About Me

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Raleigh, NC
Born in Richmond, Virginia, grew up in Kernersville, North Carolina, and now reside in Raleigh. I attribute most of my fishing prowess to my father, who took me fishing often as a child. We would regularly do float trips on the James River in Virginia, which is where I learned to love canoeing and river fishing. Unfortunately, my father has passed, but he lives on through my passion for chasing fish from my canoes. I intend to pass this love for fishing and the outdoors onto my children and can't wait to share these experiences with them. I currently have 4 canoes: Customized Old Town Guide 119, Customized Mohawk 16 Royalex, Coleman Scanoe, and 12' Indian River Solo.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Raw Thumbs

Air Temp:  70 deg F
Sunny Skies
Water:  52-54 deg F, Stained (~1 ft visibility)

Boat:  Old Town 119
Lures Used:  Spinnerbait, Bettlespin, Pop-R, Super Spook Jr., Jigs

Those who have caught a slew of bass in one day will understand the title of this post.  I had a fantastic "winter" day on a small piedmont flow.  Hard to believe it's still winter with sunny 70 deg weather. 

So, onto the fishing ... I've never been to this spot before, but I'll definitely be back.  Managed to launch around 1 pm after a quick stop at Walmart to pick up another thermometer.  My previous thermometer is in the bottom of the Haw river. 
I hopped in and starting fishing.  Soon after I caught my first bass on a chartruese spinner bait.

Originally I was tempted to pass this area by and not fish it.  Good thing I didn't, because it turned out to be the hotspot for the day.  I fished it for ~30 min and landed ~10 bass, the best being this guy at about 2.5-3 lbs.

I lost the bite and started moving around.  I landed only one other fish in the next 3 hrs before deciding to head back to my hotspot.  Once back, I landed at least another 15 bass (stopped counting), again on the spinner bait.  There were a few rocks nearby, so I parked the boat and tied a bettlespin (with yellow curly tail) on my spinning rod.  I landed another 15 bass all in the same area, and at one time caught 4 in a row on each cast.  Also, managed two other bass in the 2.5-3 lb range.

With dusk eminent, I tied on a Pop-R to see if I could get a strike in the hot spot.  I managed one bass on the Pop-R and the bite died again.  I decided to jump back in the boat to try topwater in other areas.  I switched to a Super Spook Jr and started a slow twich near a rock ledge.  I got a missed strike, then a second strike and hooked up.  Turned out to be a nice sized crappie!  Yes, a crappie on a large top water plug! 

Thinking there may be more crappie in this area, I tied on a cork and crappie jig and ended up landing 3 more bass!  Unfortunately, I didn't catch anymore crappie and it was getting dark.  I paddled back to the launch and loaded up.

All in all, it was a great day on the water and great fishing.  My thumbs are raw and feel like sandpaper, but I'll take that anyday over a skunk.  Saw a heron, osprey, one large racoon, muskrats, and a large beaver.  This is some of his handywork ...
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