Shad Fishing Trip Turns Into Bass Fishing Trip

Wanted to catch  my first shad of the year but I had a problem. My son had early release from school today (11:45) so I could either wait on him and fish closer to home,  or leave out early and fish by myself way down east where I know the shad are. I chose to fish with him but that presented another problem. Leaving after lunch meant that we couldn't  reach my hotspot on the Neuse River without being limited on fishing time and the shad may or may not be  far up the Neuse yet, but I would take that chance rather than to not spend time with him.

We arrived at the private ramp at aprx 1pm and the journey was on. The main river was slightly stained but not bad.  We threw rigs consisting of 2 pink headed chartreuse jigs,  the bottom weighing 1/8 oz and the top 1/16 oz. Water tempature in the river was 52 degrees and after trying several spots and then the mouth of a tributary without any hits we headed up the creek which was a toasty 56 degrees.

Here we are making our way up this tributary. Larry Dalberg can plug Jack Links Jerky so what the heck,  here is my son plugging Old Trapper Jerky! 

This creek is pretty unique as it is blackwater with some cypreess trees and  also has areas of rocky bluffs. I spent many afternoons on this creek in the 90's after work catching Bream, Bass, Cats and Shad.
Here is a nice Bald Cypress tree as we head upstream.

After getting no hits on my shad rigs I decided to start throwing a spinnerbait for bass. This was my reward on my second cast!

I then put on a Yellow Shyster hoping to get a Jack ( Chain Pickeral ) out of this creek and this little guy hammered it.

After heading back downstream to the river I pulled this little guy out of a ditch feeding the river.

No Shad today but I would  rather spend time with my son vs catching alot of shad. There is always Weldon and Wiggins Mill.  Almost forgot, we saw 5 deer feeding along side the river and several wood ducks and I personally saw 1 of the woodies up close as he about took my head off zooming down the creek!.

Mack

Good Day Fishing On A North Carolina River

February 12, 2011
North Carolina River Bass Fishing
Sunny and windy
Water Clarity-Murky
Lures Used- Cordell Spot, Strike King Spinnerbait
Reels used-Daiwa Regal 2500 spinning reel w/14lb fireline-Cordell Spot,
and Ambassadeur 5600C loaded with 15lb ande -Strike King Spinnerbait
Boat Used- Coleman Scanoe w/55lb Thrust trolling Motor
Time-1230-500PM


Met up with Jeff today about 2  hrs east of  Raleigh for some winter river bass fishing in eastern North Carolina. When I arrived at the ramp my first thought was that I should have cancelled because of the wind, and stayed at  home to watch UNC beat up on Clemson,  My second thought was that I should have brought the gas motor.  Both proved to be wrong. Took awhile to find the bass but once we did it was game on.  I caught 3 big ones today with my total bass somewhere around 12 for the day along with 1 gar, 1 bream and 1 crappie. Jeff reeled it quite a few bass as well but I got lucky today with the big ones.

These bass wanted a lure retrieved fairly fast with  probaly 75 percent  caught on the Cordell Spot and 25 percent on the Strike King spinnerbait.

Here Is Jeff at the start of the trip headed upriver.
Note: 90 percent of the time I head up river as if something happens to your motor you can drift back down. Even without a motor you can easily get way to far down river and the paddle up river at the end of the day is torture. Easier to paddle up and float back down.

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This was the first fish of the day and the biggest. She nailed my spinnerbait At first she didnt fight that hard and i was just reeling a fish in until she came up. Then I got nervous as she tried to jump several times.

Here is the average size we caught today and a decent view of the SK Spinnerbait.




The Bass above is probaly the fattest bass I have caught in a long time.  What A Pig!  This maybe a lunker in a few years the way she is eating.

Below is Jeff with oneof the many cookie cutters we caught today

One of the 3 nice ones I caught today, Here you can see the Cordell spot in her mouth. 



My 3rd "lunker" of the day

Here is my final fish of the day. I was sure I had a 10lb bass on but after a few minutes I realized it was problay a gar. 

A good day fishing  with a good freind, We also saw 3 wood ducks, several herons, lots of buzzards and a couple of pileated woodpeckers.  I cannot wait to get back and try for some topwater bass on this river and maybe try the flyrod here. 

Mack

Thank goodness for crappie jigs.

