1st SHAD of 2021 !!! - Shad Fishing in North Carolina

Our First Shad Trip of the year.   Dont forget to check out my YT Channel 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaM9MmMiJa-xoJLplQ7w4OA

#shad

#shadfishing

#shadrun

#shadfishingnorthcarolina

#fishingislife

Save 300 + Dollars on your Mud-Skipper Mud Motor Longtail

    

                                                                                                                                                                                        

#longtail

#mudskippermotor

#swamprunner

#mudmotor

#jonboat

Hiking, Exploring, and Fishing Carter's Falls

October 2020 We explored Carter's Falls which is just outside of Elkin, NC .   This is a awesome place with some really nice waterfalls on Big Elkin Creek.    Enjoy the video, Mack

#cartersfalls

1st Carp Outing of 2020 !! Fun Day !

#fishingislife

#fishing

#carp

I Bought a Kayak Cooler !!!! Is it the best Kayak Cooler ?

  Well it is time I purchased a nice cooler for my Kayak and Canoe fishing.    I actually went and did some Coastal Marsh fishing recently and caught a keeper Red Drum and Flounder and I had Nothing to to put them in to keep them cold!!!! 

   This started my search for a nice soft cooler that would fit nicely on the front of my yak and also fit in the front or back of my canoes.   A soft cooler it had to be especially since a soft one could/would conform to a canoes shape while laying on the bottom.    

I looked at lots of them  online and after reading lots of reviews ( plus I spoke with a kayaker who had one) and decided on the Reliable Fishing cooler.    Now, these are not cheap but you get what you pay for and I decided to spend the 150~ bucks and order one. 

you can get it here -  https://amzn.to/2RJu3gL

Amazon said I could expect my package in like 5 days but it came in two! Great ! I have been waiting on an anchor for over 2 mos ! It must be coming from China!!.

I unboxed the cooler and did a video on it which you can see below and while I have not used it yet, it is clearly a well made cooler though only time will confirm this. I am confident it would prove to be worth the 150 bucks. Anyway check out how well this cooler fits on the front of my Yak ( It will be secured with 2 bungees )

This is on a Wilderness Systems Atak 140

My Unboxing Video.

I will post an update on it after I have put a few fish in it!

Thanks for reading and watching !!  Mack 

#kayakcooler

#reliablecooler

#fishingislife

Match the Hatch for BIG Bass !

#monsterbass

#bassfishing

#fishing

#fishingislife

White Bass Spawning Run 2020 Part 1

#whitebass

#fishing

#howtocatchwhitebass

#fishingislife

#whitebassfishing

Scotland Neck Boat Ramp

4/20/2020

Scotland Neck Boat Ramp (Edwards Ferry Access Area)

Halifax County North Carolina

I am going to start posting more info on ramps on this blog.

Here is the one I have been meaning to do for a while. 

subscribe to my you tube channel here   https://www.youtube.com/user/MackinNC1

Follow me on instagram here                  https://www.instagram.com/macks.river.fishing/

This Ramp on the Roanoke River  is located In the Eastern part of Halifax county along the Roanoke River just a few miles north of Scotland neck.  This ramp gets the most use during the Rockfish spring spawning run(March, April May) and Some use during  Shad season (late Feb , March, early April),  and the rest of year it is mainly used for Catfishing and some panfishing. 

Fish found in here may be too many to post but here it goes.   Largemouth bass, Rockfish, Longnose Gar, Bowfin,  Carp, Bluegill, Crappie, ShellCracker, Blue catfish (big ones), Flathead Catfish, Channel Catfish,  White Shad(seasonal), Hickory Shad(seasonal).

Google maps view

The Parking lot has ample room

The Boat ramp itself is very nice and one thing about it is the current doesn't affect your loading and unloading as much as the Weldon Ramp. 

