Piedmont flow for smallies July '10

My good friend Steve and I decided to make a trip to a  Virginia piedmont river that holds some smallies and largemouths. The Staunton  River . This is not pronounced "Stawton" it is pronounced "Stanton" the U is silent. Anyway, We launched the canoe at 11am under bright sunny skies. The water was clear and a toasty 85 degrees . The bite was very slow at first . I caught a few on a popper , a few on plastics, and then I put on the smallie killer a chartreuse spinnerbait. There is a saying that I have that if you can only use 3 colors for smallies then here they are.

1. Chartreuse
2. Chartreuse
3. Chartreuse

The bite was on! We problay caught at least 30 smallies though none were monsters. Most were from 11- 13 inches with the biggest topping out at 13 1/2 inches though I did have 2 big monster smallies smack at one of my lures.

heres the first of the day















Here is Steve with a gar that crushed his buzzer!

A nice day on the water as alot of fish were caught and lots of birds seen. Wood ducks, herons and ospreys were seen frequently throughout the day.

Mack

#stauntonriver

Staunton river

Bass Pro Tournament June26, 2010 Charlotte

Bass Pro In Charlotte along with Basserdrew and riverbassin.com have started kayak/canoe tournaments with one of the stops this year being Charlotte. This is a catch, photo, and release tournament and since you could fish almost any river withing 100 miles of Charlotte I decided to enter. I knew that some topnotch fishermen were going to be entered so my goal was to be in the top 10, and possibly top 5 and if I was lucky enought to be in the top 5 I knew that I may have a shot at at 1st but I would have to be lucky and others would have to be unlucky. I chose to fish a creek/river that gives up a lot of fish in the 2-4.5 lb range with a few (not every trip of course) 5lbers and it has given me 2 fish in the past that were 8lbs 12oz. This is where I started as we had to take a pic of our creek/river with "legal light".

Here is my first fish of the day.

One big problem this am. I was catching alot of fish. Probaly caught 25 plus but most were 12-13inches so after the first 4 or so I was not catching fish good enough to bump my first 3 pics out of contention. Finally this fish, 7th that i took a pic of, but problay the 20th fish I caught bumped pic # 2 or 3 out.

Then after a few more small fish this fish bumped my 3rd pic out. This fish was caught on a buzzbait.

All in all a great morning as a lot of fish were caught, mostly on buzzbaits, a few on a magnum torpedo and a few on a fluke. On my way back to Charlotte I was confident I would be in the top 10 but thats all I knew. Like I said a lot of very good fishermen were in this tournament.

Namely, Sumtershoaliefan, Redheron, Toba and others. I started my intenet fishing on georgiariverfishing.com where I am sure Basserdrew, Sumtershoailfan and redheron did as well.

After final tabulation I came in 4th. Very happy with 4th but I missed being 2nd and winning a nu-canoe by 1/2 inch. Oh well. I did lose 1- 4lber that could of won it but thats fishing. 1 guy lost a 7lber so you never know.
Here are the final results of the Charlotte Tournament
Official Results
Angler Inches

1. Robert Dainton 55.75

2. Caja Ormand 52* (20)

3. Todd Braswell 52* (18.25)

4. Mack McCorkle 51.75

5. Lance Coley 48.75

6. Drew Haerer 47.75* (20)

7. Ben Adrien 47.75* (17)

8. Michael Troxell 47.75* (16.75)

9. John Japuntich 46.5

10. Joey Sullivan 45



Here are the final standings for True North River Basser of the Year after the 5 tournamnets.  Tied for 10th place is not to bad after only competing in in 1 of the 5 tournaments
TRUE NORTH RIVER BASSER OF THE YEAR


