Favorite Fishing Destinations Countdown: No. 10 - Tennessee River, Alabama

Jimmy Mason with a couple of Guntersville chunks during my most recent Tennessee River outing.

I'm not going to narrow it that much, though, because that would exclude some crazily good bass action on Guntersville, watching Nathaniel wrestle a 60-pound blue catfish from Wheeler when he was about 12, hammering schooling bass on Wilson, side-pulling for Pickwick crappie and much more. I've simply had too many great experiences on all four of these impoundments to not include the entire Alabama run of the river on my favorites list.

I suppose I might be cheating a bit with this one. The Tennessee River is a vast and diverse fishery that truly encompasses many destinations. I am at least narrowing it to the Alabama impoundments. That says nothing against classic waters like Kentucky Lake or Chickamauga, which are themselves among the nation's elite fishing destinations. I just have far more time logged on Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick, and that time includes dozens of legitimately outstanding fishing days.

Pressed to pick an actual top spot, it would have to be the tailwater of either Wheeler or Wilson Dam. I love the diversity and dynamic nature of the waters below the big dams, and I can quickly think of at least 10 species I've caught below both dams. Catches in those tailwaters have included 5-pound-plus smallies, double-digit hybrids, jumbo blue cats and stripers (salts, as they call them locally) up to 20 pounds.


Big-fish potential is certainly part of the Tennessee River's draw. When I'm throwing a swimbait for smallmouths in one of the tailwaters, I have an ongoing awareness the next fish to hit legitimately could be the smallmouth of a lifetime, and any bass that hits on Guntersville could turn out to be a 10-pounder. Of course, the same idea applies anytime catfish baits are down on any of these lakes.

My fondness for the Tennessee River begins with the fishing itself, but it certainly doesn't end there. I've also gotten to spend many days in the boat with great anglers like Jimmy Mason, Tim Horton, Brad Whitehead and Jerry Crook and have first met many longtime friends at media events held on these lakes. I also love the settings, from Guntersville's grass flats to Pickwick's bluffs to the tailwaters themselves, which are always alive with diving birds and baitfish busting on top.

Another excellent thing about the Tennessee river, from my standpoint, is that its story continues to be written. I'll be back at Guntersville to fish with Jimmy Mason in a little more than a week!

Want to Go?

Visit North Alabama
Fish Pickwick & Wilson Lakes
Jimmy Mason, 256-762-0014

Banged Out a Drum

 

Most bass fishermen grumble when the fish at the other end of the line turns out to be a drum. Not me. But then again, I'm not necessarily a bass fisherman. I'm just a fisherman, and I like catching fish if all shapes and colors.

 

Freshwater drum, much like their saltwater cousins, are hard fighters that I really believe many anglers would like to catch if it weren't for the often random seeming designation of "trash fish." My guess is that many fish that get looked at in that sort of way originally got that label based on eating qualities, which is ironic if you're releasing bass anyway.

 

Oh well. I think they are fun, and yesterday's drum was species number 29 for this years fish species list.

Firing Up Autumn Fishing

I haven't fished an enormous amount over the past few weeks, but that's about to change in a large way. Plans for the next month or so include quite a bit of time on the water in various places and fishing for a nice mix of species. The leaves are also changing, and that change usually correlates with cooler temperatures and hotter fishing action.

First in line is the Tennessee River, where I'll spend a couple of days at Lake Guntersville and a few at Pickwick. Autumn is when the grass mats typically come alive and the best frog bite of the year often develops, so I'm hopeful for some explosive fun. Stop one may actually involve more interviewing, filming and photographing than fishing because TH-Marine has a great group of pros assembled, and it will be a fabulous time to learn and gather videos and story material. Pickwick will likely involve a lot more fishing.

Soon after the Tennessee River run, I'll be going back in the same direction, but farther, on an Ozarks adventure with two of my boys and another friend. We'll focus on rivers and target smallmouth bass and trout, including big tailwater brown trout. Other autumn plans include visits to Oklahoma's Fort Gibson and Tenkiller lakes for bass, crappie and white bass and South Carolina's Santee Cooper lakes for big cats, crappie and more. Much to look forward to, for sure!

My hope is that I'll post regular reports, tips and product information from the travels ahead. I won't promise, though, because I've learned too many times how days can disappear and how a lack of wifi or decent phone service can make such things nearly impossible. I'll only say that I'll try and that I'll try and that I hope you'll check in to see how the fall fishing is going!

