Falls is hottest Triangle lake

For several reasons, Triangle-area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) bass anglers are having their best luck at Falls of the Neuse Lake now instead of Jordan and Harris lakes. Normally the three lakes consistently produce outstanding largemouth results, but fall changes each of the impoundments.

“Jordan’s been really tough and (Shearon) Harris apparently has ‘turned over,'” said guide Jamie Olive of New Hill. “Nobody’s having much luck (for largemouths) at Jordan, and the grass is dying at Harris and nothing’s happening. We went to Harris the other day and zeroed.”

However, Falls Lake is supplying some consistent catches, Olive said, if not many lunker bass.

“We went to Falls last week and had a couple of really good days,” he said. “I had a guide trip Friday then helped a friend of mine get ready for a tournament. We had 20-plus days both times.”

Olive said he and his friends used Carolina-rigged and Texas-rigged plastic worms and shaky head worms.

“I’m also using a new plastic lure from Deep Creek lures called a Shaky-Rag,” he said. “It’s kind of like a small trick worm. It works best on cloudy or overcast days.”

Olive has been casting the lures in grape and Junebug colors along with “tomato” color (red with black flake). “I think it’s also called ‘spicey strawberry,'” he said.

Top places to find bass at Falls Lake include main lake points with 10- to 14-feet deep water that have structure (rocks and stumps) on the bottom.

“You’ve got to get your (lures) in the stuff,” Olive said. “If you fish a foot or two on either side of the cover, you won’t get bit. You’ll hang (the bottom) a lot, but that’s where you need to fish.”

Most of Falls Lake’s current bass are sub-slot (16-inch minimum length) fish, “but occasionally you’ll get a good solid 3- to 3 1/2-pounder,” he said. “But there’s not many keepers.”

N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologists have requested the minimum-size limit of Falls Lake bass be dropped to 14 inches next year to reduce the number of small bass in the lake and to boost growth rates.