Striped bass and spotted bass are the two main targets for anglers at Lake Norman during December.
“After the warm fall, (water) temperatures are starting to get back to striper range (60 degrees) at Norman,” said guide Craig Price of Denver. “We’re finding fish mainly at the northern end of the lake because the big fish kill of the summer affected stripers mostly at the southern end of the lake.”
Price said striped bass are oriented at the main (Catawba) river channel or follow big schools of baitfish into the northern feeder creeks.
“We’re finding them from the surface down to 35-feet deep,” said Price (704-996-0946, www.fishonlakenorman.com).
He trolls big shad and alewives for deep fish but keeps several rods rigged with bucktails, jigs and topwater lures in case rockfish decide to attack nearby surfacing bait schools.
“Spotted bass, though, might be the hottest (species) on the lake right now, although I don’t target them,” Price said. “They’re going wild all over the lake.”
Spots generally are a nuisance for him, Price said, because they harass his live baits, generally not being large enough to swallow alewives and herring.
“You can target spots with smaller live baits or cast crankbaits, such as Rat-L-Traps, that run 12- to 18-feet deep,” he said.
Spotted bass sizes at Norman run from one-half to 3 pounds, as a rule, with trophy fish in excess of 4 pounds.
“There’s plenty of white perch anywhere you find schools of threadfin shad, too,” he said. “And catfish will be underneath them, especially flatheads.”
Lake Norman, just north of Charlotte, has blues and flatheads, weighing from 20 to 50 pounds. Bottom fishing with cut bait is the best way to target blues while flatheads prefer live bait.
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