Fishing Reports

July 13, 2003

Bluett Falls Lake, North Carolina

I had a chance to run down to Bluett Falls Lake, a quick 70 mile drive from Hope Mills today. I wanted to do a little scouting for next Saturdays Big Fish Tournament to be held on the lake by The Southern Crappie Association. One fish is all you can weigh so I was looking for only the big boys today.

I wasn't able to get any minnows today so it was strictly jigs for the duration. I had three hours to fish. A strong line of thunderstorms had just passed through. Air temp had dropped to 75 degrees from 94 the previous day. The water was slightly stained up river and clear near the dam. Water temp was near 80 at the surface and the sun is shining. Slight breeze out of the South West. Where would you start?

This is what I do every time I go to a lake I haven't been to in a while. I found some likely main channel spots, up river spots and some likely coves, and I ride. I spend at least five or ten minutes in each one of these locations watching my electronics carefully before I ever wet a line. Trust your electronics. Learn to use them properly. Read the users manual and become very familiar with your units settings and adjustments. Your electronics will tell you exactly what to do if you listen. One exception, very shallow water, we'll get to that...

After riding in each of these areas (BF is a small lake that allows an angler the opportunity to go from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes) for a few minutes I realized that the fish were not in the coves or creeks and not up river. I marked some fish on the main channel, on humps and breaks from 8 - 15 feet deep. But the fish were suspended 3 - 6 feet down. I tried trolling some good colors at that depth for about thirty minutes in open water. One or two keepers. The lack of bait fish concerned me so I pulled up and started looking for bait nearby. I noticed some shad breaking on the surface on a flat about 100 yards away. To get to the flat I had to trim my motor all the way up. Once over the ridge that separated the flat form the main channel the water was again about 5 - 7 feet deep. I kicked the trolling motor up to 4 and started pulling some 1/32 oz Mizmo tubes. Within 30 seconds I had two fat slabs in the boat. Over the next hour and a half I caught about 20 more nice fish. The largest just over a pound. No one to take a picture and I was releasing all the fish, sh_t. In that shallow water the fish will generally spook with the big motor running and you'll never see them on the depth finder. Even with just the trolling motor running the boat itself, and its shadow will usually spook the fish and you won't see them on your electronics. Just because you don't see any arches or flashes when your looking in water 2 - 8 feet deep, doesn't mean the fish aren't their. There comes a time when you must eliminate water and simply trust your instincts. A little trial and error can make you a better angler.

The key is to look all over the place in the summer. Crappies will go deep in the heat of summer, but they will also go super shallow when the conditions are right. This is especially true right after a front has passed. With the cool surface temperature today the bait fish were on that flat. So the Crappies went on in. I also caught a few stripers and one nice largemouth as well. Hot color was the parfait jig (pink/white/yellow) followed by blue/white, 4th of July, Firecracker and pink/white. Trolled at a very fast clip the jigs were running 2 - 4 feet over 5 - 8 feet of water. f I would have had some minnows I'm sure I could have caught some of the more negative fish out in open water on the drops. Next Saturday you can bet I will have some!

Man I miss my home lake. After living in Bethlehem NC for almost 25 years, I learned Lake Hickory like the back of my hand. Some of my favorite spots from my childhood still produce big fat Crappies today.

Jay and I filmed for two days on the lake I learned to catch Crappies on. We found the fish suspended at 8 - 14 feet over brush piles in 18 - 30 feet of water. The water was clear and cool. Some fish were being caught around the docks. But none that we saw came close to the fatties we were catching. Jay and I boated 20 plus Crappies over a pound in the two days we fished. We had 10 near 1 lb 8 ozs. Fishing with only 2 rods each we were very pleased with our catch.

The fish were very aggressive if you got the bait at the right depth. Early in the morning the fish were 8 - 10 feet deep suspended over brush 20 -24 feet deep. As the sun rose high in the sky, they went down to 12 - 14 feet, but stayed suspended over the brush. The shad were at that same depth, so it made sense. I assume we could have caught fish trolling or drifting, but we were filming a brush pile show. We were able to demonstrate how to catch big fish in the fall using live bait and jigs. The motor oil jig was the color of choice with most of our fish coming on tight-lined minnows.

If you are going to fish on Hickory or the surrounding area lakes over the next few weeks. Try brush piles in 15 - 30 feet of water. The fish will be on these spots for the next month or two. Shoot the docks with small jigs and watch that line. If it stops set the hook! Remember clear water / bright days use light colors, dingy water / cloudy days use dark colors.

Walt, Matt and I layed the smack down on the slabs, despite the wind and 98 degree temperature. I'm learning that wind is a fact of day-to-day life in Texas. 15 - 20 mph is common and expected. Fishing brushpiles in open water with 20 mph wind is tough. But as you can see by the smiles on our faces and the fish in our hands, it can be both productive and fun. The key to this day was fishing the downwind side of the brushpiles. The wind will create waves and a slight current. The fish will position themselves on the down wind or out of the current side of the structure or brushpile. Keying in on this was how we were able to put over thirty nice Crappies in the boat on Saturday. We kept 18, with the big ten weighing in at over ten pounds. Most of the fish came on minnows fished at 20 feet on brush 24 - 30 feet deep. Several nice slabs made the fatal mistake of taking a jig. Walt got a few on Red and White. I got several on my old standbye from Kerr Lake, Red Glitter and Chartruese. You have to work a jig slow in order to get any takers, but it will work, be patient. I'm bringing my secret weapon to Kerr Lake for the tournament in a few weeks. Please make it a point to come by and see the weigh in at Saterwhite Point.

That's right the entire NACA Board of Directors (minus one) met in Tunica Miss. for a 2002 planning session. From left to right - yeah that's me, Bill, Scott, Jimmy Cox (President of Mizmo Bait Co.), Mike Hall, Mike Ritter, Mike Tubbs, Kingston (Captain of the USS Redneck) and Scott Bilderbeck. We were all smiles after an enjoyable day with Kingston on the river. We cooked the fish at the Redneck Riviera. What a day. A very enjoyable meal and a little gambling at the Isle of Capri Casino capped the night off. We did manage to get down to business and plan the 2002 season changes. I was very pleased with the outcome. Visit the NACA website for all the details. It was a pleasure to see all the guys and do a little fishing. Trolling with mutiple jigs and 8 ounce weights on twenty foot long poles was indeed something new. I'll stick with one jig and 4 pound test! If you ever get down to Tunica Miss, look up Kingston at the Redneck Riviera, he'll show you a good time. Thanks very much to Scott and the rest of the NACA staff for a great time. I look forward to serving as a Board Member for 2002 and participating in some of the exciting events planned for next year.

Pecan Creek on Ray Roberts Lake just off highway 35 North of Denton Texas was my destination on Saturday. My new friend Matt came along for a day of searching and learning. My goal for the day was to find at least 5 of the large brushpiles put in by the state. These places are marked on some maps. But I can assure you, there are no marker bouys in Ray Roberts to show you where they are. We started the day in the standing timber just North of the second bridge on highway 3002. No takers in 30 minutes so we split, headed for the first brushpile. After a lot of cruising we found it. Within minutes we had our first keeper. Matt got the nice 1 1/2 lber in the photo above on a minnow at about 18 feet. The brush was 25 - 28 feet deep. I put this nice bass in the boat shortly after Matt got the big slab.

You can see the rod holder rig I use behind me. This is an exteremly effective way to fish brushpiles. The long rods keep you out away from the spot and allow you to handle big fish like the bruiser Bass on very light line. We got about ten fish at the first spot and a few more at each place we found throughout the morning. The fish were tight to the brush. I didn't even try a jig today, all the fish came on minnows from 12 - 22 feet deep. With the full moon and blazing hot temperature, coupled with the flat calm conditions the Crappies were not exactly jumping in the boat. I guarantee these will be super spots in the Fall. Matt and I called it quits just after lunch. Too hot for the fat man! We only kept enough for dinner, but the trip was well worth it. I learned a few new spots, met some really nice Crappie fisherman while on the water and only saw one damn skier all day! Ray Roberts, I'll be back...

I hit Joe Pool very early Saturday morning hoping to catch a limit before the lake was over run with pleasure boaters. My new pal Lee Hunt and I were fishing the bridge columns on the West Bridge before daylight. I released at least 30 fish that were 9" - 9 1/2", just under the 10" limit. Around 7:00 am the big boys started hitting and we were able to put 25 nice keepers in the box before noon. The fish were suspended just above the thermocline (16 - 18 feet deep) in 25 feet of water. No fish on the jig, all of them came on minnows. The two fish in the photo above were 1lb 14oz and 1lb 9oz. Big ten weighed in at 11lbs 10ozs. Not bad for any time of year. Night fishing is hit and miss right now. As I have told many people, "The best time to go fishing is, when ever you can", so get out there and try. We fished several brush piles, the standing timber in 13 - 22 feet of water and a creek channel edge. Nothing produced like the shady columns under the bridge. We did meet a guy who had 6 nice fish from a brush pile in 30 feet of water early in the morning. The fish are bunched up right now, so if you can catch one, you will likely catch quite a few in the same area. And once you find them, take some advice from ole Jim Ledbetter, don't leave your fish!

