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Falls Lake 4/22/2017 7am to 1pm

2K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  dbeam 
#1 ·
My friend Ron and I put our kayaks in at our usual spot off possum track road near a mountain to sea trailhead. He got there a bit earlier than me and caught a 2-3lb lmb right off the bat. He didn't have his electronics today so I ran my Deeper Pro on a mount I made and just wasn't seeing a lot of fish. The only real fish in quantities more than singles I saw near the channel bed really deep. That said, my friend managed to catch 4 lmb, from 2-4lb in size and a very nice size white bass that I believe bit on a Rapala DT4 (small dives to 4 ft crankbait). The funny thing is I was saying to him I thought we needed to get the bass' attention, and I tried a DT4 with no success. That wast the theme for the day unfortunately. It's like losing to your teammate in racing, my friend and I were casting the same color senkos, the same retrieval, the same spots, but the only thing I had all day was what felt like a bluegill grabbing at my worm 3 times back to back.

So, have you all matched a co-angler color for color, style for style, and been skunked or grossly outfished? I've had times where he's caught like 10 and I only got 5 or 6, doesn't burn that much.
 
#17 ·
Presentation makes thing huge different![/QU'

'
Some times nothing makes a difference. I have fished identical baits on bottom as well as under floats, only to out fish or be out fished by who ever was with me. Or the times when one guy will start HOT and then stop getting bite all together while the other is getting hits like crazy. The consistent rule of fishing is inconsistency.

Darrell
 
#3 ·
I have seen subtle differences in rigging or action be the difference.

A few years back on the James river a buddy and I were fishing the same bank covered in laydowns and old wooden wing dams. I was in my boat, he was in his. I tend to fish pretty fast, he is more slow and methodical. I would pitch my bait in, let it hit the bottom, pop it a few times and pitch it again, after he caught 3 fish right behind me, I took a second to watch what he was doing. I picked up that he was letting his sit a few seconds, I started doing the same thing and getting bit.

I have also seen a difference in weight outshine too. Some days they want it falling fast, some days slow.
 
#4 ·
Glad you and your buddy caught a few at Falls today. I got there late and as soon as I got my kayak to the water's edge, it started raining and blowing hard. I went out briefly anyway but one stroke of lightning and that was it for me! I'm new to Falls and the area I was in was probably too shallow anyway(?) 2-3 feet.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Holy cow these lightning stories! You've opened my eyes to be more careful.

I forgot to mention that while I did toss a pit boss jr on 6lb flouro, a lot of time was spent throwing a Senko on 14lb Nanofil. I have generally felt like I didn't notice problems with fish seeing it, but I'm starting to wonder after yesterday.

Have any of you all tried it? It has ZERO stretch, is so slick it just slips threw the air and casts super far, it also has ZERO line memory, and it's very abrasion resistant (EDIT: this is not true by normal standards, most say it abrades easy, I think in my experience it hasn't, and when it does it doesn't break because of it unless you push it to its rated limit). The downside is it's very slippery, so I believe a double Albright is the only supported knot, they call it the nanofil knot, but it's super easy to tie. The other downside is while it's super small diameter, it's white. Visually in the water with the human eye it looks very , but Trilene claims they don't see that. This stuff is the future minus the visibility imho.

Oh, one more thing, do you all use leaders for bass fishing? I havent outside of a Carolina rig, and if I ever tried to drop shot (have the weights but never have the courage to try). I also probably should look into the low vis green nanofil for falls lake.
 
#10 ·
Holy cow these lightning stories! You've opened my eyes to be more careful.

I forgot to mention that while I did toss a pit boss jr on 6lb flouro, a lot of time was spent throwing a Senko on 14lb Nanofil. I have generally felt like I didn't notice problems with fish seeing it, but I'm starting to wonder after yesterday.

Have any of you all tried it? It has ZERO stretch, is so slick it just slips threw the air and casts super far, it also has ZERO line memory, and it's very abrasion resistant. The downside is it's very slippery, so I believe a double Albright is the only supported knot, they call it the nanofil knot, but it's super easy to tie. The other downside is while it's super small diameter, it's white. Visually in the water with the human eye it looks very , but Trilene claims they don't see that. This stuff is the future minus the visibility imho.

Oh, one more thing, do you all use leaders for bass fishing? I havent outside of a Carolina rig, and if I ever tried to drop shot (have the weights but never have the courage to try). I also probably should look into the low vis green nanofil for falls lake.
I use 6lb white nanofil on my ultralight rods. Love the distance I get out of it. I use leaders in clear water with that for trout and
smallies.
 
