[slamb11]

so I am a new boat owner constantly scoping for places to fish. Mostly looking within a hour and a half drive from jacksonville. I will mostly be fishing for bass with a 17' stratus and a gas engine. I went to sutton lake in wilmington last weekend and brought in 9 throughout the day but that was from early morning and late evening it was completely dead during the day of course it was 90+ outside. I know there is lake waccamaw in th area if anyone has any input from there and also has anyone fished out of the lakes in the croatan. I thought about cape fear as well if anyone knows good spots to put in but i wasnt sure about depth or how crowded the water is with logs and rocks. Any input or advice would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[trigger22]

You might consider checking out the Neuse and Trent River in New Bern and even the head of New River in Jacksonville. In the Neuse, Swift and Bachelor creeks can both be good for bass and in the Trent Brice's Creek, Wilson Creek, and the River Bend canal are all good bass areas. You can launch at Lawson Creek Park and fish all of those places.

 

[slamb11]

thank you for your input ill definately have to check those places out

 

[CaptD]

i live in jacksonville too. i fish sutton and new river alot, and waccamaw and trent some. i caught over 20 keepers from sutton a week ago. nothing big but they were all between 14-18" and they bit from daylight til sun down. waccamaw is good if you like fishing docks. there are also good grass beds on the lake. some big fish in that lake. im actually heading down there on saturday. new river has some good fish in it and there aint a lot of people that bass fish up there. ive never fished trent anywhere but out of pollocksville and have caught some good fish out of there as well. NE cape fear is right down hwy53. shaw hwy will be a left turn about 15min out of town. there is a launch on the left as soon as you turn on shaw that drops in holland shelter. never fished it but ive heard its good. a little farther down shaw hwy is holly shelter ramp on the right. you can run up or down. down river its pretty wide with good backwater areas and up river its gets narrow but still some backwaters. you might get skunked the first few trips but really good fishing up that way if you take the time to figure them out. i fish out of a white/red triton 18xs if you see me around. i fish pretty much every weekend just depends on my mood where i go. hope this helps

 

[slamb11]

What were you using during the day to catch em on if you dont mind me asking cause i felt like we tried about everything (top water, spinnerbaits, multiple worms, jigs, frogs, lizards, crankbaits, spoons) you name it i felt like we tried it with no luck except for first thing in the morning and late evening

 

[CaptD]

popper, shakey head, weightless trick worm, dt-6 crank, fluke, jig and swimbait. finesse is the key. smaller baits, lighter line, long casts. the water is really clear im sure you noticed

 

[slamb11]

awesome ill try some of those out and maybe have some good luck. thanks!

 

[Fishing_RN]

Hey slamb11,

I used to live in Jacksonville 2005 - 2010 and tried to bass fish around J-ville but just couldn't find the LMB. I did have some luck in Southwest creek off the New River behind the air station. I did well with TR worms in Junebug, green pumpkin, red shad or scuppernog. Senko do well there too. As far as outside of Jacksonville I would travel up to Pollocksville about 30 mins north on 17 which is a branch off Neuse river. The ramp is nice, pictured, it's really good bass fishing. Anything junebug plastic works well in there especially senko's.

The other place I've been to is in Burgaw, off of 53, which is a branch of the Cape Fear River. Lots of structure, trees and laydowns and the frog fishing is pretty good in that area too. Lots of lily pads to fish frogs through. I've posted a screenshot of that as well. It's about 40 minutes out from J-ville. I did well with a green pumpkin brush hog t-rigged, black/blue jig and chartreuse SB. Be careful of the overhanging trees, a friend of mine said he had a snake fall out of one, not in his boat but into the water.

Hope this helps you out.

John

 

[Neilslure]

I havent fished east of 95 but there are alot of rivers that flow into the Pamlico and Albamarle sounds that alot of guys fish. Chowan River, Roanoke river and several others. Also Tar River reservior or Buckhorn reservoir in Wilson might be within your range.

 

[Fishing_RN]

One last suggestion for Sutton lake, I would always catch bass on a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in ghost minnow color. It's deadly, long casts with a couple of jerks as you retrieve then pause, they can't seem help themselves. I know it's a little pricy but I picked one up off of e-bay just to try it when a friend of mine suggested it and I would always fish it and it always produced. Dropshot rig with worms in junebug color or black to blue have worked for me in the past or you can pick the bass off throwing a TR Zoom 6 in worm (junebug) into structure on the shorelines, senkos wacky rigged as well. I might have to make the drive down there soon.

 

[slamb11]

Thanks Fishing_RN. I may try Pollocksville this weekend if the weather is nice. The weather was perfect at Sutton on Saturday but I didn't have much luck we only pulled in 5 throughout the day mainly using jigs and crankbaits but pretty much everything else was thrown along with that. There were plenty other boats out there though I am sure that others had better luck than we did. So time to aquire and adjust tackle and prepare for Pollocksville this weekend. Thanks again