Whewwww... what'a grind. I was there from 9/26 - 10/2. Three days of prefishing produced very little. Fished the first day and had 4-5 small keepers. Second day trailered down to Big Bear creek and didn't catch much more. Mostly C/R'ing points.
Day 1: worked a section of bank to the right of little bear creek most of the day with a black 1/4 oz. jig. weighed in 9.90 which included a 4 #er. 1st day leader weighed in 18+
Day 2: fished outta a local guys boat. He's been fishing pickwick 27 years, 24 of them fishing tournaments. We hit about 15 ledges and deep water humps. I caught 3 Alabama keepers 2 lg n' one small mouth on the first ledge with a Hotlips crankbait. At one point we hit the mouth of yellow creek(several places) I caught one decent large mouth on a 11" black worm on a C'rig. Weighed in 10.94 and was in 27th place at the end of day 2. I don't know what the 2 day heavy stringer was but the guy in first on the first day weighed in 14+ on day two and was in 4th place at the end of the day.
Day 3: I fished a mussle bed I had located during practice first stop. Nothing. Then went to a pocket just above the trace bridge. The guy in the boat caught 3 small fish and I had only one. There were fish schooling up everywhere but they were, for the most part, barely keepers. Back to the mussle bed. Caught one(close to 3#s) on a 10" RedShad worrm on a C/R. Boater I was with caught one 14"er. At 2:20 I only had 2 fish - weigh in for our flight was at four. We went to the grass beds a kroger island close to the trace bridge. In about an hour and a'half of chunkin' flukes I could'a culled twice. I lost one in the 3-4 range and ended up weighing in 9.11#s.
I ended up with a spot in the top 25(23rd out of 372) with a 3 day total of 29.90. The winning weight was 41+. Report was those fish came mostly on top water in Tenn. close to the pickwick dam. The ledge bite was simply not there. The locals who know the lake struck out for the most part on the ledges during the three days. The current all three days was simply ripping holding a boat in that current was almost impossible. The locals said - too much current. The back 2/3's of bear creek were very close to being muddy with a very heavy stain. Can't say about yellow as we didn't go too far back.
Day 1: worked a section of bank to the right of little bear creek most of the day with a black 1/4 oz. jig. weighed in 9.90 which included a 4 #er. 1st day leader weighed in 18+
Day 2: fished outta a local guys boat. He's been fishing pickwick 27 years, 24 of them fishing tournaments. We hit about 15 ledges and deep water humps. I caught 3 Alabama keepers 2 lg n' one small mouth on the first ledge with a Hotlips crankbait. At one point we hit the mouth of yellow creek(several places) I caught one decent large mouth on a 11" black worm on a C'rig. Weighed in 10.94 and was in 27th place at the end of day 2. I don't know what the 2 day heavy stringer was but the guy in first on the first day weighed in 14+ on day two and was in 4th place at the end of the day.
Day 3: I fished a mussle bed I had located during practice first stop. Nothing. Then went to a pocket just above the trace bridge. The guy in the boat caught 3 small fish and I had only one. There were fish schooling up everywhere but they were, for the most part, barely keepers. Back to the mussle bed. Caught one(close to 3#s) on a 10" RedShad worrm on a C/R. Boater I was with caught one 14"er. At 2:20 I only had 2 fish - weigh in for our flight was at four. We went to the grass beds a kroger island close to the trace bridge. In about an hour and a'half of chunkin' flukes I could'a culled twice. I lost one in the 3-4 range and ended up weighing in 9.11#s.
I ended up with a spot in the top 25(23rd out of 372) with a 3 day total of 29.90. The winning weight was 41+. Report was those fish came mostly on top water in Tenn. close to the pickwick dam. The ledge bite was simply not there. The locals who know the lake struck out for the most part on the ledges during the three days. The current all three days was simply ripping holding a boat in that current was almost impossible. The locals said - too much current. The back 2/3's of bear creek were very close to being muddy with a very heavy stain. Can't say about yellow as we didn't go too far back.
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