Hickory Shad at Weldon were on Fire Today - 3/22/16

Weldon NC Shad Fishing

****see videos at the bottom**** 

Had the day off and my son was also on Spring break so I asked him did he want to go catch some shad. He said "sure". WOW!  He  is 19 and his priorities are school, girls, friends, girls, and did I say girls? and not necessarily in that order. So I was surprised and happy he chose to go shad fishing.

We didn't leave town until 2 so I only had 2 choices. The Tar near Rocky Mount or Weldon. I chose Weldon. I looked at usgs.gov and they had the flow listed at 10,500 cfm. I then looked at Dominion Powers release schedule and it was supposed to stay at that for at least 2 more days. We got there the water was muddy!  Crap!  I like mud for Bass fishing but not Shad fishing. I actually thought about heading south to the Tar but something told me to stay. We were fishing by 3:45 and the first Shad came to hand on the first or second cast. We caught too many to count. We fished 5 or so spots and all produced fish. when the action slowed on one spot we drifted down 50 yds or so, anchored and the action repeated.

We Never Left Sight of the Ramp.  When  action slowed we moved up or down no farther than a long cast and the action picked right back up.

All hits came on White 2 inch Berkely Powerbait grubs on a 1/8 oz Pink Jig head. It was a great few hours on the water with my son.

You can see how I tie the above rig at -

We finished the day off by stopping at Ralph's BBQ where one of my sister in laws works at,  so we got to see her and eat some great food.

An awesome ending to a great day of fishing.

Thanks, Mack

#Roanokeriver

#shadfishing

#weldon

2016 Crappie

I have to apologize as this years fishing has been off due to work and school.  I have though taken a few trips that I haven't posted on and during some of these trips I have caught some nice Crappie (no monsters but some decent fish) .  So here are a few Crappie pics from this years outings.

Also, as the year goes by I will add photos to this post.

Caught these in April on a Monks Head and a Acid Rain Grub

This is one was caught in April  on a Purple Rain Grub.  I caught 10~ on the Purple  Rain grub in about 15 cast then nothing!   It was a fast and furious first 15 cast.   I caught these in a local lake in a spot where I have been putting in a stake bed for 3 years when  the water is low and this was the first time I have fished it.  If the water gets low this year I will add more stakes to it and I know where I will be next  March/April !!!

Caught this one in May on a Powerbait tube under a cork

                                         

                       Here is one my son caught in May, pretty sure his Crappie is way  bigger than what I have caught this year!!!

One I caught yesterday trolling a "Fish Doc" Rig.    The Fish Doc Rig is a deep crank on the bottom of a 3 way swivel and a 1/4 oz Roostertail on the top. The top leader is twice as long as the bottom.   I caught too many to count White Perch, 1 white Bass, 1 yellow perch, and 4 channel cats (all cats on the Roostertail)  on this rig yesterday.  I have used this rig twice, once last year and now this year.

 The fish have killed this rig though I haven't got any really big fish on it yet though both times I have fished it have been less than ideal times in the middle of a Hot Summer day.    I am going to fish with this rig more and report back.

                                   

Here is a pic of the Acid and Purple Rain grubs.........................

                                 

 All of these fish were caught in Central North Carolina...........
 Thanks for looking!  Mack

"Crappie Fishing North Carolina"

Awesome Evening White Shad Fishing

Date 4/16/2015
Time 5-7 PM
Lures Used -  1/8 oz Pink headed jig w/ White Grub
or Chartreuse Grub and a split shot aprox 1 Ft above it
Water Temp - 59 degrees

Sad day today.   We laid to rest my Mother in law ( Lillie Mae Turner) today.  She loved to fish so after everything had settled down we figured it was ok for My son(her grandson) and myself to go fishing for a few hours.

She must have been watching as my son put on a show catching White Shad.  He must have caught twice as many as me but that's OK. He is the only person that I don't mind out fishing me.

Like most shad they wanted the grub slow and deep. I actually caught a few while watching the Osprey's that were continually putting on a show for us .    I had several times stopped  my lure to watch the Osprey's and was surprised by several hookups doing this.

My son probably caught 10 big ones and me maybe 5.  The only other fish we caught was I snagged a big ole gizzard shad in the back.

My son has caught lots of Hickories before but today was his first time catching White or American shad.

Here are a few pictures.

Thanks, Mack

Son's First Deer with Bow

 This  July my son informed me that he wanted to bow hunt . Well, that meant he had to get a bow so I took him to an archery shop in Sanford and had him outfitted with a Matthews bow. Heck! he has a better bow than I do now.  He has practiced A LOT since then and  has become very proficient with his new bow. So, this  past Saturday he wanted to go hunting. On our way there he said he was gonna get one today and I told him that shooting one on his first try out would be slim. He was confident he would nail one.
We arrived at our destination at approximately 3 pm and I put him in a ladder stand on an oak ridge. He then asked what he could shoot. I told him anything as long as it didn't have spots.  Fast forward to 5 pm and I am watching a doe and he calls me and tells me he has shot one. I arrived at his stand and he tracked the blood trail to his first bow kill! Now, he has taken deer with his rifle but this was pretty good, harvesting a deer the first time out with a bow. He made an excellent 25 yd shot.  A small doe but still a deer and this will be some good eating.  Nice job son!!!.

