Mason noted that fishing pressure always seems to be on the increase on Pickwick. Like Troy Jens, he's concerned about gill-netting on the lake.

"Even though they're trying to catch rough fish," he said, "they stretch these nets across spawning grounds, and they can't help but catch some smallmouth too,"

If you like to fish on bluebird spring days, smallmouth fishing on the Tennessee River might not be for you. Mason prefers to target smallmouths on Pickwick when the weather is at its worst.

"I like to fish on a cloudy, windy day," he admitted. "My perfect smallmouth day has a high temperature of maybe 40 degrees and winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour. It seems like the fish are up higher on a day like that, and I'm going to throw the grub at them a lot more."

GUNTERSVILLE LAKE
For years, it was thought that smallmouth bass simply did not exist in Guntersville Lake. That began to change about six to eight years ago when bronzebacks began to show up more and more frequently in the impoundment.

But make no mistake -- the largemouth bass continues as the king of Guntersville Lake. There are perhaps thousands of largemouths caught there for every smallmouth that is landed.

While biologists now acknowledge the presence of smallmouths in Lake Guntersville, they say that reservoir doesn't have the rocky riverine habitat necessary to ever produce bronzebacks in great abundance.

Few anglers actually go out and target smallmouths on this impoundment. Rather, smallmouths are caught incidentally by anglers fishing for largemouths.

An interesting development regarding smallmouth fishing did occur last July on the lake. Terry Slaten of Boaz was fishing a Carolina rig in 22 feet of water a mile out from Waterfront Grocery when he caught a 6-pound, 8-ounce smallie. It's believed to be a new lake record for smallmouth bass.

"The place I caught mine was in a part of the river where people have told me you can't catch a smallmouth," Terry mused.

He was fishing with Boaz-based guide Dave McKinney, who thought Terry had a drum when he first hooked the fish.

"It went down and stayed down," Slaten recounted. "It took me about five minutes to get it in."

He almost turned the fish back, but then decided to have it mounted.

Terry and Dave caught seven bass that day. All the others were largemouths, and none was bigger than the smallmouth.

If you're an Alabama largemouth angler in need of a new adventure, you might want to look into this smallmouth fishing on the Tennessee River.

SUMMING IT UP
The bite is on right now whether you hit Wheeler, Pickwick or Wilson. Anglers wanting a proven producer might want to try Pickwick. Those looking for an overlooked opportunity may want to hit the lower end of Wheeler.

And who knows, you might even land a new lake-record smallmouth by accident while you're fishing for largemouths on Guntersville.