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Need advise

6K views 30 replies 8 participants last post by  grandpaa 
#1 ·
Hi all. Yup, another newby here. Found this site by searching on line. I just acquired a 21 ft. Tracker fishing barge. I also got a great deal on an older RV. We have not fished since moving to NC, over 16 years ago. All my experience was in Florida. Fresh water is what I plan to do, as we live outside of Winston Salem. We have fished at Belews lake, but its too hot and Just no luch there. We have been to Bugs island two times and are headed back there this week for a five day trip. I would like to know some techniques. I have heard of the, North Carolina Rig, but have no idea of what it really is, and why it is used. Like I said, I am from Florida. I did a lot of fresh and salt water fishing there.

I noticed the lakes here don't seem to have much cover, i.e. lilly pads, cat tails, ect. Is worm fishing for bass successful here? I sure haven't had any activity. We seem to catch a lot of cats on night crawlers, but I want some varity. Is a crapy the same as a spec? I believe we call them Specs in Florida. Blue Gill, and Shell crackers seem the same here. Just haven't found any size to them.

So you can see, I need "fishing in NC 101" here.

I will accept any good/worthwhile advise you may have to offer.

Oh, whats up with having marinas on the lake and they don't sell bait? We stay at Butternut Creek camp ground at the lower end of Kerr Lake/Bugs island. So far it seems like a nice place. I look forward to reading what you have to say.
 
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#2 ·
As a kid in Fla I use to fish Okechobee and Lake Istapoka, did some freshwater stuff around the Myakka River and some ponds and stuff around Sarasota and Venice...
inshore flats/bay fished Boca Grande/Venice/Osprey/Englewood areas on the west coastOffshore out of Boca Grande and out of Venice Inlet. Did mostly saltwater though. Bad part of growin up around/on the water is they start ya young with that boat/fishin fever thing!! :eek:

Lived in the panhandle and used to fish Kings and group-ah's out of Destin/Ft. Walton Beach areas, and some inshore around Navarre. Never did fish any freshwater there. Just recently within the last 3 years have been making an annual trek down to the Apalachacola to fish... great area and probably the last un-tapped part of Fla still left.

Now in NC, just fool around on the lakes/rivers, and pretty much gear'd for offshore stuff. Got a pond across the street, but that's like shootin fish in a barrel.

There's land lock'd strip bass, wippers or hybrids, crappie, pickeral, yellow perch, small mouths and large mouths, not to mention alot of different types of catfish. I know folks like to fish the Capefear river for cat's (large ones).

Tillery and Baden lakes should be to the south of you and a bud of mine fishes there alot for crappie and white bass, he has pretty good success there.

Jordan lake folks fish for strippers, bass, catfish mostly, and alot of guys fish at night or early morning using lights for crappie around the bridges and other structure in the lake. You can get to Jordan lake from HWY 64 via HWY40, 421, or 751.

My uncle lives in Winston-Salem off Silas Creek Prkwy and I hunt up there during the fall/winter. I know he talks about a lake up there, I think they goose hunt on it, but that's all I know about it. He's got a small pond near his property that some folks fish (near Robinhood road area I believe), but again, sorry no help there.

if you ever get over to Grubb's Marine, stop in and talk to Todd Johnson, he should be able to hook ya up with some good local info or knows someone that does in Winston.

Welcome to the board, anytime you want to talk offshore stuff, I might know a little of that :)

Anyway... Welcome!

P.s. what part of Fla ya from?
 
#4 ·
Welcome aboard!:)

