Smallmouth 9/20-9/21/14

Decided it was time to hit some river smallmouth this weekend. Went close to home Saturday evening around dusk fishing from the bank. Had 5 massive blow-ups on a top-water popper in twenty min’s time. Caught two of the five fish that hit, with the biggest fish pushing 3lb. That fish jumped six times!!  (the other was in the 2lb. range)  

Got up Sunday and hit the French Broad early, I think we were paddling downstream by 7:45am. Fish turned on around 8-9:45ish and we ended up catching 9 smallies total and one good sized rock bass.  We were off the water by noon. The fish took jigs (both all plastic and skirted) and a bright yellow (black on tops) med. size Rebel crawfish crank bait. (Fished w/ stop and go) Most fish were tight to shore near rocks, or in rock ledges near runs. Water had 3-4 foot visibility but still was stained looking in most spots.   

On the Bear (SOBX)

It's been too long, but I finally returned to my beloved coastline. (Almost two years time has past) Its really tough making the drive while living deep in the mountains. Spent one day fishing around Cape lookout in my buddy’s skiff. We did all right out there, caught 3 keeper flounder, 2 Spanish, two blues, and a bunch of lizard fish. After that we set our sights on surf fishing Hammocks beach.(Bear Island) Got the freshest shrimp available and rode the first ferry over for the day. Tide was high and dropping when we chunked our bottom rigs out in a little cut/hole. Black drum were on the hook right from the start, only one was a 14in. keeper. Often we were catching two black drum at a time, mostly 12in.-13in fish. Then followed by reds and sea mullet turning on as the tide sucked out harder. (bite stopped dead at low tide) Managed two smaller blues and a few pinfish as well. Was really hoping to land a pompano but I think the water too murky due to lots of rain recently and rough surf. All in all it was a great trip with my wife and I both landing 24 inch drum in the surf. (she caught hers on shrimp and I got the other red on mullet we cast netted the night before)

Opening Day for Delayed Harvest on the Tuck

Decided to float through the crowds of bankers and wadders on the DH waters of the Tuck. We did alright once we got to some clear water away from the crowds. Caught over 20 fish between the two of us. Mostly on in-line spinners, worms, and brown trout crank baits. That was really close to a PB small mouth for my wife, caught on a bass pro in line spin laser eye.

Brown Trout Husky Jerk (Rapala Love)

Huge Rainbow!

Nice Small mouth bass on a spinner!

Smallie season is on!

Brown trout fishing in the Tuck river basin…

Fishing in a small lake off 107 today. Caught one small rainbow on fox spinner with trailer. Lynae caught two nice trout, one wild looking rainbow and one nice brown at 13-14 in. She also missed the fish of the day that slammed her in-line spinner right next to the boat and started thrashing with 4ft of line out.. Sucks to lose that fish, but it nice to know theres still a nice one in the pond…

Pigeon River Float..

Had a great float on the Pigeon today with my wife Lynae!! We managed to float a 4 mile section and rarely touched by boaters, just the occasional bank fisher folks. Fishing was hot early, we did the best from 10am-11am for trout and caught a few bass later when the sun really got up in the sky. We caught a few Brown trout on in-line spinners and rapala's. The bass all fell for brown trout pattern husky jerk fished quickly over rocks and ledges. It was "top ten" day to be on the water exploring a new section of local water. The 3 lb. brown trout was just the icing on the cake….

Been looking for the elusive Walleye (pike if you’re a local) in Fontana and the Little Tennessee River. I’ve caught every species of bass possible without being able to land one-eye yet this year. Here are a few photos of my recent adventures. I’m eating on a paleo diet starting April 1^st. So it’s white bass/spotted for dinner the next few nights!!! Happy hunting!

I caught most of the fish on a pearl white grub/jig. A few of the spotted bass fell for a finesse Rapala crankbait fished quickly over rocks. I saw a fella in a boat pull two eye’s out using a hard bait fished in current over rocks. And I missed a hookup ten feet off the bank from a nice one. Guess it keeps ya going back.

You can really see the size of that whitebass, I think it's close to my PB especially in the mnt's. Nuts, fruit, veggies and whitebass. I can handle this for now, hunting ramps soon to cook with trout starting in a few days!!