The Fish Are Hot Now

 We have waited a long time for the good times to start again. Well ! they are back and the fish are very active, all the fish, not only the bass. I have had better success with the smaller live bait but the fish have run me out of bait every time I've gone out in the last two weeks. The hits have been very aggressive and I have had many multiple hits at the same time. On one occasion I had four fish on at one time and managed to land three of them. Drop offs are still good but the bass seem to be roaming around looking for food. Not many shad schools in sight so the fish are hungry, preparing for the cold weather that will soon come. I have caught hybrids regularly in the south end of the lake, finally, but they are not yet of legal size at this end. Surface activity is very visible in the afternoon so keep a casting lure handy that will reach way out. I have had great success casting at the surface rolls. Bait is fairly scarce if you don't get it close to Wednesday when it is delivered, so stock up so you won't be run out by the fish like I have been. My son in law boated this 5 pound plus last week along with two channel cats, two crappie,  one hybrid and 10 bass, al in a couple of hours, SO get out and fish guys, it won't last forever.

New Breed of Bass Have Been Stocked

 The new tiger bass is now in the lake. 2000 fish were stocked last week sized around one pound and some a little more. Each of these fish have been tagged with a wire tag, so if you catch one please carefully return it to the water. If enough money is raised, next year the plan is to stock more than 100,000 fingerling fish. In all years following that the stocking will be funded by the Wildlife Commission. Again this time, the fish were all released in the north end of the lake. Hopefully on the next stocking, consideration will be given to stocking some fish close to the south end of the lake. Donations are needed for next years stock. You can make a contribution by going to Lake Norman Legends Facebook group. It's going to take a lot of angler to contribute to raise the needed funds for the next stock of fish, They are asking for $80 but they will take whatever you offer. Please consider a contribution.

Shut-out

 Just realized yesterday that my blog had been blocked. I have never posted anything but fishing information so I didn't understand why I was blocked. Then I found out that my blog company had been purchased by another social media firm (name to be withheld).  In another social media outlet I have been posting a good deal of political dialog and maybe, just maybe that explains the shut-out. Well I guess I'm back on line again.

Fishing has been getting better in the last two weeks. Many of the bass caught have been small. That's a new issue since I have been catching big bass lately. Always something new on this lake. The new Tiger bass will be stocked within days now. If you catch one, it will have a wire tag so be sure to throw those back. Also consider a contribution the program since the next years stocking will depend on private funding. Good luck and stay safe.

Important Correction

 I indicated in a previous post that the length limit on hybrids was being increased to 20 inches. I have since found that this was not true and there is no change planned foe the length limit on that breed. I will be discussing the new tiger bass details in a future issue of "The Angler magazine".

New Species of Bass to be Introduced Into Lake Norman

 The North Carolina Wildlife Commission has announced that it is attempting to rid the lake of the Spotted Bass and will replace them with a species called the F1 bass or the Tiger bass. To speed up the removal of the spotted bass the rules have been changed. All limits for the spots have been removed. You can catch and keep as many as you want and there is no size limit.

As a replacement, they intend to start stocking the Tiger bass next year and continue at least 5 years. The tiger bass is a hybrid of the Florida largemouth and the Northern largemouth. It handles the cold winters better than other species and it grows much faster than the regular largemouth and supposedly is easier to catch (although that remains to be seen.) The Commission considers this an "experiment". I questioned them about the ability of the Hybrid to multiply and they indicated that this hybrid breed can reproduce in the lake, unlike most other Hybrids.

Some Interesting Activities Taking Place

 Several of us recently received a memo from the Wildlife Commission that the planned fish attractor program has been cancelled. The Commission had announced this new program several months ago and many of us volunteered to help with the program. The apparent reason for this cancellation was the objection by Duke Energy about the selected site requirements and also current Buoy requirements. Of course both of these are non-existent problems. Duke simply doesn't want anything placed in "their" lake. I am asking around and have contacted the Wildlife Commission to get a more sensible response to this decision. I have also requested from them, to provide me an interview so that I can write an article on this decision. I have yet to get a response.