FINAL STANDINGS
Angler Points

1. Lance Coley (Calera, AL) 270

2. Ben Adrien (Johnson City, TN) 240

3. Sean Brodie (Milledgeville, GA) 220

4. Hal Lambert (Marion, SC) 170

5. Josh Tidwell (Attalla, AL) 160

5. Brian Conway (Thompson, GA) 160

6. John Japuntich (Americus, GA)* 110

6. Robert Dainton (Pittsboro, NC) * 110

7. Tim Emberton (Nicholasville, KY) 100

8. Jon Freeman (Mcdonough, GA) * 90

8. Caja Ormand (Shelby, NC) 90

8. Justin Wallace (Bowling Green, KY) * 90

8. Will Dalton (TN) 90

9. Richie Gudzan (Birmingham, AL) * 80

9. Todd Braswell (Albany, GA) * 80

10. Mack McCorkle (Cary, NC) * 70

10. Glenn Anderson (Hampton, GA) 60

10. . Erik Trent (TN) * 60

10. Blake Condo (Cleveland, TN) 60



Mack

Piedmont River Float

Decided to try a spot that I had'nt fished in 2 years. This spot is on timber land and has no easy access to a river in the  piedmont of North Carolina. Here is my rig that i use to get down to the water. It is about a 15 minute haul to the river with this cart. Sure wish I could hunt here but hunting is not allowed.

"boy, thats a purty rig"

Here is the Average size bass that I caught today.

Here is my best fish of the day. A solid 20 incher that gave me everthing she had.

Here are some nice flowers on the river. I call these plants arrowhead plants but I am not sure of the real name.

This is a nice view of a wide part of the river. When I was here 2 years ago this is the place where I got to watch a family of otters. Pretty smart otters if you ask me with all the fish in this river.

This is a very nice and tall  white pine growing along a bluff beside the river. This picture does not do this tree justice.

I did not bring any ul equipment today. Dumb me! This nice bream hit a buzzbait. Bream were busting top everwhere. This is a day I should of had a nice ul with me and a few beetlespins! I really could of mopped up on them today with all of their topwater activity. A flyrod would of been nice with a small popper. Oh well, maybe next time.

Here is a nice view of a creek entering the river. This channel was loaded with aquatic life.















All in all a nice day as I caught some good bass, saw some nice trees and plants and 1 big Tom Turkey. No otters seen today. Mack

My 2010 Shad season In Review.

I had high expectations for the 2010 Shad season. If everything went like it did the last 2 years it was going to be a great season. The first spot I went to was on March the 11th . I shall not name this place as I don't want it hammered. Water temp was 56 degrees, a very good temp for shad., but no shad were to be found. Caught 1 bass on a ratltrap.

On the 16th I found myself at my unnamed river and I did not catch any shad. I caught 2 bass on a ratltrap. I then left and headed over to Wilson to Wiggins Mill Dam on Contentnea creek. I have fished this creek for years but it has always been down near the Neuse for cats and bream or up higher for bass and bream. What a pretty place, even though you are right in town it is a very nice spot. Kinda like pier fishing as sometimes you are right beside someone. Usually I like to fish places where no one else is but this is fun fishing and a joy to talk fishing with the other fishermen. The water temp was 53 degrees and the shad fishing was slow .I bass fished with 1 rod every now and then and was rewarded with a 2 lb bass. I then caught 1 crappie and then was rewarded with my first shad of the year, a nice 3 lb white shad.





Only a few fish caught today but it was a good time on great creek.

On Sunday March the 19, I took my good friend Steve(See Yadkin River Slam) to catch his first American shad. We stopped by my secret spot first and again there were no shad there. We then headed to Wiggins Mill. The water temp was a nice 53 degrees. Steve caught 1 very nice 4 lb shad on a pink headed jig.

The action was pretty slow here so we decided to leave and go to the Tar. Before we left Wilson Steve and I stopped by Bills Barbecue for some world famous BBQ sandwiches. WOW!!!!..that was worth the trip!

