the fish position in the current, there’s an option there for Alabama rigs, scroungers, swimbaits. There’s definitely opportunity in the tailrace,” he said. “Plus, we saw what Caz Anderson did last year, throwing a spinnerbait and a ChatterBait, covering a bunch of water. If I wasn’t fishing with ‘Scope and I wasn’t fishing at the dam, my trolling motor would probably be on 8, covering a bunch of water.”
Baits to bring
For baits, Walker recommends a Neko rig with a worm like a Big Bite Baits Nekorama or a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Magnum Hit Worm, umbrella rigs, Deps Sakamata Shads and scroungers like the Davis Baits Shakey Fish.
What will it take?
For the win, Walker thinks the mark is 72 pounds total, which averages to about 24 pounds a day.
“I think that’s very doable with ‘Scope, and I think that’s very doable at the dam,” he said.
He’s also high on the fun times to be had in the back of the boat.
“I think it’s going to be a really good tournament for co-anglers, especially if the smallmouth are spawning in The Horseshoe,” he said. “It will be a fun tournament for co-anglers.”