Smallmouth in the Piedmont ... who knew? Well, I didn't!

In my bio I mentioned that I got started fishing from a canoe with my dad on the James river in Virginia going after smallmouth. After moving back to NC a few years ago, I discovered a few great fishing websites that have helped me find new places to fish and some great people to enjoy those experiences with right here in my home state. They are as follows:

http://www.ncangler.com/

http://www.riverbassin.com/

In addition, I got a great book for Christmas a few years back - http://www.pocosinpress.com/

Paul Ferguson's book, Paddling Eastern North Carolina, has great information for canoeist, including: launch access, trip lengths, rapids, cautions, and points of interest & scenery. It's a great resource for canoeing any NC basin from the Yadkin east.

These resources have allowed me to discover some great rivers that I've never fished before, some of which are within 1 hr drive from my house in Raleigh. The most surprising was that I could get to smallmouth bass waters within 2 hrs from Raleigh. In fact, there are multiple places to fish for smallmouth within that range. No more long trips to Virginia and buying another fishing license just to find some smallmouth!

Last year I visited a few of these rivers and ended up landing 3 smallies around 17". I'd never caught any smallie over ~2lbs up until last year and to get 3 approaching 3lbs each in one year was pretty awesome, at least for me. Although one of these fish was caught in the Potomac basin while visiting the inlaws, my "luck" with big smallies has greatly improved. For trips I made in NC, not only did I catch many smallies (including 2 great fish), but I lost 3 others that were easily my best smallmouth ever.

First smallie trip was in late June and I landed this 17" smallie on a t-rigged purple Yum grub. This was the first time I fished this river and altough I had heard smallies were in this area, I was shocked that was able to catch one this big on my first trip. It was 100 deg F that day and all of the fish caught were hanging in the shade next to current breaks, including this guy. The photo below was on a solo float in mid September on the Monocacy river in Maryland. This is a relatively small river, and again, I was shocked to catch a smallie of this size. I landed this one on a rebel craw crankbait. I had just tied it on and tossed it out to test the settings on my baitcaster. As soon as I began to reel it got slammed! The photo below is from a late September trip I took with a colleague. We actually floated two sections of the same river over two days and camped at a state park. By day two we had figured out a pattern with relatively dull colored spinnerbaits and I landed this fat 17" smallie on a yellow & blue mini strike king spinnerbait. It was tied to my ultralight with 4 lb line! My colleague brought a similar sized smallie to the boat on the same lure shortly after and it got off before we could get it in the boat for a photo. On this same trip I missed a very large smallie (est @ 5lbs) and landed the 16" spotted bass pictured below.

All in all, I had a great year for smallmouth and am now convinced the smallmouth fishing in NC is just as good, if not better, than any trip I've taken in Virginia. In 2011, I hope to get out and land a few more of these scrappy river bronzebacks.

Back to the Well

Air Temp:  55, warming to near 70 deg F
Sunny Skies
Water:  58 deg F, Stained (~2-3 ft visibility)

Boat:  Old Town 119
Lures Used:  Spinnerbait, T-rigged Yum grub, Rapala Shad Rap, Cotton Cordell Spot, Rebel Craw
With the success of my last excursion, I decided to fish the same river today.  Launched before sunrise and tried to catch a few on topwater.  Wasn't getting any strikes, so I quickly went to the spinnerbait and landed one in my hotspot from last trip.  Also caught this guy on the Yum grub

After being stalked by a coyote (not a joke), I decided to move on and shortly thereafter landed my personal best river largemouth at 6.5-7 lbs.  Caught this fat mamma on a rapala shad rap.  There was a rather large fish tail showing in the gullet and she was still chasing fish!

Keep switching lures to see what was hot.  Caught fish on all lures listed in the opening of this post, ~20 bass in total.  Here are a few of them. 

The bite shutdown around 10 am and I paddled back to the launch to pack it up.  Good morning on the water with awesome weather and a few really nice fish.  I think I've found one of my favorite spring holes.

-Jeff

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 ...

Let's Get Started!

First blog, first post. 

Below is photo of my solo canoe.  It's an Old Town Guide 119 customized for fishing.  It's equipped with a custom seat and anchor systems front and rear.

-Jeff