Entry 55-2
Roger Stegall's Secrets For Catching Smallmouth On Pickwick Lake
Fall Fishing For Giant Smallmouth
Editor's Note: Roger Stegall, of Iuka, Mississippi, has guided on Pickwick Lake on the Mississippi,/ Tennessee/ Alabama border for 16 years and has fished the lake for 27 years. He's seen an 8 3/4-pound smallmouth come from Pickwick Lake, and he's also weighed in a 5-fish limit of smallmouth that weighed 27 pounds, 6 ounces. "I saw Leon Tidwell and a friend of his catch a 10-fish limit that weighed 52 pounds," says Stegall. "I believe the next world-record smallmouth will come from Pickwick Lake. Two 10-pound smallmouth have been caught from Pickwick in the last year."
Stegall: Fall is an excellent time to catch big smallmouth at Pickwick. I learned a secret this past fall that really increased the number of big smallmouth that I caught. I fished the Strike King Quad Shad for big smallmouth. To be honest with you, I thought the Quad Shad spinner bait was a sales gimmick to sell more new and different spinner baits. So, I was really reluctant to try it.
I wasn't excited about Strike King's Quad Shad spinner bait because it has four small willow-leaf blades. I'd always believed that you needed a big-bladed spinner bait to catch big smallmouth, but I learned I was wrong. Once I started fishing the white 1/4-ounce Quad Shad spinner bait, I found I could fish this spinner bait around grass and shallow ledges, especially when the current runs through the lake. I caught a lot of fish in the 4-to 6-pound range using this bait during the fall.
If I can't make the big smallmouth bite the Quad Shad, then I fish the Diamond Shad lipless crankbait. I like the 1/4-ounce size with a chrome-and-blue back or a chrome-and-black back. I fish this bait anywhere I see smallmouth busting shad on the surface or anywhere I see smallmouth schooling.
