Other winter bass wonderlands: Shearon Harris, Norman

Bass fishermen can’t go wrong including 4,100-acre Shearon Harris Lake and 32,500-acre Lake Norman in their search for winter action.

Shearon Harris, off US 1 between Raleigh and Sanford, is another winter stronghold for bass and like Kerr and Gaston, it doesn’t feature a warm-water discharge that influences the fishing.

Former guide Richard Szczerbala of Apex looks for bass at the backs of creeks as the water temperature falls in the winter, keying on dead grass. The critical factor is the presence of forage.

Szczerbala includes spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits among his search baits for bass since they can be fished quickly.

“They’re reaction baits,” said Szczerbala. “In the winter, I’m looking for reaction bites.”

Not all winter bass inhabit the shallows at Harris. In early December, he said fishermen might come across schools of bass on the main lake.

“That’s the time to get out the Alabama rig,” said Szczerbala, who said a jigging spoon also comes into play when a fisherman’s electronics show big balls of shad in 12 to 15 feet of water.

“Fish a jigging spoon vertically by dropping it through the pods of shad,” he said.

The search for winter bass at Lake Norman, on the Catawba River north of Charlotte, begins and ends at one of two warm-water discharges — “hot holes” — the Marshall Steam Station at mid-lake near the NC 150 bridge and the McGuire Nuclear Station at the lower end of the lake near Cowans Ford Dam.

The warm-water discharges from both hot holes increase the water temperatures in the immediate area and nearby creeks. The warm water draws in baitfish, which in turn attract larger predators.

“The colder the weather, the better the fishing at the hot holes,” said guide Gus Gustafson of Lake Norman Ventures. “The cold water in the lake compels the fish to seek the warmer water in the hot holes.”

The hot holes are subject to heavy fishing pressure, even during the winter. To counter this problem, many fishermen downsize to spinning gear, with reels spooled with 6-pound line to get the skittish fish to bite.