Shellcrackers are spawning this month, putting them within reach of most Lake Tillery’s fishermen.
Rusty and Rosco Bowers of Albemarle got hooked on fishing during their high-school years, but not in the manner conceived by the tackle industry’s “Hooked on Fishing” program.
The two brothers viewed themselves as modern day Huck Finns, and like Mark Twain’s freckled-faced youth, they decided one day to play hooky from school and go fishing in a creek that fed Lake Tillery not too far from their home.
At the creek, the two boys stood wide-eyed with amazement. By luck, they had stumbled upon a huge colony of redear sunfish, aka shellcrackers, bedding in water so shallow they could almost reach out and touch the stunning, olive-colored fish with yellow bellies and distinctive scarlet-orange gill flaps after which they are named.
Although they became ardent bass fishermen in later years, they remained “hooked on shellcrackers” and refined their methods for catching the elusive panfish.
Fishermen who target shellcrackers comprise a close-knit community of dedicated anglers, small in number compared to the throngs of anglers pursuing bass, crappie and trout — and most would like to keep it that way. A shellcracker can pry open a hardened mollusk easier than one can get a shellcracker fisherman to open his mouth and reveal his secrets.
The Bowers brothers gradually learned their lessons, the most-important one being that you can’t catch shellcrackers with methods traditionally used for catching bluegill and other sunfish. In fact, they’re much harder to catch than the average sunfish.
“You won’t catch many shellcrackers going down the bank tossing a bobber and bait or artificials,” Rusty Bowers said. “They’re bottom feeders and want the bait right near the bottom. If the bait’s too high, they won’t bite it.
“They also prefer natural bait over artificials, though I once caught a shellcracker with a rubber worm.”
Alhough shellcrackers have been caught by fishermen using 1/16-ounce jigs and by fly fishermen using tiny flies, they’re much more likely to feed on crickets or live worms — but not just any wigglers.
“The best bait we’ve found is a nightcrawler,” Rusty Bowers said. “Some guys use red worms, but we’ve caught more fish with nightcrawlers.”
The presentation of the worm is critical, too. The brothers free-line the bait — no weights, bobbers or other accessories — and thread the worm on the hook so that the worm hangs straight. The point of the hook is barely exposed.
“If you wad up the worm on the hook, you won’t get bit,” said Rusty. “The worm must hang straight. They won’t hit tiny pieces of worm either, so use half or a whole nightcrawler.”
If there’s a breeze, Rosco Bowers crimps a BB-sized split-shot on his line, but nothing heavier.
Knowing when to fish for shellcrackers is also essential. Once shellcrackers complete spawning and return to water 25 to 35 deep, they’re almost impossible to catch. That leaves a narrow window of opportunity for shellcracker action.
“The best time for shellcrackers is from April through June,” Rusty Bowers said. “For newcomers to the sport, I’d recommend fishing during the full moons in April (15) and May (14). That’s your best chance of catching fish.”
Around those moons, males congregate to create nests close together in colonies, with the females visiting to lay eggs. This spawning ritual usually takes place in less than a foot of water, so the fish are well within range of fishermen’s offerings if they’re presented properly.
Shellcrackers prefer shallow, hard bottoms, feeder creeks, stumps, roots, elodea grass, and other aquatic vegetation.
“I always key on wood,”Rusty Bowers said. “Fish any tree or stump in shallow water.”
Fishing success improves if the fish are found in semi-stained or clear water.
“If you can see them, then the fishing is like sight-fishing for bass,” said Rosco. “You can position your boat back off of them and place the bait right in their beds and wear them out.”
Fishermen had better seize the moment. Shellcrackers can be there one day and gone the next, as the Bowers have experienced. They cite one outing when they stumbled upon a throng of spawning shellcrackers that soon exhausted their small supply of worms.
“The next day we came back to that spot with plenty of worms, but the fish were gone,” Rusty Bowers said. “We didn’t get a bite all day.”
Last May, Rusty, Rosco, and their 3-year-old granddaughter Brynley Bowers missed the prime time for big shellcrackers at Tillery. They arrived about a week before the full moon and caught average-sized fish in small nooks and creeks in the Morrow Mountain State Park area of Tillery. The water was dingy from recent rains hampering efforts at sight-fishing.