We then headed to the Tar at the Sewage discharge pipe which I had not fished in a few years. A few shad being caught there. Steve hooked 1 big monster of a White shad.. It finally pulled off. Bummer!. I told Steve that the surest place to catch shad was the Roanoke river at Weldon. A cant miss place in March. Boy, was I wrong. The Roanoke this year has been high and muddy and was a toasty 49 degrees. 4 degrees colder than Contentnea. We caught zilch at the Roanoke.

On April the 2nd we returned my secret spot. Again no shad. But I did manage 3 bass on a ratltrap and 1 crappie on a jig. Man this year has been tough on my good spot. We then left and went to Wiggins mill. The water temp at Wiggins was 61 degrees. More shad being caught today but still not what I would call good. I caught 2 shad on pink headed jigs and lost 2 , one which was a bigun. Fellow fishermen at Wiggins were pulling in some monster crappie and I do mean some nice ones. I said the heck with shad fishing and started trying to catch a big ole crappie. I caught 1 but it was a baby compared to the others being caught. I then started flinging bucktails into the fast water below the dam, hoping to catch a maverick striper. I was rewarded with a 2 lb bullhead! I was then rewarded by Steve with a return trip to Bills BBQ.














So, this year was a bust on catching shad.However it was a good year fishing new places . Next year I will be back at Wiggins and the Roanoke. Part of this years problems were it started off warm then got cold then warm again . Plus, the Roanoke was hampered by high muddy water. I just  love shad fishing in North Carolina
Mack

Stone Mountain trip July 09

I Had shoulder surgery in August of 2009 so I made a lot of trips in late July and early August as I knew I would be out of commission for a while. This is one of those trips. Mainly a hiking and exploring trip but we did fit some trout fishing in. Here are a few pics.

This is atop Stone Mtn. My son with one of his best Friends, Miles.


This is a windswept pine atop Stone Mtn. probably a Table Mtn pine.

This is the top side of Stone Mtn. Falls . Sandy creek is the creeks name. Stone Mtn creek is actually on the other side of the mountain.

And, a view from the bottom.

A nice little water fall on Sandy creek.

We didn't catch a lot of trout today. Probably just 6 or 7 rainbows but is was a very good day to be out on the water. One rock bass caught which was a surprise. All fish caught on rooster tails and blue fox spinners. This is a nice little rainbow that my son caught.

A nice little waterfall on Garden creek.

A great day to be in the woods and on the water. Mack

#stonemountain

#troutfishing

Haw river trip with my son. May 2010

Took my son on a float trip to my favorite river. The Haw of course. We fished it during the heat of the day from 1-5 so fishing was OK at best but we had a good time. 6 bass caught in all, and all on buzzbaits.
Here is my son in his canoe.

Here he is trying to show off by standing up and fishing.

Here I am with an avg Haw river bass.

Here is Mack N. with a Haw River bass that crushed a buzzer!

And here is a water snake that he took a picture of.

A great few hours on my favorite river with my favorite fishing partner. We caught all of the bass on buzzers in slack water. Lots of minnows everywhere in the water which suggest that there was a good spawn this year and ample food in the river. We saw some geese and a few ducks. I cant wait to hit it at daylight one day. Mack

A young man, a scanoe and one Bad@$$ River. May 2010

My son wanted to go catch some fish on one of his last days during track out from school. I said where do you want to go?. He replied that he wanted to go to the neuse since that's the only place we catch fish. Ouch!..

So the Neuse River it was. we started the day with this little guy

A nice little yellow bellied slider


We then saw the biggest snapping turtle that I have ever seen but i could not get the camera out in time.

We then started catching bream, some up to 12 ozs but no big bull bream. All bream today caught on crickets aprox 1.5 ft under bobbers.

here's the avg bream we caught today


After bream fishing we then started out trying for some cats. We had some good hits but hooked only 2. Mine was a nice 7 lb blue that my son netted. This blue was caught on a flat that has been productive for me in the past. The bait was cut bream on a 4/0 hook. The reel is a 6500 Ambassadeur loaded with 30 lb line stuck on a white uglystik rod. This blue actually jumped out of the water when i set the hook. I have never seen a cat do that before!


