Why SWJ? 

Well quite frankly, and well documented, Stonewall Jackson Dam is the only fishery with a real chance of boating a 10lb bucket mouth this far north. Not saying that we would score one of these behemoths every trip, our goal is just a nice bag of big bass. The real reason I like SWJ, is the seemingly endless miles of sunken timber which was left in place when The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers originally flooded the Dam. You can spend hours flipping trees in just one of the many lake fingers. With a bunch of the prime fishing area being designated “no wake”, it allows for plenty of fishing opportunity without interference from recreational boaters. We launched at one the more popular ramps, and sure it was a little busy, but nobody was in a rush and the local anglers were quite friendly. There are several free boat launches, as well as a pay launch. A map of SWJ, with the launches and no-wake zones listed, can be found at The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers web site linked here!

How did we fish? 

Low and slow was the ticket for us. Now of course, me being me, I had to spend half of the first morning burning crank baits through the trees, and leaving them there. About $85 in snagged fat cranks later, I decided to maybe go at it a bit differently. Once I regained my composure, and stopped drooling like a second grader at the Halloween party, I let my bass-science kick in and I started to relax. When all was said and done, the fish that were caught during our visit to SWJ were all caught on slow presentations such as carolina rig's, soft plastic swim baits, top water jerk baits, & jig & pig (that's football jig's, for you newbies).  We plan on returning to SWJ in early fall to see if we can outdo our last trip. Stay posted to see how we do on Bassburgh.com!