Thanks for checking this out and also check out my youtube channel here  https://www.youtube.com/user/MackinNC1

#boatramps
#roanokeriver
NCWRC boat ramps

How to Catch Fall River Bass / Old town 119

#bassfishing

#riverbassfishing

#fishingislife

Monster Crappie from North Carolina Lake

Monster North Carolina Crappie

Sunday May 5th 2019   - YouTube Video of trip at the bottom. 

Jordan Lake North Carolina

6-8 PM

Lure-  Kalins Acid Rain Grub     Get it Here                https://amzn.to/2K472CK

Scent Used - Crappie.com 's   G- Sauce  Get it  Here  https://amzn.to/2YL2FjP

Frabill Ez Crappie Check'R Measuring Tool                https://amzn.to/2YPYDXI

I Have not Crappie Fished much this year due to all of the high water here in North Carolina.  NC has had the most rainfall on record in 2018 and the start of this year has seen lots of rainfall as well. 

   Most of my spring spots have been way too deep as the high water had the Crappie spawning in different places.   Well, the lake I like to fish finally got back down to near normal so I decided to go hit one of my crappie spots.  I knew or thought I may not catch a lot as the spawn is over but I figured I could catch a few at this shallow spot.      A few it was!  I only caught 3 with 2 being small but this Black Crappie would not even fit into the Frabill EZ  Crappie checker.   The fish measured 15 inches and was THICK.   I owe catching this fish to the the best  crappie grub out there ( Kalins Acid Rain) and G Sauce from Crappie.com

 ( see links above to get both ).   Not a great day as far as numbers are concerned but I will take a Monster Crappie any day. 

Here is the Big one of the day.  I am 6'3" with Big Hands

Here are the new scents from Crappie.com I have been using with success.   

See links at the top to get them

Make sure to Watch the video to see how I work the Kalin Grub and scent. 

Thanks for Reading and watching and be sure to Subscribe to my 

YouTube  Channel and follow me On InstaGram at https://www.instagram.com/macks.river.fishing/

#crappiefishing

#crappie

#fishing

#howtocatchcrappie

#fishingislife

Fishing with Live Goldfish for Crappie !!! - Crappie Fishing from th...

March 9th, 2019
Crappie Fishing with Goldfish
Location- Central North Carolina Creek
Time -   3-5 Pm
Rod-  7' Abu Super7 Med action
Reel - Okuma  Stratus SGT30
Line- 10 lb Trilene
Hook- #4 Gold wire hook with a split shot
above and 2' under a cork

**Follow me on YouTube here  https://www.youtube.com/user/MackinNC1

**Follow me on InstaGram  here  https://www.instagram.com/macks.river.fishing/

^^ The reason for going with the  outfit listed above is I wanted a longer length to help control the drift and bigger line than I normally use as there are some nice channel cats in this stream that I thought I may luck into one of those.

I have always fished with goldfish but it has always been while I was fishing for Catfish and those were with big Goldfish.   Those big goldfish work fantastic on catfish so I have always thought smaller ones would work  great on Crappie.  This has been a goal of mine to do this and today I made it happen.

I stopped and my local Pet store and got 20 feeder goldfish  for $4.29.  I kept these in a minnow bucket aerated with a Baby Bubbles which does a great Job.     You can see how awesome they work in the video but I had a hit on all 20 Goldfish! It was a great couple hours on the water and I will be sure to do this again on a nearby lake so stay tuned for that !!

Here is a Picture and then my YouTube video

#crappiefishing
#crappiefishingnorthcarolina
#crappie

#fishingwithgoldfish

#goldfish

#fishing

First Shad of 2019 !! Shad Fishing on the Neuse River

March 2nd, 2019
Weather  60 plus degrees, Water Temp 55 deg
River Flow  aprox 13,000 CFM Normal for this time of year is 4,000CFM

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Follow me on instagram here                  https://www.instagram.com/macks.river.fishing/


My wife and I along with our Dog Pete Hit a side channel off of the Neuse after some Shad on their spring spawning run.   We got there at Aprox 2 and fished until 6 pm.  The action was slow but fun as we caught what we were after.  The best Lures used were 1/8oz Pink headed Jigs and 2 inch white grubs rigged in tandem.   I think I landed 5 which I am Happy with.

