8/31/2013-
Went from fishing one of the smallest rivers(see last blog entry) in NC to one of the biggest in NC.
I arrived at the takeout to meet Jeff at 6:01 am. We had a bet that whoever arrives at the takeout last had to buy breakfast. I had to buy Jeff a BoJangles biscuit!
We made it to the put in around 6:30 or so and I started throwing a Sebile 3/4 oz swimbait in chrome/blueback and a Bomber Walkie Talkie. My hits were mainly on the swimbait while Jeff was getting most of his on the Bomber. I caught my best fish of the day with this 4 lb Striper. I lost one that was 7-10 lbs. OUCH! Jeff caught one aprox the same size.
After the Striper bite was over we proceeded downriver mainly throwing spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with little success. We then switched to Pearl flukes and we each caught aprox 15 bass and 4-5 stripers apiece that may have gone 20" tops. We also each caught a bass that was 3 lbs, The water was very clear and when we hooked up with a bass or striper sometimes there would be 4 or 5 of his buddies following him to the boat. Pretty cool. No monsters caught today but it was a good day on the river.
If not for the Pearl Flukes today we would of had a lack luster day.
Most flows today (8/18/13) were flowing too high but I found a couple that were fishable. The 1st flow was a bust. A waste of 3 plus hrs getting there, fishing, then leaving. I decided to take a look at a spot I hadn't been to in a few years and it paid off as the bass action was non stop from 630-dark. This particular flow is a small piedmont river that holds some nice bass, Most people don't even fish it as it looks too small to most anglers. Finally, some nice river fish brought in the boat.
I Caught 20 plus bass in a very short time and missed quite a few as well. I needed my flukes(left at home) to catch those fish that missed. All caught on a black buzzer retrieved fast. Most fish were around 1.5 lbs but biggest 3 went 16 lbs and I lost a big one . Can't wait to get back down there.
Time 6pm -8pm
Boat-Old Town 119
Lure - Black Buzzer
Now fast forward to 8/23. My friend Steve wanted me to take him to this spot so we hit this river in the am from 7am-12 . I made sure this time to bring the flukes and there really were hitting the flukes like crazy! Well, not like crazy but I caught the majority on pearl flukes. I caught 7 on the fluke, a couple on the Black buzzer and a couple on a Rapala, My biggest went 3 lbs and most were 1 to 1 1/2 lbs . Steve's biggest was a nice one going 6 lbs 5 oz. She hit a swim bait and he also caught some on a plastic worm. I lost 1 4lber on a fluke. A good morning on the river.
Time- 7am- lunch
Boat- Old Town 158
Lures used- Steve,Swimbait-Myself, Pearl Fluke w 5/0 EWG Hook
Friday 8/10/13 Jeff and I made plans to go to a stretch of river we had never fished from canoe. I had bank fished the put in of this section. We have fished this river a lot but a good ways downstream and a good ways upstream but we had never floated this section. This river also has Roanoke bass ( Ambloplites cavifrons ) in it which were stocked years ago but they are confined to an aprox 15 mile stretch and I had heard reports they were doing well. Jeff had never caught one so even if he only caught 1 that would be a great day. If I also caught one it would be great as well as this would make the fifth flow I have caught them out of. (Eno, Fishing Creek, Uwharrie, and the Nottaway in Virginia being the 4 where I have caught them)
We arrived at the launch right after daylight and immediately started catching Bass on spinnerbaits and buzzers. About 1 mile down river I hooked a very nice Roanoke bass which snapped my line and confiscated my Mepps Minnow #3 !..Not good. We then came upon a nice pool at the bottom of a long shoal and after catching a few bass Jeff hooked and landed his first Roanoke which was also Citation size. For a citation in NC a Roanoke Bass must be 11 inches long.
