Piedmont River Float for Bass 3/18

I couldn't find anyone to fish with so I called up my good friend Steve to see if he could go, LOL......Anyway, we hit up a local river to see what was up with this stretch and found some good spots. We didn't fish alot as were we mainly running and gunning checking out spots,  if you can call it that with an electric motor as our power.
The water was slightly stained and up with a water temp of 60 degrees. All fish were caught on spinnerbaits except one on a Cordell Spot.

Here is a nice Bass Steve got with a spinnerbait

Here is Steve with a Jack (Chain Pickerel ) that crushed his spinnerbait.

Look at this Bass, It's tail is half gone!

A nice view of the River

Another oddity for today is this Bass's bright red eyes. They were actually more red in person or is that more red in fish?......

We probably caught 8 bass but could of caught more but we were pre- fishing for an up-coming tournament and once we found fish we moved on to find other concentrations of fish. Today we probably found 5-6 really good spots but we will probably fish the Catawba river as that is where we crushed them last week.

Mack

Whats in A Name ? The Little River (s) of North Carolina

So you hear they are wearing out the stripers  in the Roanoke River. No problem, easy to find the Roanoke and info on it. What about the Cape Fear?. You heard rumors of some monster catfish being caught out of this river. No problem either, everyone knows the Cape Fear and where it is. So now you hear someone mention the Little river. Crap!! where is the Little River? So the question is,  Whats in a Name?Wow. Everything  if you are a river in North Carolina and your name is the "Little River".  Which Little River? Well there are ONLY   7 Rivers in North Carolina with this name.

Here is a listing of these and I will to the best of my knowledge tell you what I know about them. I won't get specific on spots and access areas as that is best researched with a canoeing book or the NC Atlas  and Gazetteer.  I have fished 4 of the 7 and plan on fishing all of them.

l. The Little River that flows into Albemarle Sound.

This river is 21 miles long. From Albemarle sound to where Halls creek enters is 10 miles. This section averages 1 mile in width.  Noted for good Bass fishing, and bream fishing along with Striped Bass and White perch during certain seasons.  From Halls creek until the origin is 11 miles and this section averages 50' in width and is more noted for pickerel fishing and bream fishing.  Several of the tributaries have excellent fishing for Black Crappie , Chain Pickerel and Bream. Basically this is a small blackwater stream at first, then it broadens out as it reaches the sound.  I have not fished this one.

2. The Little River of the Catawba basin.

This river is truly a  "little" river.  It is a tributary of Jacobs Fork and from where it flows into Jacobs Fork to its origin is only 5 miles. This "river" averages only 6' in width and the fishery mainly consists  of rainbow trout.
I have not fished this river.

3. The Little River of the French Broad basin.

This Little river can be broken down into 3 sections. 1st is from The French Broad river to Cascade Lake. This section is 5  miles  with an avg width of 45'.  The fishery mainly consist of Rock bass, Redbreast , and Smallmouth bass. Looks like a very interesting section.
Cascade lake is aprox 150 acres and has Smallmouths, Largemouths, Rock Bass, Bream and some Rainbow trout.  The section from Cascade Lake to the origin is 11 miles and avgs 25' in width. This reach  has Rainbows and some Brown trout.  This section also looks very interesting. I have also not fished this river.

4. The Little River of the Neuse Basin. 1st one,  as the Neuse Basin has 2 Little Rivers!

I have fished this river. Only once recently and some quite a few years ago. This river is a tributary of the Eno. Its is more known  for one of Durhams water supply lakes, Little River Reservoir.  This Little river joins the Eno 3 miles above its confluence with the Flat(now underwater). It is 10 miles long until the confluence of the North and South forks of the Little, The reservoir is in this stretch. The average width is 33' and the fishery consists mainly of Redbreast, Largemouth and an occasional Roanoke Bass. The North fork goes on for another 12 miles with an avg width of 12' and the South Fork for another 13 miles until its origin with an avg width of 16'.  Both Forks have good fishing for redbreast but that is about it. Access is very limited on this river.
There is one park on this river, a cooperation between Durham and Orange Counties. Here are the links to The Little River Park.
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/RecParks/little_river_park.asp
http://www.enoriver.org/eno/parks/littleriverpark.html

Here are a few pictures of this river.