 Since the water was high from recent rains we were fishing this side creek off of the Neuse River which is also called Village Creek.  The High water will send some of the fish up this creek so it is usually a good spot during high flows.

 Below on the map this spot is pinned as Shad spot #1.    You fish  right off of the bridge , just make sure to watch out for traffic as Most of the traffic goes slow when people are fishing but some don't slow down so use this at your own risk.  Also, be careful with your casts as there are plenty of trees that will "take" your lures. Today at peak time there was apox 15-20 people fishing off of this bridge.

I would recommend you use at least  at least 10 lb line since you are lifting the  shad up the bridge but we did "get by" with 6 lb on a couple of rods but we did not catch any big ones today.  6 lb line is not going to lift a good one up.

Here is My dog Pete that loves to fish.  My wife snapped this picture after I said "fish on"  and he has to see it.

This is a video of this trip.  Please watch and enjoy and please subscribe to my You tube channel and follow me on Instagram.

Thanks for reading and watching!!

How to Restore Headlights the Best and Easiest Way using Wipe New headl...

Hello Everyone!!!! Not fishing related but you need to be able to see where you drive to get to your fishing spots!!

This really works and you can see the before and after pictures near the end.

To Order Click Here   https://amzn.to/2EaqtWY

Thanks for watching!!!!!!!!!!

Rare Black Carp Caught at Smith Mountain Lake - Virginia Carp Fishing

Smith Mountain Lake Virginia
Virginia Carp Fishing
Dates  October 13th and 14th 2018
Water Temp  64.5 degrees
Water depth  10'


My wife and I spent the weekend at Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake so I did some Carp fishing while I was there.  The first day I had only 3 hours or so to fish as we had to go out to eat and be back in time to see the UNC vs Va Tech Game.    The game for me did not go as well as the fishing.

It was a productive Saturday session with 4 Carp Brought to the dock with one of those being a Black Carp.  A first for me.
The first fish came within 15 minutes and the other 3 were spread out on this outing.  I had not pre-baited this spot so I thought that was a pretty good session.   However, I did know I had a good chance to fish Sunday so I did bait this area so my Sunday session would hopefully be better or have bigger fish. This "baiting" consisted of throwing out 1 can of corn and 1 can or cream corn.

Sundays session was only 1.5 hours but but I did catch the biggest of the trip and had 2 other "runs"
All of these fish were caught in 10 ft of water on the outfits listed at the bottom.  A big thanks to my wife for patiently waiting in the car while it lightly rained for most of this session.

The Highlight of the day was when we left the lake a Big ole Fox Squirrel ran across the road in front of us.   

My You Tube Video of this will be posted below near the bottom.  Please subscribe to my blog and You Tube Channel for more Posts.  

Here are my 2 outfits I used on this trip, All fish were caught on the Shimano 3500 Baitrunner, I don't know why all came on this outfit other than I was casting each to the same spots which were about 30 feet apart from each other.  This reel is matched to a 8' Ugly Stik and spooled with 16 lb High Vis Momoi Line

This is the other outfit, a Daiwa Millionaire 6000 on a 7' Ugly Stik Lite rod also spooled with 16 lb Hi Vis Momoi Line

Both of these are in Driftmaster Rod holders and DriftMaster Clamp mounts

The rig I use is a 1 oz weight ( more if windy) and a very  short length of 25 lb or 30 lb flouro leader and a # 1 Gamagatsu Octopus hook

Here are my baits and attractants.....I left one out as I can't give away all of my secrets. LOL

These mixed with Oats makes this pack bait along with 4 - 5 kernels of corn.

Here is the small but Unique Black Carp

The Biggest of the weekend

Now the Video,  Don't forget to subscribe and ask any questions as I try to answer all of them.

