Greatly Improved Fising

Despite the extensive holiday boating traffic and amount of rain that has fallen, the fishing on the Lake is improving but not yet back to its normal level. For the first time in some time I am seeing large schools of shad n the shallower water of the coves. The two shad schools shown were both showing signs of predator activity.

I'm not catching fish in any unusual volume but the sizes are nice with 2 and 3 pound bass a regular catch. I am also seeing a good deal of surface activity indicating that the predators have followed the shad into the shallower water.
I believe that we also had a good bream spawn this Spring because docks are reported to have large groups of small bream lingering around the shallow water of the docks.
White flukes are working as a plastic bait under and around the docks and as always live bait is producing big bass in the deeper water.

.

Lake Norman Fishing Getting Better

In recent weeks the fishing results on the lake have roller coasted up and down. In the most recent bass tournament, the results were very disappointing with very low weights and low catch numbers being reported. Some anglers including the author were reporting a great deal of unknown material in the water, suspended at all levels. This green scum was possibly due to grass that grew when the lake was held at its low level and then died when the water was suddenly raised to full pond levels.

With all the recent rain, this material is rapidly disappearing and signs are that the bass and shad are moving back into the shallower water of the coves and creeks. Bass are still not schooling and there are some signs that the spring spawn has been widely spread out for some fish.

Water temperatures vary in different areas but are generally around 75 degrees. I am catching nice fish around drop offs and at the edges of deep holes. Fish in the shallower water do not seem to be as active as expected with their feeding or aggressive activities. Fish around docks are nice size fish.

Crappie that were very available during early May seem to have disappeared. The perch are back and I'm starting to see some bigger blue catfish getting more active than previous.

The Rig For Catfishing

This is the time of the year that many anglers are venturing out on Lake Norman for the big blue catfish or any other species that is hanging around. The Blue cat is the most popular on the lake because they are in good supply and it is not unusual to get one in the 20 pound range. Channel cats are also in good supply but it is rare that you will catch a channel more than three pounds. The ugly Flathead is harder to find but when you get one it is probably a good size.
Chanel cats like stink baits. Blues like cut bait and garlic chicken and Flatheads like live bait. The rig that I use for all three of these monsters is shown below.

You can substitute a slinky weight in place of the lead sinker if you desire. There are less bottom hook ups with the slinky. Make sure the weight is heavy enough to compensate for the size float that you use or the weight will not go to the bottom.

When trolling this rig, you should see the rod tip constantly bouncing, indicating that the weight is running along the bottom. When the rod tip goes down hard and continues to bounce, you have a nice cat.

In my opinion, catfish are the best eating fish on the lake but you don't want to eat a big one 30 inches or longer. The 5 to 8 pound fish provide the best filet. With any luck you should be able to land a fish like the one shown below.

Tennessee River Provides Excellent Fishing

For anglers in the Charlotte area, a four hour drive to Lenoir City Tennessee will present some of the best fishing that can be experienced in this part of the country. The creation of several dams and lakes that meet in this area to form the greater Tennessee River offer a wide variety of different fishing conditions from the traditional crappie fishing to nearly all other freshwater species. Big stripers caught in the fast waters below the dams is exciting and productive especially when large amounts of water are being pushed through the dams. I recently spent two days fishing with an experienced guide Bo Rice who knows these waters like the back of his hand. He will put you on fish when no one else can. My fishing partner Howie Anger of Nashville and I caught ten stripers the first morning, all of significant size.Fifteen and twenty pounders were not uncommon as shown below.

We took a break for lunch and did some quiet catfishing and both Howie and I caught our personal best catfish, a 32 pound blue cat for Howie and a 51 pound flathead for me.

The second day we got a late start due to thunder storms but we still had a record day. We caught numerous black drum and 20 huge stripers like the 35 pound fish shown below.

With tired arms and full coolers, we headed home before 2 pm that day, leaving behind some great fishing.