Autumn Creeping Our Way

The first official days of autumn typically don't seem much different from the final days of summer in North Georgia. September normally ends hot, and while w all try to pretend we're turning a corner, it doesn't normally feel that way and we really know better. This year has been different. Several damp, dark cool days have made it really feel like autumn has arrived, and we're even getting hints of color change in our dogwoods and a few other trees and bushes.

It makes me antsy to do some fall fishing. Asher and I did slip out to the pond yesterday afternoon, and we caught 10 bluegills and bass, but I'm eager to do stuff that's really driven by the season -- frog fishing on a grass lake, fall run brown trout, fall flathead fishing...

The fish that have been most on my mind of late have been the salmon, brown trout and steelhead that run up out of Great Lakes into rivers throughout that region this time of year. I've been watching a few reports and doing a bit of vicarious fishing. Looking at deadlines and other travel plans, that's probably as close as I'll get to that stuff this year, but you never know. I always keep an eye on bites and watch for windows of opportunity on the calendar.

Existing fall plans do include a trip to Alabama to fish Lake Guntersville and possibly Pickwick, so I might get to tap into at least a little frog fishing fun. I'm also going to Santee Cooper in November, so if the flathead bite happens to be happening...

Of course, I always look forward to do at least a little October and November fishing in the trout streams of North Georgia and western North Carolina. The fishing tends to be good at that time, the river are beautiful, creating outstanding photo opportunities.

November Fleeing

Bassmaster Elite Series pro Ott Defoe with pretty Pickwick bass
he caught during a TH Marine media event a couple of weeks ago.

Could it really be that November is on it's way out the door? It doesn't seem long ago that I was anticipating fall, and now the leaves are almost gone from the deciduous trees, even in Georgia. Of course, up north, they not only are walking on the ice to fish but a few resorts have begun rolling out the wheelhouses. Early for that sort of stuff, but it tells me that autumn has truly given way to winter.

November was a productive month for Jeff Samsel Fishing. I spent time on Tennessee's Dale Hollow, Illinois' Rend Lake and Alabama's Pickwick Lake, blending fishing with story and photo gathering with guides and pro anglers. I got to work with several pros I'd never spent significant time with before, along with seeing long-time friends from the industry.

I didn't spend as much time in trout streams as I would have liked to have during November, which is normally one of my favorite months for trout fishing. Maybe I can rectify that a bit next month. I certainly have some possible plans circling in my head. Whether weather, deadlines and other practical matters will actually allow those to materialize, only time will tell. My only solid fishing plans for next month, as of now, involve Minnesota ice, bluegills, crappie and walleyes.

Tennessee River Time

Randy Haynes brought the biggest bag of the 3-day Rayovac FLW
Series Event on Kentucky Lake on the final day to win the Tennessee
River slugfest. FLW photo.

Nothing about this weekend's Rayovac FLW Series event on Kentucky Lake was a surprise. It was a slugfest, it was won on ledges, and Randy Haynes tallied the biggest three-day catch.

Ledge season brings some of the best fishing of the year to the Tennessee River, and it's time when the best of the best really shine at what they do. Everyone knows that events will be won on ledges this time of year, most pros know what to look for and what to throw, and many rotate through many of the same spots, all catching a bunch of fish. Yet the same guys do little things better than anyone else and figure out what it takes to find the best schools and fish them the right ways to bring in bigger bags than anyone else.

Randy Haynes has now won seven events with FLW, and six of them have been on the Tennessee River. He was the guy many pros would have picked to win, and he did, with more than 75 pound over three days and a tournament best catch of 27-10 on the final day.

Haynes had no single spot. In fact, he fished a different area yesterday than the first two days and he worked about 40 different ledges. He also rotated systematically through four lures. The best ledge fishermen have great instincts about when to stay and when to go and are masters at boat positioning and figuring out patterning subtleties. They see stuff no one else can quite put a finger on and figure out how to apply what the see.

This weekend's action leads into mighty important month on the Tennessee River and a serious spotlight on summer ledge fishing. The FLW Tour visits Pickwick next week and Kentucky Lake later in the season. Those two events wrap up the season, so an Angler of the Year and quite a few qualifiers for the Forrest Wood Cup will be decided on the ledges in June.

Between the dates of those two events, the Bassmaster Elite Series will visit Chickamauga Lake. Also a Tennessee River impoundment, Chickamauga has less quality ledge habitat than Pickwick or Kentucky Lake, but the current bass population is loaded with big fish.