Tags
" Virginia Carp "
#Carpfishing
Virginia carp fishing
fishing with Corn
Smith Mountain Lake fishing

How to Catch Bowfin

How to Catch Bowfin

Bowfin are a fish most fishermen  either love or hate.    Bass anglers despise them because they can really just destroy a spinner bait or a plug but I think most Bass anglers just are not used to unhooking them which can be daunting to some especially since they have teeth.

What's not to like about them??   They get Big,  they fight hard,  they sometimes jump,  they are fairly easy to catch once you figure them out and they are tackle busters.  Come under gunned and they will leave you with your head hanging.  A True Sportfish they are.

So where do you find Bowfin?  Check out the map below.  2/3rds of the Eastern US is Prime Bowfin habitat.
What surprises me about this map is how little Bowfin range in Texas.    I actually feel sorry for people who live outside of where Bowfin Range !

Here is a map courtesy of usgs.gov
 

Anywhere they range you need to look for the backwaters or sluggish areas  and especially areas with lots of weed growth.   For example on my home lake of Jordan lake here in North Carolina they are all over the lake but less common on main lake points and areas w/o cover.   To find an abundance of them you need to go to backs of coves  where it is shallower and /or weedier.  To find a bigger abundance of them find a creek with  a beaver pond on it just above the lake.

I caught my first ever Bowfin  way back in 1982 on the then New Jordan Lake when  she was only a 1yr old lake. This 4 lb bowfin smashed a chartreuse Snagless Sally I was throwing for bass and I was forever hooked.   Now, some years my fishing for them wanes while I pursue other species but I always keep coming back to the incredible Bowfin.   I have caught them up to near 14 lbs but most are going to be 4-7 lbs with a occasional 8-10 lber thrown in.

One  place I fish for them is the Neuse River in Eastern N.C.   Down there it is a medium sized river that has some Cypress trees but to get into the really good bowfin water there you need to go into a feeder creek that is full of Cypress trees and back water areas,  Here the Bowfin is King.

So, remember backwaters, sluggish areas, beaverponds, etc.

Some days you can even see Bowfin gulping air  as they can breath air so if you see them doing this just know you are in a good spot.

So what kind of tackle do you use for Bowfins?    Any reel that can be used for Bass fishing can be used for Bowfins but usually I go a little heavier.  If I am truely Bowfin fishing I use at least 50 lb braid or 20 lb mono.

Tactics-  Bait or Lures

 Bait-   The best way to catch Bowfin  is to put a piece of cutbait on a Carolina rig using a 2 oz sinker and a 3-4/0 Gamagatsu J hook.   The next  best way is to float a minnow, shiner or very small bream 1-2 ' under a cork.

Lures-  IMO the best lure for Bowfins are a 3/8 oz spinnerbait with tandem blades black in color. Chartreuse and white work also. Always use a trailer hook and this is a Bowfin getter for sure.   Other good lures are a Chartreuse Snagless Sally,   Floating Yellow Worms ( Haw River Tackle Floating Worms are the best ) and Pink Senkos Wacky Rigged.    Truth be known they will hit any bass lure but the ones listed are the best IMHO.

Get the BEST Bowfin Lures  Here -

#1 Booyah Tux and Tails Spinnerbait - https://amzn.to/3gZbtkR

#2 Pink Senko - https://amzn.to/3B1LEaG

Hooks for Senko  -2/0 Wide Gap #230412 3/0 wide gap 230413 https://amzn.to/3gQzj2n

#3 Haw River Tackle Floating Worms - https://amzn.to/3gRxgLg

Haw River Tackle website  https://hrtackle.com/

Hooks for Haw river Tackle Worms - 

Lazer Sharp 3/0 - https://amzn.to/3ESTJzz

Lazer Sharp 4/0 - https://amzn.to/3VpZnAp

#4 Snagless Sally - https://amzn.to/3OSY22m

              Also Note the Fish Gripper in every picture .  This is a MUST when targeting Bowfins

Get Your fish Gripper Here - https://amzn.to/3FhesP4

Here are a few videos I have on Bowfin on my YOUTUBE Channel

Subscribe to this blog and my youtube channel
THANKS ! MACK

Bowfin fishing
snakehead fishing
North carolina fishing

#bowfin

#bowfinfishing

#fishing

#fishingislife

MONSTER BREAM and a Huge Pond Surprise !

