East Central NC Archives - Page 16 of 112

Tommy Short has made thousands of hair jigs in all colors, and he believes the size is more important to getting a crappie to bite than the color.

Jig size may matter more than color to crappie, veteran angler says.

Selecting the correct jig size depends on the conditions, with wind and water depth major players. […]

Guide Steve Pietrykowski finds most of the crappie he catches out of Lake Hartwell in March along creek channels that the fish use for their annual move from deep water in the winter to the shallow areas where they will spawn later in the spring.

Travel Hartwell’s slab highways to great prespawn catches

Working his way under a bridge and back into one of Lake Hartwell’s feeder creeks, Steve Pietrykowski had his attention divided between the depth finder on his pontoon boat and the water in front of him. […]

Tar River Reservoir has some of the best crappie fishing in North Carolina.

Slab happy – For big crappie in eastern North Carolina, try the Tar River Reservoir

Mike Marsh

Just as anglers do in early spring, Tar River Reservoir suffers mood swings. One day, the water is clear. The next day, it rains, bringing muddy runoff surging down its feeder creeks. […]

Lake Wylie is producing plenty of nice blue catfish like this one caught by James Moore of Westminster.

Make a game plan before you take on Lake Wylie’s blue catfish

Phillip Gentry

James Moore of Westminster, S.C., will readily admit that he doesn’t consider Lake Wylie as one of his home lakes, but every time he goes there, he does well catching blue catfish. […]

In March, Jeff Cronk finds plenty of reds behind the barrier islands close to Bogue, Bear and Browns inlets, and in the surf outside those inlets.

Go to school on red drum

Craig Holt

The calendar flips to March about two months before saltwater fishing heats up for most inshore and nearshore species along North Carolina’s central coast, but guide Jeff Cronk of Swansboro’s FishN4Life Charters stays on top of a red drum bite that never seems to end and never seems to stop changing. […]

Stripers are just one species of the mixed bag coming out of Lake Thurmond in the cold weather.

Winter Wonderland – Lake Thurmond giving up plenty of fish

Brian Cope

Lake Thurmond is giving up a mixed bag to anglers who are braving the cold weather. Catches include everything from white perch, crappie, stripers, hybrids, largemouth, and flathead catfish, and all these fish are mixed in together chasing schools of bait throughout the lake. […]

Should we reintroduce elk to South Carolina’s Upstate?

Brian Cope

You wouldn’t know it now, but at one time, herds of wild elk roamed certain portions of South Carolina’s Upstate. The big animals – the largest in the deer family – were wiped out of the Palmetto State in the late 1700s. […]

GPS tracking collars allow hunters like Eric Braselton to keep up with the movements of beagles on a rabbit hunt.

GPS collars have helped rabbit hunters

Pete Rogers

GPS collars have been a game changer for rabbit hunters, allowing them to know within a few feet exactly where their dogs are running. […]

A pack of beagles in the dog box is raring to go in cottontail rabbit territory.

Training collars can tone down disobedient beagles

Pete Rogers

Training collars for dogs, also known as “shock collars” can be the difference between a poor dog and a great dog, according to rabbit hunter Eric Braselton, who said using them is “essential” for good training. […]

Tagging fish helps Jeff Manning and other fishermen follow the growth and movement of catfish.

Tag big catfish for tell-tail information

Terry Madewell

Jeff Manning and Dieter Melhorn are staunch believers in tagging and releasing their larger catfish. The tags, obtained through the Catawba Catfish Club, are numbered to identify the fish and have contact info to report recaptures to share information. […]