Smallmouth Fishing Weather

With spotty rain turning steady even falling hard in spurts, and the temperature holding right around 38, there was only one good thing to do with the couple hours of daylight that remained after traveling. So we did just that: We went fishing. Only one chunky bronzeback made it into the boat, and of course a bigger one did what big ones (especially big smallmouths) do best. It jumped high enough to show off its thick, bronze sides, shook the hook and returned to the river.

It was fun getting out for a head start on the three full days of Tennessee River fishing that will follow, and in truth the rain and semi-cold air only added excitement. It also allowed us to have the Wheeler tailwater to ourselves.

Tomorrow's plan is to spend a full day on Pickwick with Jimmy Mason. Oh, and if you happened to read a day or two ago when I said the rain was supposed to clear by tomorrow. That's changed. Cold, dark and wet, all day long. Sound like smallmouth fishing weather to me!

Drop in on Changing Ledge Fish

"A few years ago, you wouldn't have dreamed about using a drop-shot rig for ledge fishing,but I find myself using one more and more," said Jimmy Mason, a tournament pro and guide on the Alabama portion of the Tennessee River.

When fishermen think about ledges, most think about big baits -- deep-diving crankbaits, 10-inch worms, 1-ounce spinnerbaits and big swimbaits -- and those baits till play a very large part. As ledge fishing gets ever more popular, though, and as anglers get ever-better educated about how find and fish offshore structure, the fish are getting wiser. For anglers who still want to catch them well, that often means making adjustments.

"When they first move out late in the spring, they're dumb, but they get educated pretty quickly, and on some summer days when everybody has been out fishing the ledges, it's hard to catch them with a crankbait."

Any time Mason can find the fish but they won't bite traditional stuff, he rigs up a YUM Mighty Worm on a drop-shot rig and fishes it by dragging the weight slowly along the bottom.  They fish rarely can resist the drop-shot, and he has found that the little rig even produces it's share of big bass.

Thursday Tips: Fish 'Em Where They Are

"They're all really high," Jonathan Newton said as he graphed a Pickwick Lake ledge. "There are plenty of fish down there. They are just farther from the bottom than I'd prefer."

Although the fish weren't positioned ideally in the mind of the FLW pro and Pickwick expert, we decided to work the spot. We fished initially with a crankbait and a finesse worm on a shaky head -- both summer ledge classics -- but didn't get a hit. Knowing the fish were high, Jonathan decided to pick up a Flutter Spoon, which you work by popping it off the bottom and then allowing it to flutter back down. Three bass in four casts convinced me to pick up a jig and to fish it by "stroking," which is a similar presentation. First stroke yielded a feisty largemouth.

We ended up trying to catch fish from that spot with other classic ledge baits, including a swimbait a couple of different crankbaits and a football head jig. However, nothing beat the high-rising baits for fish that were sitting a little higher than normal in the water column.

A little later in the day, Jimmy Mason and I found fish positioned similarly on another ledge and the most productive thing for those was a drop-shot rig, which kept the worm higher in the water column.

Some days, the fish are on the bottom, and dragging is the very best approach. Other days, like today, they are higher, and you must adjust accordingly. In truth, the same idea applies to most kinds of fishing. Pay attention to you graph and to other clues, and if something helps you narrow a pattern or tells you that things need to change a bit, pay attention to details and fish accordingly.

North Alabama Ledge Run

Word has it that the ledge bite is going strong on Pickwick, so I'm Alabama bound this afternoon to see for myself. I'll be dividing time in the boat with Jimmy Mason and Jonathan Newton, both pros from that area and both authorities on ledge fishing on the Tennessee River.

For as big a deal as the ledge bite becomes throughout the summer and for as much time as I've spent on Pickwick, Kentucky Lake and other waters along the Tennessee River, I've not done much ledge fishing. Obviously, I'm looking forward to catching some chunky bass. Just as much, though, I'm looking forward to learning what draws the fish to the ledges, how changes in river flow impact positioning and bass behavior, how Jimmy and Jonathan position their boats, how they use their electronics, what presentations they prefer...

Be sure to watch this blog, my YouTube Channel, and my facebook fishing community page. I expect to have some good information to convey and plan to post some fish pics and at least a couple of new videos from this week's outing.

