Don't let High Water stop your Fishing!

Here in NC this December it has been really warm and rainy.  Jordan lake is up 12 ' !!

I have several spots on this lake that are usually good in High water so off to the lake I went Christmas evening.  I was throwing a 1/2 oz Cordell spot along some riprap and caught 3 Largemouth along with quite a few White bass.   Nothing huge but it sure beats not fishing.   I was throwing the spot on a 7 ' rod with a 4600C abu with 12 lb line.

Fast Forward to the 29th of December and Jordan is still right at 12 ' High. I figured some crappie would be shallow so I headed to a spot where I thought the fish maybe cooperative. Fished from 3-530 pm , I luckily  Caught some nice Crappie that all fell for a Monks Chartreuse head on a Purple Rain grub.

I then Went back this morning(Wed 30th) but decided to use A  12' Fiberglass  Zebco Crappie Stik so I could precisely set the bait beside a flooded willow and lift straight up. I was using a plain Cigar bobber 3' above a # 6 gold hook with a small weight just above the hook.    I went through 3 dozen minnows and 2 heavy downpours so I was glad to have my Frogg Toggs with me this am.  The avg size was smaller today than yesterday but still fun. All Crappie today and yesterday were Black Crappie. I Also caught 2 channel cats which were a blast on the pole.

The moral of this story is don't let high water stop you from fishing. They can still be caught .  I didn't see another fisherman on this lake all three trips! 

Castle Hayne Boating Access

Castle Hayne Boating access is on the NE Cape Fear river In the town of Castle Hayne near Wilmington, NC . This river is an Eastern NC "Blackwater" river.  It is all freshwater here but the tide does influence the river up to this boat ramp. This river has an awesome fishery but this ramp can get pretty crowded in the summer

A picture of the Boat ramp and floating docks. There are 2 ramps each 2 lanes wide.

Looking upstream. That is an old railroad swing bridge just up from the ramp . The Swing part of the bridge is permanently open.  Hwy 117 is within sight looking downstream.  Between these 2 bridges it is a "No Wake Zone"

A view of the Boat ramp Parking lot.

Just immediately below the ramp is Public fishing area which consist of its own Parking lot and Pier. 

A view of the fishing Pier looking upstream.

A view from the Pier looking downstream towards the Hwy 117/133 Bridge

Here is a Google image of the Area.  Note- the Pier and Boat ramp are 2 separate entities, each having their own parking lot.  The Pier has a sign that says no weapons but the ramp is a NCWRC ramp which allows guns. 

Fish found here-  Largemouth Bass, Bream, Black Crappie, Shellcracker, Chain Pickerel,  Blue Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Longnose Gar, Bowfin, Striped Bass

Alligators are also pretty common in the general area but you probably will not see one on the main river. They will usually stay back in the swamps or in creeks off the river.

Mack

#castlehayne

#wilmingtonnc

#northcarolina

A few Pictures from 2015

November Pier Fishing

Date-11/8/2015
Location- SE NC  Coast
Bait/Lure  Gotcha Plugs for Blues
Cut bait (blues) for bottom fishing
430PM-11pm


Headed down south to try some Pier fishing for Drum.   I arrived at the pier an immediately saw people cleaning Blues at the cleaning station and when I got to the end they were still catching them.

I tied on a gotcha plug and the action was pretty fast.  Caught too many Blues to count. They were a blast! Most were small but these were fun. I am at the point in my life that while I still luv to catch big fish I am happy with just catching fish and especially fish that I havn't caught in a while.

After dark I put on a Drum rig and fished cut bait on the bottom.  I had several runs but only one hookup which had to be a big ray.  After about 10 minutes I broke the line to end the battle,

A good few hours on a pier.   After leaving the Pier I stopped here for a cold one.  Really a nice bar with character.  There are 1$ bills all over the walls and ceiling where patrons have left them with their name and date they were there.