Also I have heard that there are two changes in fishing rules. The first is that the length requirement on hybrids is being increased to 20 inches and also that the catch limit on spotted bass is going to be removed so that anglers can catch as many of this species as they wish. The purpose of this change is to try and eliminate all spotted bass from the lake. I have also expressed to the Commission that this rule would only make sense if there was a plan to start stocking largemouth to replace the spots. Apparently there is no such plan. I believe that these rule changes will eventually eliminate Lake Norman as a good fishery and I am concerned about Duke Energy's motives. I will keep you updated as I get responses from the Wildlife Commission.

The Waters Are Changing

 Not much new going on around the lake these days. The water temperature is still in the high 80's and although there are a few nice fish to be caught, they are few and far between. Most fish are caught in 20 plus feet of water and there are very few schools being spotted on the sonar screen. The hot water and constant sun has again this year caused grass to grow where it hasn't grown before. The grass is OK as far as the fish are concerned but when fishing deep, you have to check your lines regularly. Even a small amount of grass on the hook will cause the fish not to bite. I have caught a surprising number of gar this summer. This week I caught one that was nearly 4 feet long. There are a few shad schools showing up in the coves but not as many as in past years. I always use the bait sightings as an indicator of fish activity because he shad are the primary food for every species of fish in the lake. Haven' caught any crappie lately, the channel cats are much bigger than they have been and the blue cats have also been rare this summer. They should start getting active as the water cools. The bait situation has stabilized and shiners are again available but the price has gone up a little and the shiners are smaller than usual but still effective for the bass and other species. Keep fishing guys, the good months are about to arrive soon.

Bob Curan Passing

 It is with a sad heart that I report that our friend and fellow fishermen Bob Curan has passed away. Bob fought a huge fight with a great deal of determination. His passing will be a loss to the community and certainly to the fishing family that loved and respected him. Bob was a friend and always a gentleman. he will be greatly missed. He will remain in our prayers.

Some Random Information

 Just a few bits of information for better fishing. I contacted The Angler and they will supply Boaters Warehouse with the latest edition by Wednesday of next week (19th). They had a mix up on the last delivery but warehouse will be back on the schedule next week. Bait suppliers are back supplying shiners again although theu are only delivering once a week. (not sure what day). Be careful however, for some reason these new fish are hard to keep alive. I added two bubblers to my tank and that helps significantly. Apparently the oxygen content of the water is much more important than the water temperature. On the hook the shiners are not living long. I'm not sure why this has changed buy so much has happened this season that it could be that we are getting to the end of the recent batch of hatched fish. This week fishing has not been good for me either for catching or surviving the heat. Saw fish on the screen but they were not biting. Lake boating traffic has slacked off significantly which is good for fishing, perhaps the fish will soon recognize that and start biting. Any of you that are catching fish should let me know.

The Bait Update

Just when I thought we were through the bait shortage,its on again. Seems that the supplier is now delivering to the stores only once a week. he is delivering both shiners and salties but the shiners are very hard to keep alive. Bought two dozen this morning and by the time I got home 6 were already dead. I'm pumping extra air into the tank and that helps with the salties but doesn't seem to help with the shiners. I'm getting reports from other anglers that the catch is picking up all around the lake. I haven't seen it yet except that the bass are bigger then usual. Keep fishing guys, it's bound to get better as the water cools. I also can't tell you where to get your copy of The Angler. They stopped publishing for a while but now are back in business but they seem to have changed their drop points. I contacted them yesterday to see where they are dropping but have not yet received an answer. 

