Haw River Float 9/5/14

Nat's Dad called me Wednesday Sept the 3rd to see if I wanted to fish a spot we hadn't been to since last year. We had fished upstream and down but not here so I jumped at this chance to fish here.

Friday afternoon was the day. ND was mainly throwing a Spro Swimbait and his average size bass he was catching was better than mine.  I started off with a pearl fluke and a white buzzer and wasn't gettin any luv. I finally switched to a Cordell Spot and a White Spinnerbait on another rod. The average size I was catching went  up and I ended up with a good solid 5 lber. We probably had 15 bass a piece which is ok as a good day on this river will get you 20-40 bass.  We also caught a lot of  Redbreast , 1 crappie, and the only white perch I have caught this far upstream.

Wildlife seen was lots of Geese, Woodducks, Great Blue Herons, Little Green Herons, White Egrets, lot of Ospreys, and 2 big Bald Eagles which we got to see 1 snag a fish out of the river.

A really good day on the water.

Mack

Had to "Settle" for Bass

Well my plan Saturday was to go to the Pee Dee river with my life long friend Rodney  and fish for the ROBUST REDHORSE.


 Figured I would have to wade through a lot of Bass, Blue cats, and stripers to get a robust redhorse but it would be fun.  Ok,  just kiddin about the Robust Redhorse as it is endangered and the odds of catching one are slim to none but our plan was to float the Pee Dee and catch Bass and cats.

 Scratch that. Found out I had to go to my sons football meeting at 11 am so I had to hit up some place local.  We chose Buckhorn Dam on the Cape Fear because of it proximity to the both of us plus the time factor.  Our quarry was going to be Blue and Flathead catfish.

One WARNING.  Buckhorn is a nice place but it can be a place where a lot of hoodlums Hang out and I don't go don't there w/o a gun.  Note- when Rodney arrived at the dam there was a guy smoking a crack pipe.

 Met my friend Rodney there and we fished from 230- 800pm. I had to use my Frogg Toggs because of the rain which ended about 4 pm. The rain was actually a blessing as it kept the temps cool and probably increased the fish activity.  Our goal was to catch bait and then catfish, problem was usually here  I can catch all the bream  I want to but today they were not biting.
I tried everything I had. Spinners, grubs, ul Rapalas, even red worms. Nothing. finally after a couple of hours I grabbed the ole trusty Lews Speed Spool loaded with 50 lb braid and started slinging my favorite spinnerbait. Immediately I hooked into a chunky Largemouth and that may have went 3 lbs. Ended up catching no more Largemouth but caught 3 bowfin. 3lbs to 9 lbs. only got picture of smaller one as I released the 2 bigger ones while still in the water and caught aprox 20 Spotted Bass ranging from really small to maybe 2 lbs. Lost several big gar and no lunkers caught but it was a fun day on the water.

Here is Rodney's first Spotted Bass

 A nice 3 lb chunk Largemouth I caught on a spinnerbait

 A nice spot

 Another

 And another

3lb Bowfin

Wildlife seen was Ducks, herons(watched several catch some nice bait that I couldn't) , eagles, ospreys, 1 deer, 1 raccoon, and lots of 3 - 6 inch eels trying to do the salmon thing and swim up the dam. Some were making it 1/2 way up then falling back down. Note- I have caught eels above this dam so either some make it over in lower water or they crawl around.


*Date 8/2/2014
*Where- Cape Fear River
*Boat Used- Old Town 119
*Main Outfit used-  Lews Speed Spool 7.1-1 ratio on 7' MH Daiwa rod
  load with 50lb PowerPro
*All Bass caught on a Booya Spinnerbait


 Thanks for lookin-   Mack

Awesome day of River Fishing

Jeff and my self made a float on a Piedmont River Sunday May 25th.   The Bass were hitting a Booya White Spinnerbait and a Zoom Pearl Fluke.   They were really getting after the Fluke and the technique was to skip them under overhanging bushes and trees getting the Fluke really close to the bank and working it out fast. Today We probably caught 20 plus bass apiece with Jeff getting his personal best river bass that was pushing 8 lbs.   Also caught along with the Bass were 3 good size Jacks.  Both of my Jacks hit the spinnerbait and the hooks held.  Last year at this same spot I lost 7 Jacks in one day!! .   
Midday I also trolled for crappie catching 20 or so and they all fell for a chartreuse roadrunner.   Several bream were caught along with the crappie so Jeff had a nice cooler of fish with several crappie, Bream and 2 nice Jacks.

Towards the end of this float is a dam and I talked Jeff into fishing the pools below it and I think he is glad he did catching his best river bass to date down there and I also caught my best fish of the day there.  Mine fell for the spinnerbait while Jeff caught his on a big beetlespin on 6 lb line!!!

WOW!!

 

 

We also saved two toads today as Jeff found an old perk hole that had 3 toads in it. One was dead and the other 2 could not get out.  I lightly hooked each one released them and then filled in that death trap.

 

Wildlife seen today was lots and lots of Great Blue Herons, a few wood ducks,  and some ospreys.

A great day of fishing.

 

Boat used- Coleman Scanoe with trolling motor

Best baits today-  Pearl Fluke, White Booyah Spinnerbait and the Chartreuse RoadRunner.

