ALWAYS ON
Pick a time — any time — the striped bass below Pickwick Dam are biting
COUNCE, Tenn. — Most anglers who target the giant striped bass below Pickwick Landing Dam have one particular part of the day when they enjoy doing it.
Some leave the Memphis area at 4 a.m. and drive 90 minutes to make their first casts at daylight. They fish until lunch and leave just ahead of the worst heat.
Others arrive on the water around 5:30 p.m., just as the summer heat is starting to break. Their plan is to fish until dark and drive back to Memphis by bedtime.
But longtime Pickwick Lake fishing guide Clagett Talley says the fish can be caught any time of day — and even all day long — if you’re willing to change tactics, brave the heat and move deep along with the fish.
“Most people like to fish early in the morning or late in the afternoon because that’s when it’s most comfortable,” Talley said. “But the fish are feeding all day long — and as long as you’re getting a bait in front of them, you’re gonna have a chance to catch one.”
Human comfort isn’t the only reason many anglers prefer morning and evening fishing for striped bass. The fishing is often very fast-paced during those periods, especially if you enjoy using topwater lures.
Talley has been having good success recently with the walking bait from Collierville-based Strike King Lure Company known as the “Sexy Dawg.” He’s also been doing well during the early-morning and lateevening hours with the Strike King KVD and Wild Shiner Jerkbaits.
He said the strike on the lures is “almost too good” at times.
“If you’re looking at the bait when the fish bites it, sometimes you’ll actually get so excited that you’ll set the hook too hard and pull the bait out of the fish’s mouth,” Talley said. “They just hit it so hard, it’s like an explosion.”
Sometimes he even advises his customers not to look at the topwater lures while they’re retrieving them.
“A lot of times it’s better to look away from the bait and just set the hook when you hear the strike,” Talley said. “You do better sometimes just letting those big treble hooks do the work for you.”
Either way, it’s one of the more exciting experiences a fisherman can have in the MidSouth.
“A 10-pound fish will feel like a 40- or 50-pound fish for the first few minutes on topwater gear,” Talley said. “They hit hard and then they start ripping line out. I always keep my drag set loose, so they can tire themselves out without pulling off the hook.”
Talley relies on topwater lures for fast action during the low-light periods of morning and evening — and he always keeps one handy in case he sees a fish or two busting baitfish along the surface.
But during the middle of the day when the sun is high, he changes techniques.
As soon as he notices the topwater strikes are getting few and far between, Talley tries using one of Strike King’s deep-water baits like the Redfish Glass Minnow on a heavy jig head. If that doesn’t do the trick, he switches to the old standby — live bait.
“When the fish move deep, you’ve got to make the move with them,” Talley said. “You might pick off a fish here and there all day on topwater, but it’s best to go with something you can keep in their strike zone all day like that Redfish Glass Minnow or whatever the best live bait species is at the moment.”
Talley has had several good days this summer using small bluegill for bait, but he said that method has slowed quite a bit. He switched recently to using live skip-jack minnows he catches himself on Sabiki Rigs.
He recommends f ishing from the boils near the dam all the way back to the end of the swiftest water — and he said a 3-ounce sinker is a must when they’re running four generators or more at Pickwick Landing Dam, as they’ve done often this summer.
“It’s important because it gets your bait down into the fish’s strike zone faster and keeps you from wasting time,” said Talley, whose customers have caught several stripers recently that topped 20 pounds. “It also helps keep your bait in front of more fish — which is always going to give you more chances to catch them.”
The one thing Talley hasn’t been able to find a cure for during summer stripe-fishing trips is the midday heat. Temperatures will soon be topping 95 degrees most days.
But Buddy Isdale of Pocahontas, Tenn., even has a method for beating that.
“This time of year, I usually just catch three or four and run down the river a ways,” Isdale said. “Once I’m good and tired and sweaty from pulling in those fish, I take a swim break. When you swim for 20-30 minutes and run back up the river wet, you’re cool enough to start fishing again.”
Swimming is not allowed in proximity to Pickwick Landing Dam, and life jackets are mandatory from the public boat launch to the dam. But swimming is safe and legal downstream where the currents aren’t as strong.