A few pictures from this year on the Dan River

I have only fished the Dan twice this year as it has been too high for my liking most of the time. Here are a few pictures from the Dan this year.

1st trip this spring

 

 

 

Poor lil Pete. Somehow I hooked him in one of his big ears with a spinnerbait. You have never heard so much screaming from a dog. As soon as I got it out he was just fine and acted like nothing happened.

 

I thought this guys setup was pretty neat.  Small Jon and 8hp motor that he lowers to the river with a winch instead of a vehicle.

 

 

These pictures are from a trip about 2 weeks ago. Caught 1 smallie which will probably be my 1 and only for the year with hunting season coming soon. The water was a little high for my liking and he bite was defiantly way off as this stretch usually provides plenty of bites but not today.   1 fish caught but still a great day on the river. Also,  some nice flowers on the river.

 

 

 

 

 MACK

#danriver

#smallmouthbass

A morning River fishing trip with my son.

I don't get to fish with my son as much as I would like to as he has lots of things going on, School, football workouts, AAU Basketball, oh and did I mention the Girlfriend?.....Anyway he wanted to get out on the water this week so I had a special river in the Piedmont of North Carolina  in mind. This spot gets very little pressure because of the lack of good access to this stretch and if you are not in shape this spot can do you in...Another problem would be waking him up early as I wanted to be on the water by 6 as it would be a 2 hr ride from the house. That turned out to not be a problem at all....We fished from 6 am to maybe 10:30 and he caught probably 15 plus bass, most being around 2- 2/1/2 lbs but 3 or 4 being 3 plus and one being 4 1/2 plus....Almost all of his fish came on a white buzzer with a couple on a white spinnerbait....I mainly fished a #3 Mepps spinner as I was fishing behind him and I probaly landed 10 or so with the biggest being a solid 3 lber....We lost 3 Jacks, 1 he caught on a spinnerbait but I dropped it in the water as the hook came off and I lost 2 on the mepps. We also saw lots of wildlife 1 being a fawn who had to of just been born as she could barely walk and a box turtle laying eggs......A nice morning on the river, an early fathers day present.....Mack

Some pictures of him

Some nice flowers on the river

One of the Bass I caught

My best Bass of the Day

                      The lures we used Today. A White Buzzbait and a Mepps spinner.

              This ole gal was laying eggs on the way in and on the way out she had just finished.

 

Mack

Flint River: My Quest for a Shoal Bass Micropterus cataractae

1981.  What does it mean to me? Well, Its the year I graduated from High School, but when I think of 1981 I think more about how long I have wanted to catch a Shoal Bass ( Micropterus cataractae ). June 1981 to narrow it down as Outdoor Life had an article(which I still Have) tittled  "River Of The Redeyes". The Shoal Bass was not recognized as a Separate species until 2000 so up till then Shoal Bass and redeye bass(coosa bass) were lumped together as 1 species.  Anglers on a few Georgia rivers knew there was a difference as the "redeyes" in one drainage always topped out heavier than the others. These monster "redeyes" were sometimes called "Flint River Smallmouth" and are naturally found in the Flint / Chatahoochee drainage in Georgia and the Apalachicola / Chipola in Florida.  They have since been introduced to the Ocmulgee in Georgia.

1995.  April of 1995,  Southern Living Magazine did an article on the Lilies found in the Cahaba River Titled "Lily of The Stream". I also still have that article.  That is how long I have been wanting to see some Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies .

2005.  That's the year I joined GeorgiaRiverfishing.com.  Since then my eagerness for a Shoalie has increased because members of that forum are always posting pictures of Shoal Bass they have caught.

So, when would I go?...Work and family duties always kept getting in the way but this winter I said to myself this was going to be the year. I have had several offers in the past to go fish for Shoalies but couldn't work it out. Members of  GRF  had a get together planned for  the month of May so I decided this would be a great time for me to go meet up with a bunch of guys I have known for years through the Internet and get the Shoal Bass off my bucket list. Sam (Creekstalker) the Owner of Georgiariverfishing.com showed up which was nice as he has been up to North Carolina twice to fish with me. I have also met Several other members at tournaments in North Carolina but this was going to be a treat to go down there and fish with them.

