Cypress Trees at Jordan Lake

Over the years I have planted a lot of trees.  Catalpa trees grown from cuttings. Chestnuts, oaks, Osage Orange, Persimmon, and Honey Locust all grown from seeds. I also  have planted a lot of Cypress trees, probably in the neighborhood of several thousand in Jordan lake and some on the haw river on two tracts of family land.

Did I mention that I like to plant trees?....I started planting Cypress trees at Jordan  lake in the early 90's. I first started buying seedlings(100 to a bag) from a nursery and did this for several years and then I found out about 2 local area groups(The haw River Assembly, and the Sierra Club) that were buying  seedlings and planting them here also. I contacted them and helped them 1 year plant 4000 seedlings. A young forester named Brian and myself planted about 1000 of these. I have always planted these 2'-3' seedlings with their tips just sticking out of the water. These seedlings have done fine being planted this way except for 1 thing. Beavers!!!!

I plant them at a depth of 2-3 feet so one day they will have fish using them for cover. I have planted a few 6' trees at a depth of 3- 4 ft. Cypress trees can survive in water 6 ft deep if their tops are out of the water. Did I mention that I don't like beavers anymore?...Well probably 3900 plus most of the ones I purchased myself have been eaten. Fortunately some stands have done well. One stand that I planted myself is doing quite well. Beavers have eaten a few, but these have all sprouted back except for a couple of them. Hopefully one day I can witness an eagle or osprey nest in one of these.

Here are some of these cypress in the mid 90's

Click on the Pictures to enlarge them 

Here is the same stand looking the opposite way. This is late summer, early fall so the trees don't look bright green like they normally do. This picture was taken around 2004 or so.

Here is a picture this year(2009). Note... the water is down about 5'. Normally these trees would have water all around them. 

Here is another picture from farther away.

Here is one of the trees up close. Notice all the cones that this tree is producing. Also notice the root system. This stand has aprox 40 -50 trees and a couple of these are doing this. Great fish habitat as in the spring and early summer there are lots of minnows in these roots. I caught a 4lb bass under this tree early this year.

Hopefully next spring I can post a few pictures of these trees and also me with a few bass caught wading around these........Mack

NEW UPDATED PICTURE .....

This shot below was taken in May of 2010. Some of the trees in this stand are approaching 20 years old.

Updated May 2015

Here is a Google Earth "screen shot of the pond where these Cypress trees have done the best.
I can count over 60 trees. Look along the upper part of the pond and you can see the trees in the water!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Updated January 2023

Some of these trees are now approaching ~30 years old and most are doing extremely well.  I have also every few years added several so there are some young ones there as well. 

Here is a recent Google earth shot.

#baldcypress

#jordanlake

"jordan lake cypress trees"

jordan lake cypress trees

Eastern N.C. Smallies????. Spring 2009

I kept hearing rumors about this river in eastern n.c. that supposedly has some Smallies in it. It is right on the Piedmont/coastal plain border and It is not the Uwharrie which is a better known stream.

 I find it hard to believe that there are smallies in this river as I have fished it a few times near its headwaters and a few times down low and reportedly Smallmouth bass are distributed though out its entire length as I had  never caught a smallie there in the past. Th rumors kept intriguing me so I planned a trip there in the spring of 09.

 I fished it near the middle of it and put in at a bridge and paddled up. The redbreast fishing in this stream was awesome and that is putting it mildly. The  Avg size was better than most streams though I didn't catch any monsters. Most redbreast were caught on small Rapalas. I also  caught some bass on buzzers and Rapalas. I Even caught 2 at a time which miraculously  I  have done twice in 09! Here's to the first double caught in 09.


Here's a picture of the river. It is probably the prettiest river in North Carolina



I caught several Smallmouth this size though none were over 12 inches.
There are Defiantly smallies in this water.


A Decent redbreast caught


Another

There were no lunkers caught on today's trip   but it was  a great day on a beautiful river. I was wading in one section and out of the corner of my eye I  spotted what I though was a log floating downstream. It got right to my ankles and it was an aprox 30 lb flathead slowly going downstream through some skinny water!  What an awesome sight !!

....I will get back there soon.

