Lunch Break Crappie - Lake Rogers

3 Lunch break trips and 1 evening Trip

Date:  December 16, 2016

Where :   Central NC Lake

Rod:   Berkley 12' Crappie Pro

Reel:  Daiwa StrikeForce 1000-B

Lure:  Black/Red/Chartreuse Crappie Jig

Depth:  Fish caught 7' deep in 10 ' water

Time:  1200-1300 

Air Temp:  COLD  32degrees 

Water Temp:  41 Degrees

I had heard the crappie were biting but recently my time has been limited.   Cameron from work was going to fish this lake for a few hours so I decided to join him during my lunch hour.  Lots of small ones were biting with a few decent ones mixed in.   All were caught by tight lining tubes or jigs 7' down in 10' of water.  Almost all of the crappie were Black Crappie with just a couple being White Crappie.  We also caught a couple of White Catfish.  Now I actually enjoy catching the catfish as they get your heart pumping when you initially think you have just hooked a 3 lb Crappie!!!  I probably caught 12~ fish and Cameron double that as he was there longer than me.  This was a fun lunch break. I think I will have to do this again next week .

Surprise Golden Shiner 

 Trip to same place December 20th   for  another Lunchbreak-

Decided to go again during my lunch.   A couple of things I changed up today is 1. that I brought another rod. This second rod would have a shad spoon on the bottom with 2 droppers above it with hooks baited with small pieces of garlic worms.  Google "Garlic Worms".  This rod would be an Uncle Bucks 9' rod with a 1000 size Shimano reel.    Now I caught a few on the Tube jig(and the biggest Crappie today) but the majority of fish came on the baited hooks dropped down 7-10 ft deep in 12 ft deep water.  I caught 2 fish on the spoon and a few more on the tube jig but most came on the Garlic Worms.   Water temp today was 43 degrees.

Today's catch was 1 White Cat,  2 yellow perch, 1 gizzard shad caught in the mouth!, 15~ crappie, and 10~ bream.  I only caught 1 decent crappie today but it was a fun hour with constant fish.


Small Yellow Perch

 
 White Catfish

Bream - here you can see the Shad Spoon on bottom and 1 of the droppers that the fish was caught on.
               

A Black Crappie

Another

This was a fun lunch break today.  I am going to hit this spot again tomorrow or the next day. Heck! maybe I will fish it both days.

Fast Forward a few days

Hit it again the other day during lunch and this evening 12/25 and both times caught Crappie , Bream, Yellow Perch and White Cats.

This is a nice looking specimen but 95 percent on Yellow Perch in the Piedmont of North Carolina are small. They are either stunted or just dont grow well in central NC.  To consistently get really Nice Yellow Perch in  North Carolina you need to go down east to some of the Blackwater creeks where they grow considerably larger.. 

And this is what happens when word gets out where you are fishing and they are biting!! They were 8 other fishermen here at one time.

My wife with a nice Black Crappie

Thanks, Mack

#crappie

#crappiefishing

Carp from my Old Stomping Grounds.

I grew up on the banks of the Haw  River just north of Burlington, NC.  The Haw is where I learned to fish and where I caught my first carp. 9lbs? if I remember correctly( I will get that picture and have it scanned and post it one day).   Just north of my parents house is a tributary of the Haw that has a millpond on it.   I sometimes would split my time fishing the Haw around my parents house and then sometimes I would hop on my bike and go after some nice bass and White Bass that this old millpond has.
It was a big adventure back when I was 14 and biking those 2 miles to the millpond. 2 miles back then was like a 100 today.    I never did purposely fish for carp in that old millpond but I did catch some by accident while pursuing other species.  One memory I have of that pond is a couple of older gentlemen who fished that  millpond religiously for carp. They used packbait and I remember seeing that and thinking how could a carp eat that??   I do remember that I saw them catch some huge carp some probably 30 lbs plus.
So fast forward to this year(Oct 28, 2016) and I decided to go there and  purposely fish for carp.  I only had 2 hours so I was not sure I could catch one.  I used my normal rig and pack bait of oatmeal, cream corn and vanilla with 3 or 4 kernels of corn on the hook.   I caught a small bullhead about an hour in and at about an hour and a half in one reel starts screaming!  Fish on!  .    After a brief battle I pulled in a
4lb carp give or take.  Not a big carp but I was very proud of this one as it was my first at this childhood spot on purpose.    A very  good day.