2012.  May 18th 2012 to be exact. That is the day I caught my first Shoal Bass. Nothing huge but my goal fish wise was to catch just 1. I didn't care how little or big I just wanted 1. Here she is.

Another one- most I caught hit a spinnerbait

I caught a handful that size the evening of the 18th plus a few Redbreast and Bream.

The campsite was awesome and the river was amazing. Thanks to Mike for being a great host.

I went to bed that night very tired after a long hard drive from North Carolina and an evening of paddling and fishing but was a very happy camper as I had caught my Shoalie. The next day I awoke and hit the river this time going downstream and was rewarded with a nice Shoalie, a few small shoalies , a few decent Spotted bass and some more Redbreast and Bream. Here are a few pics of my am float.

 I came back to camp at lunch very hungry but happy I had caught a Shoalie above 2 lbs. I was so happy in fact (and Tired) that I told Phillip that I was going to stay in camp and enjoy the evening. He talked me in to paddling upstream farther than I had been and I am sure glad he did as that evening I ran into these on the river.

The Rocky Shoals Spider Lily

Wow! 

Seeing these Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies was almost better than catching a Shoalie. What an awesome site.

These are found from the Catawba River in South Carolina through Georgia and into Alabama. The North Carolina population's of this Lily are gone now due to the dams on the Catawba and now there are only 50 known colonies known in the 3 states. I had first heard of these from  Southern Living Magazine which did and article on the Spider Lilies found in the Cahaba River in Alabama. This was an unexpected surprise!

Here are a few random pictures of some of the fishermen, the campsite, and the River.

                                                         Trent and "Pamlico"

Phillip "Pip"

The "Boathouse"

Mike and Trent

Pip

Blackwaterbill, Doublehaul, Pip, Pamlico, Me, Shoalieman and ?

Goshawk on the River 

So what was the best part?
1st was seeing and meeting the Brother River fishermen, 2nd, was seeing those Spider Lilies, and 3rd was catching a Shoalie. Hopefully I will make it back next year. Now , I have a big desire to see the Spider Lilies on the Catawba River!  A big Thanks to Mike and everyone else. Mack

#flintriver

#shoalbass

#Micropteruscataractae

Micropterus cataractae

Canoeing the upper Haws old mills July 2010

Made a trip on the Mighty Haw in Late July 10' with Steve to do a little fishing and to see a place where I pretty much learned how to fish but hadn't been there in a few years. My Parent's house sits on a bluff over looking the Haw. I also cut my teeth fishing the Haw as young man. The Alamance County part of the Haw has numerous dams so as a kid I fished every one I could get to. These are 2 of those dams.

This is the remains of Ireland's Dam. Most locals now call it another name but I stick with the old name. All that is left is actually the foundation of the dam which now makes it a 1 -1/2 ft tall dam. This mill started off as a grist mill in the early 1800's then was abandoned in the late 1800's. In 1913 it was turned into a power dam and there is no record of when the dam collapsed. If you zoom in to the picture of the building foundation you will see 2 trees growing on a slope. That slope is the angle of the wood dam(the dam was wooden) and the wood extended to 1/2 the height of the rock building foundation.

This is Steve looking worried as we get ready to run the tunnel .































This is Glencoe dam. There have actually been 4 dams here. The first 3 were wooden and the last was concrete. In this picture you can see the 1st and 2nd dams. First built in the late 1700's and the last dam built in 1951. Its amazing those wooden dams lasted as long as they did.














This is the "new dam" built in 1951.


































Here is a nice flower growing in the log jams just above the dam
















HERE ARE SOME ADDED PICTURES OF THIS PLANT AT ANOTHER LOCATION SHOWING THE BULB AND THE LEAF. i AM PRETTY GOOD AT IDENTIFING TREES BUT NOT SO GOOD ON SHRUBS AND SMALL PLANTS.

IF YOU KNOW THIS PLANT PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT.  THANKS MACK

A sad note to this trip as we found dead fish everywhere and then learned Greensboro had released 1.5 million gallons of raw sewage into Buffaloe creek and the fish kill extended down past glenco. A very sad day.

ADDED SPRING 2014.....video of Glencoe Dam on my You Tube Channel 

Thanks Mack