Here is my son getting ready to crosseye a cat or a bait stealing gar!



Right at dark we left the flat and went to a "hole" which also has produced for me in the past. I told my son that we had to leave by 9:30 as we had a 2.5 hr ride home and I had to be at work early the next day. Right about when we were getting ready to leave, he popped up off his seat and set the hook and the fight was on! I did not even see the rod go down. After a short but awesome battle which almost ended up with my son in the river , he got this 22 lb flattie canoe side and I returned the favor by netting his fish. This was his PB flattie by 1 lb . (his biggest cat to date is a 30lb blue). This fish was caught on a live bream on a Carolina rig anchored by a 2 oz weight. The reel is a shimano 6500 bait runner with 25 lb test golden stren. This rig is easier for a 13 year old to cast than a baitcaster, and has plenty of power matched with a 7 ft tiger rod.


It was a great day on the water. Lots of owls heard and 1 bald eagle seen. We also saw 1 muskrat and 1 beaver . We usually see a few fox squirrels in one spot but they did not show their selves today. Mack

The Yadkin River Slam

Yadkin River Bass Slam

October of '09 Steve, Jim and myself made a canoe trip down a 5 mile section of the yadkin river. I had fished the yadkin before but not much. I usually fish the Yadkin down near the Uwharrie and a few times up near Kerr scott Lake. We dropped off the boats at about 10 am and I stayed with them while Jim and Steve took a car downstream. While I was waiting on them I started casting a spinnerbait from the bank. Almost immediately a smallmouth of at least 4 lbs nailed it!.....But, I did not get a good hook set. I then switched to a tube and was rewarded with this spotted bass.

Spotted Bass 

Finally Steve and Jim returned and we launched. Steve and myself in my old town 158 and Jim in his kayak. Immediately we started getting hits. A 3 1/2 lb smallie nailed my spinnerbait. This time I was ready and set the hook hard. Here is 2/3 of the yadkin river slam. Spotted bass was 1/3 and now I had 2/3 of the slam.

Smallmouth Bass

Well, now all I needed was a Largemouth. We proceeded to catch a lot of smallies and spots. I probably caught 8 smallies and just as many spots but, that largemouth bite was not showing up.

When we put in it was cool and the action was good with spinnerbaits and tubes. As the day warmed, the action really picked up by throwing buzzbaits. Steve was killing them with a hart's buzzer. It didn't take me long to decide to switch. Just a little ways downstream we got out of the shoal habitat and got into some slower water. HMMMM, looks like largemouth water I thought. A few minutes later Bam!!!! and I was indeed rewarded with this largemouth which completed my Yadkin River Slam.!

Largemouth Bass

It was a great day on the water. Lots of fish caught. Smallies and spots by all and the lone largemouth I caught. We also saw 5 bald eagles playing in the sky which was a sight and lots of herons and a few ducks. Also a big thanks to Jim for being our guide today.

Thanks for reading ,  Mack

#bassslam

#smallmouthbass

#yadkinriver

How and Where to Catch Roanoke Bass - Ambloplites cavifrons The forgotten Bass #roanokebass

How and Where to Catch Roanoke Bass -   Ambloplites cavifrons

****SEE A REALLY GOOD VIDEO OF SOME HUGE ROANOKES AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS
ARTICLE*******

What is a Roanoke Bass? Well a Roanoke Bass is a cousin to the Rock bass, Shadow bass, and the Ozark Bass. To all but a very few they look the same. Except 2 things, 1 the Roanoke bass gets bigger and 2, whereas the others are known for being lazy fighters, the Roanoke is a brawler on the line.