After meeting my new friend Lee Hunt on Saturday morning in Grapevine, we headed up to Lake Ray Roberts just North of Dallas for a day of Crappie bustin'. Or as they call them here in Texas "Croppie". Hey, I looked it up! Both pronounciations are in the latest edition of Websters dictionary. Call 'em what you want, it's all the same to me. We planned to fish the second bridge on State Road 3002 after receiving a report that they were slaying the big slabs under that bridge. We met up with a guy that had been fishing all night in the standing timber as we pulled into Pecan Creek Access Area. He had about a dozen really nice Crappies to 2lbs. Encouraged, we launched the Triton and headed to the bridge. We fished under the bridge while a few small showers passed by. Not one fish in over an hour of trying. Being overcast we decided to see if we could find some fish in the timber. With the sun behind the clouds and plenty of baitfish around, we figured the fish would be scattered through the timber nailing the shad. We were right. For the next three hours we were able to boat about 25 nice Crappies.

I met Mr. Hunt while fishing on Joe Pool Lake. He's a "homeboy" from Pembroke, NC. That's near Lumberton, South of Raleigh and Wilson. We hit it off immediately and I intend to fish a lot of the area lakes with Lee.

We ended the day just after lunch with a nice mess of fish. Most came in 28 feet of water from 1 to 8 feet off the bottom. A very slow presentation was needed to entice a strike. I have found a straight structure rig consisting of a #2 hook and a 1/8 oz spilt shot 12" (maximum) up is the best rig for fishing in the timber. Keep the split shot close to the hook. You can not detect a strike fast enough if the split shot is 16" or 18" from the hook. The Kentucky rig gets hung too easily. You can feel the limbs with the heavy weight. Getting the minnow all the way to the bottom, then working it back up through the standing timber was the key. 8lb test minimum is required to get the big Crappies back out of the thick stuff.

If you live near Dallas and want to go fishin' with the ole Killa', just drop me a line and I'll hook up with you.

I took a much needed and rare day off July 13, 2001. My boy and I went to Joe Pool hoping to catch a few fish for the pan that evening. We fished under the bridge out from Lynn Creek Marina on the West side. The fish were out a little deeper than they have been in recent weeks. 28 - 30 feet deep was the right depth. Dangling the minnows about 4 feet off the bottom seemed to be the ticket. Dylan caught all the fish you see in the photo above. The largest weighed just under a pound. At 10:30 am he decided he was done fishing. I asked him to give Daddy 30 minutes to try to catch a big fish. He ageed and I got up tight to the supports and fished all the ones we had missed earlier in the day. I nailed 4 fish over a pound with the two biggest going 1lb 9oz and 1lb 7oz. See the photo below.

Dylan insisted on taking a picture of this big bass. He said he was sorry for chopping my head off. This fish weighed almost 9 lbs. In the Spring she will weigh over 10lbs, easy. We released this fish and called it a day. Don't let the heat stop you, the Crappies are still hungry!

As I mentioned on the Index page, I had a chance to fish Joe Pool at night on 6/30/01. Walt and I put the lights out and had schools of baitfish swirling under the ole Triton in a matter of minutes. The bridge near Lynn Creek Marina was the spot. Staying near the main channel edge was key. We put 25 Crappies to 1 pound, 9 Large mouth to two pounds and 7 catfish to two pounds in the boat within 3 hours. All on minnows fished on the bottom or four to five feet off the bottom. There were other boats under the bridge getting similar results.

Started fishing the bridge columns on Joe Pool out from Lynn Creek Marina near the bank at 6 am on Saturday 7/7/01. I had 8 or 10 keepers in the boat within two hours. The limit here in Texas is 10 inches, and I stick to it. Although it sometimes takes a while to catch some keeper size fish. I went through 25 or so to get dinner. I met a nice guy from NC this morning and we shared some stories until about 10:00 am. I left him with my favorite bridge columns while I went to find some fish on the creek channels. The air temp was nearly 100 degrees, this is not uncommon for Texas this time of year. I tried not to let that bother me as I staired at my Lowrance searching for schools of shad near the creek mouthes. I found some promising looking water about half way back in a creek that was 21 feet deep. The key is to find the bait. Find the bait and you will find the fish this time of year. Keep cruising back into the creek until you don't see anymore bait. Rig up your rods with a Kentucky rig, some lively minnows and troll or drift real slow. Stay with the creek edge and work your way out to deeper water. By starting shallow you are eliminating unproductive water on your first pass. Watch your electronics carefully! Stop at every little thing you see on the bottom and work it over good. You may only catch one or two fish at each piece of structure this time of year so don't waste a lot of time on any one particular spot. Unless of course you start yo-yoing them! Make mental notes of where the structure was by looking at features on the bank and marking the depth. Hit that spot on the way back into the creek. I usually drop a marker when I catch the first and last fish. Stay in between the markers for the rest of the time in that area. Don't waste any time! You will see the schools of bait as you meander down the creek channel on your depth finder. Remember Crappies usually feed up, or straight ahead. So keep your bait slightly above the shad or right in the middle of them. You will see your rod tip twitch as the shad hit your line, so don't set the hook until you see that rod tip dip down!

I finished the day with about 25 - 30 fish. The largest was about 14 ounces. No heavy wieghts but tasty non-the-less. So don't let the heat stop ya'. Grab some cool ones and get after 'em!

We are off to Waco Lake next Saturday 7/14/01. I hear the place is loaded with Slabs. Anyone that would like to join the group going to Waco, please feel free to drop me an email and we'll hook up.

Booze and I took "Mr. Bush" (Boozies Dad) to the only place we have been able to catch Crappies with any consistency for the last few weeks. Under the bridge at Joe Pool Lake just South of Dallas. This is a nice little lake with moderate boat traffic. It's $8 to launch your boat but worth it if you are after Crappies. There are two long double bridges on the lake offering hundreds of Pilons to attract and hold Crappie through out the hot summer months. We found the Crappies in 22 feet of water this day suspended 2 feet off the bottom. The fish never did turn on big time, but we were able to boat a nice sack of fish for dinner. I bounced a jig the entire time we were out and never got a smell. Red/Chart, Blue/Chart, Red White and all White were my choices in the semi-clear water. No takers though, all the fish came on minnows. Night fishing should be superb right now. The productive pilons were those in 18 - 24 feet of water. Shallower showed nothing and produced nothing, deeper same thing. Bring a minimum of two ropes to tie your boat off and stay on the downwind side of the pilons. The key has proven time and time again to be shade. Fish the side of the bridge that is in the shade and you will catch more fish. As the sun moves across the sky you are presented with new fishing opportunities. The fish seem to bite all day long. Just keep moving. Good luck.

The plan was to fish brush piles today, but the wind changed that. 15 - 25 mph wind out of the South forced us to fish under the bridge just out from Lynn Creek Marina. We found a pile of Crappies suspended just off the bottom in 22 feet of water. The fish were tight to the pilons as wind persisted through out the morning. Two hours of drowning minnows produced 15 nice keeper Crappies and about 20 more throw backs. The ten inch limit keeps you honest here in Texas. The largest fish we boated today went about 1 1/2 lbs with several more over a pound. All the bridges on the lake and surrounding lakes should produce fish now. If you have a chance to get out at night the fishing should be superb!

Walt said we could get some Crappies under the bridge and he was right. After Bass fishing for several hours we decided to drown a few minnows and see if the Crappies had moved out yet. They had indeed. We didn't get started until after 10:00am. A little late, but better late than never. This was after all, a learning trip for me. Fork is a huge lake. And one that a Crappie fisherman would look at and say "where the hell do I start". It all looks, standing timber every where, shoreline brush, long points, rocks, bridges, docks!!! It is a great lake. The monster Bass are nice but I love Crappies and that is what we came for. Fishing tight to the bridge columns was they key. We fished minnows suspended 5' off the bottom in 25 feet of water. The fish were suspended from 14' to 20'. Some big, most small. I lost one in the 1- 1/2lb range. The fatties are still recovering from the spawn. Night fisherman could clean up right now. I look forward to getting back to Fork soon. If you live in Texas, get over to Fork and get some Craps. They are thick under the bridges right now. Stop at Atkinsons for a great Hamburger!

Most of these lakes had warmed to near 70 in the creeks until April 18. A three day cold snap, with temps near 40 at night brought the water down to 60 - 62. The fish moved back away from the banks and held in 10 - 12 feet of water. I was able to catch about a dozen nice fish on Grapevine trolling 1/16 oz jigs behind Twin Coves Marina.

If you look close you can see the red and chartuese tripple ripple this fish took. Look closer and you can see the temp gauge reads 74.9 air temp and 68.5 water temp. These large females were hanging in 10 - 12 feet of water suspended 6 - 8 feet down. Once I found them it was realatively easy to bag a limit of 25 10" fish. Most weighed between 3/4 and 1 1/2 lbs. Several days later after the cold front came, these fish were gone. According to my Lowrance they were suspended just off the bottom in 25 feet of water and they had a serious case of lockjaw.

Lake Lavon three days later saw 40 mile per hour wind and cooler temps. My old buddy Greg Heath paid me a visit and we were trying hard to catch a few Craps on Lavon. The wind made trolling and bouncing minnows off the bottom or suspended impossible. We saw several fish caught behind the 78 bridge near Mallard Park so we hit the banks hard for about two hours. Although there were a few, very few, little males on the bank in the 66 degree water, we were not unable to bag any keepers.

Give it another week or so and we should be killing the big fish trolling and on the bank.

