Go to ‘school’ in the hot hole

Some canals or creeks that carry warm-water discharge away from power plants have restricted access to boats. The mouth of the warm-water discharge canal at Belews Lake, for example, is barricaded to keep boats out.

But if access to the actual canals or creeks is available, they’re often great places to fish. Boat traffic is one negative because the canals or creeks will attract a lot of fishermen, and several canals have bank-fishing areas established.

But sometimes, you can’t beat the action.

Guide Andy Fox said he’ll usually stay out of the Marshall Steam Station warm-water discharge canal on Lake Norman because of boat traffic, but if he catches a day when he doesn’t have a lot of competition, he’ll fish the actual canal.

“If I go in, I’ll try to go all the way in and let my boat just drift back out,” he said. “Sometimes, you can find fish schooling in there and catch them on a jerk bait. They’ve got to be pulling water, and the main thing I’ll be looking for is fish breaking the surface.

“You may be in there 30 or 40 minutes and not see anything, but then you’ll see two or three schools of fish feeding in there. And you can catch good fish — sometimes stripers, spotted bass and largemouths.”

Guide Jerry Neeley will go often go back into the two Lake Norman and two Lake Wylie hot holes, and he’s sure to have two different baits rigged for those trips.

“I’ll go back in there as far as they’ll let me, and I’ll sort of cruise around and see what’s there on my depth finder,” he said. “If the bait is on the bottom, I’ll fish around it with a spoon. If the bait is moving up, I’ll fish a topwater. I’ll keep two rods rigged with those baits.

“When the fish are breaking at the surface, you’ve got to be able to cast into them. There will be places they seem to break all the time; you’ve just got to learn them and be around them.

“You can rig a topwater bait with a little fly underneath it, or you can throw a bait like a Little Cleo or a Silver Buddy on 6- or 8-pound test and catch them. Sometimes you can catch them on a Fluke. But you’ve got to be able to cast into them when they come up.”