Speckled Trout At Radio Island, NC

Dater-10/30/2015
Time- Mid afternoon Till dark
Location - Crystal Coast of N.C.
Fishermen- Todd, Colby, Mack N., Myself
Lures- 1/4 -3/8 oz Jig heads with  4 inch grubs
and squid for bottom fishing


We hit up a Tidal creek in the afternoon wading and throwing Jigs.  The bite was good on an outgoing tide to slack tide.    Best technique was to wade out to chest deep water and cast  up current and let it sink to the Bottom and just very slowly hop it.  We caught numerous specs on different colored Jigs .  Most were small with only a few being keeper size but they were fun. Pretty sure these are/were my first Speckled Trout.

I also Bottom fished throughout the afternoon to take a break from wading.  We caught a lot of what I think are Hogfish on a 2 hook bottom rig using squid for bait.

Here are a few pics...

Todd and Colby

Mack N.

Fish Caught on Zoom Fat Albert Grubs, Haw River Tackle Grubs and Some grubs I don't even have the original bag to.

Zoom Fat Alberts-  http://zoombait.com/chunks-trailers-grubs/grubs/fat-albert/

Haw River Tackle -  http://hrtackle.com/site/

A big thanks to Todd and Colby who were there all week and invited us down for the day.


#speckledtrout

Fox Squirrel Hunt with "Pete"

Me and my son hit the Fox Squirrel woods with "Pete" Saturday October 24th.    We only hunted a short time  today this being an evening hunt.    Pete had a blast and we did also.

2 Fox squirrels treed and 1 harvested.  Took almost an hour to finally spot the one if the top of the tall pine and the other, well, we got tired of looking for it and left it for another day.  You would be amazed at how well a 3 lb black Squirrel can hide on a limb or it the very top of a 100ft tall pine

 An hour to find a Black Squirrel in the top of a Pine and not in a hole??  Yes.  I have seen that several times.  We got lucky and finally spotted it and then made  a good harvest.

Date  10/24/2015
Location-  Moore Co. in the Sandhills of N.C.
Hunters- Mack N., Pete and myself

Here are a few pictures.

#foxsquirrel

#foxsquirrelhunting

#Hunting

Holt Reservoir , Butner N.C.

R.D. Holt Reservoir.  This 385 lake just outside of Butner,NC  boast a tremendous fishery, particularly  for Bream, Shell cracker and Crappie. The Bass population is overcrowded and a new rule is in effect for this lake. 10 fish can be caught and taken home except only 2 maybe greater than 14 inches. So that means the 8 other have to less than 14 or you could keep 10 10 inchers,  

The name of this lake is confusing,  Named RD Holt Lake  and impounded in 1956, most locals call it Holt Lake or Butner Lake.

 The city refers to it as lake Holt. and the name of the road leading to the ramp is Lake Holt Road. 

Whatever you call it, it is a very good fishery.

Below is the Lake Holt Concession, You pay inside to fish and launch a boat (Fishing is 2$ and launching  a boat is another 3$) and you can also get a very good meal while you are there.   I eat there at least once a week. 

The Menu

A look towards the ramp from the Balcony.

Now looking left off the Balcony.

A closer look at the ramp from the Balcony

These new Docks were in place for The Memorial Day Weekend

The State did an awesome job on these new floating docks.

6/29/2015  The Foundation for the Floating Pier is ready along with a newly poured sidewalk

Workers towing the 1st piece of the pier on June 29th

Pier Finished and ready By the July 4th weekend,

Here is the sign, you can keep 10 bass up to 14 inches of which only 2 can be greater than 14 inches.

So , you could keep 10 less than 14 inches or 8 less than 14 and 2 over 14.  What this tells us is there are too many small bass here and they need to be harvested. 

Added- 8/23/15 ,  I watched the weigh in of a night tournament held by the Jon Boat bass Anglers(an electric only club) this am at 8am.  This tournament started at 8pm 8/22 and ended 12 hours later.  several bass over 6 lbs were weighed in along with one over 7 so there are some big fish here.  I also heard just the other day of a 20 lb catfish recently caught.

see them at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jon-Boat-Bass-Club-of-NC/166643436779137?fref=ts

This Dam is on the end of a Cove at Holt lake.  the Lake above this dam is Called "Lightning Lake" 

These bream were from  a Memorial day trip I took here 2 years ago, you can see that post here 

http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/memorial-day-bream.html

Thanks, Mack

#holtlake

#fishing

#granvillecounty

#holtreservoir