Warm-water discharge turns winter into perpetual spring for bass, fishermen
Among outdoors and non-outdoors people, bass anglers are considered, well, a little off kilter.
Forget the unending expenses of fishing — tackle, lures, fuel, food and drink — the financial burdens of boats, trailers and tow vehicles often exceed two mobile-home payments and four-year college tuition for the kids.
On top of that, silly husbands and boyfriends throw back nearly all the bass they catch. Don’t even keep enough fish for a decent meal.
But fishing in winter? When bass bite about as often as politicians turn down big donors? So why do guys bolt out the door at daylight to freeze their heinies off at frozen lakes? Is there free beer at the marina?
Not hardly.
Who could blame wives or girlfriends for complaining?
The craziest thing about dead-of-winter is the water usually is so cold that fish are so inactive that getting one to even look sideways at a lure is about as likely as hitting the Powerball jackpot.
Still, there are some special wintry waters that attract bass chasers as easily as a buzzbait grabs a bass’s attention in spring. One is 3,750-acre Hyco Lake in Person County, where the water temperature rarely drops below 50 degrees, even when people are trailering their boats to the ramp with snow chains on their tires.
Why is Hyco a “hot bed” of fishing activity, even during the coldest winters? Because Duke Energy’s giant coal-fired steam plant at Hyco — one of the 10 largest in the nation in terms of electricity production — circulates lake water to cool down the giant turbines and returns that warmed water to the lake through a hot-water discharge canal, which is the secret to Hyco’s winter bass fishing. It keeps most of the lake’s waters warmer than normal for a couple of miles up and down the lake.
“In winter, the lake’s water temperature probably stays in the high 60s in the canal,” said Barry Joyce, a retired N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission enforcement officer who owns and operates Hyco Marina and Outfitters near the NC 57 bridge that crosses the lake, about a half-mile from the Person-Caswell Water Authority boat ramps. “The water temperature in the rest of the lake varies from a low of 50 degrees to the high temperatures at the canal.
“But the water temperature isn’t uniform in winter,” Joyce said. “It’s warmer near the discharge canal, but that water doesn’t move up the lake; it flows toward the dam. In the upper lake, the water can be a lot cooler.”
David Peninger, a fishing buddy of Joyce’s, said with sub-freezing temps during recent winters, the upper reaches of the lake often have surface ice.
“Last January, Cobb’s Creek froze up,” he said.
When the air temperature falls below freezing for days on end, most Hyco bass thumpers concentrate on the rocky, shoreline structure with downed trees or boat docks in coves near Hyco’s hot-water canal.
“Hyco can be a hot bed of activity in winter, where other lakes may not have good fishing,” Joyce said. “Bass clubs, some from southern Virginia, hold tournaments nearly every weekend at Hyco in the winter.”
Peninger, who owns a Timberlake-based landscaping business and often fishes with Joyce, said when they fish together, they usually start out with different lures until they discover what the bass like that particular day.
Peninger starts with shallow-diving crankbaits or jerkbaits, while Joyce fishes light-weight Texas rigs and soft-plastic lures.
“We like to fish boat docks,” Joyce said. “Fish seem to orient at docks near the canal in winter, but they sometimes may get on rocky shorelines or laydowns.”
One neat thing about winter fishing at Hyco is an angler can practice just about any technique he wants to sharpen. That, d Peninger said, is because Hyco fishes as three different lakes in winter.
“You have your warm water (near the discharge canal), then the Hyco River and Cane Creek,” he said. “A lot of people call this part Three Fingers. It’s a whole ’nother world up there because the water’s so clear.”
Joyce said Rat-L-Traps seem to work best at Three Fingers while west of the Osmond Road Bridge — the shallow end of Cobb’s Creek — spinnerbaits are the top choice.
“One thing about bass-fishing in Hyco is that the larger fish seem to come from the clearer, shallower water,” Peninger said. “The problem in Osmond is it sometimes freezes over up there if it gets real cold.”