#9 ·
I was on Falls (my first time there) Saturday morning too, in the riverine section near Shinleaf on my kayak... Didn't like it, too dang many power boats going WOT. Seems I spent more time turning bow or stern to swells than I did fishing. Had a couple blow up on topwater (never caught a topwater bass, and am determined to do so, so I spent a lot of time casting futilely for them), but no hook ups. Caught a small crappie on a chartreuse curly tail, but even he came off at the kayak.. then the rain started... Not a good day for me. I'll stick to more kayak friendly waters in the future.
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
We put in pretty far from boat launches but still see a decent number of boats, but it's not bad down south. Saturday was particularly bad, because we all knew Saturday afternoon was rain and into Sunday more likely, and the solunar forecast lined up. My buddy and I just try and laugh about all the bass boats. "Here comes Billy Bad "my friend always says with a chuckle. Generally they slow down in the coves, it's the ones who run wot into coves that really make everyone mad.

What are more kayak friendly fishing waters? I'd love to know more places if you care to share. Falls Lake southern parts, Harris, and buckhorn once is all I have fished so far from the kayak. I'd love to try a river or some place else.

I use 6lb white nanofil on my ultralight rods. Love the distance I get out of it. I use leaders in clear water with that for trout and
smallies.
So can we all agree on Falls Lake? I consider it stained water, and would love for someone to say officially that they've heard where it falls in the scale I guess too. Is it somewhere in the middle? Picture of stained? I used leaders exclusively for a short while after reading something, and it was just so much work. Mind telling me what goes in line for a leader for you? I was just using small swivels, was always afraid of line to line knots, especially with nanofil.
 
#12 ·
It was fairly clear Saturday morning, visibility about 6 feet I would say, I could see rocks clearly. I was using a leader on my nanofil when I caught the crappie on my ultra light.

I live in Greensboro... I go to places that powerboats are limited. The smaller lakes here might allow up to 10hp. I am starting to get into river fishing, just beginning to get the hang of it. I've got a few spots on rivers I can paddle up and back, and I am always willing to drive an hour or so to fish. You have beaverdam on Falls that bans gas Engines, I was there on a VERY windy day in early March and maintained my Falls lake skunk.

Reach out to a group in your area called "cackayak", they have a FB page and are attempting to get people together for yakking and camping... I was camping with them at Shinleaf. Seem to be a nice group of guys. They are doing a trip on the Haw river in a few weeks. And of course, the Red X group on this site does a fair amount of meet ups with river floats.

While I am far from an expert in rigging, I admit I do leaders unorthodoxly. I can't tie a uni-to-uni knot, so I put a surgeons loop in the main line, and tie my leader to the surgeons loop. Works well for me, the loop is at least as strong as the rest of the line. With 6lb nanofil, I will use 6 or 8lb flouro for the leader.

Hope that is of some use...
 
#13 ·
Cool, I'm definitely interested in camping and kayaking. I keep trying to get my friend interested. I am not a morning person, so early morning fishing trips don't really appeal to me. If it was camping tied with hopping straight out of a sleeping bag into the yak, that I could get behind. I'm also interested if you or anyone else knows of any people who do regular river kayaking? I've always found it interesting, but fishing led me to this kayak. I'd love to rent or borrow a river kayak and give that a go at some point in the next few years.
 
#14 ·
What do you paddle? Many are good for rivers and lakes... My beast is a nucanoe frontier. Big, slow, and stable... but floats over a lot of rocks that other kayaks hit, and I can turn it pretty well.

You can find river fishers on this site...you can post that you want to do it, and you'll find takers.

Weather permitting, I will be doing the Dan river in Danbury, NC on 5/6. And the Red X band of merry marauders will be taking on the Yadkin from Wilkesboro on 5/13. And the red X group will be taking on the New River for 3 straight days of camping and kayaking (up to class II rapids) on the South Fork of the New River in Jefferson NC in August... that is an unforgettable weekend. Turned me into a river fishing junkie
 
#15 ·
forgot to mention that while I did toss a pit boss jr on 6lb flouro, a lot of time was spent throwing a Senko on 14lb Nanofil. I have generally felt like I didn't notice problems with fish seeing it, but I'm starting to wonder after yesterday.

Oh, one more thing, do you all use leaders for bass fishing? I havent outside of a Carolina rig, and if I ever tried to drop shot (have the weights but never have the courage to try). I also probably should look into the low vis green nanofil for falls lake.
Pitboss on 6lb line:eek:! Falls and most lakes in this area are pretty stained, line visibility is not an issue. I fish 14, 17 and 20 lb all the time and dont feel it has an negative effect. Only time I use any kind of leader is a carolina rig.
 
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