Trophy smallmouth fishing

Even though their bite is light, anglers can cure winter blues by landing trophy brown bass.

Most people consider smallmouth bass a “northern” fish since it likes colder water more than a largemouth, but the South offers some of the best trophy smallmouth fishing anywhere.

“Pickwick Lake is one of the premier smallmouth waters in the nation,” said Dustin Rodgers, a fisheries biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in Tupelo. “In Mississippi, smallmouth bass only occur in Pickwick and Bay Springs lakes. Those waterbodies have cooler water temperatures, so they can sustain smallmouth bass.”

Pickwick Lake spreads through 47,500 acres across parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The lake runs from Wilson Dam in Florence, Ala., 53 miles down the Tennessee River to Pickwick Dam at Counce, Tenn. Near Wilson Dam, the lake still resembles the swift old river channel, but the lower portion in Mississippi widens into a more characteristic southern reservoir. Since the lake straddles the ranges of many northern and southern fish, anglers can catch many species in one day.

“We are a multispecies guide service,” Gary Harlan, from Tishomingo, said. “We’re all about whatever’s biting at the time. When fishing for smallmouth, we never know what we might catch. I’ve sat in one spot in the wintertime and caught largemouth, smallmouth, crappie, white bass, bluegill, catfish, and never moved the boat, all on a jigging spoon with the water temperatures in the 40s.”

The lake produced many smallies in the 5- to 8-pound range and some approaching double digits. Pickwick also produced monster largemouth with at least one hitting 14.50 pounds and many huge spotted bass. Thomas Wilbanks set the Mississippi state smallmouth record with a 7-pound, 15-ounce brownie. 

“Pickwick is a dynamite lake for big smallmouth,” said Roger Stegall, a professional bass angler and guide from Iuka. “I’ve heard of some 10-pound smallmouth. I caught one about eight pounds. People can catch big smallmouth anywhere in Pickwick Lake. I’ve caught smallmouth in Mississippi waters weighing up to 7.25 pounds and many in the 6- to 7-pound range.”

The winter offers one of the best times to catch massive smallmouth in Mississippi waters. That’s when big females swollen with roe reach their maximum size before spawning.

“Fishing Pickwick in the winter largely depends upon the water temperature,” Harlan said. “That determines how active the fish are. As long as the temperatures are in the upper 40s to low 50s and up, people can catch smallies in Pickwick. When it gets colder than that, the smallmouth become less active.”

Smallmouth like more current and cooler temperatures than largemouth. Like largemouth, smallies build nests on gravel bottoms, but typically a little deeper and earlier. Pickwick brownies usually begin spawning mid-March. Spawning continues through May.

“I’ve caught some big strings of pre-spawn smallmouth from mid-February through early March,” Stegall said. “In the winter, fish closer to the main river channel. Look for smallmouth on gravel bars, drop-offs in about eight to 10 feet of water and ledges that come out off the bank where the current breaks around them. The upper end of State Line Island is a good place to fish for pre-spawn smallies. Behind the island, it has a lot of gravel bars and points.”

Smallmouth eat anything that might tempt a largemouth and hit many of the same lures. Both love crawfish. Anything that mimics a crawfish could deliver exciting fishing on a cold day.

“For pre-spawn smallmouth, I fish on bottom with 3/8-ounce football head jig tipped with a 4-inch Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw,” Stegall said. “I like green pumpkin or blue craw. I also like a color called green pumpkin party. It has some gold, red, and silver glitter in it.”

In cold water, work a jig extremely slowly. Lethargic cold-blooded fish won’t chase anything. Also, they might grab a chunkier bait to gulp one big meal that will last them a while without expending too much energy doing it. Drag a jig a short way across the bottom and let it sit there a long time.

“One day, I got a backlash and the bait was not moving while I tried to get the backlash out,” Stegall said. “When I got it out, I picked up my rod and a fish was swimming off with the bait. I started dead-sticking it. Often in the winter, the bite is so light, people don’t even feel it. They might just see the line move. Hook sets are free. There’s no ‘three strikes and you’re out’ like in baseball. Swing on anything.”

