May 2014 Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Carolina Sportsman

Cobia that move into the Broad River to spawn each spring are a different sub-species from those that spawn offshore in deeper water.

Cobia facts

Cobia were recently added to the listing of gamefish by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, joining spot-tail bass (red drum) and speckled trout. […]

Freshwater mussels of all sorts will attract shellcrackers, which can crack open the shells of the small clams with tooth-like grinders in their throats.

The redear sunfish: nature’s perfect nutcracker

Tony Garitta

The redear sunfish, known scientifically as Lepomis microlophus and informally as bream, stumpknocker, cherry gill, rouge ear sunfish, Georgia bream and shellcracker, is a slab-sided fish with a red or orange edge along its ear flap, a characteristic that distinguishes it from other sunfish. […]

Guide Buster Rush will hook live minnows twice — once through the eyes and then out the body — to help make the bait weedless when fishing around brush.

Minnows can be the key

Terry Madewell

Guide Buster Rush of Camden said that despite the typical success he has trolling on Fishing Creek Lake, fishing minnows vertically over and into brush will often be the key to success. […]

The saltwater nature of the Broad River is one factor that may be a big reason why so many cobia move in to spawn every spring.

The Broad “Non” River

John Gribb

The Broad River is not really a river. Rivers like the Broad, May and Colleton are actually fingers of saltwater extending far inland with very little influence from freshwater influx. […]

Being bigger on the average than other species of sunfish, shellcrackers are extremely welcome guests at any fish fry.

Recipes for redear sunfish

Tony Garitta

Redear sunfish make heftier and tastier filets than other sunfish mostly because of their larger size. They can be fried and grilled in a number of ways. […]

Pump-back operations between Jocassee, Keowee, and Bad Creek are often blamed for unstable water levels and poor spawning results at Jocassee.

Will fluctuating water levels doom Jocassee’s bass populations?

Phillip Gentry

While the history of Lake Jocassee’s trophy bass fishery is bright, many fishermen, including Monty McGuffin, are concerned with two factors that threaten to diminish its luster. […]

Josh Hooks took this nice Shearon Harris bass on a Chatterbait, a lure that works especially well in lakes with aquatic vegetation.

Chatterbait answer to bass in the grass

Craig Holt

One of Josh Hooks’ big secrets to catching bass out of Shearon Harris Lake’s grassbeds is a lure that every tournament fisherman has in his tackle box: a chatterbait. And they’re used effectively at times. […]

Lake Jocassee holds fishable populations of four black-bass species and produces trophy-sized fish for each, like this redeye, aka shoal bass.

Which bass is which?

Phillip Gentry

Largemouths are not the only black bass that call Lake Jocassee home. The smallmouth, redeye and spotted bass that live in the lake frequently grow to phenomenal sizes. […]

Productive spring bass baits on Shearon Harris Lake include (clockwise from lower left): swimbait, frog, spinnterbait, chatterbait.

The swimbait displacement

Craig Holt

It’s taken a while for North Carolina fishermen to become part of the swimbait craze. Maybe it was their introduction. […]

Hunting