Monster Catch-Up Post

I've been fishing ... a lot! Here are a few highlights over late June and most of July to catch up.

We'll start with a visit to a small Piedmont flow east of Durham in search of a Roanoke bass with my bud Mack.




No Roanokes caught, just a few small largemouth and a "mountain" of sunfish, mostly on Mack's mini spook. Next up a quick after work trip to a favorite local flow in search of a few big largemouth. With only a few hours in an unfamilar section, I didn't catch many, but caught one on a new swimjig with a big hammer swimbait trailer.




I then caught a mixed bag at another (different) small Piedmont flow and kept a few crappie for the fam.







My bud Jeff and I got out on yet another (different) Piedmont flow with low/clear/hot conditions. We caught a few fish on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Jeff caught both of these right under my nose!





After a week at the beach with the family and no fishing, Steve invited me to a Piedmont creek I'd never fished for some bass and crappie action. We landed a few good bass and no crappie. Very interesting place and hope to try it again!





Headed back to that favorite small Piedmont flow and caught another mixed bag with a nice mess of crappie for the freezer/fryer including my personal best crappie.





Fhewww! Are we there yet??? Next up a small Piedmont flow east of Charlotte that I've never fished, but have been eyeballin' on the internet for years. A rather big disappointment with very shallow and sandy bottom mixed with rocks. I caught many sunnies and a few small bass, like this guy.




Last on this post was an attempt on the same river as Jeff and I fished earlier in this post, but this time the rain of the prior day was rushing through the section we selected about the time we dropped off the car at the takeout. Unfortunately, I didn't step back and punt, and instead launched into a muddy, high mess. I caught the only two fish of the day, including this guy on a Zoom frog back in a small feeder creek.




Well, that takes me up to last weekend where a good friend from my childhood drove up for some floating, fishing, and fun on one of the most fertile and scenic rivers in the Piedmont.