Summer Fishing Spot: Tennessee’s Pickwick Reservoir Prime For Stripers
Bob McNally 07.25.16
From late spring through October, striped bass and hybrid bass (white bass-striped bass cross) jam in the tailrace water below Pickwick Reservoir, located on the Alabama-Tennessee border near the towns of Savannah, Tennessee, and Iuka, Mississippi.
During those months anglers fishing with live shad or herring baits commonly catch 10 to 12 fish per boat per day, with stripers averaging 10 to 12 pounds and hybrids weigh 4 to 7 pounds. Sometimes striper anglers also catch heavyweight catfish. Great smallmouth bass fishing for 2 to 5 pounders also is available in the Tennessee River around backwater riprap during late summer and early autumn.
Like most TVA waters, Pickwick is loaded with excellent facilities for visitors, with boat ramps and marinas spotted almost everywhere. For serious fishermen, The Botel (1010 Botel Ln., Savannah, Tenn. 38372, phone 731-925-8500, www.thehistoricbotel.com/) is the best place in the area to stay.
David Harbin (phone 877-214-4924) is one of the better area striper guides.