 

Mack 

 

 

Riverbassin Tournament Trail Charlotte Stop yields 2 Citation Roanoke Bass

I had eagerly awaited this stop in Charlotte but I had a problem....My best spots which were inbounds the last 2 Times in Charlotte(2011, 2013) were now out of bounds. I finished 4th both of those years and being able to hit my honeyholes surely helped. This time I was forced to fish a  section of river I had never fished.  My plan was to start off with a white spinner bait, a few topwaters and a fluke.

Legal fishing time was 6 am and by the time I was on the water it was 6:15.   My first cast yielded nothing but my second cast with the spinnerbait brought on a vicious strike.  I was expecting to have a good solid 2-4 lb bass by the fight but was a little shocked to haul in a good solid 13-14 inch Roanoke bass.  Awesome!  Citation size in North Carolina for this species is 11 inches or 1 pound and this one would make that easily.  I was so surprised(and half asleep) that I didn't get an exact measurement on this fish but it was a good start even though this fish didn't count for the tournament.
Several cast later and my bait is slammed again.  My first Largemouth of the day??.  No,  another citation size Roanoke bass at a solid 12 inches!   Not the fish I was after but I will never complain about catching big Roanoke's. 

Here are a few pictures of these fish.
The Bigger Roanoke Bass ( Ambloplites cavifrons )

The 12 inch Roanoke

A little while later I landed a 11 inch largemouth but I would need fish a lot bigger than that.   Several cast later I landed the first decent Largemouth of the day.  

Not bad but I would need bigger fish to do well in this tournament.  I ended up catching only 7 or 8 bass with the best 3 all being around the 15 inch mark.

My 3 best Bass fell to the White spinnerbait, Pearl Fluke and Zara Spook. 
I ended up with 45.5 inches which put me in 15th place. I just couldn't get that good solid 21 to 22 inch fish that would have put me in the top ten. I was still happy finishing 15th out of 38 entries since this was my first time at this strtch of river.  

 More info on this series of tournaments can be found at http://www.riverbassintrail.com/

Thanks Mack

#roanokebass

#ambloplitescavifrons

Back to my favorite Spot

I called Steve and asked him did he want to go to my favorite spot. He said YES , but  I warned him about the dog and the copperheads.  We made it up there at daylight and the action was fast! Well, at least for me.  I caught 8 bass on the Cordell spot in a little over an hour as we had to leave just after 8 to get Steve to his work.  The water was a little high and stained but the fish don't care. No lunkers today but some good action.  Also,  here you need a good long casting reel to reach the best spots.

 I really like the Daiwa 2600ss for this long distance casting along with the Calcutta Baitcaster. Both reels are spooled with 12lb line.

see       http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-first-two-bass-outings-for-2014.html     for my first two trips at this spot for this year

Trip - 4/12/14  daylight to 815am

Monster Bass !!! Can I get a BOOYAH!!!.......... 1st Lunker of the year.

April 2014

Booyah Spinnerbait that is!!!!!!!

Today after work I headed to a spot to do a little bank fishing to relieve some stress.  530 PM-630pm. Water was clear as it gets here and the water temp was 61 degrees with an air temp of about the same.
I started off with a road runner and caught a few small white perch (I was after huge crappie this spot is known for) and with nothing but small perch hittin I put on a 1/2 oz chartreuse booyah spinnerbait .
On my 3rd cast , BAAMMMM   she  felt like a good 3 or 4 lber and then her head came up and I thought "jeepers that's a hawg" then she started fighting and got me wrapped twice but I finally got her in. Thank goodness for 12 lb Ande line. That line is really tough!!!!. Only bass I caught in an hour of fishing but I wont complain.
Oh, If it wasn't for a trailer hook I would of never caught her.

See this post for how I do my trailer hooks-   http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/trailer-hooks-for-spinnerbaits.html 

Get the Booyah Tux and Tails here -    https://amzn.to/3UtrLRQ

The Bank on this spot has a lot of burrowing crayfish which I guess adds to the forage here.

 

Burrowing crayfish home

Thanks for lookin.................

#hugebass

#monsterbass

#bassfishing

My First Two Bass Outings for 2014

This is a report of my first 2 Bass outings of 2014.  I have been really busy and made it a point to get out to one of my favorite childhood spots(come to think of it,  it is one of my favorite spots even today).    This is awesome in the early spring and rat l trap style baits here work wonders.

1st trip was on March the 30th from 7 am - 930 and I caught 8.   All were from 2 lbs up to 4lbs with one lost big un.  2 were caught on a Booyah Spinnerbait, 2 hit a swimming super fluke on a 1/2 oz jig head and 4 hit a Cordell Spot.   

The air temp was a chilly 43 degrees with a water temp of 46 degrees.   Water was stained.

A few pics of the first trip

Now the Second trip-

This trip took place on 4-2 and was from 7am to 9am. Water temp had climbed from 46 the other day to 51 deg today.  I also caught 8 bass again with the smallest being around 2.5 lbs and the biggest maybe pushing 5. All hit the Cordell Spot but I also threw the Super Fluke on Jighead but had no takers on that one.  Had to leave biting fish to get to a doctors appt.   Dangit!!!

Here are a few pics- 

Thanks for looking-  Remember the Trap or Spot is awesome right now!