Blues, Flatheads, Monster Brown Water Snakes and my new Squirrel (fishing) dog Pete

Thursday the 18th of April  I went to one of my favorites spots down east. This would be a special day even if I did not catch anything as I was taking my new Squirrel dog 'Pete" on a boat for the first time. Pete did extremely well which my wife said he wouldnt. Told ya so!...We started off trolling for Stripers and mananged a 12 incher right away but it was not going to be a good day for trolling as the oaks were putting off these tassle things that kept fouling the line. 
We then proceeeded to bream and bass fish and just like the other day the small bass were wearing out the Mepps Black Fury.The  Problem was not many bream were hitting it  and they were also not hitting crickets in the usual spots. We finally managed to catch a few for cut bait and since I had to leave at dark we motored to a spot to set out 2 lines. Right before this spot I look on this tree laying in the water and golly there is this one huge Brown water snake   Anyway we anchor up and I put a bream head on one and the next slice on the other rod. 5 minutes later one rod is bending like crazy!. I reel hard and get in a 15 lb flat head. No monster but I will take him. 1 hr later the other rod is bending and I reel in an 11 lb blue. No monster again but I am not complaining with catching fish.

Pete was loving every minute of this. A good day on the water. Mack

Caught quite a few small bass and a few bream on the Mepps Black Fury size 1.

Nice big ole Brown Water Snake!

15lb Flathead caught on Bream head

11lb Blue Cat caught on bream cutbait

A view of how I set my rods in the holder.

Pete on the way back to the ramp.

Huge Bass , Great Job Son!!!

My son called me at work April the 15th and wanted to borrow my waders and Truck to go fishing on his own to a  spot I have taken him to in the past.
He has fished with me a lot but when I am not home he is stuck to fishing places he can walk or ride his bike to. That has all changed now since he can drive.  I agreed to let him use my truck. 

Later in the day I had forgotten he was fishing and I get a text and open it up and lookie here what do I see. He has caught 2 very nice bass. Both on a floating frog. The first one pictured was actually the second caught and she went 6 lbs 6 oz. The 2nd one pictured went 4 lbs even . The scale was going from 3-15 - 4-0 . 

Here they are.

Great Job  Son!

#hugenorthcarolinabass

#hugebass

#bassfishing

Shad Fishing Trip Turns in Bottom Fishing Trip - Contentnea Creek #catfish

Took my  friend Ron to a down east river 4-13-13 as he has been wanting me to take him there for over a year so finally we make it work out. Our goal and his wish was to fish for shad. We hit several good spots for shad and nothing. Not 1 hit. After speaking with several other anglers we decided the fish we either gone back down or upstream out of our reach. What would we fish for now? I didn't bring any crickets for bream and if no bream we could not catch bottom fish. We bass fished a while with no luck and came upon a place where little bitty minnows were running from my bait. I then dug out a Mepps #1 Black Fury and got quite a few hits on it from some nice bream but could not hook 1. How do you lose a fish on a treble? Ron caught a couple of bream from this spot but nothing this place is noted for. We floated down stream casting to every likely spot. I kept catching 12 inch bass on that little black fury. Ron hooked a big gar on a little bait and after a long battle he landed a nice 15 lb gar. I kept telling myself that a bass was gonna end up as cutbait but we finally managed to put a few more bream in the boat.

Ron needed to leave just before dark so that only gave is 30 -40 mins to bottom fish. Now Ron is an expert saltwater fisherman but this was new to him. We tied up to one of my holes and I put 2 rods out with cutbait. I told ron that I would tell him when to set the hook. Immediatly we were getting hits. 1st was a 8lb striper and then a 10 lb blue. Not a bad day for a busted trip. I think all 3 were his biggest freshwater fish.

Rod bottom fish were caught on- Abu 6500 with 30 lb line and 20 lb leader with a 2 oz zinker and a 7/0 circle hook

Bait - cut bream

Boat used -Coleman Scanoe with 2.5 Merc

Water temp- Toasty 70 degrees

I could not keep these small but fun bass off of the Mepps Black Fury

"Ron had a nice 15 minute battle with this Gar that was a tad over 15 lbs. I am holding it cause he didn't want too.    tag -  Gar Pictures North Carolina

"

Bottom Fishing with cut Bream got Ron this 8 lb Striper and the 10 lb blue

Mack

#contentneacreek

#catfish

#fishing

Eastern NC Lake Bassin

Blackwater Pond Bass

4/5/2013...My son had the week off for spring break . I Only had Thursday and Friday off and Thursday the weather was terrible so that left Friday to take my son fishing. Where would I take him? Eno River white bass came to mind as I have been catching a few there but, according to usgs it was high. The Neuse ? that is our favorite spot but USGS had it up in wake and Johnston co with our area soon to be hit. I decided to take him to a very out of the way lake that is a good 2 miles off the main road for some bass fishing. I knew the water wouldn't be muddy as this is a black water lake fed by a small blackwater creek.

