The Shad Are Here! Roanoke River Hickory Shad Fishing

Yes the shad are here. They are a little early (in numbers) as today is February the 24th, 2012 but I have caught them as early as February the 13th and 17th in 2002. I  only had the afternoon off and because of severe winds and storms, that meant bank fishing within 1 1/2 hrs from home. That also  left 4  or 5 good choices  within easy driving distance.
1. I could hit my white shad hotspot
2. I could go to Wiggins Mill
3. I could go to the neuse
4. I could go to weldon.
5. I could go to the Tar in Rocky Mount.

I chose Weldon as it would be easy to get back into the car if a sudden storm came through and my "hotspot" is a decent walk from the car,  and with lots of overhanging trees I was worried about "widow makers".

I arrived at River Falls park at aprox 4pm and there were just 3 other fishermen there. The Roanoke river was very low today with a temperature of 52 degrees.  I quickly caught 3 little ones on pink headed white jigs. I always use 2 for shad and start out with a chartreuse and white jig to see what color they want. Today they hit the white one 75 percent of the time. ( see http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/poor-mans-tarpon.html )   Here is a picture of my first shad for 2012. A small one but still a shad.

The guy beside me caught a small striper so I put on a tube jig and caught this monster!

About 50 percent today were small like the first one and most of the rest were like this one

I then managed to catch this beast of a striper out of the ole Roanoke River but had to let it go as it was over the slot!

" Weldon, N.C.  Rockfish capital of the World " 

It probaly Ranks as  one of the best spots around for Hickory Shad too.

Actually, I did manage 2 stripers. One very small,  and one  that was about 2 lbs that i shook loose at the bank.
A bad picture but my first striper for the year of 2012.

The bite was very hot right at dark but a big downpour got me so I left as I quickly released a small hickory. A nice way to end the afternoon.

Not a great day today as far as numbers of shad caught but anyday you can catch shad is a great day. I caught right at 15 shad, 2 stripers and the one lone largemouth   and,  I actually only shad fished about 1/2 the time. Weldon Shad , get there if you can.

 

Mack

Rabbit Hunting and Trapping

One of my passions is also rabbit hunting. I grew up rabbit hunting behind a pack of beagles and harvested plenty of rabbits as a youth in Alamance County and Person County. One way I like to Rabbit Hunt is to just "walk" them up . Pretty easy as you just walk into the thickest and nastiest Brier patch and kick every clump of debris you see and be sure to keep one eye ahead as some will bolt before you get to them.
I use a pistol or a short barreled shotgun with an open choke. Here are 3 I got earlier this month. All shot with in 3 minutes of each other.

Some years I use Havahart traps and wooden rabbit gums.. This was one of those years. Rabbits can be caught with apples, onions, corn, and a variety of other baits. Sometimes I even plant pansies(yes pansies) in front of the door and that lures them to the entrance.  Here are 2 sets I made.

Here is a rabbit I trapped in the above wooden trap.

Now I just need to dig out a few rabbit recipe's!

Mack