The rods and reels.   Shimano 3500 Baitrunner w/15 lb test on an  8' Ugly Stik , and a Daiwa 2600SS w/12lb test  on a Pinnacle Rod.

The Bait.....there is a 1 oz weight under there

The result......

Like I said, not a  huge carp but a very special one.   Now I just need to pull one of those 30 lbers out.

Mack

"Carp fishing North Carolina"

Bull Reds From the Surf

Bull Reds from the Surf!!!

Catching Big Drum from a Yak was Great ( see last post )but I wanted to get one from the Surf plus I had no one else to go with me  on this day as you never ever want to Yak in the Ocean w/o another Yaker for safety reasons.

So, I had decided after catching 5 big ones on a yak Friday that on Tuesday(Oct 25, 2016) I would head back down there and try to get one out of the surf.

I Left the big city at 11 and was on the beach at 2:30.
My plan was to to throw 2 rods out with mullet(frozen) and try to catch some fresh bait. Except for a big blue crab I had no hits until I caught a bluefish at aprox 445 . I then proceeded to cut it into chunks. The head went on my 7000 blue yonder on a 12 Pinnacle rod and the next section went on a Shimano 6500 baitrunner on a 12' Powerstick plus.
Both of these outfits can throw 9 oz of lead easy. I had 6 oz on the spinning outfit and 9 oz on the Blue yonder. I cast both of these out right to where some pelicans had just dived . Almost Immediately the spinning outfits tip started heading down and then the baitrunner was giving line. I picked it up and started reeling which takes the baitrunner off and goes to drag. I could tell it was a big un and the battle began. 5 mins into the fight the Blue Yonder starts going

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


Oh NO!   2 on at a time. Great but a big problem.

I  had to back up to the Blue Yonder to engage the reel and then pick it up with one hand setting the hook. I then put it back down in the holder and loosened the drag. I fought the first one for at least 5 more minutes , lipped it, had someone take a few quick photos and then I had to hold it in the water for at least another 5 before I felt confident it could swim off. Swim off it did. All the while I was keeping an eye on the blue yonder as I didn't want to lose that fish and surely didn't want to lose a 500 dollar outfit. When I picked it up it may have had 30 yards of line left before it hit the bottom of the spool. Another 10 minute battle and the second was beached , photoed and released. An awesome day.
2 Big reds on at the same time and both landed.  Today was my lucky day.  The first went 45 inches and the second I didn't measure but it was only an inch or 2 shorter.     See below for pictures.

Note- The other day they had no problem Hitting frozen bait but today w/o that fresh Bluefish I would have been skunked.  So always try to have fresh and frozen.

Pete my dog was my companion today and he truly loves to fish. I think he enjoyed the trip today more than I did.

Pete on the Ride down

 Pete relaxin on the Beach

Outfits-
6500 Shimano Baitrunner(80's model) spooled with 15 lb Big Game with 40 lb shock leader(Red Cajun)  The rod was a 12' Power Stik. I have had this outfit since the mid to late 80's and it works just as well as the new outfits.

Abu Garcia 7000 Blue Yonder spooled with 16 lb Momoi Line with a 40 lb shock leader.  The rod on this outfit is a 12' Pinnacle .

The Rig consisted of a Pyramid sinker(6- 9 oz) attached to a sinker slide, swivel , leader, and then either a J or circle 9/0 Gamakatsu Hooks.

                                                                     A bait thief

A Northern Puffer  .......

The first one

The second one

An awesome ending to an Awesome day.