The lake is in an area that has plenty of Fox Squirrels and Red Cockaded Woodpeckers or RCW"S as a lot of people call them. 2 white rings around a tree denotes the location of a nest. These are endangered birds so you must not get near their nest.  Note: picture of cavity tree was taken with a zoom lens.

We arrived at aprx 230 pm and immediately our spinnerbaits were being smashed by eager bass. No monsters but a couple of 3 lbers with most being 1.5 - 2 lbs. White was a good color but my big bass bait the ole Black double copper spinnerbait was getting the most hits. The bite died at 430 or so when the sun really came out. We only managed a few after that.

Wildlife seen today was a Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron, Geese, and 1 Beaver
Air Temp 64 degrees

Water Temp 59 deg

Boat- Coleman Scanoe powered by Motor guide

My outfit was a 7 ft MH with 50 lb braid (cause of trees)

His outfit Saros 3000 Spinning reel on Med rod with 30 lb braid

Baits Used- Spinnerbaits, Both Booya's  White 3/8th and a Black Booya Tux and Tails

Get them here-  white  https://amzn.to/3VAmGHo
Black Tux and Tails    https://amzn.to/3EUefzN

Here are a few pics of the Bass and Lake

Note - A Black Spinnerbait with Hammered double blades is one of my favorite Big bass baits and is also my favorite in "Blackwater" Lakes and Rivers.........Mack

#bass

#bassfishing

#colemanscanoe

Penny's Bend White Bass Reports for 2013

3/29/2013
I am probably going to be fishing Penny's Bend and some of the surrounding water more this year since I have taken a job in Granville co. I haven't fished here in 2 years but I gave it a go on the 29th of March.
 I have been hearing reports of good catches on some days and  bad on others . I arrived at PB at aprox 5 pm and started throwing a small chartreuse sassy shad. I immediately caught a handful of eager White's. I then called my buddy Steve to tell him . I NEVER SHOULD OF DONE THAT! ..I did not get one more hit. I took the water Temp and it was a chilly 52 degree's. Dang it! I tried almost every lure I brought with me and the only one that got a look was the Sassy Shad.  When I last fished here in  March 2011 the water temp was 62 Degrees( see http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/pennys-bend-white-bass-32411.html) and the fish were biting good so better fishing should be in store. I decided to hit a spot below the bridge but nada.   As I am about to leave,  well known Master Fly fisherman Kevin Frank comes walking up river. He reported that the downstream bite wasn't that good today either.
Here are a few pictures from today.

***You can get your sassy shad here - https://youtu.be/XUwSAeM6cVU

Use on a 1/4 oz jig head

My  next trip(s) here will be added on to this post . 

#pennysbend

#whitebass

Rat-L-Trap Clinic

One of my friends called me Friday am(3/22/13) and wanted to hit my very best spot around 3 or so....I was reluctant to go as I thought the cold snap would give the bass at this spot lockjaw. I also had planned to go to a Boat store and look at Jon boats. He finally talked me into it and I hit the road to go and pick him up.
About 1/2 way there I got a call from work telling me that I needed to be on a conference call at 4pm. Crap! we would be fishing then. We arrived at this spot after a mile hike at 3:40. I caught several nice ones on Rattlin baits at at 3:56 I had to truck in up into the woods to get away from the rushing water so i could hear the call. The call lasted right at an hour and right at 4:56 I was back standing on the rock slinging the ole Rat l trap...2nd cast..bam . Caught another. I will not name this fellow fisherman(Steve-also know as Nat's Dad) cause I spotted him 1 hr while on the call.

Date 03/22/13
Rod Used 7' Allstar
Reel- Shimano Calcutta 200
Line- 12 lb Pink Ande
Water temp- 50 degrees
Time - 330Pm - 500PM

Get the Lure here - https://amzn.to/3FuS6K8

Thanks For Looking ...Mack