THE SECRET BEHIND WORLD CLASS FISHING ON PICKWICK LAKE—"THE CATFISH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD"

As part of the 234-mile-long waterway connecting to the Gulf of Mexico, Pickwick Lake meets the Tombigbee Waterway, Mobile Bay, and Tennessee River. As one of the few lakes in Tennessee with little fluctuation throughout the year and one of the best year-round boating opportunities with world-class fishing, the minimum water elevation for the reservoir in the winter is 408 feet and typical summer operating range is 413. As a result, Pickwick Lake is a major vacation spot and magnet for recreational boaters and anglers with a lake emcompassing 47,500 acres and 490 miles of shoreline.

Annually ranked as one of the best bass lakes in the United States, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass are a plentiful species inhabiting the lake. Other fish species include catfish, crappie, walleye, bluegill, sunfish, warmouth, striped bass, white bass, sunfish, paddlefish, and sauger.

MUSCLE SHOALS, ALABAMA:
THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE SOUTHERN SOUL SOUND

A short drive southeast near Florence from The Preserve, you'll find a piece of Southern music history and a MUST SEE for music lovers. The legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and FAME Studio are noted as the birthplace of the Southern soul sound. The quiet Alabama town of Muscle Shoals churned our classic hits like Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves a Woman”; “I Never Loved A Man” by Aretha Franklin; “Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones; and “I’ll Take You There” by The Staple Singers. Etta James, Willie Nelson, Cher, Cat Stevens, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and Jimi Hendrix produced timeless hits with notable hints of pure and distinct Muscle Shoals, Alabama sound fusing hillbilly, blues, rock 'n roll, country, and gospel. 

Jimmy Johnson played backup guitar for Paul Simon and Wilson Pickett. A nine-song sampling from Lynyard Skynyrd's first-ever recordings were produced at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash was from close by. 

Today, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and the FAME Studio both continue to operate as working studios, as well as being popular tourist attractions, offering daily tours of the restored facilities. Among the more recent artists to record in Muscle Shoals are Alicia Keys, Drive-By Truckers, Band Of Horses, Bettye LaVette, Phish, Greg Allman, and Cyril Neville.