Sorry For The Short break

 It's been a couple of weeks since I posted here and I apologize for that. I have had boat troubles and also been very busy doing nothing but I'm fishing again. It's starting to get interesting again on the water. For a couple of weeks the bite was very bad but even now with temperatures of the water near 90 degrees, I'm starting to get interesting action again. I am nearly obsessed by a very big flathead catfish that I estimate is approaching 70 pounds. I had him to the boat a couple weeks ago and he broke off but I did get to see him. I had him on again last week and another angler on my boat hooked him yesterday and again he broke off. The big fish is moving around in an area  of about 100 yards around but he seems to stay in that general area. Flatheads seem to be somewhat territorial so that's not surprising. The Gar are also very active lately in the shallow water. Had a group out Thursday and they hooked this 36 inch gar.

The bass have been a little scarce but when caught they are big ones. Had a friend of my son's out yesterday and he landed several over three pounds.

The bait situation is variable lately. Both shiners and Salty's are available and they both work pretty well if you use the smaller one less than 3 inches. The Salty's are supposed to be cheaper but the stores are charging a premium for them, more than the shiners. Oh well, that another result of the virus I guess.

A Question For readers

When I was forced to stop mu monthly lectures, I started to do at least weekly updates of this blog. I have no idea if anyone is reading these posts and if they find them useful, so if you are tuning in to the blog, go to the information on the right side and click on the most recent title. You will have a chance to comment. Just let me know that you are reading the material so that I can determine if it is worth continuing. Jake

Update on New Bait

Just a short note to tell everyone that the new Black Salty is still working well on all species. Even crappie are hitting this new live bait. Yesterday I got three nice bass, three channel cats and one nice crappie. The crappie didn't swallow the bait as all other fish did but it did get the hook. I still feel that most of the bait being supplied to the retailers are too big and I try to select the smaller ones if I'm permitted. The best way to insure that the fish are hooked is to hook the bait fish up through the bottom lip and then through the top lit as close to the front of the mouth as possible. The upper lip actually does most of the holding and it is rare that I have lost a bait fish to weeds or other structure.

Another great Tennessee Fishing Trip

Once again this year, the Tennessee River system provided me with some great fishing and even better weather. Normally history has threatened me with rain for this annual trip but this year the rain gods were generous and the sun was predominant. Booked a two day fishing trip with Bo Rice and took my Grandson Anthony along for his first REAL fishing experience. He certainly got a good dose of real Tennessee River fishing. Just a few photos below indicate his and my experiences. Each of us boated personal best fish. I caught my personal best smallmouth bass at over 5 pounds. I didn't break any of my own striper records buy I caught many above the 15 pound range. Anthony boated a 42 pound striper, a 25 pound black drum, a white bass and several 10 plus catfish. There was not too much water coming through the dam at Fort Louden but it was sufficient for good fishing even though we had to work a little harder than usual. There was so much bird activity that the osprey were diving down and taking our bait as it hit the water on a cast. That caused us to move deeper in the water and many rock hook-ups. We needed to adopt to a slightly different fishing technique but when we did we got great activity. Ala in all it was an excellent trip.

Identified the New Bait Fish

I have done my research and determined that the new bait being sold around this area is called the Black Salty. It is a form of goldfish and widely used in other areas of the country. It was developed by the Anderson Minnnow Farm in Arkansas. They live a lot longer than the golden shiner and will live in a tank for weeks if a bubbler is used. I have had good luck with this species and caught nearly all predators in the lake except crappie. But keep in mind that I normally don't fish specifically for crappie. Anglers that have used this bait indicate that it is better them the conventional shad or shiner. They are very active in the water but should be hooked up through the lips rather than close to the head or eyes. I have found that the smaller ones work better then the big ones but that is only my personal opinion.

The New Bait is OK

Last week I posted an item about the  availability of live bait. No golden shiners are available for some reason that I have not been able to determine. The new bait being sold has been named a "black and white" for some reason since it has no black or white color. The new bait shown below looks more like a carp to me but it has some different characteristics than a carp.

