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 "

How to get your Canoe to the Fishing hole

There are many ways to get your canoe to the river. Here are a few of them.

The easiest and cheapest way is to just throw it in the back of a pickup and go. When I first started out thats how I did it. It was either an old truck my dad had or the old work van he had. Many, many days Todd and I would throw my Coleman Scanoe in the back of his van and go hit Jordan lake or the pond we had on the Caswell County Gamelands than had some big monster bream.  Here is a recent trip I did on the Yadkin River with Mookie, Catawba, Fishwhisperer, and  Tread.

The most common way to carry a canoe is on the roof of a car with some sort of roof-rack or foam pads.

Here are the foam pads on a Scout That Jeff uses for one of his canoe transporters.

Another inexpensive way  which I thought was absoutely the best "cheap" way is to make a frame out of 2x4"s and then put the pads under the frame and then a ratchet strap is thrown over the frame and through the window and then tightened so the frame doesn't move. There are eyescrews at the end of each board that serve as a place to tie to and a place where the boat can't slide off.   Then you would tie the front and back of the canoe down to the bumpers or whatever and maybe a strap over the canoe. Steve and I happened upon some fellow fishermen on the Staunton river one day and this is what they had.  I thinks this rack is AWESOME.

They transported 2 canoes to the river on this wood rack. Pretty smart idea.

I ran into a man on the Smith river during the summer of 2013 and he lashed 2 metal pipes to the top of his SUV. He transported 2 yaks tot he river this way.

Another option is to go all out and get an expensive Thule Xsporter Rack like I did when I purchased my GMC pickemup truck.

I always like to have straps or ropes over the top plus the bow and stern tied down but that isn't feasible on my truck so i take two ropes and lash the thwarts to the rack. 

Below is probably the most common system ,  using a yakima or thule style rack.

Or, you could just haul you Canoe like ths guy hauls his boat!!!

Mack

Swepsonville Dam in May

Back in May Steve and I wanted to hit the Haw for some bass fishing.  We didnt have high hopes as I had a morning obligation and he had an evening obligation so that left us to fish from 11-4 during the middle of the day.  We didn't catch alot as expected  but the scenery was good as always when you are on a river.  We did manage 4 or 5 bass a piece but nothing big . Steve caught most of his on a Rat L trap and I caught most of mine on a White spinnerbait. Here are a few pics.

A double

And a couple of views of the Swepsonville Dam. I caught thislittle guy on a beetle spin

Mack

Memorial Day Bream

I havn't fished as much this year since running a new store takes more time and effort to clear up past problems etc but we closed earlier than normal monday so I decided to hit a lake near work for a couple of hours. I got a report of some nice bream being caught and was directed to 2 spots. Hit the first 1.....nothing. ..paddled to the second.....nothing.


Headed accross the lake and around a bend and saw a good looking spot. Bobber hit the water and kept going under. Caught about 30 in 2- 2 1/2 hrs there and just down. Kept 12 for frying and released the rest. I know bream lb for lb fight very hard as they are one of my favorite fish to pursue but these were unreal. Almost like they had a trainer down there. All caught on Crickets 2 ft under. Mack


Lake- Holt Reservoir
Outfit Used- 6' medium lite Spinning w/ 6lb line Bait - Crickets 2' under cork boat- Old Town 119 Time of Day - 5pm- 730 Pm

Here are a few pics

Mack

Mother's Day Stripers on The Roanoke River

My son and myself fished the Roanoke on Mothers day since were were in town to see my wife's mother. We fished from 3 - dark. We knew the striper bite would be easy so at first we fished for bass and panfish that we luv to catch in the Roanoke. The bass fishing was kinda slow with the high water(15000 cfm).


We did manage a few nice bream and 1 decent Raccoon Perch, and my son did manage a couple of decent bass on a white spinnerbait. About 430 we switched to Stripers using 4" sassy shads in Blue flake, Chartreuse flake and white with red front. All caught fish , mostly deep and hopping them in. We did catch some right at the boat fished faster. We had a very good 1 hr period from 530-630 where we were constantly on fish almost every cast with many doubles if i was not netting fish or filming video of him catching them.

Boat Used- Coleman Scanoe with 2.5 Mercury
Lures for Stripers- 4 " Sassy Shads
Water Flow - 15000 cfm
Water Clarity- Clear

Here are a few pics.
A bass then a Raccoon Perch (yellow perch)

Now Some Stripers

The Lures used- I used the Blue Flake and Chartreuse Flake and My son used the white and red.

Nothing beats putting your son on some good fish. A very good day on the river with my son.

We caught toomany to count and that is one of the reasons they call this place the

Rockfish Capital Of the World.

Mack

#roanokeriver

#roanokestripers

#roanokeriverfishing

Blues, Flatheads, Monster Brown Water Snakes and my new Squirrel (fishing) dog Pete

Thursday the 18th of April  I went to one of my favorites spots down east. This would be a special day even if I did not catch anything as I was taking my new Squirrel dog 'Pete" on a boat for the first time. Pete did extremely well which my wife said he wouldnt. Told ya so!...We started off trolling for Stripers and mananged a 12 incher right away but it was not going to be a good day for trolling as the oaks were putting off these tassle things that kept fouling the line. 
We then proceeeded to bream and bass fish and just like the other day the small bass were wearing out the Mepps Black Fury.The  Problem was not many bream were hitting it  and they were also not hitting crickets in the usual spots. We finally managed to catch a few for cut bait and since I had to leave at dark we motored to a spot to set out 2 lines. Right before this spot I look on this tree laying in the water and golly there is this one huge Brown water snake   Anyway we anchor up and I put a bream head on one and the next slice on the other rod. 5 minutes later one rod is bending like crazy!. I reel hard and get in a 15 lb flat head. No monster but I will take him. 1 hr later the other rod is bending and I reel in an 11 lb blue. No monster again but I am not complaining with catching fish.

Pete was loving every minute of this. A good day on the water. Mack

Caught quite a few small bass and a few bream on the Mepps Black Fury size 1.

Nice big ole Brown Water Snake!

15lb Flathead caught on Bream head

11lb Blue Cat caught on bream cutbait

A view of how I set my rods in the holder.

Pete on the way back to the ramp.

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