Sunday January the 30th 2011
NC Piedmont river
time 2pm-dark
water temp 44 degrees
air temp 60 plus
sunny
water slightly stained
lure used: mostly 1/16 oz chartreuse jig
Boat used:  Coleman Scanoe with 55 lb thrust trolling motor

Well I have fished 2 times this year with a total of 2 bream caught.  Not a great start but but those 2 trips sure beat working.  Went Sunday January the 30th of 2011 to a river in central NC where i knew the water temp would be slighty higher than the surrounding rivers.  Fishwhisperer and myself arrived at the put in at aprox 2pm.  In no time we were at my "hole" that is known to produce some crappie and bass. The water temp was a balmy 44 degrees while the air temp was pushing over 60.  We started of with tube jigs under corks and picked up a few bream but no crappie.  Finally we decided to move downstream to another hole and almost right away were rewarded with a bass on almost every cast. These bass were hitting crappie jigs. All of the bass were 12 inches to 12.5 inches or so i decided to throw some "bass" lures (a spinnerbait and a pig&jig)....no hits on the bass lures. Of course I went back to the crappie jigs and the bass strikes were immediate. Then i tried a chartreuse sassy shad and hooked my only crappie of the day. I actually had to go back to the 1/16 oz crappie jig to get a bass strike.  I caught over 20 bass with FW catching about the same. We each caught 1 crappie a piece and a few bream as well. Most of the bass were right at 1 lb but some did push  2 lbs with a couple topping out near 3 lbs.
Very tough condtions. Even though we probaly caught over 40 bass, if we hadnt been throwing  crappie jigs we may have had a big ole "skunk" .... fish wanted a small lure retrieved slow and deep(6-8')

Here are a few pics.



If you want to see a picture of this jig go to my article
http://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/poor-mans-tarpon.html

Thanks Mack

 

Why I haven't been fishly lately

Hello to all my 5000 followers....uh,  i mean my 5 followers..lol............anyway,  I havent been fishing in over a month as my mother who had been sick for several years took a turn for the worse back in september and passed away September 24. I just have'nt felt like going even though I have had a few days off. Some things are more important than fishing(never thought I would say that!).   Mom told me the life is for the living not the dead (her words to me  several weeks before  she passed away),  as she did not want anyone to be upset over her passing, so,  I will hopefully be fishing soon and  honor her wish. She will be missed.

I will this winter or early spring plant a Dawn Redwood(very similiar to bald cypress) in her honor and name it the "Mary Lee"  Tree. Hope the beavers dont mess with it or I will have to go on another beaver killing spree.............Mack

Bass float turns into crappiefest!

9/11/2010   Floated a piedmont river from 7 am -1pm.  Water temp at 7am 74 degrees. water temp at 12 was 76 degrees. Water low and clear.  I started off by throwing old dependable(white spinnerbait) and only had 2-3 bass that were 12-13 inches.  I then saw a tree laying over in the water and casted to it. A big crappie nailed it but then I lost her.  I then casted a red roostertail and was rewarded with a broken line(knot) . I mainly was planning to bass fish but dug through my stuff and found some chartreuse curly tails with pinkhead(see shad atricle for pics of lure), a few beetlespins and a roadrunner. I proceeded to catch 30 or so crappie off  of this one tree along with 2 bass  mostly on the jigs. Most crappie were average but all were eatin size and a few were over 12 inches.

I caught the Crappie and Bream on the Beetle spin.  Get it here-  https://amzn.to/3eZlz0P

On the paddle back to the bridge I caught a few more  bass and a few bream for a total count on bass at around 12......... some were caught on spinnerbait and 2 on  chartreuse lunkerlure. Not a single bass went over 2 lbs today.   Also saw 2 nice 5 lb plus goldfish(koi)     that actually hung around my canoe for a while.

 A nice morning float saved by the good ole crappie. Mack  

#fishingislife

#fishing

#crappiefishing

Piedmont River Float 9/3/2/10

Floated a section of river 9/3 that I have not been on in a while. 10 am -3pm Water low and clear. Water temp 84 degrees. We immedieatly saw 2 bald eagles at the put in. I started by throwing a white buzzer and put 6- 8 fish in the boat real quick. I also was throwing a white spinnerbait and a white floating worm. Most hits came on the buzzer and spinnerbait. A few fell for the worm. 19 bass caught in all by me . Steve I think caught 12,  with 3 of his being the biggest.
Here are the baits I was using today on this river.  These baits work great anytime the water is warm and
clear.
















Clockwise: White Lunker Lure, White Strikeking spinnerbait, and white zoom floating worm

Here is the avg bass caught today.
















Some fish were caught in still water up against wood and others were in fast current areas.

Here is probaly my best fish of the day.

And here is Steves best fish of the day.

A very nice day on the water. Signs of life everywhere, minnows, fish, deer, muskrats, the 2 baldeagles and we saw 1 big monster snapping turtle.

Haw River float 8/27/2010

Floated a section of the haw I had not been on in years with my good freind Jeff and caught a few fish. Nothing to bragg about but a good day on the water. Put in at aprox 3pm and took out at dark. This was about a five mile float with the first half very slow fishing. Jeff began to catch fish off of wood with plastic worms and lizards. I lost a few on worms but was mainly throwing a lunker lure buzzer. Here is Jeff with a Haw River Bass.

Here is Jeff playing tag with some female ducks.

