Pickwick Lake Primed for Phenomenal Springtime Slugfest

SAN ANTONIO, TX (March 26, 2025) – The first event of 2025 for the Association of Collegiate Anglers on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series is the Pickwick Slam.  This no-entry-fee, nationally televised major event will award over $20,000 in prizes and contingencies, as well as double points to count towards the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia.  The Pickwick Slam will take place at Pickwick Lake in Florence, AL on April 5^th – 6^th.

Pickwick Lake boasts 47,500 acres of surface water and spans 50 miles from dam to dam.  Approximately 490 miles of shoreline comprise the banks of Pickwick Lake.  That shoreline is lined with rock, wood, vegetation, and other great fish holding cover.  Along with the shoreline cover, Pickwick Lake is known for its abundant offshore structure too.

The 2025 Pickwick Slam will mark the third time in the last five years in which the ACA has contested an event on this famed fishery during the spring.  Each year, the winning limits of bass were caught in different manners.

During the first springtime Pickwick Slam in 2021, James Willoughby & Chance Schwartz won the event with a two-day total weight of 45.42 pounds. Each of the 10 bass that the anglers weighed in that weekend were smallmouth.  James & Chance focused their efforts primarily at the Wilson Dam tailrace.  Working a variety of baits in the current, the two anglers found lots of quality bites.  A majority of the top placing teams in that tournament were focusing on the tailrace at the Wilson Dam.

In 2023, the tailrace did not play much of a factor for many teams.  Instead, a lot of the teams that did well targeted submerged grass near staging areas closer to the Pickwick Dam.  Bass in these areas were thought to be in both the pre and post spawn phases.

Charlie Wright & Logan Plueger from the University of Montevallo won the 2023 Pickwick Slam with a two-day total weight of 43.83 pounds.  The two Montevallo anglers worked a variety of baits, including a vibrating jig, around shallow grass.  The fish were set up in the vegetation feeding, waiting for an easy meal to swim by.  Opposed to their teammates two years prior, Wright & Plueger primarily weighed in largemouth bass in route to the victory.

Weather patterns will dictate how the fish set up leading up to the event.  This includes both rainfall and air temperatures.  Any significant amount of rain could trigger the TVA to open the gates and move water through Pickwick Lake.  If this happens, it will create a great deal of activity at the Wilson Dam tailrace for anglers to target feeding fish.

Air temperatures will also dictate how the fish set up.  Warming weather will also cause the water temperatures to increase.  For fish that have yet to push shallow to spawn, warmer conditions will most certainly cause those fish to move up and lock down on beds.

Pickwick Lake has been producing quality weights all year long at events of all different levels.  Anglers will be looking to unlock the pattern that gives them the confidence to go out and attempt at claiming the major victory.