Thanks for going along.   Mack

Phelps Lake part 2.

Well, we returned to Phelps for another round in spring 09. The fishing was nowhere near what it was last year. This is because of one major condition. The water was down aprox 1.5 ft. This was because of the bad fires and the lake being used for water. Now that doesn't sound like a lot but when it is 16000 acres and the avg depth is like 3-4 ft then you have some problems......I couldn't put my motor down until i was at least 100 yds out!. We could not find any minnows close to the lake. we mainly fished with buzzbaits and tubes. Some fish caught but not many.


here's 1 that nailed a 3 in tube



here's another that nailed a tube



we finally got disgusted of the poor fishing so we went looking for bears in the pocosin refuge.
lots of bears were being seen , one even came through the camp but we missed him. This was at breeding season so the male bears are out searching. We didn't see any but tracks were every where



this was everywhere in the roads!



and then we were out of the car looking for tracks and i happened to walked over to a culvert in a canal and this bad boy was laying on top of it! Picture doesn't do him justice but it is at least a 4.5 to 5 ft timber rattler. Very thick body.


We will be back to Phelps lake. Though the fishing was poor this year, searching the refuge was awesome!. Mack

Phelps Lake part 1

Went to Phelps lake spring 08. We went with 2 other father- sons . A great time was had by all. The water was at the normal level and the bass were hitting buzzbaits and minnows. Lots of fish in the 18-20 inch range.

here's 1 that hammered a buzzer


here's my canoe towing 2 canoes



here's Todd looking like he is on a bonefish flat.


hers my son with a bass that nailed a buzzer



here's my son with a bass that hit a minnow


If you can go there when the water is not low I would suggest you make
this trip.

Catfishing out of a canoe for Big Cats

Catfishing out of one of my canoes is a passion of mine. It doesn't get any better than fighting a big cat right beside you in a canoe. Here is how i do it.

Choose a river noted for big cats.
Have the right bait.
Have the right tackle.
and the most important is patience.

Once I choose a river I then look for section that has a lot of bends. I don't like straight sections. I then usually try to arrive at the put in at lunch or early mid day. I do this to catch bait. The bait I usually want is live bream which we catch on crickets using ultralite  gear. These are put in a minnow bucket which hangs over the side. If i move to a new spot with my outboard(on square stern) or my trolling motor(on OT 158) I put the minnow bucket in a bucket in the canoe until I get to the new spot. Once I have as many as I think I need, I start fishing one of my holes I have picked out. Now, a hole to me is a spot so it can actually be a flat near an actual hole. I usually fish deep holes in the day and flats at night. My rig consist of a Carolina rig with usually a 2oz weight and a short leader. My main line is usually 30-40lb test and my leader is usually 10 lb
test smaller. My hook is usually a 4/0 -9/0. I either anchor or use a blakemore brushgripper to grab an over-hanging limb. I would rather do that than drop and anchor so as not to spook the fish. I then hook the bream in the tail. Sometimes I use cut bream soaked in garlic juice. Usually it doesn't take long for a hit.
















This Neuse flathead above was caught on a live bream....


This Contentnea Creek Flathead was also caught on a live bream. Usually they don't bite in midday but this fish was caught early in the year so the fish were more active in the "heat of the day".

















This Blue was caught at aprox 2 am. I was using cut bream soaked in garlic juice. I only had 2 hits that evening , 1 an 11 lb gar and this my PB 46lb blue. I was by myself in this picture so that's why I defiantly have my life jacket on. I am standing in my OT 158 with my right leg on the gunwale! A jonboat passing by stopped to see if i was catching anything just as I had got this beast in the canoe! If it wasn't for him I would have a crappy picture of the fish probably laying on the bottom of the canoe....















Here is my son with his best flathead and his best blue. They were caught 2 years apart, and both were caught on live bream. He did all the catching I just netted them.
This is a 30 lb blue.















Here is his 21 lb flattie. He beat this in 2010 with one 22 lbs then a 34 lber..see below















The best part of him landing this flattie was when I netted it,  he screamed  "thats what I'm talking about"
This kinda fishing is one of my favorites to do and you don't have to have a big boat. Mack

Here is a fish you may also catch while catfishing.  Bait stealers but good fights if you hook one.