They still caught more than a dozen decent fish for the frying pan, with Brynley leading the way by cranking in several fish.
“If you get a chance, take a kid shellcracker fishing,” said Rosco. “It’s a great way to keep youngsters out of trouble.”
On their next trip, the brothers caught 31 shellcrackers up to 1 pound, and much to their surprise, most of the fish struck Charlie Brewer slider jigs.
Although redear sunfish are native to North Carolina, they’re not found in all waters. If waters house good numbers of aquatic clams, snails, or black-and-white mussels, shellcrackers are likely to be present. It’s the size of redear sunfish that often shocks fishermen unfamiliar with this species.
The redear is not the puny little sunfish often seen swimming in the shallows near docks and brush that struggle to reach a pound. Redear of that size are commonplace, and 2-pound fish are not unusual in Lake Tillery.
Rosco Bowers said his biggest shellcracker from Tillery weighed two pounds, 13 ounces; Rusty Bowers’ biggest weighed two pounds. They’ve seen a stringer of 2-pound fish come out of Tuckertown. Raynell Bowers, Rosco’s spouse, said she’s seen 2 1/2-pound shellcrackers caught at Badin directly across from Palmersville.
The state record is a 4-pound, 15-ounce shellcracker taken from a private pond in Edgecomb County on May 19, 2008. A potential world-record fish was caught in February from Arizona’s Lake Havasu. It weighed 5.78 pounds.
For their size, shellcrackers are a handful if caught on light tackle.
“It wouldn’t do for them to get to be the size of a bass because they really pull,” said Rosco Bowers, who is not alone in admiring the fighting capabilities of the redear sunfish. One outdoor writer from Arkansas described the shellcracker as “the George Foreman among sunfish.”
Like most fishermen who target shellcrackers, the Bowers brothers arm themselves with light spinning rods and reels or spincast gear.
“The old Zebco 33 spincast reel works fine,” said Rosco Bowers, who said lost fish caused he and Rusty to switch from 6- and 8-pound to 10-pound test line.
“I moved up to 10-pound line because too many fish broke off with the lighter lines,” Rusty Bowers said. “In shallow water, the fish have nowhere to go but swim around snags.”
They complete their rigs with No. 5 Eagle Claw Largo 2X bait hooks.
Rusty Bowers favors bronze hooks rather than those with gold finishes, believing the glare from the brighter hooks might limit the bites.
Because of their size, shellcrackers have been rated as excellent table fare. The fish yield thick filets that are perfect for grilling or frying with salt and pepper, seasoning and cornmeal mixtures.
Shellcracker fishing helps fishermen recall that magic moment in their youth when they became captivated by the pull of their first fish, but it also gives them an opportunity to catch a fish that’s not only challenging to catch but much bigger and feistier than the typical sunfish.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
WHERE TO GO/WHEN TO GET THERE — Lake Tillery is at the southern end of the Yadkin River system. East of Albemarle and Norwood and bounded on the north by Morrow Mountain State Park and the Uwharrie National Forest, it forms the border between Stanly and Montgomery counties. The best access a public ramp on the east side of the NC 24/27 bridge. Other public ramps are at Lower Richland Creek off NC 1110 at the west side off of Lake Shore Drive and in Morrow Mountain State Park. Shellcracker fishing is best from April through June. The fishing peaks for size and numbers of fish in April and May around the full moons.
TECHNIQUES/TACKLE — Anglers should use light spinning tackle and 8-to 10-pound line, threading half of a nightcrawler onto a No. 5 hook with the worm left hanging straight on the hook. Other baits include small jigs, flies, crickets and red wigglers. Fish the far reaches of creeks targeting trees and stumps in less than three feet of water.
GUIDES/FISHING INFO — Yadkin Lakes Guide Service, 336-249-6782; Joe’s Bait & Tackle, Albemarle, 704-982-8716. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Stanly County Chamber of Commerce, Albemarle, 704-982-8116; Morrow Mountain State Park offers camping facilities and family vacation cabins, 704-982-4402.
MAPS — Kingfisher Maps, 800-327-0257, www.kfmaps.com.
Be the first to comment