Where are they Found??. They were first recognized from the Roanoke river in Virginia(hence their name) and then found out to be in the Tar and Neuse drainage's in North Carolina. Today you will not usually find these fish in the bigger waters as they are now too turbid and/or polluted. They have vanished from some of these major rivers and their tributaries due to what I believe are changes to their environment, Dams and other man made causes. Their biggest enemy now is the introduction of Rock bass to their waters. 

Oh, Where are they found? I could list a few then everyone would go there and put a lot of pressure on them so I will list everywhere I know them to be. This is not exact as there are surely other places. As I said I could list a few places but then these places may get a lot of pressure so that is why I have chose to list everywhere I have known them to be.

Here we go

1. Roanoke Basin..... Nottoway, Stoney creek, Meherrin, Blackwater (both), Pigg, Smith(above Philpott & from the NC line to Eden), Dan, Towne Creek, Falling river, Otter river and possibly a few others. Almost forgot, how could I almost forget that they are in the Roanoke River !!!!

2. Tar Basin....Tar river, Fishing Creek, Swift Creek, Little Fishing Creek

3. Neuse Basin...... Eno, Little, Flat, 2nd Little river, Mill Creek

4. Cape Fear Basin. Introduced.....Deep River, Brush Creek, Richland Creek, Rockfish Creek (one of the previous state records was caught in rockfish creek)

5. Yadkin Basin. Introduced Uwharrie, Little , and a few tributaries of Lake Tillery


I first encountered the Roanoke in the Eno River back in the 70's.

Here is a picture of a winter NC Roanoke Bass From the Eno 


and a spring caught Roanoke


Here's a Virginia Redeye From the Nottoway


Here are some of the lures I use to catch  Roanoke Bass


Here is a Roanoke from the Uwharrie...never caught any lunkers there,  but ones this size are fairly common.

Here are two Citation Roanoke Bass from the Deep River Near High Falls from May 2014

These 2 were caught while fishing the Riverbassin Tournament where I placed 15th out of ~40 but these 2 didnt count .  LOL. 

and 2 more Citation Roanoke Bass from the Deep River this time up Near Coleridge, NC in August of 2013

One of my favorite Pictures of a Roanoke Bass.  Jeff caught this one in 2013 and I am in the background.

In the spring, summer and early fall I usually start off with a mepps or a small topwater bait and target Roanoke's around boulders sticking out of the water. Unlike other fish Roanoke's will often be found in the fast water around these boulders instead of the slack areas. If not there I will then target the eddies and slack areas behind rocks. They also can be found in deep water areas and under these conditions i usually start throwing a topwater bait and if no hits i sometimes go to a 4" worm. Roanoke's can be caught on practially on anything a bass will hit and for the bigger Roanoke's you should use a bigger bait. In the winter you should fish deep holes slow and with small curlytail grubs , 4' worms, or 3 inch tube jigs fished real slow.

Ideally Roanoke's are found in the upper part of our Piedmont streams, but I have seen them in the coastal plain with cypress trees and knees sticking out of the water.

Roanoke's will usually be around 8-10 inches but they are out there 1 lb plus. I have caught them up to 1.8 lbs and I will be lucky to catch one bigger than that.......note: I was up in Virginia a few years ago and was in a local hunting and fishing store. On the table in the store were several albums of customers catches and hunting successes. I was causally flipping through several of these and kept seeing the same guy with Roanoke's of 2lbs plus!......some were even pushing 3 lbs.....wow!!!! They made my 1.8 lber look puny. There use to be reports of them getting to 4 lbs though now that is unlikely with the degraded habitat. I have the gentleman's name and have tried to phone him but I have been unsuccessful. I have found out where he lives and next time I am up there I am going to stop by his house. Maybe I can get a few photos to publish. (the store is now gone and who knows where those pictures went)

Also see http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Roanoke%20Bass
The Roanoke is defiantly one of my favorite fishes to pursue and anything over a pound will be a battle. Good luck Mack

#roanokebass

#ambloplitescavifrons

#redeyebass