Added: he has since beat his personal best cat with a 34 lb flattie caught in Aug  of '10

Here are pics of my usual rigs....First is my main go to rig.  Sinker with short leader. You do not want more than 8 in of leader and usually 4 - 6 inches as a bream will wrap you around a stik if it is close. You can go heavier on the sinker but I would not go lighter. Reel is an Abu 7000 loaded with 40 lb line and the rod is
an American Spirit 7' Nite Stik. This rod has a mixture of red and white in it and the tip glows.   This is a great rod and inexpensive rod too. They are very hard to find and actually tougher than Ugly stiks. I also have an Abu 6500 on a 7 ' white ugly Stik. A white rod is easier to see at night so I have started going from darker rods to lighter colored rods.  It is very hard to see a black rod at night. Some of my other reels are Shimano bantam 50's , Abu 5600c and some daiwa Millionaires. Just make sure it can handle 30 lb line and you will be fine.

Below is a pic of my slip rig. I use this occasionally and at night i glue or tape mini lite stiks to it. The rod is a 7' Ugly Stik Tiger Rod and the reel is a Shimano 6500 Baitrunner loaded with 30 lb test line. Sometimes I put a longer rod on this reel but usually the 7' er is best in the canoe. I also have the 4500 and 3500 baitrunners and they can be used also but the 3500 is limited to channel cat outings though I did catch an 18 lb blue cat out of the Dan River on the 3500 Baitrunner with 14lb line. I had meant to take the extra spool with 17 lb line but forgot it , and actually the 14 lb line did ok getting the 18lb blue in. Usually with the 3500 Baitrunner i use a 6ft ugly Stik and it works great in a canoe. I can also put that reel on a 7 ft or 8 ft Ugly Stiks that I have if I am bank fishing or carp fishing.

No matter what reel and rod combo I use , my leader is usually 10 lbs lighter than my main line.

There are some decent pictures of these rods in my article done in August 20010 Titled Neuse River Cats, Shellcrackers and Shooting stars

Here are the size of the lite stiks....

Good luck, Mack

    #catfish

#monstercatfish

Brown trout, Smallies and Largemouth!!!!!. Summer 2009

Where in North Carolina or Virginia can you go and catch smallies, largemouth and Browns on the same float.....well this time I am not telling. If you want to go i may take someone one day. I would not have believed it if i wasn't there to see it........smallies(6) hit buzzbaits...the 1 largemouth hit a buzzbait as well.......the bite then stopped. I decided to go more finesse and put on a rapala.....I was then  rewarded with 4 nice browns that were miles and miles from where they should be..Awesome! .. WHAT A GREAT DAY!

Great day on the water. Saw 1 bald eagle searching for lunch.

Cape Fear Float. Summer 2009

I decided to do a quick float 1 evening after work on the cape fear....The water was slightly low but also slightly stained..Lots of hits on top water but lots of misses. We then changed from more natural colors to brighter colors.

Best bass of the day




One hungry gar


Avg size spot caught. Spots outnumber the largemouth here at least by an 8-2 ratio


Good day...saw lots of ducks, herons, ospreys....

July Haw River bass Trip

Floated a 5 mile section of the haw. Most bass caught on topwater, and in the fast water. Not many hits at the slower deeper spots......water clear and slightly low but fish aggressive.

Here is  a nice flower on the haw

all fish were between 1 and 4 1/2 lbs......aprox 20 caught apiece.

#hawriver

July 09 catfishing trip

Took my son and wife to my favorite catfish river..... started fishing around 4pm.......we first fished for bait...at first all we could catch were big ole bull bream but then we started catching the size i like to use for bait .......at dark we started catfishing ....we caught 5 cats in 2 hrs......4 blues...1 -24 lbs 1 -15 lbs 1 -12lbs, 1-30 lb blue, and 1 - 10 lbs Flathead, at 10;30 the wife was getting scared of the alligators and so on so we left.......it was a good day as my son caught his 2 biggest cats.....we also saw lots of ducks , some deer moving through the swamps, we saw 3 fox squirrels and 2 gray squirrels, herons owls, and 1 hawk.......here are some pics....

a great day on the water!