Equipment- Matthews Bow w/ Rage broad heads
Stand- Metal ladder stand than you can see behind his left shoulder
Stand location. - Oak Ridge
Time- 3pm till dark

Him practicing

 

The results

 

 

 

Again, nice job son

Staunton River Camping and Fishing

I had plans to take my son to Georgia for a Get together for  some Camping, Canoeing/fishing and to see some old friends but the weather did not cooperate. The Flint was too high to float so we had to look for an alternate plan close to home. The first place that came to mind was the Staunton River and the Staunton River State park in Virginia. Now, I have fished the Staunton before  but not down this low. This would be new water to me. Here is a view of the entrance as we arrived on 6/22 around lunchtime.

The visitor station was a very nice place with a very helpful staff plus they had plenty of merchandise if you left something at home or didn't want to drive the 20 minutes to the nearest Wal-Mart!

 Plus, they are open to 10 pm and they don't lock the gate at this campground so if you do need to run into town late at night you can. Here is a view of the visitor station and the pool beside it.

Both are Top-Notch facilities.

Here is a view of our camping spot.

This campground is the nicest I have been in so far. It is a meca for the fisherman because you have the choice of 2 ramps. 1 on the Dan river arm of Kerr Lake where you can launch and either run up the Dan river or run down to the main lake. 2. You can launch on the Staunton river arm of the lake and run up the Staunton river or go to the main lake. We chose to spend all of out time on the Staunton side. Here is a view of that ramp.

Left takes you up into the River and into some backwater areas and right takes you to the main lake. We launched at 4pm and headed upriver.

This is part of an old pumping staion that was used for the campground. This is no longer needed now as the Park is now on City water.

Mack N. started off throwing a frog and I started off with a chartreuse spinnerbait since the water was high and muddy. The spinnerbait was getting hits from some fat chunky bass so it didn't take him long to change to a spinnerbait as well. We were getting hits by throwing at Willow trees and the hits were about every 30 yds down the bank.  Most were 1 1/2 lbs to 2 1 /2 lbs but Mack Nicholas caught 1 that went just over 4 lbs. Here are a few of those pictures.

We left biting bass to go catch bait for a night of catfishing. Our bait of choice would be either Bream and/or White Perch.  We used 2 rods for this, both ultralites. 1 was rigged with a 1/2 oz  bell sinker on bottom with 2 gold hooks spaced 6 inches apart above the sinker. The 2nd one had a splitshot just above a cricket hook . We tipped each hook with a piece of nightcrawler.  Hits were many and often, catching all the white perch we cared to catch and a few bream and 2 shell crackers as well.

This is a picture (a poor one but you can get the idea) of the 2 bottom rigs we used for White Perch.

You can use sabiki rigs for them or the rig I used with the 2 gold hooks does well even with 4,5, or 6 hooks spaced a few inches apart. Tip each hook with just a piece of worm.

Right before dark we started catfishing. The hits were few and far between. At aprox 10pm it started raining hard and I thought Mack N. would want to call it quits for the night but he wanted to stay, so we stayed until 2am with it raining the whole time. Thank goodness for Frogg Toggs!.. We did manage a  couple of Blue cats with the  biggest at maybe 5 lbs. Both caught on cutbait sprayed with Bang Garlic Spray on a7/0 circle hook with a 3 oz bank sinker.  This is a picture of the rig I like.

The next day we launched again around 4pm and headed upriver to do some exploring.
Here is a short video of us and the Scanoe running up the muddy Staunton.

We went back to our spot where the white perch were biting yesterday and they were still there. We caught more than just white perch though,  We would catch a perch then the next fish would be either a BlueCat or Channel that weighed 3/4 up to maybe 1lb 4oz. These were actually pretty fun to catch on ultralites. They were hitting the same rigs as yesterday tipped with a piece of night crawler. Right at dark we started catfishing. Bites were few and far between again. These catfish have to be spawning. I have got reports of them spawning this week too. The biggest that night was an aprox10 lb channel cat that hit a piece of cutbait. There were very bad clouds in the distance but the skies above us were clear and we could see the Big Dipper. We were treated to  an awesome lightning storm display in the sky miles away towards Brookneal or Alta Vista. Here is  a picture of one of the many small cats we caught and then the biggest which may have gone 9-10 lbs

Dont Say it!  I know I look drunk,  but I am just dog tired. We did set out 10 jugs after catching this fish and didn't get 1 bite on a jug.

Summary of the conditions and equipment  used:

Boat- Colemane Scanoe w/ 2.5 hp Mercury
Bait- Live white perch and cut bait for bigger Cats, night crawlers for white perch, small cats and panfish.
Outfits used for Cats- Ambassaduer 6500 with 30 lb big game line on White Ugly Stik, Ambassadeur 7000 loaded with 40 lb Cajun line on 8' American Spirit Night Stick. We also had a Shimano 6500 baitrunner w/ 25 lb Ande on a 7 ft Uglystick Tiger rod but we didn't use that one.
Outfits for panfish- 2 Ultra lites w 4lb line.

