Overview
Pickwick Lake is a roughly 43,100-acre mainstem reservoir on the Tennessee River spanning Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Pickwick Landing Dam was completed in 1938 by the Tennessee Valley Authority and helps cover the historic Muscle Shoals reach below Wilson Dam. The project provides hydropower, navigation, flood storage, and recreation across the tri-state Shoals region.
When full, Pickwick has nearly 490 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth near 85 feet, stretching about 53 miles from Pickwick Landing Dam upstream to Wilson Dam. Deep channels, rocky banks, large embayments, and the Wilson Dam tailwater create varied habitat for boaters and anglers.
Pickwick is nationally known for smallmouth bass—especially in the Wilson Dam tailwater—and also produces largemouth bass, sauger, catfish, and crappie. Fisheries are managed cooperatively by Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee wildlife agencies, including the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. State parks, TVA access areas, and marinas provide public access in all three states.
Water levels on Pickwick Lake are managed by TVA around a summer operating range of about 413 to 414 feet above mean sea level, with a minimum winter elevation of 408 feet for navigation. As a mainstem pool between Wilson Lake upstream and Kentucky Lake downstream, elevations stay relatively stable but still respond to basin-wide operations, so monitoring current lake levels is helpful for boating, fishing, and dock access.
Current Conditions
Lake Pickwick is currently 0.24 feet below full pool and has fallen slightly over the past week.
- 7-day trendFallingLatest movement can differ from the seven-day trend.
- 7-day changeUp 0.04 ft
- 30-day changeDown 0.19 ft
- Drought conditionsNo Drought
About This Lake
Learn how this lake is managed, what affects its water level, and where Lake Insights gets its data.
Lake Pickwick is a 43,100-acre reservoir on the Tennessee River managed by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).