We continued our float downstream for 2.5 miles then made the journey back up dragging our canoes through shoals. We found another nice hole that we had evidently paddled right over and caught many Roanoke's out of it. I caught 2 citations( 11 3/4 in , 11 5/8 in) and I think Jeff caught his 2nd citation in there as well. It was a great day on a new stretch of river. I think we caught about 20 bass a piece , Jeff caught about 10 Roanoke's to my 6 or so and we each caught right many redbreast.
The lures I mainly used for the Roanoke's were the Mepps Minnow, and a small Rapala. Jeff caught his on a variety of lures including a small beetle spin type lure , a crankbait, and a curlytail jig.
One of my Favorite pictures of a Roanoke bass. Jeff took this picture we me in the Background.
Garlic for Catfishing???? I knew they had garlic scents but I had assumed they were for spraying Bass worms(which was the original intent) but who would spray garlic on perfectly good cutbait? My Taxidermist Bill told me that when he goes to Kerr Lake that he sprays his cutbait with Garlic and it outfishes non sprayed cutbait. I was a non believer when Bill told me this way back in the 90's but knowing Bill wouldn't lead me a stray I tried it and Since then I have used it religiously and It works!.
I use either Jacks juice or Bang garlic spray. If i am bream fishing during the day for bait I will take some bream and go ahead and cut them up and put them in a ziplok bag and spray them to let then marinate which works well. Garlic works well using it as soon as you cut the bait up also and if I cast out and dont like the spot I respray with garlic and cast out again.. I almost never go catfishing w/o a can of Garlic Spray.
This is my biggest cat caught on a bream head sprayed with Garlic spray. 46lb Blue caught in the Neuse River, that was a night to remember.
I have also used it with success spraying it on nightcrawlers and other baits.
You can also sprinkle Garlic powder on cutbait when you freeze it for future use. I wouldn't recommend spraying cutbait with the spray then freezing it as the spray is A LOT STRONGER than the powder and your freezer may get a garlic smell.
Also, A lot of catfishermen use whats called Chicken Breast Marinated in Garlic Powder
( CBMIGP for short) and it does work well for Blue and Channel Cats but I can assure you that anything sprayed with garlic spray is better than garlic powder. The powder is reserved for freezing in my catfishing world. Either way is going to be better than no garlic at all.
The other day I was looking at you Tube and came across "Garlic Worms". After seeing this guys video on Garlic worms I was amazed that no one had posted anything before him on this. I would go into detail on it but I don't want to steal his glory on this so I will post his link. Watch it , it is so simple it's amazing. I tried it(I have some in the fridge right now) and it works.!
Got home from work the other evening and my son arrived about the same time with some bamboo tied to the canoe rack. I asked his friend and him what are you doing?. He said he was gonna go gig some frogs. I then asked him did he have a gig and he said yes that u bought me one a few years back. I had forgotten about that. My memory is good it is just short.
Anyway, they go giggin in the pond back behind the house and left me at home cause the ole man was just too tired. My wife asked would they get any. I replied that they might get a couple since it being his first time I doubted they would get many. Note : He has always enjoyed hunting and fishing but hasnt taken it up like his ole man as he has always been into sports big time but since turning 16 he has really pursued fishing. Back to story. Aprox midnight he comes in the house and says how do I clean the frogs. I then asked how many do you have and he said I dont know. Well I go out there and the cooler is loaded with them! I spent the better part of an hour cleaning them and teaching him how to...
The next day he invited his girlfriend over and the other gigger and they fried them all up. Did they save me any? NOOOOOOOOO:( Anyway, I was proud of the boy doing something that I hadnt taught him how to do. I am sure when deer season rolls around that on Saturday evenings(mornings he will be sleeping , tired from football) he will be in one of my deer stands shooting my deer. Oh well,
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
I enjoy anything in the outdoors. Mainly canoeing and fishing but, also hunting, hiking, I love to plant trees and also search for big trees.
I grew up just outside Burlington, N.C. where my parents house sat on a bluff overlooking the Haw River. I can thank the Haw for getting me started in the outdoors. I Have 2 YouTube Channels as well. Mack's Extreme River Fishing and Mack's Public Land Hunting.
Thnaks, Mack
