Western NC Archives - Page 42 of 73

Drifting a nightcrawler downstream has been a great tactic for doing battle with Cane Creek rainbow trout.

Beat the heat; drift a crawler for a Cane Creek rainbow

Anglers looking for a respite from the heat while still catching fish are finding all they can ask for on Cane Creek. […]

Lake Norman catfish have been biting cut white perch all over the lake during the hot weather.

Trolling cut bait, watching electronics, has been key to Lake Norman catfish

Brian Cope

Catfish are biting across Lake Norman in a variety of sizes, and Jerry Neeley of Jerry’s Fishing Guide Service said trolling with cut bait is the best way to catch them during on hot days. […]

Deep-diving crankbaits and spoons are the top weapons fishermen use to target Lake Wylie’s summer bass.

Give a rip – Summer bass at Lake Wylie are deep, and you’ve got to reach down and get them

Tony Garitta

When polarized glasses become an option rather than a necessity and topwater baits and flipping lures get stowed deep in the recesses of tackle boxes, then shallow-water fishing for bass has given way to offshore structure fishing. […]

Brown trout are better targeted by trolling live bait closer to the bottom. Bigger specimens are caught later in the fall as they migrate up the river to spawn.

Keep it cool at Cheoah Lake

Phillip Gentry

In the 1993 Warner Brothers film, “The Fugitive,” actor Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Kimble, wrongfully convicted for the murder of his wife, who escapes from custody and is declared a fugitive. […]

Rainbow trout in the Watauga River near the Watauga County town of Foscoe have been discovered to have whirling disease, a potentially devastating disease for trout populations.

Commission discovers whirling disease in Watauga River trout

North Carolina Sportsman

Whirling disease, a disorder affecting trout, has been confirmed in rainbow trout collected from Watauga River near Foscoe in Watauga County — the first occurrence of the disease in North Carolina – and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has suspended stocking fish raised at its three cold-water hatcheries until it can confirm that those populations are free of the disease. […]

Downriggers are lethal tools to get baits down to depths where they can be trolled through the strike zones of different fish species.

The lowdown on downriggers

Phillip Gentry

Trolling open, deep water is a lethal tactic for a number of different species of fish, but problems develop in trying to place a bait at a specified depth on line that ultimately ends up in the hands of the angler at the surface. […]

Power-jigging with an Alabama Rig drew a strike from this Lake Norman hybrid bass for guide Craig Price.

Strike out for a reaction

Dusty Wilson

Whether you call it power-jigging, speed-jigging, or speed-reeling, the technique has been proven effective at catching numerous offshore saltwater species, striped bass and now, hybrid bass. […]

Above: A small topwater plug like this Spook Junior is a perfect tool for drawing strikes for hybrid and spotted bass feeding at the surface on small baitfish.

Opportunities on top

Dusty Wilson

Conventional fishing wisdom says that topwater baits should be retired shortly after sunrise, not to be picked up again until shortly before sunset. […]

Fishermen can fish streamers either downstream or upstream, although they might be more effective downstream.

Sculpzilla: king streamer

Robert Satterwhite

Streamers are flies that imitate a variety of aquatic life, especially minnows, and when fly fishers fish big waters for big trout, they’ll usually tie on a streamer. […]

Spotted bass are an aggressive cousin of smallmouths and largemouths that have become a big part of Fontala Lake’s black bass fishery.

Peeling Fontana – Layer down for great summer fishing at Fontana Lake

Phillip Gentry

On Fontana Lake, water temperatures in June and July cement the summer fishing season. While a few fish can still be found in and around the shallows — usually only early and late in the day — most have retreated to deeper, cooler water in the 10,230-acre lake west of Bryson City. […]