The mouth is more frontal than a carp and to me it has a higher frequency wiggle than a cars, although I haven't seen too many carp this small size swim. I have also had some success hooking the fish behind the dorsal fin and letting it wiggle wildly in the water. When hooking this fish through the front of the mouth it is necessary to make sure than the hook goes through the lower lip and the upper lip very close to the front of the lip. If the hook penetrates too far back in the head, there will not be enough of the hook showing to hook the predator fish and you will get a lot of bites that drop off when being retrieved. If hooked correctly these fish live longer than the shiners did. I have trolled this fish for two hours and it was still very active on the line.

One concern that I have is that continued use of this bait will eventually create a new species in our lake. To prevent this make sure that you don't dump your excess bait into the lake at the end of your fishing. I have contacted the Wildlife people to explore this possibility. I have caught all species of fish with this bait except crappie. I expect that they are too big for the crappie to digest.

A Good Week of Fishing

I had a house guest for the past week and fishing on the lake has been pretty good. Got about twenty fish each day with a good mixture including hybrids. The channel cats were again very active and bigger than in previous years. Also got hybrids in Davidson creek and the bass were larger then usual  as can be seen from the photos. My guest,of course was permitted to retrieve all of the fish both when trolling and when casting with crank bait lures. A few bass were in the 4 pound range. Had some shiners left over from previous week but most days we used the new carp as bait. Most fish were caught in 25 feet of water and a few were hooked by casting the dock areas but non were inder the docks.

New Bait Shortage

The Covit Virus is being used as an excuse for nearly everything that is going wrong in our lives lately. The freshwater bait supply is the latest area effected. The bait being delivered as Bass bait is no longer golden shiners by they are small carp. These small fish are much larger than the normal shiners but they do indeed work. There are three tips t hat I can provide when using this bait. First, try to get the smallest fish available. Some sellers will allow you to pick out your own fish and I do that and try to get the smallest ones available. Second, when hooking the bait on your line, use the front-most area of the mouth, The head on these fish are large and tough and if you push the hook through the head you will get a lot of break-aways because the hook does not set in the fish. The very front of the top and bottom lip is strong enough to hold the fish and still let the business end of the hook be exposed enough to hold the retrieved fish. The third tip is for a very slow troll or still fishing with this bait, you can try hooking the bait fish through the tail. This fish is very active when in the water and the tail hooking increases the swimming movement of the bait. I have had good luck with this hooking technique.

When do the New-born's Start Learning?

I you have access to a dock, take a slow quiet walk out on the dock or peer and look down into the water around the pilings or other dock or walkway structure, you might see a large classroom full of new bass fry gathered around the structure. We are now in the post-spawn period for bass and nature is already starting it education of the young fish. Less than an inch long, I recently watched a school of hundreds of tiny fry rapidly moving from one piling to another as if they were being taught the safety rules of survival. When I moved and my shadow moved, the school of fish also scattered but rapidly returned to a tight school near another piling. When I tapped on the deck, they again scattered and then re-gathered to hide.

My guess is that these small bass were no more than one week old and they already knew the basic rule of survival. Each time they noticed me they would scatter but then they would quickly re-group tightly together, apparently knowing that there was safety in numbers. If the small fish had already learned this rule in less than a month after their birth, can you imaging how smart they will be when they are one year old? And some say that fishing is not a skill!

Working Hard for the Fish

Howie Anger, a former Mooresville resident who moved to Nashville, recently visited me for two days. The weather was grest and there were plenty of fish on the sonar but we really had to work to catch them. Howie did manage to catch a few nice crappie and a dozen medium sized bass. However the fish were not very active, hanging near the bottom. catfish were nowhere to be seen.

With the water temperature around 66 degrees, why were the fish deep. Don't know and I am having trouble finding big schools of bass. The crappie seem to be plentiful but bass are scarce. Medium sized shiners are getting scarce. The supplier had no mediums this week so I attributed the slow bite due to the larger bait fish that I was using, especially with the crappie. Lets take advantage of the good weather this week and get out on the lake to fish.

