Long Time Coming

Jason is an old college friend and fellow engineer.  We spent many an evening in late night study/homework groups or cramming for a test.  We also managed to fish occasionally while attending NC State ... Sutton Lake in his hometown of Wilmington, James River in my birthplace of Richmond, and one particular evening trip to Lake Wheeler in my scanoe circa 1999 where Jason caught an absolute pig on a pop-r.  One unforgettable fish ...

Fast forward 6 years and we both are back in Raleigh.  On our last fishing trip, we got skunked at Harris one day back in 2006. 

Lately, he's been drooling over photos I post of river bass and begging for a chance to join me.  Over the last 3 years or so, I would occasionally call the night before a solo excursion to see if he was available ... which he never is.  Jason's busy social calendar cramps his professional fishing career.  :)

I finally penciled in an appointment with Jason for a 1/2 day trip on Sunday morning ... 5 am sharp!  We played phone tag until 8 pm on the prior Saturday night, where I told him to meet me at local gas station.

Jason didn't know what to expect and seemed nervous as we made our way to the river.  I think he was expecting to bushwack a mile through tick infested brush, only to find raging water and having to portage a few sets of rock gardens.  He was pleasantly surprised to find a nicely worn trail and calm clear water.

We launched around 6 am and found the fish very cooperative to start the day.  He fiddled with a small senko while I began to hammer the fish on a spook and fluke. 

 He quickly switched to a fluke as well and started picking up hungry bass left and right. 

With ~10 bass in the first hour, Jason was thinking we were going to have a 60 fish day; then we turned a corner and the bite died.  We picked up 2 bass and 10 bream in over 2 hours and decided to make our way back to our starting point.  As soon as we made it back, we quickly picked up more bass.  I also caught 2 nice crappie and one small pickerel to round out the day.  All said, we landed about 20 bass in 5 hours with several in the 3-4 lb class. 

Today was my day for catching, but we both had good fish and plenty of action as well as spotting a rare family of river otters.  If I had to guess, I think Jason is wondering when he can squeeze in another river trip ...

Guy's Weekend

My brother and I have been planning and pushing this camping excursion out through the spring, but it finally stuck on father's day weekend. We wanted a place to take our young boys to camp, canoe, fish, and chill. W. Kerr Scott was our choice at ~2.5 hrs from Raleigh (where I live) and ~1.5 hrs from Charlotte (where he lives).  The foothills location of Kerr Scott offers better scenery that we'd get in the Piedmont and slightly cooler weather.  Furthermore, Kerr Scott is special to us because our family would camp and waterski there at Bandit's Roost campground when we were both pre-teen/teenagers.  Visiting this area is nostalgic, at least for me.

I selected Warrior Creek, which is a newer site than Bandit's Roost, just to try it out.  Turns out the campgrounds are very similar, with Warrior Creek having a larger RV site ratio. I picked an RV spot on the west side, just off the Yadkin, in the upper headwaters of the lake. It was feasible to float from Ferguson or Marley's Ford to this location, but we chose not to do that float.

We arrived Friday afternoon, checked out the river, checked into the site, and setup camp ...



We hit swim beach with the boys and made a delicious grilled chicken dinner at the campsite, then settled in for s'mores, a few rounds of mad libs, and ghost stories.  Before it was all said and done, my 5 yr old conjured a story that included: zombies, ghosts, vampires, bats, pineapple seeds, and horseflies. It was a hoot.


Saturday we floated from the Kerr Scott dam down to Smoot park in N. Wilkesboro. The flow was up a little and the water was swift. There are many down trees on the bank of this section, which would be nice in low flow conditions, but at higher flows they all pose hazards.   I managed to catch 2 small spots and 2 smallies on spinnerbaits and bettlespins.



With the swift and stained water, the float was more canoe trip than fishing trip. My son finally gave up on asking to go swimming and conked out right in his canoe seat. He slept the rest of the way to Smoot.


Hot dogs for dinner Saturday night, cooked on the open fire ... yum!



Our campsite was next to an oxbow lake just off the river and had a nice grassy bank for fishing. Saturday night, my son landed a few bluegill, I got one bullhead cat, and my brother picked up a very nice crappie right at dusk while demonstrating the torpedo action to his son on his son's rod.



Sunday morning we paddled Keowee park area on the lake and caught a few small gills. Afterwards, we packed it up and headed out. My son and I swung by Brushy Mountain Smokehouse and Creamery for a delicious buffet lunch and free father's day ice cream before hitting the road back to Raleigh.


This was a great weekend with my brother and our sons. One I bet they'll remember, and one I'd like to make an annual trip.

New Water

For me, a big part of the thrill of river fishing is researching, finding, and exploring new water. After scrubbing satellite images and talking with friends about a river location for months, or even years, anticipation builds. Finally seeing the river, it's actual features and topography, is very exciting. With hundreds of rivers in my state, I could do this for the rest of my life and likely never see them all.

And as far as the fishing goes, it's always a surprise; sometimes good, sometimes not. Regardless of how many fish are caught, I'm always soothed by the gurgles of riffles, and the shreeks and chitter of wildlife.

The particular place I explored on Saturday is on a river I've fished many times, just not this particular section. I've been eyeballing it on the internet for years. Sitting in the recliner at night, pouring over satellite and roadside images from Google and Bing, studying the potential entrance points, looking for worn trails that lead to my next adventure.
　
My son woke us up around 3 am, startled by a nightmare. My wife checked on him and returned shortly thereafter. I was lying awake, thinking about the lures I'd packed in my car and whether I was taking the right rods and reels. Around 4 am, I rolled out of bed, downed a donut with milk and hit the road.
　
I arrived at the river around 5:45 am, just after first light, and could hear the rushing water of riffles beneath the bridge as I unloaded the canoe and gear. I launched into a huge rock garden, and started making my way downstream.

It took me almost 8 hours to cover 2.5 miles (5 roundtrip). This section had it all - very steep rock gardens, riffles, rock shoals, sand/pebble shoals, deep holes, wood laydowns, rock cliffs, sand bars. There were a few very nice pools where the depth approached 8-10 ft with adjacent wood. There were islands with large sandbars, perfect for camping.








　


The bass cooperated and about 25 were landed. I also landed about 20 sunfish (bluegill, green sunfish, and redbreast). My biggest bass was just over 16" and my best 3 totaled 46" in length. Nothing stellar, but overall a fun day. Most bass were caught on a weightless fluke or weightless lizard, both rigged with an Owner 5/0 twistlock hook. I work those weightless plastics fairly quick, twitching them on the surface. Almost all strikes are seen, which is exciting itself. I usually see the fish or see motion adjacent to the lure when they see it and make a move. This type of fishing is action packed and fairly fasted pace, which is the kind I like!
　



I've got a long list of new water (well, at least new to me) that I intend to fish. This trip checked one off. Another should come next weekend and I can't wait.