Finally my bite started to p/u and I caught 2 good fish , both pushing 4 lbs. I can thank the inventor of 50 lb braid for this one as she wrapped me around a log up against a rock and i just held her there and pulled my canoe to it with the rod.

Near the end of the float I knew of a spot that holds large numbers of crappie so we fished this spot for a while and caught probaly 10-15 crappie on tube jigs under corks and sassy shads.

Kinda a slow day on the Mighty Haw but any day is a good day fishing. Mack

Piedmont River Smallies and surprise Striper - Dan River

8/31/2010   I had a decision to make and was having a hard time making it. Should I go east or west to fish on my day off, and if I go east should I fish the Neuse River or a creek that feeds the Neuse?....If I go west should I fish a small river for smallies or should I fish a bigger river for smallies?  Decisions, decisions!....Finally I decided on the bigger river west. The Dan River.  Next time I go by myself   I will go east.
Anyway, I arrived at the river at 4:50 pm. I loaded my canoe on my cart and headed west as I have a long walk along roads to do this shuttle without another car. 

Here is my rig I used.

Finally after a long walk(pull)  in 90 plus degree heat I arrived at my destination.

I have fished this river since the 70's. It  actually is 1 of my favorite rivers though I will admit the catching is only so so most days. This river was my second river I ventured to in my teens. Some of the fish I have caught in this river are Blue cats, flatheads, channel cats, stripers, white bass, chain pickeral(jacks) redbreast, bream, crappie, carp,  smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. I even have a freind who caught a 5 lb walleye out of this river.

Here is my first fish of the day caught on a spinnerbait. Before I got to the river my plan was to mainly throw a buzzbait,  but upon my arrival and seeing the water clarity I  decided to throw a chartreuse spinnerbait.

Here is a view of the river.....

I Finally arrived at a good spot to get out and fish and stretch my legs. On my first or second cast my spinnerbait was nailed by this fish!

Then I was rewarded with this little but chunkie brownie!

No monsters caught today but fishing in not always about catching big fish.  It was a fun 3 hrs on the water with some scrappy fish caught plus I got to see several ospreys, 1 fawn on an island and 1 funny looking opossum back at the parking lot.  All fish caught on chartreuse spinnerbait and 3 inch tube.  Mack

#danvillevirginia

#danriver

#fishing

Neuse River Cats, Shellcrackers and Shooting stars

Made a trip to the Neuse Aug 14,15 with my son and his Friend Tyler for some catfishing on the Neuse River. We launched at a private ramp on the Neuse at aprox 4pm sat and fished until Sunday 4:30 am.

Here is a video of our journey down one creek at about 1/4 throttle.

  The first part of the day was spent fishing for bait. We caught a lot of bream and some very nice shellcrackers on crickets fishing around wood structure , namely cypress trees and blowdowns.
Most were avg size to small which is good in a way as I don't really like to use big bream for bait as they do attract flatheads better but I don't like wasting a a big ole bream. here is a nice shellcracker that my son caught. This shellcracker was released along with all the very nice sized ones we caught. The water temperature in 2 creeks that we fished was a toasty 92 degrees, while the main river was 88 degrees.

Right before dark we started catfishin .  The action was decent dark -12midnight and then it picked up again aprox 2-4.  Here is Tylers first Flathead.

 Here is my sons first of the night at aprox 22lbs

Above is a gar I caught and a 24 lb flattie.

Here is the best cat of the night caught by my son at 34 lbs. Caught on a live bream hooked to a 9/0 hook on 8 inches of leader and held down with a 2 ox weight. You do not want a long leader as they will wrap you around something if you do.

Was a great night. We saw over 20 shooting stars as there is a meteor shower going on this week and heard a lot of owls. Mack

Haw River Float trip July, 6th 2010

August the 6th 2010 Steve and myself made a trip to our favorite river. The Haw. Last night it rained cats and dogs so I postponed our trip from am to pm so we could check out the gauges and other flows on other rivers as I thought the haw would be flooded. It was not. The haw went from a flow of 100 to about 500 and was a little muddy. Mud has never stopped me. Actually I like a little muddy water. We hit the water late in the afternoon and immediatly started catching fish. Almost all on spinnerbaits and most around wood structure and some around rocks. Bait(fry) were everywhere and they were jumping out of the water trying to get away from our baits as they thought the spinnerbait was a fish trying to eat them.

Here is the first fish

Here is Steves best fish of the day. 

And here is a nice bass caught after dark.

This is the spinnerbait I was throwing. It is a 3/8 oz Stanley Wedge spinnerbait.

Today the water Temp in the river was 84 degrees and in one tributary we went up it was 80 degrees.

No doubt made cooler by last nights rain. We caugth a bunch of bass and could of mopped up on some bream and crappie that were chasing the small fry around but all we had was bass tackle. We saw lots of birds including blue herons, little green herons, kingfishers and 1 osprey.