Social Distancing While Fishing

There has been a noticeable different in lake activity during the virus period this year. With the schools closed the boat and PWC activity during the week has increased significantly and unfortunately many if not most of the added traffic appears to have no knowledge of the rules of the water and the courtesy that should be directed at others on the water.
Fishing has also been effected. I have increased my personal time on the water because it is a great way to practice social distancing while keeping myself busy while the rest of the world has stopped. Recently I witnessed another effect that the virus is having on lake fishing, a serious shortage in live bait. Bait suppliers normally deliver live bait to the local stores on Wednesday and Saturday, but last weekend with the fine weather predicted, must stores sold out of bait in a few short hours after they received it. I had planned to take out my Son and a friend of his on Monday and I expected that i could get my bait on Sunday morning but found that everyone was sold out. I found one distributor that had a few Striper shiners left so I took them, hoping that the larger size wouldn't bother the bass. I was wrong, the shiners were too large and the fishing was very slow. By the time I realized the problem it was late in the afternoon and I selectively looked for the smaller bait to finish the day and immediately got results. We caught several big crappie and ran into a nice school of bass just before quitting. My Son Craig and his friend Mike are shown with some of their catch.

Mike boated this nice channel cat in addition to several nice crappie. Lesson learned,,the size of the bait fish does matter, get the medium size shiners for the best results.

Channel catfish are bigger this year

Last summer I started to notice that the channel catfish that are normally somewhat of a nuisance on the lake but never were very big, maybe a pound or two, were starting to show a little more size. Lately I have also seen that trend continue. Yesterday I caught a channel that weighed in excess of 5 pounds and was 24 inches long. It also showed more fight than a normal channel.
                                                                     

                                                               Not only is it unusual to catch these larger channels but there seems also to be somewhat of a scarcity of the normal smaller channels. I have contacted some other catfishermen to see if they are observing the same situation but I have not received any answer that makes and scientific sense to me. If any reader is seeing the same situation, please contact me with your feelings.

Active bass and large shad schools again

Once again in a three hour trip, I was run out of bait by the active bass. I needed to work a little to find the fish but when found they kept me very busy. With one exception all the fish were god size, around 2 pounds or more.

As important as the fish, and I caught 10 bass, was the large school of shad that was visible near one of the groups of bass.

It was a good three hours. Tried some new hooks and found that some of the cheaper circles do not function as well as the more expensive ones. Had three gut hooks but fortunately they were on perch.

Water in the coves and creeks was clean dispite the week-end storms. 

All Species are Active on The Lake

The recent cooler weather has lowered the water temperature a little. It is now sitting around 65 degrees F and it seems like nearly every species is very active. The bass and crappie are in small groups. They are a little hard to find but when you do find them it gets exciting. Yesterday in a short period of fishing I ran into three groups of fish, mostly bass and crappie. The crappie were smaller than usual and the bass were the standard "cookie cutters" and I had several multiple hits at the same time. They all ran me out of bait in half an hour, despite the variable winds. Boating rules still seem to be a problem with some people but it seems that its worse than ever this year. Get out on the lake and stay safe and healthy.

Family Social Distancing

Took my Grandson Anthony out Thursday. The wind was a little heavier than I desired but we managed to get some nice fish. In two hours he caught 10 nice bass, three crappie, one big catfish and a couple perch, all on live bait. See photos below.

The fish are very active and hitting hard. They seem to be in small groups as the spawn has started. Get out and fish, the action is great.

Hot Fishing During the Spawn

Social distancing is a good opportunity to get out on the lake for some great fishing. The past ten days have provided me some of the best fishing that I have seen in several years. The most interesting fact is that the shad seem to be coming back into the coves and I am seeing large schools of bass that are feeding heavily. What a wonderful image on sonar to see the action below.

