Carolina rigs are top lures for Triangle bass

With the arrival of June and hot temperatures, largemouth bass have gone into deep-water patterns at the Research Triangle area’s three major lakes — Jordan, Falls of the Neuse and Shearon Harris.

“Anywhere you go now, fish are going to be deep,” said New Hill’s Jamie Olive of Haulin’ Bass Guide Service (www.haulinbass.com, 919.625.0707).

Harris Lake, which should be a dominant body of water for summertime bass, remains something of a mystery as anglers are having tough days.

“But anywhere you fish right now, Harris, Jordan, Falls, will be pretty much the same,” Olive said. “Fish should be stacked up on main lake and secondary points near some kind of (underwater) structure. At all three lakes, they’ll be from 16 to 18 feet deep, especially along creek and river channels that have stumps or rocky bottoms. That’s where baitfish are for the most part.”

Olive said anglers might get lucky if they get on the lakes early enough to detect a topwater bite.

“I’ll have a Pop-R tied on in case I see them breaking on top, but that’s been pretty rare,” he said. “Secondary points seem to be where a lot of topwater action is happening.”

After the sun rises, he’ll switch to medium-diving to deep-diving crankbaits.

“I use the crankbait as a location lure, then when I find some fish, we switch over to Carolina rigs,” he said. “It seems like most of the bass are getting caught on Carolina rigs.”

He likes to cast Deep Creek MT worms, about 6 inches in length, with his Carolina rigs “because they’re floaters,” Olive said. “They have good movement down deep.”

If he’s fishing at Jordan or Falls, he uses Junebug color with his soft-plastic lures and green-pumpkin at Harris.

“I use a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce barrel weight with my Carolina rigs, but leaders can be from 18 inches to 4 or 5 feet,” Olive said. “Sometimes they like a short leader and sometimes a real long one. A good rule of thumb is to start with 2 feet then adjust when you start getting bit.”

Bass are running from short sizes (less than 14 inches) to 7 1/2 and 8 pounds, Olive said, at all three lakes.

“The bite can occur at any time, early or late or in the middle of the day, but I like it best when it’s overcast,” he said.