Bass pro and guide Jimmy Mason of Rogersville is hoisting the kind of smallmouth bass that can be caught from Pickwick Lake right now. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Mason.

Early spring and late fall are often thought of as peak times for catching smallmouth bass on the Tennessee River in North Alabama. But May is an overlooked period whose fishing can be just as good as that during those other peaks.

In fact, for Jimmy Mason -- a Bassmaster Elite touring pro who calls Rogersville home and frequently fishes the big water of the Tennessee River -- it’s one of the favorite times of year for smallmouth fishing.

“The fish are coming off the spawn in May,” he said. “They’re hungry, and they’re feeding up. The topwater bite is also picking up, which makes it a really exciting time to fish for smallmouths.”

When he’s not on the tour, Mason guides for bass on his home waters. He’s spent hundreds of days -- if not thousands -- fishing the river, so he’s intimately familiar with what it takes to land lots of bronzebacks.

Another man who calls this section of river home is Phil Ekema, a fisheries biologist out of the Swan Creek office of the Alabama Department of Conservation’s Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

Like Mason, Ekema makes his living on the waters of the Tennessee River, sampling the fish populations on this stretch of water and reporting his findings to the DWFF and the public. But when he’s not working in his official capacity, he likes to drop a hook in those same waters to try catching a sporty smallmouth.

These men will be our guides as we explore the smallmouth fishing in North Alabama. Like tournament anglers everywhere, Mason fishes exclusively with artificial baits, and so can offer tips on the sorts of these to use for smallies on the Tennessee. Ekema’s the opposite: He likes to use live bait.

Each men considers his particular style of fishing to be the most productive -- and an angler who likes either or both styles of angling can pick up tips from each that might help connect on more smallies this spring.

RANKING THE RESERVOIRS
When you talk about smallmouth fishing in North Alabama, you’re essentially talking about going to one of three Tennessee Valley Authority impoundments -- Pickwick, Wilson and Wheeler.

A few smallmouths show up from time to time to in Guntersville Lake, but the habitat of weeds and wood debris is such there that the largemouth will always be king and the spotted bass No. 2 among that lake’s black bass. Smallmouths also show up in the small Bear Creek reservoirs from time to time, but that habitat too is predominantly largemouth water.

Smallmouths were stocked years ago in Inland Lake, just north of Birmingham. One is still occasionally caught there today, but the lake lacks a real smallmouth fishery.

The same is true for Smith Lake, a little south of the Tennessee River. From time to time, according to fisheries biologist Ekema, someone reports catching a smallie there. “Smallmouth are not native to that lake,” he said. “What you have is a fish that someone has transported from the Tennessee River and released. Then someone else has caught it.” He added that such “midnight stocking” is illegal and unethical.

Mason and Ekema may not agree on the best methods for catching a smallmouth bass, but they do agree that Pickwick Lake is the best smallmouth water in Bama. This reservoir has a lot of rocky habitat and good swift current flows, both of which smallmouths seem to prefer. But Mason feels there’s another reason why the smallmouths do so well on Pickwick.