A Pumpkinseed Kinda Day

Pumpkinseed Bream

May 3, 2016

Location - Crystal Lake


I Started the day fishing Hortons pond adjacent to Jordan Lake.   Not much was  happening there but the water looked great. I Caught a few small crappie , a Warmouth and a bass.  Really the only thing happening there was watching an Osprey nest and the parents coming back and forth bringing fish to the young uns.

Lures used-  Heddon Sonic- no hits.   Buzzbait,  1lb bass on the first cast then ZILCH.  Kalins purple rain grub, several small crappie.  Redworms,  ZILCH.

 I Left and headed south to a lake known for big bream.  I  Had a good day there but couldn't really find the big bream but  I got lucky and found plenty of  nice sized Pumpkinseeds. Some of them were really nice.

The sky looked like it was going to pour rain on me at any time but it never rained  except for just a light sprinkling.  All of my fish today were caught on a bottom rig with a 3/8 oz bell sinker on bottom and 2  - #6 hooks above it spaced aprox 8 inches apart using red worms for bait.

This first one is a Citation size Pumpkinseed.  The NCWRC Angler recognition program list the Pumpkinseed requirements as either 10 inches or 14 ounces. This Pumpkinseed passes the 10 inch mark by a 1/2 inch.

The smallest one of the day. Not a Citation but maybe one day.

 

A few more pictures,,,,

Thunder storms were off and on all day but they all managed to miss me which was great.

Here is my ending to a great day on the water......

Thanks, Mack

#vassnc

#bream

#breamfishing

#crystallake

White Bass Run 2016

White Bass Run 2016

***be sure to see the video at the bottom***

The White Bass Run this year in Central NC has been pretty good. I have been 3 times so far and have done well all 3 times.  

3/26/2016

Went fishing for White Bass with my wife and I may have caught 25~ fish and she probably got 35~ She got more as I was unhooking her fish and just having fun watching her catch them. We caught them 2 ways. 1 by anchored and casting to a known spot and 2 by trolling. When I troll I normally use 2 rods(canoe so a can't troll umpteen) but today we just trolled with 1 line for her as I was doing the paddling and unhooking. We got rained on for aprox 30 mins but otherwise it was a great day. I don't know who had more fun. The Wife, Pete the dog, or myself. Pete absolutely luvs to fish!

We caught White Bass, White Perch, Yellow Perch, Bream, and a couple of stripers. We also saw a Few Eagles, ospreys, Herons, and a Pileated Woodpecker. All fish caught on a 1/8 oz mini trap, small roadrunner, and a small spot.

March 27th,  Went back to the same place ,  My fishing Partner today was the Famous Mark B. (Wuzworthit) who I have known since the 80's. Fish were scattered except we did catch about 20 out of 1 hole. Had several doubles on as well. We also ran into Professional fisherman Turtlestew. and also  Watched an Eagle try to steal a meal from and osprey .

4/15/2016
Went today from 12-6 pm. caught a lot of  White bass.  Most small to medium size with 6 that were good size.  Also caught maybe 10 white perch, 5 or 6 bream and 1- 4lb channel cat. Hottest action was 1230-130.  then sporadic.   Best lures were  chartreuse SSR5 with blue back and orange belly, mini trap, and road runner.    I took one of my old Heddon Sonics and it caught 3  or 4 fish then my knot broke and I lost it. Dang it!!!  I hate I lost that lure.

White Perch and channel cat

Video below added 2022

Thanks for looking,  Mack

#whitebassrun

#whitebass

#hawriver

Don't let High Water stop your Fishing!

Here in NC this December it has been really warm and rainy.  Jordan lake is up 12 ' !!

I have several spots on this lake that are usually good in High water so off to the lake I went Christmas evening.  I was throwing a 1/2 oz Cordell spot along some riprap and caught 3 Largemouth along with quite a few White bass.   Nothing huge but it sure beats not fishing.   I was throwing the spot on a 7 ' rod with a 4600C abu with 12 lb line.

Fast Forward to the 29th of December and Jordan is still right at 12 ' High. I figured some crappie would be shallow so I headed to a spot where I thought the fish maybe cooperative. Fished from 3-530 pm , I luckily  Caught some nice Crappie that all fell for a Monks Chartreuse head on a Purple Rain grub.

I then Went back this morning(Wed 30th) but decided to use A  12' Fiberglass  Zebco Crappie Stik so I could precisely set the bait beside a flooded willow and lift straight up. I was using a plain Cigar bobber 3' above a # 6 gold hook with a small weight just above the hook.    I went through 3 dozen minnows and 2 heavy downpours so I was glad to have my Frogg Toggs with me this am.  The avg size was smaller today than yesterday but still fun. All Crappie today and yesterday were Black Crappie. I Also caught 2 channel cats which were a blast on the pole.