" Red Drum North Carolina"
"Red  Drum"
#reddrumfishing
#bullredfishing
#bullred
#surffishing

#reddrum

#oakisland

#fishing

Hot Red Drum Bite

Date - October 21st 2016
Location -  North Carolina Coast
Rods/Reels -  Shimano 6500 BaitRunner on 7' Ugly Stik Tiger Rod
Bait- Frozen Mullet
Rig - Carolina Rig , 2oz weight 8 inch leader 9/0 Circle Hook and 9/0 J hooks Both Gamakatsu's

 I got word of a very Hot bite on Big  Red Drum just off the beach.  Since I had no yak I called one of my good yak friends Joey ( TurtleStew ) and told him if he supplied the yak I would drive or pay for gas and food.  He jumped at the chance as both he and I have been trying to catch a Big Red for several years with no luck.

I met Joey at his house at 4 am and off to the beach we went.  We arrived at out destination at aprox 7 am and got everything unloaded and ready to go.  Several other yakers show up and we waited at the surf for the fog to lift.   The fog lifted at aprox 8:30 and out beyond the breakers we went.  Joey in a Hobie Pro Angler and me in his 12' Redfish.

If you look closely you can see a rainbow in the fog

 The plan was to snag Menhaden with jerk rigs but no schools could be found. Luckily I had brought some frozen mullet.   I put a piece on the hook and cast it out.  Almost immediately I was hooked up!  Then it came loose. I reeled in some slack line and there was little curl at the end of my line. I had tied a bad knot!!!

Back out and it didn't take long again.  My first Big Red!!

Then  Joey Hooked up!!

We both had said that we would be happy with 1 a piece and we ended up with 8  !!!!!! .   Joey caught 3 and I caught 5.  My biggest just being Citation size at 40 inches and Joeys biggest was a Toad at 42  inches.

Here are some more pictures...

My Biggest....

The Bait

The Rig,  I didn't have a 2 oz weight but 2 - 1 ounce weights worked. Not pretty but they worked.

I didn't have a rod holder on this yak so this is how I drifted down the beach, I had the Baitrunner on and when a fish hit I reeled and the spooled engaged and I was hooked up.

One Interesting thing on this trip is that reel is loaded with cheap line. I almost never buy cheap line but last fall at Jeanette's Pier I had my big Drum rod cast off the end of the pier and this outfit cast off the side.  Either a big shark or a Big Ray hit and I was almost spooled until I broke it off. I had no extra line so I went to  the Pier shop and the only line they sell is cheap 2.99 a spool Shur Strike line.  This line did really well and the only break-off I had looked to be my fault.

A great day on the Big water with a Good friend and big fish.  A big thanks to Joey for supplying the Yak.

OH, and now that I  have caught a North Carolina Citation Red Drum I can now wear this shirt. Check out "Wuz Worth It" on the net.

Thanks for Looking, Mack      

My First Red Drum Since the 80's

During the booming 80's I saltwater fished right much but since then it has only been a handful of trips a year with most of those trips dedicating to plugging for Blues or Spanish Mackerel off of a handful of Piers.  Last year I put a renewed interest into Saltwater and made 5 or 6 trips last fall.  So far this year I have made 3 with the last one being a trip to the Beaufort area for some inshore Red Drum fishing.

Big Bull Red Drum are being caught all up and down the North Carolina coast but these Bulls are in the Ocean and not inshore. Not saying a bull couldn't be caught inshore but most right now inshore are going to be smaller ones up to 15 lbs or so.

Anyway, my Buddy Rodney has been killin the Drum inshore this year and he invited me down. I couldn't turn down a chance to catch my first Red in a loooooooong time so the plan was made for me to meet him Saturday the 15th of October.

We put in and paddled across a channel and then drug our boats across an Island and into the Marshes.   Instantly you could see and hear Drum smashing bait.   I had a very hard time getting hits but I did manage 1 on a  grub under a Popping Cork and several hits on the bottom using cutbait but I missed those fish.

Not a monster Bull Red(maybe in 10 years) but my first in a long time.

The Rig I used.

I think if I had some Flukes with me I may have had better luck.
Here is a Mullet(Whiting) that was really hungry as he kept pecking at a big piece of cutbait on a 7/0 hook.

Here is Rodney with his best of the day.

And I can't leave his Girlfriend out. A nice one(the fish that is) with 4 spots.

The scenery here was pretty spectacular especially the wild horses .

Thanks for looking...............