Fishing
Smallmouth Tailrace Fury
“Watch out for that rock! Hang on,” Kevin Linley shouted, his voice rising above the sound of gurgling water. I grabbed the gunwale on the boat and gritted my teeth, waiting to hear the bottom of the fiberglass craft burst open. If we tore into one of the big boulders that were hiding just under the surface, the SOSpenders life jacket Kevin and I both were wearing were going to see some use.
Smooth as silk, the veteran Tennessee River guide eased the bass boat slowly between two hard perils and brought us momentarily into a pocket of open water. Finally, after several minutes of tricky navigation, we were in a position to do some fishing.
The surface current, created by the full force of the Tennessee River, boiled and surged, sending currents along the face of the dam and past the point of a small, narrow island that has somehow withstood the aquatic assault of the river for centuries. Both places are targets for late-season smallmouth, and an occasional largemouth of wall-hanger proportions.
Different than many upper South and lower Midwestern lakes in winter, the tailrace area below Wilson and Wheeler lakes create thousands of small pockets of protected water where hungry bass look for an easy meal every day of their lives. The dam side of the island point is a particularly hot spot in cold weather, when currents surge across the end. That’s what Kevin was hoping when he tossed out a Heddon Super Spook—a walking bait that hardly any game fish can resist at any time of the year.
Suddenly, a terrific swirl showed below the slow, side-to-side action lure an instant before it disappeared below the surface. “Smallmouth! A big smallmouth!” Kevin shouted, showing that his enthusiasm for catching bass hadn’t subsided one bit, though he has caught hundreds during the 15 years he’s guided anglers on this tailrace.
Skillfully, he worked the heavy-bodied fish close enough for me to slip the tangle-free rubber net beneath its wide, bronze flanks and lift it into the boat. Man, what a fish—a good four and a half-pounder! The smallie, Kevin, explained, is typical of the size fish that are caught all year long from this spot.
Sam Piatt, a long-time newspaperman who lives near my home in South Shore, Kentucky, had joined me on an invitation from Susann Hamlin who heads up the Colbert County Convention & Visitor Bureau—the area of northern Alabama where the two tailrace areas are located.
“You’ve got to come fish our tailwater areas,” she’d proclaimed earlier. “These places are dynamite for big smallmouth, and especially so during winter.”
The winter part caught Sam’s attention...and mine. We both love to fish for big smallmouth during the so-called off-season, and have been doing so at famed smallmouth producer Dale Hollow Lake for many years. The shallow water and rocky structure of the tailrace areas of both Wheeler and Wilson lakes located near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was something we had to try.
In comparison to Dale Hollow’s deep, slow presentation, here where numerous targets hold smallies in the four- to seven- sometimes eight-pound class, smallmouth are fished for much differently. Instead of jig combos and floating fly rigs, these big fish are suckers for the flash of a spinnerbait, and even a topwater lure, long after the frost has killed the pumpkins and the nearby cotton patches.
Sam and I arrived at the Holliday Inn in Muscle Shoals after a nine-hour drive in time to take a quick look-see at the tailrace areas with Kevin and Mark Robbins, who were waiting for us with their big 21-foot Bullet bass boat. Both men are second-generation Tennessee River guides, and they, my friends, know their business.
Our first stop was the tailrace below Wilson Dam that forms the headwaters of Pickwick Lake, long considered to be one of the trophy smallmouth lakes in the world. To test the waters, Mark had tied on a five-inch Super Spook to work the topwater game, while Kevin tossed a 3/8-ounce, twin-bladed spinnerbait. Both anglers focused on protected pockets, some no more than a foot across, where current hydraulics formed small eddy spots that allow game fish to rest away from the tug of the stronger flow.
Mark scored first when a four-pound smallie nailed his offering near the base of the dam. Later, Kevin was rewarded when a six-pound largemouth inhaled the heavy spinnerbait. Kevin explained that both species are plentiful in the tailrace during winter, and are joined by hybrid striped bass that run to 12 pounds (including stripers of 40 pounds and more).
As darkness closed in, the waters below Wilson emptied quickly as anglers maneuvered $40-50K bass boats sporting 250-300 hp outboards through the rocky obstacle course.
Over dinner, Kevin explained that the winter fishing scene below the tailrace areas are drawing anglers from hard water northern states like magnets. He said wintertime is tops for taking a big female smallmouth from the deeper pockets of the two tailraces (about 17 miles apart), noting the bass don’t necessarily go on a feeding spree when water temps drop to 50, then 40 degrees and lower, but due to their size, and because they have to lay on calories to develop the eggs they will spawn once water temperatures reach 60 degrees in April, they feed more than most would believe.
“Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a fishing bonanza, but winter fishermen figure a 40-45 degree day is just like one in early spring. Besides, where else does an angler have a better-than-even shot at catching a trophy bass or a huge striper in the middle of winter?” the veteran guide asked.
Like most tailraces in winter, Wheeler and Wilson Lake tailwaters attract hordes of baitfish, even when water temperatures are downright chilly. These lakes flow through the bottom of the dam, meaning the water is warmer in winter. The currents wash tons of algae into the tailrace that attracts feeding shad and yellowtail (a local baitfish). These are the principal food supply for all larger bass. The diet is also supplemented with a large crawfish population that lives under the rocks below the dams.
Experienced bass fishermen know that bass simply don’t bite as well in winter as other times of the year. That’s the case when fishing tailrace areas, also. But, as Kevin reports, there are so many quality bass that live in these places year-round, the chance for enticing a good fish to take your offering is better than in most lake habitats.
The absolute key to getting the attention of these fish is the presentation. Kevin likes a heavy twin-blade spinnerbait that can fall through the water column quickly. He also fishes a 1/2-ounce jig and trailer and, like Mark, will toss out the Spook when conditions warrant, which mostly means a glassy-smooth surface.
“Reading water.” The term originated with stream trout fishing. It means understanding hydraulics. In heavy currents, like those that exist in tailrace areas, bass seek out those places that require little energy to live in. Any eddy, regardless of size, located next to the edge of swirling current, is an ideal place for a big smallmouth to set up, awaiting a meal in the form of baitfish that must work the currents to find floating zooplankton or drifting algae (the principal food stuff for all minnows). Thus, it becomes critical for winter fishing success to present the lure or bait in those slackwater spots that allow a bass to pounce on the offering with little energy expended.
Kevin said there are countless such places that protect bass from currents in the tailrace. These include rocks, boulders, wing walls, the base of the dam, pockets along the shoreline, even the eddy formed by the front side of a standing wave. Since hidden spots beneath the surface are difficult to detect in tailwaters, Kevin recommends anglers allow their boat to drift with the current while casting a heavy, white spinnerbait quarterly upstream. The retrieve is a slow roll of the reel handle, which causes the blades to flit and flitter while the lure is moving slowly. The guide notes that when you can feel the big bait touch bottom now and then, your retrieve speed and direction is just right!