The moral of this story is don't let high water stop you from fishing. They can still be caught .  I didn't see another fisherman on this lake all three trips! 

Castle Hayne Boating Access

Castle Hayne Boating access is on the NE Cape Fear river In the town of Castle Hayne near Wilmington, NC . This river is an Eastern NC "Blackwater" river.  It is all freshwater here but the tide does influence the river up to this boat ramp. This river has an awesome fishery but this ramp can get pretty crowded in the summer

A picture of the Boat ramp and floating docks. There are 2 ramps each 2 lanes wide.

Looking upstream. That is an old railroad swing bridge just up from the ramp . The Swing part of the bridge is permanently open.  Hwy 117 is within sight looking downstream.  Between these 2 bridges it is a "No Wake Zone"

A view of the Boat ramp Parking lot.

Just immediately below the ramp is Public fishing area which consist of its own Parking lot and Pier. 

A view of the fishing Pier looking upstream.

A view from the Pier looking downstream towards the Hwy 117/133 Bridge

Here is a Google image of the Area.  Note- the Pier and Boat ramp are 2 separate entities, each having their own parking lot.  The Pier has a sign that says no weapons but the ramp is a NCWRC ramp which allows guns. 

Fish found here-  Largemouth Bass, Bream, Black Crappie, Shellcracker, Chain Pickerel,  Blue Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Longnose Gar, Bowfin, Striped Bass

Alligators are also pretty common in the general area but you probably will not see one on the main river. They will usually stay back in the swamps or in creeks off the river.

Mack

#castlehayne

#wilmingtonnc

#northcarolina

A few Pictures from 2015

November Pier Fishing

Date-11/8/2015
Location- SE NC  Coast
Bait/Lure  Gotcha Plugs for Blues
Cut bait (blues) for bottom fishing
430PM-11pm


Headed down south to try some Pier fishing for Drum.   I arrived at the pier an immediately saw people cleaning Blues at the cleaning station and when I got to the end they were still catching them.

I tied on a gotcha plug and the action was pretty fast.  Caught too many Blues to count. They were a blast! Most were small but these were fun. I am at the point in my life that while I still luv to catch big fish I am happy with just catching fish and especially fish that I havn't caught in a while.

After dark I put on a Drum rig and fished cut bait on the bottom.  I had several runs but only one hookup which had to be a big ray.  After about 10 minutes I broke the line to end the battle,

A good few hours on a pier.   After leaving the Pier I stopped here for a cold one.  Really a nice bar with character.  There are 1$ bills all over the walls and ceiling where patrons have left them with their name and date they were there.

Speckled Trout At Radio Island, NC

Dater-10/30/2015
Time- Mid afternoon Till dark
Location - Crystal Coast of N.C.
Fishermen- Todd, Colby, Mack N., Myself
Lures- 1/4 -3/8 oz Jig heads with  4 inch grubs
and squid for bottom fishing


We hit up a Tidal creek in the afternoon wading and throwing Jigs.  The bite was good on an outgoing tide to slack tide.    Best technique was to wade out to chest deep water and cast  up current and let it sink to the Bottom and just very slowly hop it.  We caught numerous specs on different colored Jigs .  Most were small with only a few being keeper size but they were fun. Pretty sure these are/were my first Speckled Trout.

I also Bottom fished throughout the afternoon to take a break from wading.  We caught a lot of what I think are Hogfish on a 2 hook bottom rig using squid for bait.

Here are a few pics...

Todd and Colby

Mack N.

Fish Caught on Zoom Fat Albert Grubs, Haw River Tackle Grubs and Some grubs I don't even have the original bag to.

Zoom Fat Alberts-  http://zoombait.com/chunks-trailers-grubs/grubs/fat-albert/

Haw River Tackle -  http://hrtackle.com/site/

A big thanks to Todd and Colby who were there all week and invited us down for the day.


#speckledtrout

Fox Squirrel Hunt with "Pete"

Me and my son hit the Fox Squirrel woods with "Pete" Saturday October 24th.    We only hunted a short time  today this being an evening hunt.    Pete had a blast and we did also.

2 Fox squirrels treed and 1 harvested.  Took almost an hour to finally spot the one if the top of the tall pine and the other, well, we got tired of looking for it and left it for another day.  You would be amazed at how well a 3 lb black Squirrel can hide on a limb or it the very top of a 100ft tall pine

 An hour to find a Black Squirrel in the top of a Pine and not in a hole??  Yes.  I have seen that several times.  We got lucky and finally spotted it and then made  a good harvest.

Date  10/24/2015
Location-  Moore Co. in the Sandhills of N.C.
Hunters- Mack N., Pete and myself

Here are a few pictures.

#foxsquirrel

#foxsquirrelhunting

#Hunting