My old buddy Greg Heath took me out for a little Kerr Lake Crappie Killin' on Saturday March 3, 2001. I was able to make a little time for fishing after a business trip and some family illnesses brought me back to NC for week. Greg and I bounced minnows off the bottom around the Oconeechee State Park area of Buggs Island Lake. This is basicaly the Virginia side of Kerr Reservoir. Greg put me right on top of these beauties. We caught over fifty, kept about thirty. Minnows on a Kentucky rig fished in 12 - 23 feet of water right on the bottom, was the trick. A Kentucky rig is simply a 1/2 to 1 oz bell sinker tied on the end of the line with 1 - 5 hooks looped off the line above it staggered about 18" apart. A good trick for this type of rig is to use 20lb test mono for the hook leader. Tie the hook on with a simple fishermans knot, then make the leader about 8" long, put a small loop on the end. The stiff 20lb mono will keep the leader out to the side, avoiding any twisting with the 6 - 8lb spool line. Also keep the leader short, 8 - 10" maximum. If you make them too long, say 18" or more, the Crappies can inhale the minnow, swim around in a three foot diameter circle, and never make the rod tip twitch. Keep your leaders short and make them out of stiff mono, you will catch more fish.

Well I finally got to go fishing. First time in over a month. I know, I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. Jay and I got to fish Wylie the day after Christmas. We put in at South Point. This at the end of 273 just down from Earls bait shop, still in NC. We drifted minnows in the creek 15 - 30 feet deep right across from the ramp. Jay and I managed about a dozen keeper Crappies. Emmett and Mack went down the river a little. They fished brush in 17 - 25 feet of water. We kept 31 fish between the two boats. Mack and Emmett had the larger fish. Biggest was about a pound and a half. The Crappies on Wylie have moved out to thier Wintering areas. Some are schooling, some are on structure. Cruise the creek channels with your electronics and look for structure on the channel edge in 18 - 30 feet of water. The Crappies won't be far away. Use minnows and natural colored jigs to fool them. My best jig this day was a clear with black specs, Jay used a white and chartruese.

How does that commercial go...? High performance fishing boat, $25,000. Vehicle to pull said high performance boat to favorite lake, $42,000. Day fishing with your dad, priceless. Especially when you catch Crappies like these! Both of the Crappies in the photo above were ligitimate two pounders. Dad nailed the one in the photo below on a minnow suspended at 11'.

This is the biggest Crappie my father has ever caught, and I was there to see his face. What a thrill! We started the day at 8:00 am. Launched at Nutbush on the lower end of Kerr Lake. Air temp was 47 water temp was 50.8, slight breeze from the South, passing cold front. The water is still down about 5 or 6 feet making the launching process a little tricky. Plus some of my best brushpiles are too shallow to fish. I stuck to brush near the main channel and in at least 18 feet of water. Minnows fished from 8' down to about 14 ' over the brush were deadly today. Having three of the four rods we were livebait fishing go down at once was the norm. The red glitter chartruese jig produced a lot of fish as well, including another two pounder. The minnows out did the jig two to one. The key today was to fish tight to the structure. The Stripers were thick in the Creek today, spooking the Crappies big time. Avoiding the birds and sticking to the main channel was the other part of the equation. We ended the day at noon with 39 fish in the box. Big ten (after re-weighing at my house) were 14lbs 9ozs. Largest fish (Dad's) 2lbs 2ozs, followed by (mine) 2lbs even. The next largest ten weighed in at 11lbs 8 ozs. We had a really nice bunch of fish. If you go to Kerr any time soon, fish the main channel in 18 - 24 feet of water. Find the channel edge and drift minnows or jigs at various depths. The bridges and brushpiles will produce good numbers of fish as well. Fish slow. Nutbush is FULL of shad right now so keep your drag loose! The Stripers are hungry! The Crappie fishing will continue to be excellent through December. Book your trip now and get in on some of the best fishing of the year.

I fished with Bill and Lydia Fowler on Sunday. We probably should have cancelled the day due to the weather, but what the heck we were already there. We started the day at the Big Three just down from the ramp, picked up a few on minnows 12 - 16 feet deep. Ran across the lake to fish a good tournament whole before the wind picked up. Nailed three nice fat Crappies up to 1 1/2 pounds in a few seconds. Then one of Bills rods started screaming and we were off to the races! Hold 'em hook! Reeled everything up a chased down this nice Striper.

After landing the Striper we tried to catch a few more fat Crappies out of this great spot. It was not to be. The fish were spooked and the snow had started to fall. We fished several more spots with similar results. A few here a few there. I called the day at 1 pm. No sense in getting pneumonia. At the ramp I put the fish in the cooler for Bill and Lydia as the snow piled up in my boat. Estimate about 30 Crappies for the morning, largest 1lb 8 ozs. One skinny Striper around 8lbs (should have been 15lbs plus) and one 3lb Green fish (Bass). The weather was horrible, the fishing very slow, the company was great. The fish were very tight to the brush. Minnows fished deep and slow were the only way to get bit. I managed about a dozen on the trusty red glitter chartruese jig, but it was tough. Bill and Lydia earned a freebie in the Spring on High Rock. These are some die hard fisherman. They did not want to quit even in the 15 mph wind, 35 degree air temp, sleet and snow. I am a man of my word, I want every person that goes with me to be super satisfied. I can't control the weather, I'll see you guys again soon.

After getting a taste of what the Eno had to offer last weekend, I couldn't wait to get back. We launched at the Eno River Boat Ramp as the sign in the photo shows. Herb is holding two of the more than 30 we caught this day. Admitadly the bite was slow. But my purpose for being here was to learn. I let Herb run the boat all day. He showed me some promising spots for which I am grateful. Herb has been fishing the Eno for five years. His largest Crappie to date from the Eno is 3lbs 11ozs, go to the big fish page for a photo. The Eno is narrow, shallow and full of stumps. This not a place to find out how fast your new boat will go. A standard trolling or spider rig setup will do. The trick is in the bait setup. I went with a regular minnow and split shot rig. I stayed hung up constantly! Herb's rig consists of a 1/2 oz bell sinker tied to the end of the line. 12 inches up from that a snelled "blue hook" for the minnow. About a number 6 or 8. 24 inches up from that another snelled hook with a curly tail jig threaded on it, no jig head, just the hook and the jig body. This rig allowed Herb to fish close to the bottom and keep from getting hung. If he saw the line fade back indicating that the rig had hung up, he simply backed the boat up freeing the rig. If you intend to fish the Eno, a bobber would probably work, but the rig Herb showed me is the best bet. Most of our fish came on minnows. The fish were holding close to the bottom in 8 to 12 feet of water near an edge or some kind of structure. We did not catch many fish suspended away from the channel edge. The river is FULL of shad right now. I am confident that this is what kept the bite slow. The Crappies just have too much to eat right now. In a few weeks the water will cool and alot of the shad will die off and thin out. Most will return to the lake dead or alive. We ended the day at 2 pm with thirty fish in the box. Herb does offer limited guide trips on the Eno from October through January. I can put you in touch with him if you would like to book a trip. Thanks for taking the time to show me a few tricks Herb, I'll be back. How about that Tuna?

November 4, 2000 was a day Ed and Jimmy will remember for a while. Shown above with their State Championship trophies and $2,000 in their pockets are the winners of the Piedmont Crappie Classics State Championship held on Falls Lake. Ed and Jimmy put together a ten fish limit that weighed an impressive 15.72 pounds to take top honors. They caught most of their fish within sight of the weighin site at Ledge Rock ramp. Tightlining was the trick, 12 - 16 feet was the right depth. Congrats' to these two fine gentlemen and to Phil for another successful year. Next year promises more tournaments and bigger prize money. Go to the Piedmont Crappie Classics website for a full 2001schedule and details on the tournaments (Go to my links page). Second place went to Gary and Chris Lindquist with 12.31 lbs. Third place and big fish honors went to Jimmy Perry and Raymond Ellis with 11.98 lbs including a 1.90 heavy weight. I will be more involved with Phil and the PCC in the 2001 season. Look for the Killer at most of the weighins and maybe entered in a tourny or two!

Tony was nice enough to share his honey hole up the Eno River with me on Saturday. We fished together for several hours waiting for the weigh in to start. Tony wore the ole Killer out with a red and white tube jig. I managed to catch my fair share with the infamous red glitter and chartruese jig. But I must admit I was at a disadvantage without my seven foot flyrod. Where we were fishing in the Eno the river was only about 50 feet wide. We fished mainly around brush and timber that had fallen into the river. Maximum depth was ten feet, more of a Spring time approach for me. Tony swears that he can catch Crappies in good numbers any month of the year up in the river. I have no reason to doubt him after the day we had. Between the two of us we probably caught 50 fish in three hours. The largest of which would go about 12 ozs. Tony caught this nice three pound Bass just minutes before we called it a day. My advice if you are heading up to fish the Eno river is to get some red and white tube jigs and bring your favorite bank fishing setup. I prefer a seven foot flyrod spooled up with 8 lb Stren. I can drop that jig in a shot glass 20 feet away with this trusty setup. Accurate casting is required with this type of fishing. My hat is off to my new friend Spivey! Many thanks for a great day, I look forward to getting a little payback when I take you to one of my honey holes.

