Last week one of my friends, Don Wykoff, told me his son, Brian was out of school this week for spring break and he wanted to do something special for him. Brian attends Chelsea High School and their spring break is different from ours. He is going on a trip with one of his friends’ family later in the week so Don wanted to take him on a smallmouth bass fishing trip early in the week. Although Brian is an excellent fisherman, he has never caught a smallmouth bass. After checking the weather forecast for this week I pointed out that the first part of the week we were supposed to have lows in the mid-30s and highs in the low-50s. And to make matters worse there was a high pressure system moving in with winds from 25 to 35 mph. Actually this was just about the worst possible week for fishing that we could have had, but it was the only time Brian could go. Finally I reluctantly gave in.
The only place in Alabama where smallmouth bass are found is in the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state. And to make matters worse I have only caught a few smallies myself, so what kind of guide would I be? I figured our best bet would be to drift fish with live shad below Wheeler Dam since I don’t know that much about how to catch smallmouth anyway. I figured we could at least catch something drifting and Brian would be satisfied that we at least tried.
We arrived about lunchtime and decided to test the waters so to speak, in Shoal Creek since the wind was blowing about 35 mph. and the waves were about 3 feet high in the open water. There was no way we could get out on the big water in that kind of wind. We finally did catch five or six largemouth bass, but no smallmouth. We figured maybe the weatherman was wrong and it would be better tomorrow. He was.
The wind only blew 20 to 30 mph that day. We found a somewhat sheltered boat launch in a rocky bend of the river so we launched my boat and fished in that small area. Smallmouth bass are supposed to like rocky areas and I have heard they like small baits too.
My two guests opted to use small plastic worms while I used my trusty old slider crappie jig. I figured if nothing else bit, I could at least catch some crappie and bream. Well, Don and Brian caught about 15 nice largemouth bass on the plastic worms, some close to 4 pounds and I caught about 20 nice, big, fat bream on my crappie jig.
Don finally caught a smallmouth bass weighing around 2 pounds at about 4 p.m. we caught eight more smallmouth on crappie jigs before dark and Brian was one happy fisherman. After catching a few smallies on light tackle I can see why it is such a popular game fish. I hate to say it, but they fight harder than a spotted bass and jump more than a largemouth. They can be caught on spinnerbaits, crankbaits, plastic worms and jigs in all the smaller sizes. Light line works best.
Wilson Lake is the smallest lake on the Tennessee River, yet it has some of the best fishing. Most of the shoreline is steep rocky bluffs, unlike our local lakes. If you get a chance give Wilson Lake a try for a different kind of fishing.