The Hickory Shad were on Fire today.

March 3rd , 2018
Roanoke River, NC @Weldon
Quarry- Hickory Shad

***You Tube Video Included below***


I have had a great Spring so far and I have made a couple of trips for Shad and managed only One Hickory On February the 12 (my earliest shad ever caught ) and a White shad the other day in another River.   I got a report the Hickory shad were on fire at Weldon so I called my buddy Aki  and asked if he wanted to go???  He said sure! though he told me later he was skeptical about driving for 1.5 hrs to be able to fish for a little over 2 hours.  Anyway we arrived at the boat landing and you could see people reeling in fish.   The first Hour was  somewhat slow but the second hour it really picked up .    Together we caught 45 plus shad and 1 small Striper which is a lot for the limited time we were there.

I started off with a Tandem Rig but quickly changed to  single Jig with a Big Split shot above it to get deeper.

This rig gets deeper than the Tandem cause the 2nd  jig on the tandem doesn't sink like a big ole split shot.

The water was at about 9000 cfm and the water temp right at 50 degrees

The water Temp has dropped. It was 54 2 weeks ago and 52 on March 1st ,  now it is at 49 degrees. The shad are there you just have to slow down the retrieve.

Aki With a nice Hickory Shad

Me with  The lone White Shad caught out of about 45 Hickories

Here is my You tube Video of our Trip

Thank for Looking!!!

#shadfishing

#hickoryshadfishing

#americanshadfishing

#roanokeriver

The Spring Crappie Bite is on Fire here in North Carolina !!

Thursday February 22, 2018
Location- Central NC

Guys, the Crappie have been on fire here in Central NC for a few weeks but this week has been especially good.  The water Temp in the area lakes and some of the Eastern Creeks  has been in the mid 50's with Jordan hitting 59 degrees yesterday.   This has got the Crappie wanting to spawn and moving into the shallows.  Right now on Jordan and Falls Lake there are many many Crappie in 3 -5 feet of water.    I have had my best luck throwing a 1/16 oz  Monks head with a Kalins Triple Threat Grub In the Acid Rain Color.   I have also been mainly throwing this jig on a 6' Berkeley Med Light Lighting Rod with a Daiwa Tierra 1500 reel spooled with 6 lb line.   I am also throwing a Mini Rattle trap to weed out some of the smaller fish.

You can get anything Crappie related at Monks Crappie. He is located near Liberty, NC but does do mail order. ****

added 120122  -  Note  Monk passed away a few years back and his family sold the business so  check out  http://www.monkscrappie.com/

The Frabill E-Z Checker is a must as the area lakes have a 10 inch min size on the Crappie.

The E-Z Checker is 12 inches long so this ole girl is longer than 12

 

Get the Frabill EZ  Checker Here - https://amzn.to/3FhfpXE

Get your Kalin Grubs Here - https://amzn.to/3XOZuqM

Here is my biggest so far this spring, a fat 14 inch one.

Here is a nice 12 incher I got walking the riprap.

I have kept a few each trip but I am letting go 90 percent of what I catch. Here are 2 gals that went 14 and 13 inches.

Right now since the fish are shallow, fish the back end of coves with overhanging willows , stumps etc.   The back end of coves is where most are going to be but some can be found by walking the Rip rap as well and fan casting.   They will spawn on the Rip rap.

Here are some of the lures I use for Crappie but if I only had one for this time of year it would be the Kalins in Acid Rain. These are not all I use but these are a must have for Crappie.  Starting at the Mini trap and going clockwise are The Mini Trap, Blakemore Roadrunner, the 3rd is a jig with green flake and I think it is out of production I cant remember who makes it. I think it was a company in Virginia. I will post it if I remember the company name.   FOUND IT!!  They are made by the VIRGINIA GUIDE BAIT COMPANY.    Next are 4 grubs by Charlie Brewer then last but not least is the Kalins grub in Acid Rain color.   Purple Rain is also a good color.