Cold water often drives bass deep, and that’s when Hyco’s larger fish sometimes congregate under baitfish schools.
“Sometimes in deeper water, you’ll see big bait balls,” Joyce said. “You can catch those bass on Alabama rigs, Rat-L-Traps or jerkbaits.”
“Sometimes they suspend over structure, like road beds,” Peninger said. “But if it’s a sunny day and things warm up, bass might move up on the docks in 5 or 6 feet of water, and you can throw shallow-diving crankbaits or plastic worms.”
Peninger uses rods built by Mike Riggs, another Timberlake resident, preferring 6 1/2- to 7-foot-3 lengths mated to Shimano reels spooled with 10- to 12-pound Red Label Seguar fluorocarbon line.
“I started using fluorocarbon 5 or 6 years ago,” he said. “I use it more for topwater or open-water fishing. I also like fluorocarbon for crankbaits because if you buy (a lure) that’s supposed to run 4 to 6 feet deep, it’ll let the lure run that deep. It’s also harder for fish to see, and I’ve noticed my catches increased after I started using fluorocarbon.”
He sticks to stronger 16- to 17-pound monofilament when fishing around brush or trees to reduce break-offs.
Joyce likes an old-school approach to bass fishing, sticking with a 5-foot-6, medium-light, pistol-grip rod popularized 40 years ago by bass pros when competitive fishing was in its infancy.
“I use 12-pound Berkley XT line with an old Quantum 1310 M6 rod that’s been rebuilt twice, and I like the (Abu Garcia) Revo MGX reels with a 7.6-to-1 (retrieve) ratio,” he said. “This rod just fits me.”
His favorite winter bass lure is a 6-inch Berkley Night Crawler Power Worm threaded into a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook.
But the secret to Joyce’s bass-fishing success isn’t equipment, but the way he rigs soft-plastic worms and how he responds to bass nibbles.
“I use a 1/16-ounce Texas-rig, bullet-weight sinker that’s not pegged,” said Joyce, who paints all his bullet weights the same color as his lures, in this case brown.
“I think a dark-colored worm with a silver bullet weight looks wrong to a bass,” he said. “I want the weight to look like it’s part of the worm. The same color weight makes the lure look bigger to a bass. I want the weight to look like an extension of the worm.”
His second secret is presentation — moving a worm slow as molasses on a frosty morning.
“I like to let the worm fall slowly because bass don’t like a fast-moving lure in the winter,” he said.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE/WHEN TO GO — From Burlington, take NC 119 north to Roxboro. From Hillsborough, take NC 57, and from Durham, take US 501. From there, take NC 57 west to Hyco. The public boat ramp is on Kelly Brewer Road, a half-mile off NC 57. The best bass fishing is November through March.
TACKLE/LURES — Medium-light baitcasting rods in 6 1/2- to 7-foot lengths, reels spooled with 10-pound fluorocarbon for open-water fishing or 15- to 17-pound monofilament for fishing brush or wood. Shallow and deep-diving crankbaits or plastic worms rigged don small bullet weights are great fished slowly around wooden structure or boat docks. Red- or yellow-fin Live Target tilapia crankbaits are popular because the lake’s forage base consists largely of tilapia.
FISHING INFO — Hyco Marina & Outfitters, 9500 Semora Rd., Leasburg, 336-599-2211, www.hycolake.com/hycomarina/. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Camping is permitted and the Person-Caswell Lake Authority (www.hycolake.org) also has rental cabins available.
FEES — Day-trip anglers must pay at $15 one-day boat-launch fee. Anglers also may purchase a $50 annual pass that expires Dec. of each year.
MAPS — Printed maps are available at the Person-Caswell Lake Authority boat launch, marina and campgrounds office. On-line maps are available at www.hycolake.com/maps.htm and www.fishingnotes.com/lakemaps.php?id=20006.