I had the pleasure of fishing with coach Rodney Clark form Greensboro NC on Saturday. The air temp in the morning was 48, the water temp was 65.4. A slight breeze from the South met us as we headed out for a day of Crappie fishing. The plan was to fish brush piles in water from 18 feet to 28 feet deep. The morning started a little slow with 8 or 10 fish from each spot. My client wanted to brush up on his vertical jigging so we both used a jig rod and a couple of minnow rods. The bite was slow but steady throughout the morning. Once the sun got up and it warmed a bit the fish turned on for about two hours. The red glitter and chartruese jig matched one for one with the minnows for most of the morning. After the fish quit hitting the minnows the coach and I were able to boat some nice fish on the jig. We never left Nutbush creek, fishing within 2 - 3 miles of the launch. We ended the day at 2pm. Total catch is estimated at 70 fish. Big ten weighed 10 lbs plus with the largest fish in the 1lb 5-6oz range. A great bag for any time of year, anywhere! You can see by the smile on the coaches face that he was very pleased. The fish have moved on the brush pretty well. Although you can still catch nice fish around docks and laydowns from 8 feet on down, my advice is to fish brushpiles in the 18 - 30 foot range if you want numbers. Fish the jig from 12 - 16 feet, very slow. Leave the minnows at 12 - 18 and you should boat a nice limit in no time.

First trip to High Rock this Fall. Took my long time buddy Lester "The Un-Crappie" Schramm with me. His son Robert tagged along as well. Air temp was 59, water temp was 69.3 when we arrived at Dutch Second Creek. The plan was to drift main channel points in water 8 to 20 feet deep. We had picked up 10 dozen minnows at Hills Minnow farm anticipating a great day. The wind was howeling by 8:00 am. I was without my drift master so the wind was going to hurt us big time. Tried to fish my favorite points just up from Second Creek as the mud line extended out from Crane Creek limiting my fishing to the lower half of the lake. We spent two hours drifting main channel points. I was able to catch 25 or 30 fish from 8 feet deep down to about 12 feet or so. The larger fish were in very shallow water, 6 feet deep or less. We got snagged a lot drifting with the wind over stump covered points in 4 to 8 feet of water. But a nice 20 fish limit was the reward. As the wind picked up to 20 mph plus, we headed for a spot out of the wind. Fishing minnows 12 feet deep drifting over a channel edge 16 to 18 feet deep was the way we ended the day. We ended up keeping 31 fish. The largest was the one in the picture above, 1lb 11 ozs. Big ten weighed in at 9lbs even. Considering the conditions, we could have done worse. Fishing will improve as the water cools. Stick to the main channel points with water depth from 4 feet down to about sixteen feet and drift minnows. You should be able to catch a limit in no time.

Got a rare chance to fish with my dad on Saturday. I would have preferred High Rock or Kerr but it was not to be. Crappie USA was conducting a Regional Qualifier on Kerr and High Rock was 3 hours away. So Jordan it is! Air temp was a cool 55 or so with a strong Northeast breeze. My plan was to fish the edges of standing timber fields in the Beaver Creek and avoid the wind. We started in 12 - 14 feet of water trolling minnows just above the bottom. This technique has produced well for me in the past at this time of year at Jordan. Casted jigs in to the standing timber and continued trolling for about an hour and a half. One other guy was trolling the creek channel across form us. 90 minutes produced nadda, zip, zilch, zero! So I decided to try some brush piles in 20 feet of water or more. Found one nice one just down from the bridge. Dropped the minnows down to 14 feet and started working the jig at the same depth. Within a few minutes dad and I had both caught several fish. The largest of which is shown in the photo above. Dad got this 1 1/2 lb plus fish on a minnow at 16 feet. After catching about 15 or so on this spot we decided to make the run up to White Oak Creek and drift the channel and points with minnows. If you read the Archives from last year at this time, you will see that I did very well in this area. The main lake was very rough, 2 foot swells with white caps. Never the less we made the run up to White Oak. Drifting for two hours produced nothing. We attempted to fish a few more brushpiles but the wind would not allow it. We ended the day back in Beaver Creek fishing brush in 24 - 26 feet of water. A few more Craps took the minnows before we called it a day. While releasing our small catch of 16 keepers, dad and I agreed that the high water level, combined with the cold front and 15 mph NE wind had shut the fish down. We were happy to have had the time to fish together. After all there is a lot more to fishing than just catching fish.

Little green footballs, I love 'em. Had a trip with Greg and his wife on Kerr this passed Sunday. The water temp has fallen out of the eighties in Nutbush Creek. A powerful cold front swept through the area Saturday night. Air temperature was a brisk 40 degrees at 6:00 am Sunday morning. Felt pretty good but my fear was that the high pressure was going to hurt the fishing. Greg and his partner were right on time. Straight to some brush piles in 24 feet of water. Fish on within minutes. We got about 8 - 10 fish at every hole we fished for the next three or four hours. No fish over a pound at noon. Took a break for lunch, Venison tenderloin and Elk steaks marinated for three days and cooked on the grill. Man what a treat! Back after the slabs, went back to some of the holes we had visited earlier in the morning. I knew there had to be some big fish moving in. My hope was that they would be on an afternoon bite with the full moon and whicked cold front. I was right, first hole first fish 1 lb 4ozs. Hit some main channel brush in 28 feet of water and got three more over a pound. Ended the day back near the launch ramp on a small spot in 20 feet of water. Greg bagged the nicest fish of the day on the trusty red glitter and chartruese jig. My guess was 1lb 5oz or so. Rita caught the most and one of the largest but the old man came through in the end. Total for the day was a conservative 65 - 70 fish. Big ten weighed around 8lbs or so. Greg kept 32 for the freezer. All were in 22 - 28 feet of water. The bite was very slow on minnows from 12 - 16 feet deep. The red glitter chartruese jig matched the minnows one for one when fished 12 feet deep and loaded up with Power Bait Crappie Attractant. The larger fish have definetly started showing up on the brushpiles. The big fish held off until 1pm before biting today. I'm sure that will change as soon as the weather pans out.

Had a guide trip on Kerr Saturday September 9, 2000 with the gentlemen shown above. Roy was interested in learning about the Nutbush area of Kerr Lake. So he called on the Killer to help him out. We spent most of the morning catching Crappies from brush piles in 20 - 28 feet of water. The fish were suspended above the brush early and a little deeper later on in the morning. The red and chartruese jig out produced the minnows three to one for most of the morning. We caught fish on every spot we stopped at. With over 50 Crappies in the boat we called it a day. A true sportsman, Roy only kept about a dozen fish. No fatties on this trip. Largest fish only weighed about 12 oz. Big ten weight about 7lbs. Not exactly breaking any records yet, but the big ones are coming. Fish from 8am until noon and you should be able to bag a nice limit. The hot jig for me continues to be the red glitter chartruese juiced up with power bait. Fish your minnows 12 - 18 feet deep and you should get plenty of takers.

Rain rain go away, come again another day. Finally we had a break in the weather here in NC. I took advantage of it and made a B-line for Kerr Lake. I brought the camera crew with me hoping to tape a little more for the video due out in October. The fish were tight to the brush in 22 - 28 feet of water. The overcast skies allowed me to catch quite a few fish from 8 feet down to about 12 feet. Once the boat traffic picked up (it is Labor Day weekend after all) I had to go a little deeper to get bit. The fish were very willing to bite if you got the bait down to them. The red /chart glitter jig worked like a charm again. Fishing 14 - 16 feet deep over brush in 24 feet of water was the trick later in the day. The minnows got about half the fish we kept. Big ten weighed in at 9lbs 1 oz with the largest fish weighing in at 1 lb 2 oz's. The fatties have started to show up on the brush. I would give it another week or so before the fishing gets really good. Plan to fish from around 8am until about 1 pm. The fish seem to shut down after that.

Headed to Kerr early on Saturday morning. Picked Bruce up in Wilson at 5:00 am. Arrived at Nutbush at 6:30. Launched the Crappie Killer and headed straight to some brush in 22 feet of water. The plan was to fish this type of structure all morning. The crappies should be moving out of the main channel to the brush as the water temp is falling day by day. As expected the fish were thier. The big boys have not yet come in, but it won't be long. The fish were tight to the brush early. We were able to catch a few from 10 - 12 feet deep later in the morning. Ended the day at 10 am with 30 keepers in the box. We spent the next two hours video taping some stuff for the new tape due out in October. Yes it will be available on this site. Details will be available soon. If you are headed to Kerr over the next few weeks my advice is to fish brush or major structure in 20 - 30 feet of water. You will catch a lot of fish in the 10oz - 14 oz range, the biggies will filter in as time goes by. Any jig with red, blue, orange and chartruese will work. Drop the minnows down to about 10 - 16 feet and work them slow. Bridge supports, main channel edges and deep laydowns will produce a few keepers as well. Get out early and plan on a 8:00 am - 10:00 am bite. After that the fish seem to cool off until around 6:00pm.

With a cool front approaching and a free Saturday, I headed to the inland sea, Lake Norman. Hooked up with my friend and fellow crappie buster Rob Fox at Bills Marina. The air temperature was 58, water temperature still in the high eighties, slight westerly breeze. A few clouds were present so we decided to start shallow. 15 feet over an old stump field not far from Long Island. 8 minnow rods went out along with one jig rod each. Rob had a couple keepers in a few minutes with a smoke/glitter jig while I stuck with the minnows. The stump field gave us about 5 or 6 keeper fish but that was it. Moved a little deeper to 22 feet and a big Beach tree that we had sunk two years ago. Again 4 or 5 fish and it was time to move. Tried a little deeper, 26 feet off a main channel drop. Bang! Three nice 10 - 12 oz fish in 30 seconds. The larger fish were suspended 12 - 14 feet deep over the brush in 26 - 30 feet of water. The smaller fish we had caught earlier that morning were suspended 8 - 10 feet deep over brush in 15 - 22 feet of water. It would appear that the larger fish are still out in the main lake waiting for cooler water temperatures to arrive. The fish we put in the livewell were warm to the touch. We ended the day at noon due to heavy boat traffic. Total for this short day was 21 fish. Largest weighing in at 14 ozs. Not bad for August on Norman. Fall is coming along with some great structure fishing! Tune in often as my Fall guide trips will be starting soon.