Here is a video from my You Tube Channel. Please subscribe to my Blog and my YT Channel !!
Thanks Mack



Good luck and remember to leave some for me!!

Big River Chub on my Unc Virgina Tech Trip - Roanoke River

I made the trip to The Roanoke / Blacksburg area for the UNC Va Tech Football game  and even though my team got pounded I had a great time at the game and on Sunday after the Game I fished part of the Roanoke river that I have never fished before.  Not a spectacular day as far as numbers caught but it was a nice day on some good water that holds a lot of potential.

This section is a few miles above Smith Mountain Lake .   I immediately caught a very small smallie on a small Ultralite Rapala Minnow and then I could not get another hit.

  I then switched to a float with a Trout Magnet Jig 2 feet under it.  My presentation was to cast this upstream into current and let it Float back down.   I caught 2 big River chubs using this method and I can tell you that River Chubs are Hard fighters.  This is similar to how I have caught them on the Eno River using a cork with a tube jig under it.

I left this spot and went downstream to another spot and although I caught zilch at the second spot , my hopes and plans to return are high.  When I saw the second spot(first spot too) I immediately thought that the lake Stripers came up here from time to time.  My thoughts were confirmed  when I was getting my rod out and looked over and 3 guys were getting out of their car as well and all had Redfins or big plugs on them.  After speaking with them  it was double confirmed that this section was indeed a Striper hotspot as one of them had caught a 20lber the week before.   Towards dark there were a few big Stripers busting up and down river but I never connected.    Return I will.

Date 10/22/2017
Location - Upper Roanoke River

#roanokeriver

#niagradam

Big Catfish and Little Catfish - Dan River Virginia

Big Catfish Little Catfish

July 15th my wife and I decided to do a little Catfishing.    Truth be told I decided and she chose to come along.  Normally bait on this river is very hard to come by so I either bring my own frozen cutbait, buy goldfish, or get both.   This time for some dumb reason I decided to buy 5 tubs of night crawlers and see what I could catch with just them.   My wife was like you/we are only going to catch little cats with crawlers!!
I assured her that IF a big Catfish came up on a big glob of crawlers that it was game on!

First, we had to get the boat in the water.

  First stop produced this massive cat!    Now don't laugh it was cool catching this little guy who got a 7/0 hook in his mouth.

Was she right about we were ony going to catch little ones????????

That stop also produced a decent longnose gar that you will have to see in the Video.

We moved a few more times with not much luck.   Our final stop had me put out all  3 rods.
All of the sudden and the spinner is smoking! after an Intense battle I finally subdued the beast by sticking my hand in her mouth and hoisting her aboard.   My wife tried to net her numerous times and with her being a rookie on the net I was getting worried that that would cause me to lose this giant so that is why I lipped her.

 I have included my you tube channel video of this catch but I will confess that this cat fought way better than the video suggest.  I had to cut out a lot of the fight due to the reel just being in front of the camera and this massive cat splashed water on the lens so you couldn't see some of the fight due to it being blury .

Game On!!!!!

Also, If you read this blog or watch my You Tube Channel please subscribe to Both!    
Thanks for Subscribing!



July 15th
Dan River right on the North Carolina Virginia Border
Boat-  Seras Gamefisher 1232
Motor- Mercury 2.5
Outfits-   Shimano 6500 Baitrunner Loaded with 25 lb Shur strike line on a 7' Ugly stik Tiger rod,  Abu Garcia 6500c loaded with 30lb Big game on a 7' Ugly Stik and a 7000c Abu loaded with 40 lb Red Cajun on an American Spirit Night Stik
Hook would be 7/0 Gamagatsu J and Circle hooks
Bait- Night crawlers on a 3 way rig

#danriver

#catfishing

#catfish