I fish Belews on a regular basis. Right now the water temp is around
85 plus , so I do most of my fishing there at night. As far as the Carolina rig, it works really well just about everywhere. Myself , I like to use a
4" worm at Belews, with just a small splitshot around 14" up.
Also I like to use Berkley Vanish because the water there is so gin clear.
Lately my wife and I went for an evening out there and for the most
part I found that in the backs of coves anywhere near a feeder creek
you'll find some tree tops and overhanging bushes, this is where I had
the most productivity. Mainly my thoughts are because , where there
are creeks feeding in , there is fresh oxygen, concentrating more fish.
So far we've done very well using these strategies, landing 5 fish combining 12 pounds. That's not too bad, but I've seen better.
I've also seen that you are in a large boat, so another place I've
found there is near the earthen dam. You can easily fish this from a large craft. Also at night, try using a topwater popper or a jitterbug that both have rattles in them. These too work very well along the banks and in coves. I allways listen for frog activity and usually find bass at these locations. Watch for shallow water bouys near the dam
some places are really shallow,use caution, but you can navigate around them easy enough. There are some real big bass in that lake, I've hooked into alot of em, so far I've caught 3 going at 6 plus and these are
fairly common. A friend of ours landed a 10 pounder there early this year.
So I know there are some even bigger than that.
My wife usually out fishes me there do to her strong concentration
and stickin with what she's most confident with, the Carolina rig.
Maybe some of this will be of some help and you'll land old mossback
next time.;) Good luck
Aaron

ps; You can buy pre rigged Carolina rigs at some retail stores , or make your own starting with tieing on a small barrel swivel, then tie on around 6" of line, sliding a 3/16 to a 1/4 ounce bullet weight
on and following that slide a small red bead or two and then tie a small barrel
swivel, then from the other side of the swivel tie around 12 to 16"
of line and a 1/0 worm hook. I use a 4" to 6" worm or lizzard.
This rig is reusable. Remember , the Carolina rig is a searching tool,
so look for cover areas where bass may be lying or cruising. Typical areas might be expansive weedbeds,grassy flats,underwater rock piles,ect. Cast the rig out and let it settle to the bottom. Keep an eye
on your line,because bass often strike on the drop.If you see a twitch
reel up the slack and set the hook!If not,let the rig rest on the bottom for a few seconds and begin a slow, dragging retrieve.Move the rod tip from 9:00 to an 11:00 position and back again, this will give you good
action. Let the rig rest a few seconds and repeat the motion all the way back.Experiment with your retrieve to discover the most successful pattern for the day.Try a retrieve with an aggressive, eratic action.This causes the worm to lunge wildly forward and the sinker to crash through the cover kicking up a real ruckus and possibly triggering fish. Change colors and depth location.
Point is , the Carolina rig is a super set up for locating active bass,
so make the most of its assets and cover lots of water. Lots of luck
Tight lines and sharp hooks;)
Hookeye
 
#5 ·
Thanks Guys for all the information. I can see the fishing is simular to Florida fresh water. I just have to learn more of the waters and where to look. As for the one question...... I grew up in Bradenton Florida. That is right next to Sarasota. I fished several private ponds around there. Lake Manatee was the most frequent place to go. When I was young, and from Easter weekend on, we used to fish almost every weekend at Okechobee. Stayed at Joe's fish camp. Probably isn't there anymore. I did grow up on the Braden River. Brakish water, but the snook were thick there. Used to fish them with top water baits. I believe my favorite was the Baby Zara Spook. We used to go out in the gulf quite often as well. Groupers, baracuda, cobia, you name it. We enjoyed that as well. After four years in the Coast Guard, I kinda got broke of the rough water stuff. I did spend my last year or so in Cortez, and before that I was in Canaveral. Nice fishing in both places. Guess I just found my place with the fresh water fishing. Anyway, I do appreciate all the great advise you guys have offered me.


We are leaving out Wednesday evening for Bugs Island/ Kerr Lake. Staying at Butternut creek campground. My wife and I plan to spend five days of fishing and relaxing. I like that lake, because it is actually refreshing when you step in to it. Belews Lake is so darn hot this time of year. I added a trolling motor to the pontoon boat. Just have to be careful not to get her into any tight places.

Thanks again you all. Hope I can be of some help to you some day soon.
 
#6 ·
Well I was "down the road" from ya. Lived in Sarasota for 13 yrs and then in Venice 10.

What I've found in my limited pond fishin up here is, tiny torpedo works good, small white or chartruse single colorado spinners, Yozuri pin minnows (black or yellow back silver sides), and Rapala one/one and a half inch silver with black back floating minnow. I toss them under tree branches or throw parallel to the pond banks and have done pretty good catchin bass. Even shellcracker will hit them lures. Throw them out an twitch'm back slowly, except for the spinner, just a slow steady retrieve on that..

