Where and How to Catch Fish in August and Early September
with Roger Stegall at Pickwick Lake
Don’t Forget the White Bass
Editor’s
Note: Roger Stegall, the owner and operator of Roger
Stegall’s Professional Guide Service on Pickwick
Lake, which makes up the boundary of Tennessee, Mississippi
and Alabama, has fished Pickwick Lake for 32 years and
guided on the lake for 22 years. Unlike many guides,
Stegall will help you find and catch any species of
fish. He’s just as comfortable running a trotline
and catching catfish as he is guiding his clients to
smallmouth that weigh over 5-pounds each. He can put
you on a limit of white bass or show you where and how
to catch the biggest largemouth you’ve ever hooked.
You pick the species, and Stegall will locate the fish
and show you how to catch it.
Question: Roger, many people forget about the white
bass because they’re extremely plentiful, fun
and easy to catch, but they’re not glamour fish.
Do you ever guide for white bass?
Stegall: The white bass is a great alternative to the
largemouth or the smallmouth bass. If the largemouth-bass
and the smallmouth-bass fishing are slow, I prefer to
look for white bass. Then I know I can get my anglers’
rods bent and strings stretched and put smiles on their
faces. The white bass likes current
in the middle of the river. So, when I’m searching
for white bass, I’ll be fishing underwater humps,
Indian mounds and any kind of rise off the bottom at
Pickwick Lake where shad concentrate.
Question: What do you use to catch white bass?
Stegall: I prefer Strike King’s Sand Blaster,
Rocket Shad or white-colored grub. Most people throw
these baits on 6-, 8- or 10-pound-test line. However,
because you’re fishing where both largemouth and
spotted bass fishermen fish, there’s often a lot
of line underwater where you may get tangled-up. I fish
these baits on 17- or 20-pound-test line. So, if I get
hung-up in some of that line broken off underwater,
I can use that stronger line to break my lures free.
Question: What colors do you like in the Sand Blaster,
the Rocket Shad and the grub?
Stegall: I like chartreuse, pearl and white. One of
my favorite colors is the lime chartreuse. I also use
the shad and the blue-shad colors.
Question: What type of retrieve do you use?
Stegall: I cast these baits out and let them fall to
the bottom. If the white bass don’t take the lure
on the fall, once the bait hits the bottom, I hop it
up off the bottom and allow it to fall back to the bottom.
Question: How deep is the water where the white bass
will be holding?
Stegall: Many times I’ll catch the white bass
in water as shallow as 8 feet or as deep as 20 feet.
One of my favorite places to fish is the upstream ends
of underwater islands. If I find an underwater island
in 8 feet of water and the point of that island drops
off in 20 feet of water and is facing the current, I’ll
almost always find a good school of white bass holding
in this area. Too, I prefer 20-pound-test line here
because very rarely do you find schools of white bass
holding by themselves out on the points of these islands.
We have hybrid striped bass and saltwater stripes in
Pickwick, and most of the time when we’re fishing
for white bass, we’ll tie into one of those big
linesides that may weigh from 10 to 20 pounds. So, even
though your lures are set up to catch 2- to 3-pound
fish, when you hang into a 10- to a 15-pound hybrid
or striper, you’ll be glad you chose that 20-pound-test
line.
Question: How do you find these schools of white bass,
hybrids and stripers?
Stegall: I use my Lowrance depth finder, which will
light up those fish.
Question: How big are the white bass you’re catching?
Stegall: We catch a number of white bass that will weigh
from 1-1/2- to 3-pounds each. From now until Thanksgiving,
fishing for white bass will improve. When you’re
fishing for white bass, there’s a good chance
you’ll catch anything that swims in the Tennessee
River. I was fishing a tournament and pulled up on a
spot holding white bass. I started fishing right in
the middle of a big school of white bass busting the
surface. My partner asked, “What are you doing
catching white bass in the middle of a bass tournament?”
I smiled and said, “You’ll see.” The
next fish I hooked was a 5-pound smallmouth running
with the schooling white bass. After I landed that smallmouth,
I caught 10-more white bass and then another 5-pound
smallmouth. My partner and I won the tournament, and
I had the two biggest bass in the tournament. Some of
the best catfish spots on Pickwick are places where
I fish for white bass. We’ll occasionally catch
an 8- or a 10-pound catfish while we’re white-bass
fishing. When you decide to fish for white bass with
me, you not only will catch white bass, you’ll
also catch a good number of other fish.
To fish with Roger Stegall at Roger Stegall’s
Guide Service or learn more about the fish at Pickwick
Lake, call him at 662-433-3869, or visit www.fishpickwick.com,
or email rogstegall@fishpickwick.com.
For more information on staying at Pickwick Landing
State Park on Pickwick Lake, contact the Hardin County
Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at info@tourhardincounty.org,
call (731) 925-8181 or (800) 552-3866, or visit www.tourhardincounty.org.
Pickwick Landing State Park offers fishing, boating,
hiking, camping, swimming and golf. Lodging includes
the lakeside inn with over 100 rooms, cabins that sleep
eight and a campground that contains 48 sites with grill
and electric/water hookup at each site. A restaurant
at the park offers delicious southern cuisine. Call
(731) 689-3135 or (800) 250-8615 to learn more.
Tomorrow: Here Kitty, Kitty,
Kitty
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