Too many Bass tournaments on Lake Hickory these two nights, so we headed for Western NC and the Cherokee Indian Reservation once again. My younger brother Tim on the left landed a nice 2lb plus 17" Rainbow. My older brother Steve put the death grip on this nice 20" 3 pounder after a solo battle. He did not have a net so he had to grab the fish bare handed after playing it down. We didn't get to see Steve land this fish. Sorry I missed it bro'. I managed a limit of keepers, no heavy weights. Tim has fished Cherokee alot. He assures me that the yellow "power dough" is the best. Steve caught his on pink. We do use spoons and spinners on occasion. But usually it's the power bait that ends up filling the limit. Lester took the photos and caught his share as well. We had a great shore lunch and headed back to Hickory. We stayed at Bradleys campground this time. The cabins were nicer with more comfortable beds. However the Cherokee campground facilities get the nod from me. Overall a large time was had by all.

No I'm not in Florida, this is Eastern NC at it's finest. Cypress trees, moss hanging down, bull rushes, lilly pads, COTTON MOUTHES! Yikes. Yes we have plenty of those little biters too. Hey just stay away from the sharp end. Right... That's what my old buddy Cromer used to say when one got in the boat with us. I had a chance to sneek off between the dozens of thunderstaorms this week to do a little Bass fishing. The flood conditions kept me away from Kerr and Jordan for Crappies. So a little Bass fishing to sooth the soul was in order. My brother and I managed a few nice Bass this day in between getting soaked. The fish that come out of the brackish water are very healthy and colorful. Lots of fun to catch. The old yellow Zoom trick worm got them for us today. Slow and right against the bank seemed to be the pattern. I'm getting back after the Crappies soon, Fall is almost here.

Went to Tranters Creek just off the Pamlico Sound on Monday. I was planning on a slow trolling Crappie extravaganza! But it was not to be. Extremely heavy rains caused high, off colored water in the Sound. So my trusty spot was high and muddy too. No Crappies today, but the Bass on the other hand were ready and very willing to bite. A whicked cold front passed through last night. It was 92 on Saturday, this morning it was 57! Rain and wind accompanied the cold front. High water, post cold front, rain, I know I'll use a floating worm. A FLOATING WORM. In June? Yes lot's of people put the the ole floaters up after the spawn. Big mistake. When hooked through the middle, and no weight, this bait can be wiggled in front of a Bass's nose for a long time without moving or sinking an inch. The fish were tight to the Cypress knees and would not move far to take the worm. But if I got it within a foot or so, bye-bye yellow worm. I caught 21 Bass in 3 1/2 hours. The largest one I got in the boat was 3lbs or so. I did have one in the 5 - 6 lb class hooked, but the small 1/0 hook straightened out. A spinning rod with 8lb test line works best for this type of fishing. You can skip that worm way back in the thick stuff with very little effort. The light line will get you more bites, but it does fray and break easily. Give it a try the next time the Crappies go on vacation due to an early summer cold front.

Post spawn, don' cha' just love it! No fatties today, except me of course. Drove to Nutbush early Saturday morning. Stopped at 39 Pit Stop for minnows, for the last time I might add. I say this because I will not stop there again for minnows, EVER! The woman that owns the place is a, well , not so nice person. The "B" word comes to mind. Take it from me, if you go to this area of the lake go across the bridge passed the campground to get your supplies. You will save yourself some aggravation. The plan was to fish brush piles in 20' of water with minnows. I had hoped to catch some post spawn females. Wishful thinking I guess. The large fish have not come back out of the creeks yet. This is very obvious by the small fish in the photo. Largest fish was about 10 ounces. We had a fish fry to supply so we kept some small fish. Call me a baby killer if you want to, they all taste good! We did throw back as many as we kept so I guess we did our part for conservation. The fish we did catch were very sluggish. 10 feet to 16 feet suspended over the brush. I managed a dozen on the red/chart jig worked very slow. I am almost embarrassed to show the picture above, but I try to be honest. Some fishermen can do that, really they can...

Got to fish with my bud's on Sunday. I always look forward to going back to Hickory. I have so many good memories on that lake. The weather was dismal. Wind and rain, oh joy. But it was warm, air temp was around 70 water temp about the same. I tried some minnows 10' - 15' deep over some old favorite brush piles with little success. Decided to meet Jay and Renee and do some trolling in Cloningers Mill Creek. Jay got two rods out when the Catfish in the photo above started peeling line off the first rod. 25 minutes later and he had this nice whiskered critter in the boat. Can you say "Catfish Stew"? Back to the Crappies! I put out six rods with various jigs. After an hour I had 10 fish in the boat. Blue/Chart tripple ripple seemed to be the hot jig today. 4 more of those and two red/chart was the spread. We trolled together for about three hours. The fish were suspended 8' - 14' deep over 22' - 35 ' of water. We ended the day at noon as I had the long drive back to Greenville NC in front of me. 50 fish in the box. Most of them were small to medium sized fish. Largest was just under a pound. Perfect eating size. The fish have moved off the banks and are suspended, schooled up in the first 1/3 of the creeks. Troll slow keeping your jigs at 6' - 10' deep and the fish will take it from thier. Night fishing season on Jordan is coming soon. Stay tuned!

Kevin Caughman came back for the third time to tear 'em up at High Rock. I think he would agree, it's like no other. I arrived at Tamarac on Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm and decided to get in a few hours of fishing before calling it a day. It had rained, I mean RAINED HARD, for several hours prior to my arrival. A misty rain was still falling when I launched the boat. Checked the water temp, 58! Dropped seven degrees form last Saturday. Ran to spot number one and put out six rods. Started in 3 feet of water, no fish until I got out to about 6 or seven feet. Blue/Chart and Black/Chart were the hot colors with pinky coming in a close third. Fished 4 more spots to finish out a twenty fish limit for the race on Sunday.

Picked Kevin up at 6:30, right on time, I like that. Headed straight for spot number one, as this was the only place I picked up any fish over 10 inches the evening before. Kevin stuck with the parfait jig (pink/white/yellow) and I put out blue/chart, black/chart and pinky. Within 1 hour we had 12 fish in the 3/4 to 1lb class. Two were nice 1 lb plus fish. Continued to troll the back to mid section of the creek in 5 to 9 feet of water. The fish had moved out of the extremely shallow water they were in last weekend due to the dropping water level and temperature. The air was cool as well at 45 or so. Checked the water temp again, 59.2 and stained. It appeared that the lake was down around 2 feet from last week. Continued to troll the back 1/3 of the creek for another hour picking up 20 - 30 more fish with about 10 more for the box. Ran to spot number two and found the fish had moved out to 5 feet to 10 feet of water. This was the key to catching good keeper fish today. Very specific water depth and jig color. Blue/chart caught 3 to 1 over all others, producing the largest fish of the day as well. Kevin and I tried some other standby locations after lunch. Crane Creek, Panther and Dutch all produced fish. All in 5 - 10 feet of water. Most of the tournament trollers were out at the mouths of the creeks and on main channel structure. South Bend was holding their annual tournamnet on High Rock Saturday. 7 fish limit. I talked to five rather serious looking competitors at the ramp. All had less than 6lbs for their seven fish. I'm guessing Kevin and I had right at seven pounds. Guess we should have fished in the tourny. Again the key to our success today, catching over 125 fish and a beautiful 40 fish limit, was water depth. Trust your electronics and experiment with different colors. Use common sense. Colors that you can see in that color water, the fish can see too! Tripple ripples were the bait of choice for me in this dingy/stained water. If you haven't tried them, you should. Thanks again for the laughs and great tips Kevin!

I'm off to the Great White North for 9 days. I'll take my digital camera and snap a few pics of Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

4/20/00: Trolled Lake Hickory. Air temp 45 water temp 60.7 clear to stained entire lake. Windy. Mainly stuck to Snow Creek and the Lake Hickory Camp Ground area. Trolled pink/yellow tripple ripples, green/yellow/black specks and red glitter/chart. Pinky out produced all others 3 to 1. The Crappies were holding in 8 feet to 12 feet of water suspended 6 feet to 10 feet deep. Had three fish over a pound and a half, with 5 more right at a pound. I kept 33 fish, big ten weighed in at 9lbs 10 ozs.

4/22/00: Fished High Rock. Air temp 50 VERY windy, water temp 62 to 65. Stained to muddy main lake, stained in the creeks. Picked my client up at Tamarac at 6:30 am. The damn Bass fishermen had the launch ramp all congested. I guess they think they own the joint. I plowed right threw the middle of them, I'm sure I got the finger at least a few times. Hey man, a little common courtesy goes a long way. Give the rest of us a little room. Anyway, finally made my way to Kevin and we were off. Went straight to spot number one and started trolling. An hour and a half later we had five fish to show for our efforts. Switched to fishing the bank with jigs for the next hour. Not even one keeper! Back to trolling, this time we were going super shallow. Found some knee deep water in the back of spot number two. Threw out the jigs and had fish on in a matter of seconds. Trolled 4 to six feet deep four the next three hours. Had a nice 40 fish limit by noon. Broke for lunch at Jerry Mac's, great lunch as usual. Back to spot number one, only really shallow. We fished out of sight of the other trollers for the remainder of the day. We caught fish non stop until I called it a day at 3 pm. We caught over 125 fish with big ten weighing somewhere around 9lbs. The hot jig in that shallow water was pink/white/yellow, parfait as Kevin affectionately named it. That was closely followed by hot pink/yellow tripple ripple then red glitter/chart. The parfait jig caught 10 to 1. Biggest fish of the day came on blue/chart. I know there were fish on the bank, just couldn't stop trolling long enough to go get them.