Just like Okechobee, shiner under a bober around a deep water channel or drop off near shoreline works good, same thing around grass flats or lilly pads.

Alot of guys like to troll shorelines alot up here for bass an crappie from what I've noticed, you'll see some pretty rig'd out john boats.

Dont forget to post fish pix!! and best of luck.
 
#7 ·
Not trying to hijack the thread or anything but I lost a phone # and name for a guy that lives in/ near Sarasota and fishes Venice pier for kings, tarpon etc. Last fall he was in the mobile marine repair buisness and before that I think he was in a tackle shop. He's a pretty large guy, (300 +) brown hair, some of his pier buds are Kevin, Jeff and Frenchy. his first name is Walter (wally). I tried looking for his buisness phone but to no avail. Can one of you guys pin a last name on him? Thanks AL
 
#8 ·
I do wish I knew who you were talking about, but I have no idea. I never fished in the Sarasota area. I don't know why, but when I was growing up I stayed in the Bradenton area. On the Braden river or Manatee river. The only piers I ever fished were out on Anna Maria Island. City and Rod and Reel piers. Lots of snook and shark out there. I spent most of my time on back waters though. However, I do know the area you are talking about from my Coast Guard days. Just didn't have time to fish when I was doing that. I was busy chasing boats and bodies then.


I hope Wellcraft Dave can be of more help with that. He spent more time in Sarasota. Good luch in finding your friend.
 
#9 ·
Dave, thanks for the added information. I will give some of these things a try this week. We are headed out this afternoon for the lake. 5 days of relaxing and fishing. Got the crappy lights all ready. I got a lot of that expensive gas this week, so everything is ready. My pockets are pretty weak now, but I don't care. I am going to have some fun. Looks like we will have some good weather for the trip as well. Thanks again for the info.
 
#10 ·
Sinkerman, I think FloridaSportsman.com might be a good place to start. Get up on their regional message board for SW Fla... if they fish, someone will know of them, especially if they're local guys that go out alot.

The only guy I remember was Fred, big huge man with ALOT of shark rods and his fishin buggy/cart deal for rollin all his gear out to the end of the pier. Think it's the only time I've ever seen anyone fish with a 16/0 Penn. He was heavy into night fishing for large shark off the pier. The only other names I can remember from the Venice pier, is Pat Hopkinson and Gus Mc Andrew... Sorry I cannot remember Fred's last name and I do not have his #, otherwise I'd give it to you. If you had a first/last name, I could have my sis or folks pull it up in their local phone book and forward you that info.
http://www.venice-fla.com/

I also believe, Venice Fla.com or somethin similar (a Venice Website) has a forum, maybe you could post on there for anyone that might know those folks if the regularly fish the pier. I do know Sharky's restraunt is right there at the pier: http://www.sharkysonthepier.com/, but dont know if they have a website or not (i.e. message board).
Here's the Venice area "Waterline online Magazine" link: http://www.boatingandfishing.com/
Maybe you can post on there for anyone who may know them or put you in contact.

The only other fisherman I know in that area is Marco Gaona (of the Flying Gaona's with the Ringling Bro's and Barnum Baily Circus) Played ball and went to school with him, he's a successful inshore/Sportfishing Charter Capt with a successful team that's won some tourny's.
http://www.gaonasportfishing.com/

There used to be an old man that sold bait on the way towards Nokomis beach as if you were heading to the North Jetty fish camp... He went out of business along time ago... I still miss him,, he was a fixture in that town and always had the best live shrimp. The only other place I could suggest to post a "in search of" message would be at the North Jetty Fish Camp, unfortunately, they dont have a website, but here is their contact info:
North Jetty Fish Camp
1000 S Casey Key Rd
Nokomis, FL 34275-3341
(941) 488-2408


Sorry I cant be of more help, we try to get to Venice at least once a year and I havent lived there in over 18 years... so faces and names seem to fade each passing season, and now that we spend more time in Apalachacola, I havent made it to SW Fla like I used to.

