Monster Smallies

I've known Steve Hacker for a number of years and get to fish with him now and then on his home waters in north Alabama.  Steve is probably the foremost smallmouth guide in the region and knows those lakes as well as anyone who's ever fished them.  I get regular fishing reports from him but this most recent was so good I thought our readers would enjoy reading it.

Jimmy

PICKWICK FISHING REPORT

2.25.13
Water temp: 48.2 degrees
TVA discharge rate: spillways reopened; approx. 104,000 cfs/24 hr. period.
Lake elevation: risimg; approx. 419

Pinching myself to make sure that I'm not just having a dream about a day full of giant fish! Mat Lipscomb came over from the Memphis area and met up with former Memphis State college roommate and good friend Rick Benson. Having known both of them for years, I was really looking forward to the day. Little did we know when we launched what kind of day it would turn out to be!

Mat was the keeper of records, as he brought two sets of Chatillon scales with him, and a piece of paper and pen to keep track of what we caught. The first place we fished yielded nothing, but a move proved to be just what we needed.

Our five best today weighed in at almost 32 pounds! Our 10 best liked 2 ounces weighing 53 pounds! Each of us contributed big fish and had something to crow about!

Rick had the big fish at 9-1, a magnificent largemouth, his personal best. Mat had the big smallmouth, I think equaling his personal best, Rick had the big spot, and Mat said that I had the best 5 fish individual string of the three of us at 25-10.

We had a Grand Slam of smallmouth, largemouth, and spot—3 fish Slam—that weighed 17-11! Rick had a Grand Slam by himself that weighed 16-8! Where else can you do that? What a lake!

A couple of fish were caught early on on jerkbaits, but the great majority of the fish were caught on Strike King Pro Model Football Jigs in ½ and ¾ oz weights trailed with Rage Craw trailers. Even after washing and eating supper, my fingers still smell like Kick'n'Bass Craw, and that's just fine with me.

Greatly blessed we were today, as the weather and water conditions were pretty rough, and getting rougher as I write (I can hear the thunder approaching in the distance, and some storms with even bigger winds than the 20-25 mph we had today are forecast for tonight).

Enjoy the pix, and all the fish were released in great shape just as soon as we took these. A replica mount of the big 9-1 is planned.

God bless,
Steve Hacker
www.smallmouth.com

Pickwick Smallmouth

If your passion is chasing trophy smallmouth bass, the number one place in the southeast has to be Alabama's Pickwick Lake near Florence, AL. And the number one guide for those big fish in Pickwick is Steve Hacker. My friend Jim Bruce has been fishing with Steve for almost 20 years and has trips booked years in advance. When Jim asked me to tag along with him for a quick run over to fish on Tuesday of this week, I couldn't turn it down. I've been there before and it is definitely worth the trip. No fly fishing this time as I'm still trying to learn the nuances of how you catch these guys. When in Rome, you know. Pickwick Lake is essentially a controlled river in that there is almost always a current running between Wilson Dam and Pickwick Dam. And that current determines when and how you fish. Last week there was an FLW bass tournament on the lake and, while he's not much on bragging, Steve's clients who were out with him at the same time as the tournament were outfishing the pros by a substantial margin. Here is Steve's description of the day:

"386 anglers blasted off at 6:30 this morning in the FLW Stren Series Championship. Hank Chitwood, from near Calhoun, GA, had the "misfortune" of having a trip scheduled with his son, Caleb, while all of this madness is going on.

"Pulled up on the first spot this morning, and Hank hooked a giant within 3 seconds. Unfortunately, it broke his line. Not to worry, though, as by 7:30 they had a livewell full of smallmouths, with the five best at over 25#. They caught about 30 smallmouths for the day, and lost 4 giants (2 breakoffs and 2 jump offs). Could have probably had a five best of 27 pounds or so, as the second big fish Hank lost right at the boat was a giant. Something interesting: for the first time that I can ever remember, nothing but smallmouth were boated for the day. No drum, spots, or anything other than those beautiful brown bass."


Jim and I didn't have the day the Chitwoods had but it was plenty fun. At our first stop, we fished for about an hour and had only four casts between us during that time that didn't result in a strike or a hookup. It was wild! Steve is strictly catch and release and he does on occasion guide fly anglers. It sprinkled rain on us all morning (thankfully the heavy downpours were just east of us all day) but the fishing was so good we didn't mind at all. The sun broke out after lunch and the weather was absolutely beautiful. A great day on the water!