All six lines went down when I saw this sonar image and I did manage to boat three nice bass and one channel catfish here. (Shown below)

My total for a two hour fish with fairly heavy wind was 17 bass, three catfish, two perch and one crappie. The day ended with this nice 18 pound blue cat. All these fish were caught with live bait, trollig at various depths, but most fish were caught below 20 feet deep.

Don't sit around, get out on the lake and get the fresh air and a lot of action.

Good News on Hybrids

For those of you that fish the south end of the lake in Davidson or Reeds creeks, there is evidence that the hybrids have finally moved south into these areas. I have picked up one or two each day with live bait in 30 feet of water.

I have also begun to see some schools of shad in these same areas. Not as many and not as big schools but at least the shad are coming back into the coves and creeks at the south end. Unfortunately with the warm week end, it seems like a lot of inexperienced boaters are back out on the lake making a mess with little or no knowledge of the rules of the water. Week-end fishing will soon have to stop I'm afraid, unless it is in the early morning. Br healthy and safe on the water.

Signal of The Beginning of The Spawn

Yesterdays 2 hour trip was another great success and it pointed to signs that the bass spawn has started. Fishing with golden shiners I hit two big schools of fish in 25 feet of water, I boated and released more than 30 bass and on several occasions missed fish that had bitten because of multiple hits at the same time.

While Talking to other anglers and dock fishermen I was also told that there were several bass on beds close to shore. This would indicate that the big males are working on the nests while the females are actively feeding in schools in the deeper water. The bites were very aggressive and I got several multiple  hits.
I have always suggested that anglers stay away from the nests during the spawn. This is an example of how fishing can continue without bothering the active spawners.

Check Your Hook Selection

At a recent fishing lecture we hears a short discussion about the right selection of fish hooks. I have always preached the use of circle hooks because they are a necessity for catch and release anglers. The theory of the circle hook is simple and is shown on the illustration below.

On a typical Jay hook shown at the bottom illustration, the fish swallows the hook and as force is applied by the anglers retrieve, the hook lodges in the gut of the fish. We call this being gut hooked. In the top illustration, after the fish swallows the hook, the small inward curve at the tip of the hook is such that it simply comes out of the gut when pressure is applied. As the fish starts to bend its head back and forth as they always do, the hook sets itself in the top or side of the mouth of the fish where little or no damage is done.
Part of the recent discussion concerned the size of the hook that is appropriate for Lake Norman, and what size is normal for catfish. My theory is a little different from some that have been expressed. For normal fishing on this lake I believe a number 1 or better yet a 1/0 is adequate for all fish in this water. If you are specifically fishing only for catfish, you can go up to a number 4 circle and that hook will catch any catfish in the lake.
Some anglers go as high as a number 8 or even 10 circle for catfish. This is my theory. Blue cats, that are the biggest ones in the lake, like to munch on the bait for a second or two before they decide to take off with it. I your hook is too big they will feel it and let go. So for specific fishing for catfish, you want a hook that has a GAPE that is large enough to easily fit around the hard muscle around the front of the mouth. I have found that a number 4 circle is more than adequate for the biggest cats in this lake. I have caught 40 pound cats with a number 1/0 circle with no problem so I recommend a smaller hook if you have a choice.
Remember, most break-offs come from a failed knot so be sure to wet your knot when making it, especially for mono line.

Bass are Getting Hot on The Lake

With the warmer temperatures finally coming in and signs of spring all around us, nature is telling the bass that the time has come again for the male fish to eat heavily to gain strength to permit them to work hard on the nest building. The females are also feeding more often to insure healthy egg production. Normally the spawn starts at water temperatures from 60 to 65 degrees F. Sometimes other of natures signs like budding trees and flowers also signals that time to the fish. Recent signs of fish activity on the sonar screen tells me that the time has come. These images indicate that the large bass are schooled in water depths from 10 to 25 feet and they are hitting live shiners consistently.
In a recent 2 hour trip, I boated 22 bass, 5 perch and a channel cat before I ran out of bait.