Cretepmpr, I hear ya, unfortunately, I have a feelin we all are gonna be payin for that Hurricane, and with all the talk of just how bad it wrecked the oil/gas rig's off FLA/AL/MISS/LA, I dont think we'll see fuel prices going down anytime soon...

Dont worry too much about it though.... fishin is a release for most... just being on the water works for me as I'm sure it does for others too.
Good luck with the fishin.... post some fish pix!!
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys, I started to try on the aforementioned board and have read it a lot looking in the no motor zone and the regular forum but to no avail. That sure is a political boiler room. Great place to visit but I wouldn't want to have to deal with the politics down there. Everybody is quick with the finger and rapid fire with the lip on that board. I thought maybe Dave might remember him from a tackle shop or marina. Thanks again. back to: Need advise. AL
 
#13 ·
Hi guys. Just got in yesterday from the trip to Kerr's lake. Now if I can figure out how to post some pictures on here I would send a few. If not, send me an email adress and I will send them that way. I caught a 28 inch striper on 6 pound test and a live shad. What a fight. Also got a 35 inch cat on a shad as well. That was on ten pound test. Had a great trip.
 
#15 ·
Funny thing..... I started this string a few years ago and then I fell off the face of the earth, (so to speak). We have set up at Lake Gaston now and I have to start all over again. Can't find any bait fish like there was on Kerr Lake. I never caught any crappie on Kerr, and haven't seen much of anything except Bass on Gaston. So I am up for any advise on where the crappie are and what to catch them with. Any advise?????
 
#16 ·
Oh, whats up with having marinas on the lake and they don't sell bait? We stay at Butternut Creek camp ground at the lower end of Kerr Lake/Bugs island. So far it seems like a nice place. I look forward to reading what you have to say.

If you need bait, the store on the corner of the road that comes out of Henderson and the road that takes you into Hibernia Campground sells a lot of different live baits. Also, the boat ramp at Hibernia is a good place to net your own minnows.
 
#17 ·
Yes, I also found the bait store at Satter White road sells bait. We started netting our bait for the most part, but there are times you can't find anything. Since then we have purchased a lot at Lake Gaston and haven't seen any shad at all there. We are back to learning another lake now.
 
#20 ·
Sorry, my back is the problem now. Take rabbite cage wire,cut 4sides the same.take one side .cut 2in round hole in middle, take some extra wire ,make it round 4in long to fit 2 in hole .take it wire to hole.
Take anouther side cut squar in middle ,Big enough for hand this is the door to get bait fish out of.Then cut squar for door a little bigger.
Then take 4 sides wire together making squar box .2in hole on out side tube on inside,they go in unable to come out.Just put were bait fish are at.When I go camping I leave out over night ,and have more bait than I can use. Thats what I"m haveing to do now. I hope it helps
The things we do to catch a fish,gotta love it;)
 
#23 ·
Most of time nothing,but if realy need bait bad.Wife do"nt like it, but cut small part of panty house , put in pink salmon just a spoon full tie with fishing line hang from top.If you want smaller minnows,cover out side with screen. Wife needs to get a life!:D;):)
 
#24 ·
This sounds like an interesting contraption. I kinda got the picture, but sure would like to see some real pictures of it. I throw a net for our bait most of the time. My wife drives while I throw. I believe I have expressed how new I am to fishing NC lakes. When we go to Kerr Lake we usually find some shad. We have started earlier this year than any other year. I haven't seen any shad schooling in Lake Gaston (where we bought a lot and set up a trailer). I hate the idea of having to take the boat to Kerr to net bait, but I just haven't seen anything. Is it just too early in the year for the shad? If possible, Grandpaa, please load up some pictures of this trap. I would like to try it sometime.
 
#25 · (Edited)
O.K cretepmpr I"ll try to get a pic on here ,it works good.But you can make in any shap.As long as you have 2in hole then wire 4in tube behind hole.and door,some people make them round ,one end door outher end 2in hole,you can look on internet I think under crab and bait fish traps.:) try about fish trap hit serch you will see all kinds, then just down size it.
 
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