NC River Black Bass Slam

There are only a few rivers in NC (that I'm aware of) where you can catch all three black bass species in one outing.  Those species include: largemouth, spotted bass, and smallmouth bass.  During my last trip, I unexpectedly accomplished this feat with some quality fish in two of the categories.

I actually fished on a Wednesday, which is very unusual.  After reviewing the weather forecast, river conditions, work calendar, and vacation balance, I made the decision to make a 2+hr drive to visit a Piedmont smallmouth river I've done well in previously.

I pulled out of the driveway around 5:10 am and launched around 7:30 am.  Conditions to start were a chilly 50 deg with fog and no wind.

I started by throwing a small buzzbait and zara spook.  After a few hours of paddling and no strikes, I decided to switch it up.  I switched to a small spinnerbait that worked well there previously.  I landed one small smallmouth on the spinnerbait.  I also tied on a green weightless senko and landed about 4 small spotted bass in one area, including this guy ...

I continued upstream to a tributary river and found very clear water and mostly shallow water.  I lost my spinnerbait and decided to try a rebel craw crankbait.  I landed a spotted bass and a small smallie on the first two casts with the craw. 

At that point, it was bright sun and in the mid 70's (beautiful!).  I had begun my float back down the tributary to the main river and tossed my craw into a fairly deep hole.  As the lure approached the canoe, I saw two large smallmouth chasing it, but they turned away at the last second.  I anchored up on the opposite bank where I had great visibility of this deep clear hole.  I tied on a weightless white superfluke on my light spinning rod.  On my 4th cast into the this hole I saw a nice smallie zoom right out to the fluke, pause to eye-ball it for a split second, and inhale it.  This was 10 ft from the boat and just awesome to witness.  I set the hook and landed the fish below.  I also landed a tiny spotted bass in the same hole on the fluke after two attempts to inhale a lure maybe half the size of the fish. 

I continued to the mouth of the tributary and tossed my fluke near a deep hole and laydown.  I saw a flash near the lure and thought I had a strike and set the hook.  Turned out to be this nice ~3 lb largemouth!  That was a big, but welcome, surprise.

The rest of the afternoon I floated the main river and tried various lures with few strikes.  As the sun set, I switched to one of my favorite buzzbaits and landed 4 smallmouth, including the one below, my best this year. 

I took out a 5:30 pm.  It was a long day on the water, but lots of fun and well worth a vacation day.  I hope to get out a few more times this fall before the cold weather settles in and all the holiday activities arrive.