With the deep-water bite vanishing at High Rock, pounding piers is shallow water has become the norm at the lake. On any given day, a parade of fishermen marches along, flipping piers and docks along the shoreline.
Some fishermen avoid the pier pressure by fishing upriver., They motor to Potts Creek and the I-85 bridge and beyond.
Upriver fishing has much in common with pier fishing, only without the piers. The emphasis is still on a shallow bite with anglers flipping tree laps, bushes, rocks, logs, stumps and debris gathered along the bank. Spinnerbaits come into play for dirty water.
The upside to fishing upriver is less boating traffic, a scant number of piers, and usually bigger bass in better numbers.
The downside to upriver fishing is the hazardous run upriver, with a split channel divided by a huge grass-laden mud flat dotted with floating logs and other debris. Only the most-experienced fishermen run the river with the lake level more than 4 feet below full. The river can also be clear one day and crimson the next. Current flow dictates the quality of fishing. If there’s little flow, few fish are caught. Getting caught upriver during a storm can be dangerous.
If you disdain fishing piers and coping with heavy boating traffic, fishing upriver may be a productive alternative.
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