NC Angler Forums banner

Lake James, Dead Sea ?

4K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  LIVIT 
#1 ·
I have read and heard Lake James being referred to as the Dead Sea. Me and my fishing buds, have found it to be otherwise. Yes it can be a bit difficult to figure out some days. I can only recall one trip that was not that great and it was more the company on my boat than the fishing.

As you can see from pics, the fish are there. I mainly target Walleye, but catch lots of Bass, mainly Smallmouth. Normally catch a lot of keeper Perch and some nice White Bass. Recently we been hooking into some big cats. My largest Bass this year were a just over 4lb Smallmouth and LMB that was almost 4lbs. Last year around this time I caught 2 Smallmouth that were around 6lbs.

My bud and I both launched at the canal bridge ramp Sunday 10/20. After grabbing a few shiners at the Marina, we headed towards the Linville area and were on schools immediately. He caught several nice size cats on shiners, along with some Smallies and Perch. I did not do much on the shiners, I caught all mine on bottom bouncer worm rigs and artificials (rapalas) . He stayed on top of schools while I trolled around same area.

I did notice that the big schools seemed to be off the bank more than normal and that the rocky points had large concentrations of bait and some nice fish feeding on them. My suggestion to those fishing tight to the shore is too back off a bit and hit the deeper water. What is y'alls thoughts on this ?
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#10 ·
We were there again yesterday (Saturday 10/26) My bud John and his GF at last count I heard had boated like 25 nice Smallmouth along with some other fish. Lake James is on fire, just fish away from the banks. I marked huge schools of shad with a lot of larger marks all around them. 30-80' water depth fish suspended from bottom to surface. Water temp was 69.9 and cooler near Linville river and near Catawba.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top