Date:1/24/2010
joshua bracamontes's Journal
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Wilson Lake Fishing
Randy Jones and I made it out to Wilson Lake last Sunday. This Tennessee River impoundment is sandwiched in between Wheeler and Pickwick and harbors some of the best bass fishing in the country. Lately, it has been tough with low water temperature and constant cold. We had about one week of warmer weather which jumped the water temps up and got the bass moving.
We started fishing main lake points around the ramp with DD 22's, Omega Custom Tackle football jigs and Lucky Craft jerkbaits. The water was 49 degrees with a slight stain. It looked perfect but to no avail. We moved into a nearby marina out of the the main current flow. Once again, it looked perfect but no takers. A large creek was just down river so we fished bluffs near the mouth. The water was much dirtier here and it was 1 degree warmer than the main lake. Still no takers. I remember fishing bluffs way back in the creeks last January with similar water conditions. The bass were all over them and we decided to check and see if they would be there this year as well.
On the way back we saw birds on nearly every point which got me thinking the fish were sarting to move up. When we reached our first bluff in the back of the creek the water temperature had jumped up to 52 degrees. Having seen the birds, we decided to focus on the bluff ends. Our first stop produced a nice bass about 3 lbs. on a DD22. Five minutes later, Randy hooks up with a nice bass on the jig but doesn't get a good hook set. It comes unbuttoned. Nearly every bluff end we hit gave up a bass or two. The Omega football jig was our best presentation, but the DD 22 and the jerkbait produced as well. Over the next couple of hours we came up with about a three pound average.
Relying on past patterns isn't always the answer, in fact, fishing the past can often result in a wasted day on the water. However, on this day, while everybody else focused on the main lake like the books say to do this time of year, we raked up a nice sack relying on past experience.
Josh Bracamontes
