Tourism officials in northwest Alabama, southern Tennessee and northeast Mississippi frequently tout Pickwick Lake as one of the best places in the country to catch big bass.
They now have photographs to back up their claims.
Photos of a 14.58-pound largemouth bass caught by a Counce, Tenn., resident Jan. 27 and a 10.7-pound largemouth caught Wednesday by pro angler and fishing guide Jimmy Mason, of Rogersville, have gone viral on social media websites and and touched off a flood of calls from anglers around the nation who are now planning trips to Pickwick Lake.
“I’ve had calls from people who live hundreds of miles away wanting to know about fishing on Pickwick,” said Lance Walker, who caught the 14.58-pound bass. “They are wanting to now what baits they should use, where they should fish and where the nearest motels are to the lake. I’ve lost count of how many people who have told me they are coming to Pickwick to go fishing because of the big largemouth I caught there.”
Mason said the big bass bonanza under way on Pickwick Lake is going to be a boom to tourism in the Shoals.
“Pickwick is in unbelievable shape right now, and people all over the country are wanting to come here and go fishing,” Mason said. “I have never seen Pickwick in as good of shape as it is right now. A lot of people are catching a lot of big bass.”
Mason was fishing with Walker when he caught the 10.7-pound bass.
“A lot of people will fish their entire life and not catch a 14½-pounder and an almost 11-pounder,” Mason said. “In a matter of five days, Lance put his hand on two bass that weighed a total of more than 25 pounds. That’s truly amazing.”
After being photographed, both fish were released back into the lake.
Alison Stanfield, assistant director of Florence-Lauderdale Tourism, is among tourism officials using the photographs of the large fish to lure anglers to Pickwick Lake.
“We’re going to use those two fish as part of our marketing efforts to show everyone that Pickwick is the greatest bass lake in the country right now,” Stanfield said. “The tournament anglers have been telling us the past couple of years that Pickwick was going to become the best lake in the country someday. That someday is today.”
Walker and Mason said an abundance of shad minnows in the lake that provide food for bass, excellent habitat for the fish and an abnormally warm winter have combined to create the fishing frenzy on Pickwick Lake.
“Normally by this time of year, the water has become so cold that a lot of the shad have been killed and the bass have pretty much gone dormant,” Mason said. “This year, there have not been any shad kills and the bass have been eating non-stop and getting fatter and fatter all winter. The bass in Pickwick are huge right now.”
Walker said the YUMbrella baits he and Mason used to catch their big bass mimic a school of shad minnows swimming. The baits, produced by Birmingham-based Pradco Outdoor Brands, are similar to Alabama-rig baits designed by Andy Poss, of Muscle Shoals, that have been the rage in bass fishing in recent months.
Walker and Mason declined to reveal specifics about where and exactly how they caught their fish other than to say plenty of other large bass are swimming around in Pickwick Lake waiting to be caught.
Both urged anglers who catch large bass to photograph the fish and release them.
“It’s taken a long time to get Pickwick in as fine of condition as it is now,” Mason said. “If people start catching those really big fish and taking them home, it will not take long to kill the bass fishing on that lake. If they want some fish to eat, there’s plenty of crappie, catfish and bluegill out there that they can catch and take out of the lake without hurting it. I just hope and pray that everyone who catches the big bass will release them.”
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By Dennis Sherer TimesDaily Staff Writer – Republished with permission
Dennis Sherer can be reached at 256-740-5746 or [email protected].
Original article located at: Timesdaily.com