4/23/00: Wylie bound! Jay and I got a rare day to fish together. The plan was to fish the bank all day. When we arrived the water was clear to stained. Launched the boat at South Point off of 273. No wind and warm, air temp 60, water temp approximately 62. Fished the bank for an hour and a half. Jay managed three nice black crappies I had two. Five fish in ninety minutes. LET'S TROLL! So that's what we did. For three hours! 4 crappies and a couple shell crackers was it. How embarrassing, the two of us with 10 fish in a half a day. Eeeeeeek, I hope no one see's us. We stopped at a brushpile we knew and caught about 10 more fish. Trolling for the next two hours got us a few more. We ended the day trolling up the river near the power lines. Two catfish was all we could scrape up. Total for the day was 18 crappies, 4 shell crackers, 3 blue gills and 2 catfish. Not exactly what we hoped for. Emmett and Mac fished Big and Little Allison. They did not have a Crappie until after lunch. A very tough day on Wylie for us. I guess we missed the setup as they say. Fun nontheless.

4/24/00: I only had until noon so I stuck to Hickory once again. Rain and cold, air temp 45 water temp 61. Trolled Cloninger Mill Creek (better known as the sh_t hole, the sewage facilty used to dump staright in to this creek, yuk!) with the same pink/white/yellow and hot pink/yellow jigs that worked so well on High Rock. Guess what, the fish on Hickory loved them too! I caught over fifty crappies trolling in Cloningers and Snow Creek. Big ten weighed 9lbs 3ozs, big fish 1lb 5ozs. Had a great time by myself. Kept 38 nice fish.

To sum up the weekend I would say stick to the shallow backs of the creeks. It's almost a sure bet on any lake in NC right now. Troll fast in the morning and hit the banks in the late afternoon. Bright colors such as pink, yellow, chartruese, orange and green should work well in all types of water. Take your drift sock in case it gets windy, it will save the day I promise. I probably caught 250 - 300 crappies in four days of fishing. Not bad if I do say so myself. Can't wait until next weekend!

4/15/00: What a difference a week makes. Met my client Kevin (shown in the picture above) at Tamarac at 7:00 am. Air temp was 55 water temp 60 - 62. Left Dutch Second Creek with plans to make the run down to Panther Creek. The fog was thick due to extermely high humidity caused by all the rain on Saturday. I decided not to take the risk of running through that and stayed up the river. Went straight across to spot number one and proceeded to lay the smack down! Had a keeper fish in the boat in 2 minutes. Kevin fished with only 3 - 5 rods in order to keep up with the bites. I know he had 3 or 4 on at once a few times. I stuck with my usual 6 rods out the front. Followed that up with about 25 more keepers over the next hour and a half.We had several fish in the 1 lb class. It was cloudy and overcast. Slight color to the water so I started with jigs in the various chartruese combo's. After the fog lifted we hauled ass down to Panther Creek. Two passes yielded about 5 more keepers. Too slow, gotta' go! Ran under the trestle to the back of the creek. A slight breeze was blowing on this end of the lake making the drift sock almost necassary. Cruised the middle of the creek in 14 feet to 18 feet of water, keeping the jigs near the fish down at 6 feet to 8 feet or so. Boated a few more nice keepers. We were culling fish before 11 am. We had our 40 keepers so we headed to Jerry Macs for a quick bite at noon. Ran to spot number two just up from Second Creek and loaded the boat with Crappies of all sizes for the remaining two hours of the trip. Only difference was that the sun was blazing down and the fish wanted the hot pink/yellow jig more than any other. In the morning the hot color was red glitter/chart and green/yellow/black speckles. We caught over a hundred fish today. We threw back at least 30 keepers. But with only two guys the limit is twenty. That's one of things that makes High Rock so good, size and creel limits. I wish every lake in NC had them. Saw several familiar guys fishing the docks with minnows and jigs. They were NOT catching fish. Either the fellows I saw did not know what they were doing, or the fish have not moved totally shallow yet. I have not taken the time to fish the docks so take your chances. Can't wait to get back after them next Saturday.

Sunday was the worst I have ever seen High Rock Lake. I told Greg I thought it was bad that day. But after thinking about it for a few days afterwards, it was really bad. So bad that we probably had no business being out there. The wind was blowing 30 - 40 mph. White caps and rollers on the main lake exceded three feet at times. On top of that the air temperature had dropped 50 degrees from near 80 to below 30, and 3 inches of rain fell the day before. High for the day was around 55. Most of the lake was red mud.

Regardless, we had both driven four hours to get here. Plus Greg had his 14 year old son who was looking forward to catching some fish. Never fear the killa' is hear!

Ran straight out of Dutch Second Creek and made the treacherous run down the lake to the trestle. Barely made it under. Ran 5 miles back and found some clearer water. Wind was still blowing like hell so I got the drift sock out. I'll add some pictures of the drift master in the equipment section later. Put out an array of colors and started trolling with the wind. Had fish on within a few minutes. Fished the area directly across from the launch ramp for 45 minutes. Put 25 fish in the boat with about 10 or 12 keepers in the bunch. The wind got worse. Time to move. Cruised under the bridge and trolled the main creek channel in 14- 18 feet of water keeping the jigs in the fish at 10' - 12'. The fish were bunched up in little schools and willing to bite when you found them. Red glitter/chart ,orange/green , green speckles/yellow were the hot colors. All on mean green wobble eye heads. Caught approximately 30 - 50 more fish in the creek. Most too small to keep. I know some big fish were on the bank but it was much too windy to attempt to catch them with the flyrod or ultra lights. took the guys back to Jerry Macs for lunch at 1:00pm. Had 26 keepers in the box at that time. After lunch I decided to stay in Second Creek. Finished the day in one of my favorite little necks within sight of the Tamarac launch ramp. Trolled the same jigs only a little faster as the sun had brought the fish up a little. Caught approximately 30 - 40 more fish in this area. Ended the day with around 80 fish caught and 35 - 40 keepers. My clients were happy and I was exhausted. A long grueling day in the wind, cold and mud, but enjoyable nontheless. Thanks for the tip Greg! Don't loose any sleep over the rod

3/25/00: Took the two gentlemen shown above fishing on High Rock Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a disappointment for me. The water level had risen six to eight feet since last Sunday. A tremendous amount of debris had accumulated on the surface making navigation a challenge. Water temperature had dropped to 55 degrees and clarity had declined to tomato soup. This was not good. Jay and his client headed down to the tressel, I went up the lake to spot number three in Crane Creek. Started trolling the best colors I had for this kind of water. Nothing for the first thirty minutes. We're outa' here. Went back down the lake a few miles and started fishing in a creek with Jay. Caught a few keepers, Jay had few as well. I ran all the way to Panther Creek after that. Two more 10 oz fish. Over to the tressel and clearer water. A crowd of boats at the mouth of the first creek lead me to believe they were catching a few. Nothin' doin'. Water was clearer and I did mark fish at 10' in 30' of water. I did not want to waste valuable time trying to zero in on these deeper fish. Back under the tressel and up the lake. Jay stayed down the lake. Dodged all the flotsom and tried to make my way up the river. Ran up about 11 miles with no clear water in sight. I give! Back down to Crane Creek. Went way back to the "S" and started trolling at 2pm. Started catching some small fish imediately. I kept working out to deeper water. Got the first nice fish in 18' of water trolling the jigs about 8' deep. Found a pile of fish on a point. We caught about a dozen nice keeper fish and about 10 throw backs. 4 pm end of day one. (Thank God) Ended the day with about 20 keepers. Big ten weighed 8lbs 4 ozs. Not too bad, but low on numbers. I promised the guys the next day would be better. After meeting up with Jay at the end of day one I realized staying down the lake was the right move for him. He had a 40 fish limit with over 9lbs for his big ten.

3/26/00: Sunday, round two. I was determined to get some good numbers and bigger fish for these guys. Jay and I agreed to fish down the lake at his spot. I trust Jay. He is an excellent fisherman with a very good sense for where the fish are. I knew my spot would produce fish, but we would be in the middle of a lot of boat traffic before noon. Down the lake to clearer water at 6:30am. Had to crouch down in the boat to get under the tressel. If the water comes up 6" we are screwed. Started in the main channel way back in the creek near the second bridge pulling black/red/chart, black/green/chart, white/chart and red glitter/chart. Two small fish in the first 45 minutes. I gotta' do better than this. I'm going shallow. Jay stayed deep. I took my client way back in the creek and started trolling in 6' of water moving slowly out to 18'. Bam, Bam, Bam... Three fish on in two minutes. Now I got cha' ya'. I watched the depth finder closely. The fish were suspended 4'-6' deep all the way out to 18' - 20' of water. Any deeper and they were gone. The wind was blowing so I used it to my advantage keeping the client in fish for three hours solid. We had our limit of 40 keepers by 10:30am. At this point we had about a 9lb big ten limit. 11:00am we were culling fish. The wind blew hard and the boat traffic got worse. Time to find a new spot. Found Jay and his client beating out a limit in the wind. He had about thirty at this time. We decided to get out of the wind and troll a near bye creek. Two more ten ounce fish and then the biggest fish of the day 1lb 6ozs. My client was happy with over a hundred fish by 1:30pm. We had a 10lb limit and a 40 fish limit. Jay had his 40 so it was time to go.

