Entry 55-3
Roger Stegall's Secrets For Catching Smallmouth On Pickwick Lake
Big Smallmouth In The Dead Of Winter
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: The winter months are usually the worst time of the year to catch big smallmouth at Pickwick. However, they also can be the best time of the year to catch big smallmouth at Pickwick if you watch the weather. If the water temperature is in the low 50s (between 52 or 54 degrees), smallmouth fishing this lake can be outstanding. While we don't get those water conditions every year, we do some years. When we get warm weather in the wintertime, head to Pickwick Lake for some unseasonably-good smallmouth action.
Two years ago we had those warm-water conditions in December and January. I fished with two customers one morning, and we caught 14 smallmouth without moving the boat. Those 14 fish weighed 59 pounds. A couple of days later I fished with one customer for two days. We caught 8 one day and 5 the next; those 13 fish weighed 54 pounds.
During this time of the year, I primarily fish the new 3X Grub. I like this lure in smoke glitter and chartreuse glitter. I'll fish these colors on either a 3/16- or a 3/8-ounce jighead. The size of head I use is determined by the amount of current that's being pulled through the lake. I'll cast the grub out, let it fall to the bottom, raise it up from the bottom, reel it two or three times and let it fall back to the bottom. When smallmouth bite, even big smallmouth, they feel like a bream pecking the lure.