Kerr Lake Level- 301.2 ,  1.2 feet up from normal level of 300 ft above sea level
Staunton Flow at Randolph gauge- Aprox 3000 cfm, avg for ths time of year is aprox 1500 cfm.



All in all it was a good 3 day trip. Hopefully we will make it back next year when the Walleye run up from the lake. Thanks , Mack

#stauntonriverstatepark

#danriver

#stauntonriver

Jordan Lake Fishing and Citation fish caught 6/8/13

My passion is river fishing and with all the rain that meant either pond fishing Saturday am or Lake fishing as all the rivers I usually fish were way too high.  My son wanted to go so with all this rain I decided to take him to a spot at Jordan Lake where with these kind of conditions I was faily sure we could catch some fish along the riprap given the weather and especially the way the wind was blowing pushing shad up against the riprap. We arrived at daylight and we proceeded to catch probably 20 largemouth up to right at 4 lbs, most on Rat-L-Trap, 4 or 5 white bass most on rat l trap , 4 or 5 black crappie mainly on mini trap and maybe 4 or 5 channel cats up to 4 lbs on shad. My son was wearing me out to begin with but towards the end I gained on him and came close to his success.

Oh, and we caught 1 Citation  size fish. I was reluntanct to post this until I heard back from my fisheries Bioligist friend whom works at Auburn University as usually I am fairly confident in species identification but this one I was 90-95 percent sure on just not 100 percent sure. He responded back that he was confident that the fish I caught was indeed a white perch...no! not a white perch. what were yall expecting? a big fat largemouth of smallie???

 I'll take a citation perch any day. 12" is citation size.

Here is what Steve (Auburn Bioligist) said about this fish-

"wow - that looks like a whopper of a white perch! It could be a hybrid between white bass and white perch, such pairings are not unheard of in that genus. But, smart money would be on it being a really nice white perch."

He also said-  "that is a magnaminous white perch"

Here are a few more pics of our outing

A good morning fishing with my favorite son!


Tags    "North Carolina White Perch "    " North Carolina Citation White Perch "

Huge Bass , Great Job Son!!!

My son called me at work April the 15th and wanted to borrow my waders and Truck to go fishing on his own to a  spot I have taken him to in the past.
He has fished with me a lot but when I am not home he is stuck to fishing places he can walk or ride his bike to. That has all changed now since he can drive.  I agreed to let him use my truck. 

Later in the day I had forgotten he was fishing and I get a text and open it up and lookie here what do I see. He has caught 2 very nice bass. Both on a floating frog. The first one pictured was actually the second caught and she went 6 lbs 6 oz. The 2nd one pictured went 4 lbs even . The scale was going from 3-15 - 4-0 . 

Here they are.

Great Job  Son!

#hugenorthcarolinabass

#hugebass

#bassfishing

Eastern NC Lake Bassin

Blackwater Pond Bass

4/5/2013...My son had the week off for spring break . I Only had Thursday and Friday off and Thursday the weather was terrible so that left Friday to take my son fishing. Where would I take him? Eno River white bass came to mind as I have been catching a few there but, according to usgs it was high. The Neuse ? that is our favorite spot but USGS had it up in wake and Johnston co with our area soon to be hit. I decided to take him to a very out of the way lake that is a good 2 miles off the main road for some bass fishing. I knew the water wouldn't be muddy as this is a black water lake fed by a small blackwater creek.

The lake is in an area that has plenty of Fox Squirrels and Red Cockaded Woodpeckers or RCW"S as a lot of people call them. 2 white rings around a tree denotes the location of a nest. These are endangered birds so you must not get near their nest.  Note: picture of cavity tree was taken with a zoom lens.

We arrived at aprx 230 pm and immediately our spinnerbaits were being smashed by eager bass. No monsters but a couple of 3 lbers with most being 1.5 - 2 lbs. White was a good color but my big bass bait the ole Black double copper spinnerbait was getting the most hits. The bite died at 430 or so when the sun really came out. We only managed a few after that.

Wildlife seen today was a Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron, Geese, and 1 Beaver
Air Temp 64 degrees

Water Temp 59 deg

Boat- Coleman Scanoe powered by Motor guide

My outfit was a 7 ft MH with 50 lb braid (cause of trees)

His outfit Saros 3000 Spinning reel on Med rod with 30 lb braid

Baits Used- Spinnerbaits, Both Booya's  White 3/8th and a Black Booya Tux and Tails

Get them here-  white  https://amzn.to/3VAmGHo
Black Tux and Tails    https://amzn.to/3EUefzN

Here are a few pics of the Bass and Lake

Note - A Black Spinnerbait with Hammered double blades is one of my favorite Big bass baits and is also my favorite in "Blackwater" Lakes and Rivers.........Mack

#bass

#bassfishing

#colemanscanoe