For probing deeper holes, work a creature bait with a Carolina rig. Use a 1-ounce weight. For the main line, Stegall recommends fluorocarbon because it sinks. Monofilament floats so use it for the leader to give a temptation more buoyancy. 

A chrome jigging spoon or a drop-shot rig make excellent winter enticements, particularly for fishing deep current breaks, rock piles, humps and other underwater contours. Fished vertically, a spoon flutters down to the bottom quickly and resembles a dying shad. After a spoon hits bottom, jig it up a few times. With a drop-shot, just let it sit on bottom and twitch the line to make the soft-plastic lure wiggle subtly.

“When fishing gets tough, I go to a jigging spoon,” Harlan said. “In January and February, smallmouth are generally pretty deep. I’ve caught them as deep as 35 feet. I’ll fish the outside of creek bends and where creeks meet the main channel. They’ll hang around rocks and steeper bluff banks during the winter.”

When temperatures drop too severely, it shocks or kills many shad. Sometimes, stunned shad appear dead and just flutter around in the current. In the winter, smallmouth key on those dead or dying sources of protein.

“If I don’t catch fish on a jig, I’ll throw a suspending jerkbait,” Stegall said. “I fish it with a slow ‘jerk-jerk-stop’ rhythm. When fishing in cold water, let it sit there a long time. Sometimes, I let it sit 30 seconds or more without jerking it. I run the jerkbait anywhere from four to 10 feet down on 10-pound fluorocarbon line. In the winter, I also like to slow-roll a 3/4-ounce spinnerbait through about 10 to 15 feet of water.”

An Alabama or umbrella rig is another hot bait for cold-water fishing. The wire harness that spreads in the water like an umbrella frame allows anglers to fish several baits at once. Sweeten the rig with multiple swimbaits to simulate an entire baitfish school.

“At Pickwick in the winter, I fish an Alabama rig around the creek mouths,” Harlan said. “Before I pick it up, I look for shad in the slack water behind the points. That’s where the baitfish pile up when they release a lot of water from the dam.”

If the water warms a bit, try crankbaits. For probing the depths, use long-lipped baits. For running through rock piles, fallen trees and other cover, run a square-billed crankbait in reds, golds, browns and other crawfish colors through water eight to 10 feet deep.

In the winter, some of the best smallmouth fishing in Mississippi occurs in Bear Creek, Indian Creek and Yellow Creek. Almost like another lake, Bear Creek enters the system near the Mississippi-Alabama state line. The largest tributary of Pickwick Lake runs about 15 miles.

The Mississippi state record came out of Yellow Creek, birthplace of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. It flows into Pickwick near where the Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi state lines converge.

Magnolia State anglers can also fish Bay Springs Lake, the only waterbody entirely within Mississippi that holds smallmouth bass. The northernmost impoundment on the Tenn.-Tom, Bay Springs connects to Pickwick Lake through Yellow Creek via the 29-mile-long Divide Cut. The lake covers about 6,700 acres in Tishomingo and Prentiss counties.

“Bay Springs is a highland reservoir,” Rodgers said. “It’s really clear and much deeper than most other lakes in Mississippi. Bay Springs Lake is a great winter bass fishery, but anglers typically catch more largemouth and spotted bass than smallmouth. In the winter, follow the baitfish.”

Although Bay Springs doesn’t produce as many smallmouth as Pickwick, it does hold some lunkers. However, most people know it for producing giant spotted bass. It also holds an excellent largemouth population.

“Bay Springs is more famous for its spots than smallmouth,” Harlan said. “In 2020, an angler caught a 7-pound, 1-ounce spot at Bay Springs. I’ve caught two or three spots in the 6-pound range. Any of the deep extended points, particularly the main lake part of Bay Springs, are key spots for smallmouth.”

With an Alabama license, people can fish the entire lake from dam to dam. Mississippi license holders can fish Pickwick a little past Bear Creek. They can also fish Bear Creek all the way back to the railroad bridge. Mississippi anglers can fish all of Bay Springs Lake with their state license.