Steve Hacker's

Pickwick Lake Smallmouth Services, Inc.

Featuring Catch and Release Fishing for Trophy Smallmouth Bass

Home Trip Info/FAQ E-mail Steve

Photo Galleries

I have tried to include as much known information as possible with the pictures in the galleries: subject identities, date of catch, bait used, weight (I use Chatillon scales), etc. Please know that we do our absolute best to take care of the fish and release them to fight again. These fish are just too special to be caught only once, and especially with the excellent replica mounts now available.

    Big Pickwick Smallmouths

    Wilson Lake Fish

    Largemouths and Spots

    Stripers

    Other "Exotics"

    Passages: A Tribute Page

    Family and Other Interests

Big Pickwick Smallmouths        Here you will find pictures of fish like these caught by Marlin & 

          (click link above)                  Butch Skillern from Bowling Green, KY:

                                                          

                                                            Marlin and Butch caught these fish on December 21 on a brutally

                                                            cold day. Butch (right) is holding two fish that cracked the 7 pound   

                                                            mark. And with other giants, including each getting a 6# 6oz. 

                                                            fish, their five best fish that day (I ran the boat for them,  but did   

                                                            not fish at all) pulled my Chatillon scales down to 

                                                            exactly 32 lbs. 0 oz.! The fish were caught  on a plastic 

                                                            shad type bait called a "Cocahoe Minnow", usually 

                                                            used in salt water for speckled trout.

 

Wilson Lake Fish                           Sometimes flood conditions make Pickwick unfishable, or the      

(click link above)                             bite just may be better at times on Wilson Lake. I don't fish 

                                                            Wilson  nearly as much, but I've still had many five fish strings from

                                                            Wilson  that  weighed over 25#, like these caught with Brad Barker 

                                                            and Bill Balsi, Jr., from Reno, NV:

                                                          

                                                            These were caught the last week of March on tubes, spinnerbaits,

                                                            and crankbaits. Two days earlier Brad had boated a 6 lb. 8 oz. 

                                                            smallmouth down on Pickwick (picture is in the Pickwick gallery), 

                                                            and he lost a fish on a tube right at the boat this day on Wilson 

                                                            that was much bigger than his 6-8. Our state record smallmouth 

                                                            bass, 10 lb. 8 oz., came from Wilson Lake.

 

Largemouths and Spots             I don't believe that there is a lake anywhere in the world where an

      (click link above)                      angler has a better chance of catching a bigger bass "grand slam" 

                                                            than on Pickwick. Check out some big largemouths and spotted 

                                                            bass in this gallery:

                                                          

                                                             10/26/05  Tom Stemberger                  11/4/05  Jim Walker

                                                                         Griffin, GA                                           Franklin, TN

                                                                Pickwick Largemouth                          4# Pickwick Spots

 

Stripers                                          There are times when we literally wear our arms out catching big 

(click link above)                          stripers . . . 20's, 30's, 40's--and some so big we can't slow them

                                                         down with our bass tackle! Check out this gallery for more pix of

                                                          big stripers like this monster that Joseph Poole from 

                                                          Stockbridge, GA, is struggling to hold up:

                                                           

                                                         Joseph and I caught several big stripers this day, February 3, 2004

                                                          but we also lost several more huge fish that both straightened VMC

                                                          hooks and broke lines like it was sewing thread. Most fish,

                                                          including the one pictured, were caught on Zoom Super Flukes 

                                                          rigged on heavy headheads.

 

Other "Exotics"                            We have caught as many as 13 different species of fish in one day

(click link above)                           on Pickwick on artificial baits, and routinely catch sauger, white

                                                          bass, hybrids, rock bass, 3 species of catfish, skipjack herring, 

                                                          freshwater drum, bluegill, crappie, gar, and other fish while fishing   

                                                          for big smallmouth bass--hey, Bob Smith from Springfield, MO,        

                                                          even caught a PIRANHA with me on a trip a few years ago--no 

                                                           kidding!  This gallery contains pictures of some of

                                                           these other "exotics" (my thanks to Paul Bruun for categorizing

                                                           these other fish with such a noble label!).

                                                                     

                                                            Here are Elliott and Jonathan posing with a big

                                                            flathead catfish that I caught in May '98 on a brown/green hair jig 

                                                            while bass fishing. And back in March of '91, on a trip with

                                                            Keith Gottfried and Tom Schultz, I caught (with a LOT of their

                                                            help getting it in the boat) a 69# 8oz. blue catfish on 6# line

                                                            using a white bucktail jig, also bass fishing. I don't even have

                                                            a picture of that fish, nor of the 50 pound flathead that Keith

                                                            caught with me a few years later on a trip with his wife, Pam.

                                                            We took TONS of pictures, but using slide film so it could be

                                                            used in magazines, which it was. Lots more catfish, hybrids, and 

                                                            other "stuff" in this gallery.

 

Passages: A Tribute Page          When you've done this for as many years as I have, it's inevitable

       (click link above)                      that you're going to lose some of your clients and friends. This

                                                            page is a tribute to those who have passed on to the next life,

                                                            like "Big" Ben McClary.

                                                                     

                                                            Most days that I'm out I understand and accept that I'm not the best

                                                            fisherman on the lake; there are a LOT of great fishermen around 

                                                            here. But sometimes, like when I was fishing with Ben, I know that 

                                                            I'm not even the best fisherman in the boat! Ben was one of the 

                                                            handful of best fishermen I've ever known, and it was my privilege 

                                                            to have fished with him for the better part of 25 years. More about 

                                                            Ben, and other clients and friends who have passed on, here.

 

Family and Other Interests          This page has pictures of my family doing outdoors related 

    (click link above)                         activities. From Elliott's first 6# smallmouth, to their first deer and 

                                                            ducks, this has some great stuff. 

                                  

1901 County Road 10, Florence, Alabama 35633-2959

Phone: (256)760-8090       E-mail: info@smallmouth.com

 

                                                                                                                      

Acts 2:38                                                   Long May She Wave!                                              Mark 16:16

                                        With Deepest Thanks to All Veterans, Past and Present.