Find the warmest water, fish slowly and enjoy some excellent fishing.
It is so easy to sit inside and watch fishing shows on television during the frosty days of February. Armchair anglers can relax in warm living rooms and dream of warmer days on the water to come.
But Mike Russell of Archdale and his son, Chester, 15, couldn’t wait for spring to catch a bass. So on a sunny Saturday in February, the trailered the family bass boat to Badin Lake.
“Badin has a reputation for some good bass early in the season,” Mike Russell said. “I like to use a jerkbait. Just keep it shallow and bump it along slowly.”
About the middle of the morning, Chester followed his father’s advice. He tied on a jerkbait in rainbow trout color next to the bank and landed a solid 5-pounder during their father-and-son adventure on a scenic lake in the Uwharrie mountains.
Fishing Badin Lake during the winter can be an adventure. Bass fishermen can pick lakes where it’s easier to catch bass, including several with warm-water discharges from power plants: Norman, Hyco, Belews and Shearon Harris. Yet few lakes can match Badin’s scenery, as this Yadkin River impoundment meanders through the gentle slopes of the ancient Uwharries.
Built in 1917, the Narrows Dam converted a deep Yadkin River gorge through the mountains into Narrows Reservoir, better known today as Badin Lake. Most of the 115 miles of shoreline borders the wilder woods of the Uwharrie National Forest. Other sections flow past palatial lake houses with plenty of docks to target Badin is part of the Yadkin-Pee Dee river system that runs from the mountains near Blowing Rock to Winyah Bay near Georgetown, S.C.
Besides being the oldest, this 5,350-acre reservoir is the deepest of all the Yadkin lakes with sections almost reaching 200 feet deep. Most times, Badin is the clearest lake in the Yadkin chain. It can muddy up after heavy rains or snow runoff.
Daniel Threadill, 32, who fishes for a bass club from Troy, fished the same day as the Russells, found some 50-degree water and caught a five-fish limit on chartreuse and orange crankbaits in 8 to 15 feet of water.
“You need some lure colors that will show up in all of this mud,” he said. “I cast around docks, tree laps and rocks.”
All of the fish bit between 9 and 11 a.m., he said. His biggest fish came in at just under 3 pounds.
Threadgill said persistence is the key to catching Badin Lake bass in February. Never give up when the fish do not bite. Just come back and try again on another day.
“I never winterize my boat; I just keep fishing,” he said. “I fished three times this month and this is the first day that I got a bite. You can’t catch fish unless you practice.”
Threadgill has fished Badin for 20 years. He knows the bass will spawn once the water tops 62 degrees, and he knows what to do when that happens. Once the water begins to warm in March, he will go shallow with soft plastics.
“The colder the water the later the spawn,” he said.
The same Saturday last February, Jack Watts and Larry Stauch of Albemarle boated a 20-pound stringer to beat 26 other teams during a wildcat tournament. Their five fish included one that almost made 6 pounds. They culled about 15 bass to get a limit.
“This lake changes every day,” Watts said. “Two days ago I fished here and never got a bite. This time of year, the best thing you can throw is a jig.”
A black/blue jig with matching trailer worked for Watts when the fish started biting around 11 a.m. Knowing where to throw that jig is the key to catching fish. The best way to figure that out at Badin in February, Watts said, is to watch the water temperature reading on the depth finder.
According to Watts, finding warmer water is the key. He and Stauch fished shallow while watching the water temperature, which never topped 50 degrees all day.
“The most important thing is to find pockets of warm water because three or four degrees can make a big difference,” he said. “These fish are trying to move up shallow to feed. We found balls of shad all over the lake.”
Stauch said anglers should slow down for winter bass at Badin. He can land bass with crank baits, spinner baits or Alabama rigs. However, no one can land fish in a hurry from this lake during the winter, he said.
“A lot of people make the mistake of going down the bank too fast at this time of year,” he said. “Use smaller baits and fish them slower on the sunny side of the lake.”
A bonus of winter fishing at Badin is the lack of boat traffic. You don’t have to share the lake with the ski boats and jet skis who enjoy the water during warmer months.
Watts said serious bass anglers can do more than beat the winter blues at Badin.
“You will catch your biggest bass of the year at Badin from now until the middle of March,” he said.
Mike Kinard and Tony Lambert of Richfield were tournament winners on Sunday last February, fishing jerkbaits and retrieving them slowly in the Garr Creek area. The bass began to bite at 10 a.m.
“We caught them all in about an hour,” Lambert said. “Look for bait on the depth finder. Throw a black and gold jerkbait. Just crank it down, twitch it a little bit and let it sit.”
It feels guide when the fish bite hard and often. During the winter, anglers sometimes spend a lot of time between bites. Lambert does not catch fish on every trip, especially in February.
“I fished three times this month without a bite,” he said. “The bass are in transition right now as they move to their spawning areas. When the water is this muddy, you have to fish shallow.”
Cold, muddy water will not keep him away from the lake. Badin Lake is still worth the trip, he said, even on slow days.
Two more fishermen, Jeremy Talbert and Todd Haynes of Concord, like to fish a jig in shallow water along grassy shorelines, staying in 3 feet of water or less, winding up with a 5-fish limit that weighed 17 pounds, anchored by a 6-pound fish.
“We look for protected pockets in the grass,” he said. “Fish bite better out there. We found a ton of shad. This is one healthy lake.”
Badin has plenty of shoreline structure to target. Depending on the section, you can fish docks and piers, but stay on the lookout for large rock formations or grass beds on the shoreline. Along the forested shoreline, downed timber offers plenty of structure that attracts bait and bigger fish. A blowdown tree provided a thrill in the middle of the day for Talbert.
“I caught the big one off a laydown about noon,” he said.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — Badin Lake is downstream from Tuckertown Lake on the Yadkin River, with Denton the closest town on the east side of the lake and Albemarle the closest on the southwest side. NC 109 provides great access along the east bank, while NC 740 runs roughly parallel down the west side of the lake. Several popular public boat ramps are along NC 740, one close to Badin Dam. The Circle Drive and Lakemont ramps serve the east side of the lake. February and early March fishing can be excellent, as bass look for warming trends to move toward the shallows.
BEST TECHNIQUES — Fish slowly and look for warmer water, which can hit 50 degrees at this time of year. Rock formations, downed trees, grass beds and docks will often hold fish, as long as they’re close to warm water. Small crankbaits in bright colors will work, along with jerkbaits. Jigs are also very productive when bass move shallow, especially around docks and grassbeds.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Maynard Edwards, Yadkin Lakes Guide Service, 336-249-6782; Highway 49 Sporting Goods, New London, 704-463-7053; Sports Country, Denton, 336-869-3933. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Stanly County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 704-986-2583, www.visitstanly.com; Uwharrie National Forest for camping, 877-444-6777 or www.recreation.gov.
MAPS — Kingfisher Maps, 800-326-0257, www.kfmaps.com.