 










Below is a double on redbreast caught on a tiny torpedo. This is my 3rd double on fish. My first ever was a 4 lb and a 2lb bass on a single lure at Jordan and then several years later a small bass and a white bass on a single lure at Jordan.
Note: I caught another double on Redbreast 6 days later on the Little that flows into the Pee Dee..see below.

5. The 2nd Little River of the Neuse Basin.

I have fished this tributary . This tributary flows into the Neuse near Goldsboro and from there to its origin is 92 miles. It is one of the biggest tributaries of the Neuse (Contentnea creek being the biggest). That being said it is still a small flow and canoeing this river will mean a lot of dragging and portaging. The average width in the lower reach is 70 ' , the middle reach averages 45' in width and the upper 25 ' in width.  The fishery consists of Largemouth Bass, Redbreast, Bream, Shellcracker, Gar, Bowfin, Yellow Perch, Chain Pickerel, and  Hickory and American shad  mainly in the lower reaches during the spring run . Also,  there are a few Roanoke Bass in this river but your odds of catching one are near zero.  Don't count on catching any monsters in this river but it is a nice river .  There are not any impoundments on this river other than a couple of old small mill dams but Raleigh does have an 1100 acre water supply planned for this river set to be completed around 2019. This impoundment would be located just above Hwy 64.  Mitchell Mill State Natural Area is located just above the proposed reservoir. There are way too many bridge crossings to mention here so for info on access please refer to A PADDLERS GUIDE TO EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA by Bob Benner and Tom McCloud.

Here is a picture in the lower reach of this river.

A couple of pics to be added soon>>>>>

6. The Little River of the New River Basin.

This tributary of the New River can be broken down into 3 sections. The first section is 10 miles long with an average width of 75'. This is Smallie and Rock Bass water with a few Trout. The next section is 4 miles with an average width of 26' , This is mainly trout water with some rock bass. The upper section is 3 miles with an average width of 15'. This upper section is all Trout water.  I have caught all 3 kinds of trout in this river and also some river chubs.


7. The Little River of the Yadkin (Pee Dee) River Basin.

This Little river flows into the upper end of Blewett Falls Lake. Mile 25 of the Pee Dee River.  This river is a tad under 60 miles in length.  The lower section has some spots over 100' wide and the middle section averages 70' in width. The upper section averages 30 ' in width. This river is a very nice scenic river to explore but don't count on many lunkers unless you fish one of the mill ponds in the middle section of this river near Troy, NC.  The fishery is a great place for Redbreast sunfish, Some other fishes found here are  Largemouth, Jack, Smallmouths (non -native), Roanoke Bass (non-native) Crappie, gar, and Flathead's.
This river has too many places to mention for access so refer to Bob Benners book for info on that.

Here are a few pics of this stream.

Below is my 4th double ever on fish and my 2nd in 6 days!.  The double 6 days before this one were caught on the Little River of the Eno/Neuse basin...see above

So now do you really  want to fish the Little River?.....oh almost forgot,  There is an Upper Little River and a Lower Little River of the Cape Fear Basin and And Upper Little and Lower Little Rivers of the Catawba Basin...maybe I will do some reporting on the Cape Fear tributaries soon.

Just be glad you don't wish to fish Bear Creek in NC...only 30 bear creeks in NC, or how about Big Branch Creek? only 38 of them in NC! or how bout Laurel Branch?..only 41 Laurel Branches in NC!!!!  or how bout Mill Creek?.....just 60 Mill creeks in NC!!!!.......

The winner if you want to fish a waterway in NC with the most is Long Branch......there are only 74 Long Branch's  in NC.......yes! seventy-four..........

So, Whats in a Name???????????......

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