The Carolinas Archives - Page 154 of 191

The subtle presentation of a light rig like this split-shot rig helps fool winter reds.

Cold equals slow, subtle presentations, retrieves

Guides Mike Eady and Mark Stacy believe the primary thing fishermen must remember for successful cold-water fishing is that when the water is cold, the fish move very slowly and deliberately. […]

Neither North Carolina nor South Carolina has bag limits on crows, but season dates are different.

When can you hunt crows?

Marty Shaffner

Crows are a federally protected species, and both North Carolina and South Carolina have set hunting seasons for them. […]

High Rock is a winter sleeper lake

Terry Madewell

Guide Jerry Neely targets several lakes in January when he’s crappie fishing, and he said one that can be sneaky good is High Rock Lake on North Carolina’s Yadkin-Pee Dee system. […]

A crappie rig for winter fishing

Terry Madewell

Guide Maynard Edwards has a unique rig he’s developed for wintertime crappie fishing, enabling him to fish near the bottom and suspended fish at the same time. […]

Don’t put away crankbaits that work in deeper water when the first big wave of spawning bass move in early, because they often stay in relatively deep water.

When P.H. Flanagan of Manning, S.C., caught the state record largemouth bass out of Lake Marion in 1949, he might never have dreamed that his 16-pound; 2-ounce beast would still reign as the biggest bass ever caught in the Palmetto State. But Santee Cooper is known for its big stringers of healthy bass, as are many other reservoirs scattered around the Carolinas. […]

The pilings that support the two US 64 bridges that link the mainland with Roanoke Island, N.C., attract plenty of stripers in the winter.

January’s best bets

Phillip Gentry

WHAT — Saltwater striped bass

WHERE — In North Carolina, fish the two US 64 bridges between the mainland and Roanoke Island across Croatan Sound. In South Carolina, the upper end of the Wando River holds stripers thanks to some supplemental stocking of native strains of river stripers. […]

The author shows off a 25-pound Lake Hartwell striper, his best-ever from a kayak, on a cold, January day.

Stripers are a great winter target for paddlers

Phillip Gentry

The striped bass has a long, colorful history, both as a commercial and recreational resource. From the booming commercial fishery in the Northeast in the late 1800s, stripers were transported across the country from New England’s coastal waters to the waters off California, the idea being reproduction of the burgeoning commercial fishery. […]