A great time was had by all. My clients were good fishermen with a lot of patience, good tippers too! Thanks guys. The hot colors were black/red/chart and black/green/chart followed closely by red glitter/chart. 14' - 20 ' of water seemed to be where the bigger fish were suspended 4'-6'deep. You have to find clearer water and troll with the wind. The mud will probably make it's way down to the area we were fishing by Wednesday. Head to Crane Creek if that happens. Troll Slow! Jay was using an additional 1/16oz of weight to get his jigs down to the fish. I chose to stay out of the heavy wind and back peddle all day to keep them down. Jay saved the day with his spot. Some times it pays to follow instead of lead.

3/18/00: I was fortunate to be able to fish with my father on his Birthday again this year. One more year dad, then you can go all you want. The wind was blowing and it was cold when we arrived at Tamarac. Regardless, we were going to troll and we were going to catch fish. Straight to "spot #1" as it is affectionately called by Jay and I. Looking for some 60 degree water. It was not to be, 55 and red mud, tomatoe soup is more like it. Threw out the jigs and strated trolling in 5' of water. Caught a few little fish. Kept going, 57 degrees was the warmest water I could find. That 2 - 3 degree change seemed to be right at the mud line. As soon as we hit some dingy vs. muddy wtaer we began to catch a few fish. Pull 'em up! Headed up the lake to spot # 3. Big creek with a major point and two flats right across from each other. This is usually a very popular spot but it was vacant today. We had to fish with two jigs on each rod to get them down deep enough. The wind made it tough but dad and I caught fish all day. We did change back to one 1/32 oz jig at one point and went fishless for the entire pass. Two jigs was the ticket. Black/red/chartruese, Black/Green/Chartruese, White/Chartruese were the best colors. The fish were 6' - 8' beep in 10' - 14' of water. We had to troll with the wind to get bit consistently. Same old stuff, the fish will face into the prevailing wind or current. Keep it simple stupid, ain't that what they say! Ended the day with about 75 fish, kept 31. Big fish was 1lb 1oz with big ten weighin 8lbs 7ozs. Not bad for post cold front conditions. Tomorrow should be better.

We had three guys from Greenville, SC to take on Sunday. Cold and windy again. Emmett went down the lake to the tressell, Jay went to the creeks and I went to the flats. My client was a fair fisherman and a lot of help all day. We trolled the same color jigs as the previous day in the same spots. The weather had stabelized and the fish were cooperating a little better today. My partner and I caught over 150 fish. We threw back at least 50 keeper sized fish. Eneded the day with a limit of 40 nice fish. Jay and his partner did equally as well with over 150 fish. They kept 40 as well. Emmett had over a hundred fish trying to target larger fish with bigger baits. He and his partner had 23 nice High Rock Crappies. Total weights, Emmett's big fish was 1lb 8oz with big ten weighing in at 8lbs even. Jay had one 1lb plus fish and about 8lbs for his big ten. My partner and I took top honors with a 1lb 8oz big fish and 8lbs 10ozs for the big ten. Another wonderful day on High Rock. Looking forward to a great two day trip this weekend with a couple of guys from Asheville.

Just a quick update for High Rock and Hickory. Emmett and "Blue Blizzard" went to High Rock on Saturday and killed 'em, again. Thier big ten weighed in at 10 lbs 6 ozs. Trolling the mouths of thier favorite creeks was the trick. The fish have not yet moved up to the bank but it won't be long.

Jay fished Lake Hickory on Friday. My old stompin' ground. Snow Creek in March is awsome. Jay only fished for 1 1/2 hours and managed a 9lb 14oz 10 fish limit. Damn nice anywhere! The fish will stay in that creek until mid April. I can't wait to get up there and show 'em who's boss.

That's right folks my first ligitimate two pound plus crappie for the year 2000 was caught today on Kerr Lake. The fish was flopping between 2lbs 2ozs and 2lbs 4ozs on the digital scale. 17 1/2" of pure slaborama! I generally catch several fish in this category per year. Some guys catch a lot more heavy weights. I do weigh all my fish on a digital scale with others present, and I have photo's to prove it as well. Talk is cheap!

With an impending Thunderstorm warning and a fast moving cold front, I set off to Kerr Lake at 5:00 am with my "no-fishin'" neighbor Dave in tow. No guide trip today (too bad that beauty could be hanging on your wall instead of mine) so I decided to try and get in a few good hours before the bad weather hit. Got to Nutbush at 7:30am and slid the new and improved crappie killer in to the water. The water was as calm as a cup of coffee at this time of day. A quick 70 mph run up the lake about 11 miles and we were trolling baby! An assorted batch of jigs went over the side. Started in 12' of water and hit some familiar points. Water temp was 60.3 up from 53.7 last weekend. A little dingy but good color for Craps. Trolled on back into the creek 10', 8', 6' nothing. Hmmmm... did they go shallow again. 5', 4', 3' Bang! Landed a nice 1lb 4oz fish. Made a turn two more small fish, in two and half feet of water. Temp still 60.3. Turned around and headed back down the center of the creek in two and half feet of water. The thirteen footer bent back hard. I took my time and Dave swung the net like a pro. We had our 2lb plus fish you see in the photo above. It's now 8:30am. Trolled another 50 yards or so, crack, screaming drag, splash! I turned to see Dave with a dumb founded look on his face and one of my green ten foot rods missing. I saw it in the water with a wake coming from the reel. Get 'em up! We chased it down, the green poles float don' cha' know. I caught up with it and the fish was still on. Now I'd like to tell you it was a huge Crappie but it was not. About a 4 1/2 pound green fish (Largemouth Bass) had sucked the little black/green/chart jig in and made a run for it. I gave the fish to one of the guys fishing from the bank. We turned and made one more pass as the wind was now blowing 25mph +. We caught two more keepers and a 5lb catfish. Time to get out of the wind. Found a creek out of the wind and caught several more 1lb plus fish in two to four feet of water. It was now 10:00am. The wind was gusting to over 40mph and the waves were 2 foot white caps and building. We started to make our way back to the landing with one brief stop in one of my favorite creeks. I pulled out the fly pole for the first time to loosen up the old wrist. I fished a bank with some docks and laydowns. No crappies yet but two nice bass. Dave and I decide to quit for the day. The wind beat me down today but I'll be back.

Ended the day with 10 nice fat craps. Largest was the 2lb 4oz beauty in the photo. Followed by a 1lb 7oz, 1lb 4oz and two 1lb 2oz fish. The rest were close to a pound if not a hair over. All the big fish came on a black/green/chart 1 1/2" tube jig with a 1/32 oz head. A drift sock was what I needed today. You can bet your ass I'll have one next time!

Got a chance to fish for fun, so what better place to go than Kerr Lake. I had not been up to Kerr in several weeks and I did not feel like making the long treck back to High Rock. My buddy Bruce and I had'nt been for a while. So off we went. I was hell bent on catching fish on jigs, trolling. I know, it still a little early for trolling on Kerr right. WRONG! As soon as that water temperature moves up two or three degrees from the stable winter temperature, it's time to go.

I started in some small creeks near Nutbush Landing. Water temperature was 47.3 degrees in the first creek. Tied on my favorite colored jigs, blue/chart, red/chart, black/green/chart, white/chart. All on 1/32 oz heads as I was planning on fishing 10' deep or less. Trolled 14 rods for 30 minutes in the first creek with no luck. Not even a smell. I was not going to get discouraged that fast. Went another creek a little way up the lake and found water 50.2 degrees and some fish on the Lowrance. I went all the way to the back of the creek to no feet of water (less than 3 feet). Water temp was 52.5. I told Bruce the fish have moved shallow. Knowing it was not a good idea to argue with someone as stubborn as I am, he simply said "your the captain". And don't you forget it! (I better not be wrong I thought to myself) I went up the river another 3 miles. Hoping to find some warmer water and some where out of the wind. I went to the only creek I knew that fit the bill. Very long and shallow. Lots of points to stage on and a major feeder creek at the back. When we got to the back of the creek there were several boats already fishing. All of them with minnows. Out of the way boys the Killa' is Hear! Actaully there was plenty of room for all of us to fish.

With the wind blowing 10 -15 mph Bruce and I laid the lines out in hopes of finding the big slabs. The water temperature was 53.7 and I was marking tons of fish in 6' of water. I went with the wind. I am convinced the Crappies will always face into the wind or prevailing current flow. The boys fishing in that creek looked at us pretty funny with all the long poles hangin' out. But not for long! After only a few minutes of trolling we landed our first slab. Next pass produced two more and so on. The picture below is of my buddy Bruce with the first two fatties he put in the boat.

We fished the creek from 10:30 am until 1:30 pm. One more pass and we left them for next time. I am convinced that we could have caught 30 or 40 big slabs in the small area we were fishing. However once the good old boys fishing in the creek saw Bruce and I hauling in those fat Crappies they moved in. Parked their boats right on top of the small point I was working and the adjacent flat. I'm sure they spooked a lot more fish than they caught. Serves them right. Who cares the fish will be their next time the Killa' comes to town!

