The EverStart Series is heading to Pickwick Lake, and Jonathan Newton is no doubt hoping for a repeat performance from last year, when he caught at 12-pound, 2-ounce limit of largemouths in the finals that carried him to his first professional win. The personable Alabama pro was quick to admit, however, that he’s going to need some help from Mother Nature to make it happen again.

“The water temperature and what stage of the game the smallmouths are in are going to play a big factor in how this tournament is won,” he said. “If the water temperature is warm – 64 degrees or higher – the smallmouths more than likely will have already spawned out and may not be biting very well. But if the water is still cold and the spawn is in progress, you’ll see some big smallmouths brought to the scales. There are always a lot of big ones caught in 6 to 10 feet of water below Wilson Dam, mostly on grubs, tubes and finesse worms.”

Newton is a largemouth specialist, so he’s naturally wishing for warm weather to push the smallmouths out and coax the largemouths in.

If the conditions are right, he said largemouths will be staged in 4 to 6 feet of water along travel routes in the mouths of midlake pockets. He’ll go after them with a 1/2-ounce black/blue jig and a 1/2-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait with a spot-remover finish.

“The fish will be relating mostly to wood – stumps and lay-downs – right along the edges of channel breaks,” he said.