NEWS

2014 Pickwick Lake Tournament Feature Story

Anglers expect big weights at Pickwick tournament

 

Anglers throughout the Southeast and Midwest have March 22 circled on their calendar and are anxiously counting down the days.

That’s the day the Alabama Bass Trail’s north division visits Pickwick Lake for a tournament out of McFarland Park in Florence. Many anglers are expecting the bites to be plentiful and big during the tournament.

“It’s going to be a toad fest,” said Brent Crow of Hartselle, a fishing guide on the Tennessee River. “I’m really looking forward to the Pickwick tournament.”

Crow won a tournament on Pickwick March 8 with a 23 pounds, 4 ounces catch. He expects it will take more weight to win the Alabama Bass Trail Tournament.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see several bags over 30 pounds weighed in. “It’s probably going to take over 20 pounds just to get a check.”

Ryan Salzman of Huntsville is also expecting to see big weights at the Pickwick tournament.

“I am really excited about Pickwick. It’s an awesome lake. I fish there every chance I get,” Salzman said.

Salzman said the Alabama Bass Trail tournament is coming at the perfect time to catch big largemouth and smallmouth bass on Pickwick Lake.

“The bass are starting to move up,” Salzman said. “The fishing should really blow up  on Pickwick about the time the Bass Trail has its tournament there.”

Crow said there will plenty of places on Pickwick to catch big fish during the tournament.

“There are lakes that are a lot bigger than Pickwick that fish a whole lot smaller,” Crow said. “On Pickwick, you can catch good fish from one dam to the other. There’s not many lakes where you can do that. On most lakes, it’s easy to look at a map and cross out areas that aren’t worth fishing. On Pickwick, it’s hard to pick out the places you want to fish because there are so many good ones.”

He said the lake is chock-full of 4, 5 and 6 – pound bass.

He said it one of a few lakes in the country where anglers can catch a lunker-size largemouth and a lunker-size smallmouth on back-to-back casts.

Salzman said there are also some big spotted bass in the lake.

Crow and Salzman expect a variety of baits will be working well during the Pickwick tournament.

“I expect you will be able to throw pretty much anything you want to and catch fish,” Crow said. “Crankbaits, spinnerbait, jig and soft plastics are all going to work.”