When I dropped Bruce off at his house in Wendell we weighed the fish. But not before a freindly wager. I did not believe we had any fish over 1-3/4 pounds. Bruce did. I told him they look a lot bigger when you first catch 'em. Anyway I wanted his dollar so I got the scale out. We had kept only 18 fish. Combined they weighed over 23 lbs! Largest fish was 1lb 11oz. Followed closely by three more at 1lb 9oz each. A few more at 1lb 7oz and 1lb 5oz and we had a 10 fish limit that weighed in at 13lbs 13ozs. Where are these fish during the tournaments!!! Shown below is that ten fish limit with an 8oz fish at the bottom to give an idea of the size of some of these Crappies, 14" - 17"!

Needless to say Bruce and I had a wonderful day. The air temperature was about 70 when we quit at 1:45pm. I'm sure Bruce will enjoy those fish. and I'm sure glad we had the chance to go together. Hey Bruce, where's my damn dollar?

Prefished High Rock on Saturday February 26 with "The Dad". Jay "Maxi Me" Pruett and his wife Renee joined us for our first trip to High Rock this year. Had to get ready for a pay trip on Sunday with the fella's you see above. Now I don't normally put my clients smiling faces on the website, but in this case I will make a rare exception. Normally I will only show my freinds and family, and of course my ugly mug. My clients pay me to catch fish, not exploit their experiences for my own personal gain. But these guys wanted me too! So here you go guys, now your famous...

Saturday morning was nice. Wind had'nt picked up yet and the water was up high enough to float the new and improved Crappie Killer off the trailer. Jay and Renee had already launched their boat and were up the lake. We chose to check out some popular places across from Dutch Second Creek. We started catching fish immediately on minnows fished 10' deep over 12' top 16' of water. Keep in mind it's still early in the morning. Managed to catch two or three nice keepers on the first point. Ran up the lake to meet Jay and he was yankin' 'em in. Problem was, they were not alone. At least 50 people lined the bank and another twenty boats, at least, were trying to fish the same area. We bailed and headed across the lake to try another creek mouth. The fish were definetly not back in the creeks. We had very little succes in water less than 10' deep. The wind was blowing about 10 - 15 mph by now. Curly tail jigs is what I had intended to fish. But with the wind blowing that hard it would be very difficult, maybe even impossible to work the curly tails properly. So we opted for a "do nuthin'" approach with plain old Betts tube jigs of varying colors. They were the perfect match for the conditions. 1/32oz was the right weight to get the jig at the right depth. There were tons of fish at every depth. But we were targeting the fish that were 2' - 5' deep. These are the ones that were most likely to whack a jig. And they did. Glitter blue with a chartruese tail and glitter red with a chartruese tail were the hot jigs before lunch. After lunch something with a little black or dark red seemed to get there attention a little better. I dropped my partner off at 1:30 with a nice 20 fish limit and went back out. From about 2:30 until 5:00 I caught at least 50 more fish and kept a nice 20 fish limit for myself. The main channel points with gravel on them were loaded with big fish that evening. Give you one guess where I'm taking the clients in the morning!

Sunday morning started at 5:00am. Down to the ramp to get the boat rigged and grab some grub before heading out at 7:00. The wind was blowing about 5 mph and it was foggy. Got rigged by 6:00am hoping to get some chow at Jerry Macs. Wrong! They don't open until 7:00 am now. I swore they opened at 6:00am. Oh well Ho Ho's ain't a bad breakfast. Clients showed up just after 7:00am. Boys from Virginia shown above. Headed straight for a point up the river. No one around, this is gonna' be a snap! Quick lesson on trolling and managing the long poles and we were after 'em. I don't think we made it 20 yards before two or three of the rods took a nice slow deep bend. Watch out boys the killa' is here! We trolled back and forth across the point several times. The fish would only take the jigs going with the wind. Typical trolling pattern. We caught about 25 fish in an hour keeping about a dozen. Larry caught a nice 1 lb plus fish with Greg catching several 10 and 12oz fish to go with the fattie. Enough of these little guys lets go catch some big fish. Tried several of the spots from the day before with limited success. The fish were slow but steady. Time for some lunch. Had a great lunch at Jerry Macs. Time to catch a big fish on my main channel bank. From 1:00pm until 2:40pm we trolled one stretch of bank We caught fish in 6' - 8' of water with the 1/32 oz heads and mostly red glitter with chartruese jigs. The wind blew hard all day. But I managed to help the boys catch 31 keepers. We probably threw back another limit of fish that were +/- 1" of the limit. I applaud the guys, they did not keep every legal fish they caught. True sportsmen. High elbow salute to ya' fella's! A good time was had by all. Many thanks to Greg and Larry for making my first trip back to Crappie Heaven High Rock Lake a real big time. They were very patient and helpful. A real pleasure to have in my boat.

Dad and I snuck out Sunday morning for a little brackish water Crappie fishing. What we got was a surprise to both of us. Check out the photo's for a shocker!

That's right, GIANT Perch! We caught about a dozen. The biggest ones weighed over a pound. I did'nt weigh them on a scale but I'm guessing 1lb 4oz or so for a few of them. We only caught one Crappie it weighed about 10 oz. The Crappies have'nt moved in to the creeks yet. There are some fish willing to bite. But I think it will be a few more weeks until the slabs start biting. Hell I'll take these huge Perch in the mean time!

My father and I went to Kerr Lake on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be good. We hit the road at 6:00 am. Arrived at Nutbush Recreation Area at the South end of Kerr Lake around 8:00 am. The air temperature was about 40 with a warm westerly breeze.

The plan was to fish brush in 20' - 25' of water until the sun came out. Then head to the mouth of the main feeder creeks and look for schooling Crappies ready to make their migration. I did not have a functioning temperature gauge, so water temp was not available. I figured with the warm days we have had over the last two weeks would have the fish ready to move. After all it is the end of February!

Started at the popular places off the main channel near the launch sight. Picked up about a dozen keepers and some throw backs on the first three holes. The fish in the picture below was the second one I caught.

This one was over a pound. I thought we were in for a productive afternoon as I was marking tons of fish on a 12' drop and we already had this one in the boat. Kept the boat moving anticipating some more big Crappies any minute. Dad got several small White Perch. Then I got a few. Uh oh... The fish I was marking were not Crappies. Instead the White Perch had invaded the back of this creek. I swung the boat around and headed back out hoping to find a school hovering in 18' of water. It was not to be. We did catch one more 12oz fish on the way back out. However the time was running short so we hauled up the big poles and headed back for the brush piles. We managed to catch a few more keepers for the pan.

Ended the day with 23 keepers and a vbery satisfied feeling. I got to use the trolling gear, my dad got to go fishing with me and we were gonna' have fish for the Daytona 500.

My humble opinion is that the fish have started to move. The big fish were not on the brush. I did locate what appeared to be schools of Crappies suspended over 30' of water but we were not able to catch any of them. The fish will be a little finicky at the very begining of the spawning migration. Any little deviation in weather or water temperature will send them back to the brush in 25' of water. The jig out produced the minnows by at least three to one. Red and chartruese with salt and gold glitter was the hot jig. Slow, slow, slow was the trick. I would dead stick the jig for 10 seconds or so, bump the brush then twitch it very slowly. If I got too aggressive the fish would ignore the jig.

I will probably put the brush pile rods up for now and concentrate strictly on trolling jigs and drifting minnows until it's time for the fly pole. Should be a great year!

Managed a day off from work to get my taxes done. Had to go to Hickory. So... might as well see how the fish are biting on Norman. RIGHT!!!

Headed to the Long Island area of Lake Norman on Friday 4/00. It was cold and windy. Guided the "New and improved" Crappie Killer for some old stand byes not far from Bills Marina. Took a few minutes to find the first one. I have some spots that are basically in the middle of the lake and very tough to locate. But that's what makes them so good. Any good Crappie fisherman has several "marks" on the bank to line up and find their holes. However, I put this one in while there were leaves still on the trees. My marks were way off without them!!! Here in lies the lesson, use marks that will not change, even with the seasons.

After locating the first hole, we began the day with minnows and light colored jigs down about magic depth (17' for those of you who haven't read my stuff before) due to the extremely clear water. The wind was stiff so it made it tough to stay on the hole. The fish were very tight to the brush in 22' - 27' of water. I looked up and saw high Cirrus clouds straight up and some mean looking snow clouds moving in from the West. The barometer must have been spinning! Sent the minnows deep hoping for some better results. Got a couple of nice keepers off the first two or three holes. Ran down the lake to Duke Power State Park and fished a few more spots. Caught a few more fish. By noon the wind was blowing 20- 25 mph. Even with a 75lb thrust trolling motor, you still can't win. We quit at 12:30 with only half of a limit. Only one fish on a jig today. It's Miller time!

Saturday 5/00 Highway 150/Lake Norman Marina. Got a late start today due to lazy fishermen. We both looked like the kid in the Cambell Soup commercial. So many clothes on you can't even move. It was around 25 or so with a slight North breeze when we got to the lake around 9:30. Ran up to Stumpy Creek and fished some spots in 25' of water. The fish were stacked on the brushpile! They were not very aggressive. My dads slow retrieve technique out did me three to one on the first hole. We landed a few 10 oz fish but no giants. Second hole nuthin'! Third hole and out of the wind. My turn POP! I evened the score pretty quick with minnows fished precisely at 18'. The depth was absolutely critical today. The fish were definetly biting be