Additionally, Whitt offers his clients the option of using threadfin shad for bait from fall into spring, an alternative nearly guaranteed to catch fish, even when conditions are tough.  Black bass, hybrids, stripers, drum, catfish and crappie all will take these live offerings.    The best standby artificial is a 1/4-ounce Rat-L-Trap, which he fishes over flats and near weedbeds for largemouths and on rocky points for smallmouths.    Those rocky points extend about 15 miles, from near Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant down to the dam.  "You have miles and miles of them," the guide says. "And all have smallmouth on them,  You might not always catch them, but they're there."    Upriver from the plant to Decatur lies some of the best water for largemouth bass, he adds. "On the north side are grass flats, creek channels and stump fields - acres and acres of them."   Downstream from Wheeler Dam, Wilson offers 12 miles of deeper water and rocky banks, perfect for smallmouth bass.     Largemouth are most likely to be found in the stumps of Hawg Island, which at the mouth of Town Creek, and around milfoil beds in Blue Water and Shoal creeks. Whichever lake you are fishing, fall is a good time for big smallmouths, while spring is best for lunker largemouth, says the guide. "Spring probably good for big smallmouths too," he says. "But I like to be fishing up around Decatur, catching largemouths." From March through May, Whitt fishes for pre-spawn and spawning bass with lipless crankbaits, diving baits and jigs sweetened with pork trailers. "The bass will be on the flats around the milfoil and stumps until the water rises to full pool on April 15," he says. "Then they will get right on the banks." "If you find the right three or four stumps near deep water, you can catch 15 or 20 bass," the guide says. "But you want to be really careful with your boat because of all the stumps." Usually by the end of May, he adds, largemouths take up residence in the sprouting lily pads of sloughs like Round Island, Mud Creek and Swan Creek. That's the time to catch them with spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and Texas-rigged worms.    "I usually stop fishing the pads around the end of June, when the pad fields get too big and thick," Whitt adds. "Also, I like to go to the river channels at that time."

Several times this past summer, Whitt caught largemouths "all day long" on green lizards rigged Carolina style and fished in the channels from the power plant to Decatur. He casts into 6-feet of water and drags the lizard into 25-foot depths. Texas-rigged worms, shallow crankbaits and spinnerbaits will catch bass from spring into fall, until the water starts to drop for winter pool and the bass back off into deeper water. In the fall, the guide usually moves to the lower end of the lake, where he catches smallmouths on shad-colored crankbaits and on live shad. He stays there until spring. In the upper lake at the time, the largemouths still are biting well, readily hitting buzzbaits and floating rats and frogs pulled over grassbeds. Throughout the lake during autumn, "lower pressure and rain seem to make the fishing better," Whitt says. "In the bait shops, check out pictures of people holding fish and you'll see lots of'em wearing raincoats." Below Wheeler Lake, the tailwaters provide yet another fall option. Live shad catch most of the bronzebacks, but more and more anglers are starting to throw1-ounce Ledgebuster Spinnerbaits (made popular on Wheeler by 2000 BASS Masters Classic champion Woo Daves). Other options include trolling with shad-pattern crankbaits and casting with plastic grubs in chartreuse or bone. Stripers and hybrids often latch on to smallmouth offerings below the dam. And, especially during autumn, those hard pulling fish sometimes provide incredible fishing on the mail lake - like that enjoyed by Whitt and his clients last October. "When you see gulls diving," the guide says, "that will tip you off that the stripers are schooling. Or, you might see them chasing bait in pockets and backs of coves. "Smallmouths and largemouths will be with'em but you can't always catch black bass because the hybrids and rockfish get to the bass first." That's not a bad problem to have, he acknowledges. Another "problem" vistiting anglers will have to contend with, he adds, is deciding where and which species to fish for on Wheeler and Wilson. "Sometimes it's hard to make up your mind," Whitt says, "because you have so many different areas to fish and so many different ways to catch'em."