Blog updates have been slow coming for the past week or so, and I apologize to anyone who checks in regularly and anticipates something fresh. I very much appreciate folks who follow my blog, and do try to keep things updated. Non-fishing travel and other stuff just made computer time and access a little too thin and allowed me to fall behind last week. I'm back at it, though, so check back soon!

New Video: Pro Tip for Catching Bass

This short "tips" video,which was shot while the fall frog bite was going strong on Pickwick Lake, features bass pro and fishing guide Jimmy Mason talking about patterning.

To see more fishing videos produced by Nathaniel Samsel, visit our YouTube Channel.

Umbrella Rig Season

It's been about a year now since the Alabama Rig leaped into the limelight with a few of major tournament wins and bass fishing was changed forever. Many new castable umbrella rigs emerged and pro anglers made a quick study of these unique rigs' best applications. Much of that story remains to be written, but for now the favored application is cool-weather fishing on main-reservoir structure.

In this video, Bassmaster pro Timmy Horton, whose home waters of Pickwick and Wilson lakes are in the heart of umbrella rig country, explains exactly how he uses a YUM YUMbrella Rig to enjoy some of the best fishing of the year. Prime season is just beginning and will continue until spring, so if you want to try out this technique, now is the time to gather your gear and plan some time on the water.

Fall Fun in Colbert County

Trading stories over giant Rustler Burgers at the Rattlesnake Saloon on the outskirts of Tuscumbia, Alabama, a small group of pro anglers and outdoor writers talked about three days of fun fishing on the Tennessee River. The action ranged from largemouths smashing BOOYAH Pad Crasher frogs over Pickwick grass flats to smallmouths attacking YUMBrella Rigs beside main-river bluffs.

Variety is one of the greatest virtues of Wilson and Pickwick lakes, according to B.A.S.S. pro Timmy Horton, who lives in nearby Muscle Shoals and has fished the Tennessee River all his life. Largemouths and smallmouths compete for top billing among bass fishermen, although other groups of anglers would contend that heavyweight catfish, stripers or crappie are the best thing going (each with a good case to be made). Meanwhile, the waters themselves range from swift tailwaters to open-river ledges to dock-filled coves to grassy backwaters.

Colbert County, which includes Wilson and upper Pickwick and the towns of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, has long been one of my favorite places to visit on fishing trips. That's largely because of the fishing itself, but it's also because I've rarely been any place where the local community better appreciates the significance of their local fishing or is more welcoming to visiting fishermen. Whether at the boat ramp or gas station or out to eat, local folks always seem happy to have visitors in town enjoying the great fishing - and I truly appreciate that.

Timmy's favorite thing about fall on the Tennessee River is the topwater bite. Whether he's hopping a frog in grass or walking a spook below Wilson Dam for jumbo smallies he typically has some type of surface lure on this time of year. As the fall gives way to winter and the water temperature continues to drop, he'll switch mostly to YUMBrella Rigs and YUM Mud Minnows, which he'll fish along main-river bluffs. That bite will last all winter long and continue into the spring, and that's the main thing he'll throw throughout the cool months.

Don't go on my word, though. Find out out for yourself. For information, visit www.fishpickwicklake.com.

Pickwick Frog Lessons

"Are those holes where bass have been feeding?" I asked Jimmy Mason, looking toward the group of holes my Booyah Pad Crasher was approaching.

"Absolutely," Jimmy said, with the answer barely leaving his mouth before a bass annihilated my happily hopping frog. Jimmy had been explaining to me that it's critical to pay attention to clues, such as holes in a mat, which suggest bass have been feeding in that area. So when I'd spotted a little group of holes that looked like what he'd described, I  had cast directly past those holes.

Other clues to watch for while frog fishing:
-Popping sounds (like Rice Crispies, Jimmy said). That's the sound of bluegills feeding on bugs in the grass
-Greener grass
-Wood or other hard cover in the grass
-Swells from moving fish

Other frog fishing tips from Jimmy Mason
-Cover water till you find active matts or get hits. Then slow down.
-If a fish hits and misses, it usually will hit again. Bring your frog back in fast, cast back to the spot and work it carefully.
-Pay attention to what the fish show you.
-Work the bait to the edge of the grass and then reel it back quickly and make another cast.
-When you catch a fish, work that area carefully. The bass move in groups under the mats.

Jimmy and I had a big time catching from fish from Pickwick mats, and the fish obviously wanted our Pad Crashers because when we'd bring in a fish it would have the frog so deep in its mouth that you couldn't see the lure until you looked down the fish's throat.