A Prosperous 2014 Panfish Season To Date

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

 Not sure what all the contributing factors are but 2014 has been an amazing panfish season to date in Coastal North Carolina......Despite getting hit by a wave of tornadoes in late April and a brush by a CAT 2 hurricane on the 4th of July......this year has been productive since New Year's Day........I've already experienced quantity records for Black Crappie and the Summer bite continues to be incredible........I topped 3,000 Crappie earlier in July and sit at 3,151 as of 8/1/2014 with 617 of those fish at 13" or larger......Even July has been productive for Crappie with 417 crossing the decks........I'm also on a record pace for Bluegills but the remainder of 2014 will be very busy at work so the jury is still out........As of 8/1/2014, 3,619 gills have been caught this year on the Albemarle with 1,470 10" class fish or better......It has been a blast getting several new folks out with me to wet a line and of course our traditional Abney Family Vacation was special again this year......Here's a few pictures I put together to look back on this great season........Let's hope the rest of the year is just as good......

 All the rivers on the Albemarle have healthy populations of Black Crappie.....Anything of 13" or better is a River Slab in my opinion.....most fish are in the 10 to 12 inch class with fish up to 16" routinely caught in these waters,

99 percent of the speckled perch in these rivers are Black.......very few White Crappie in the rivers of the Albemarle......

A Solid Crappie Daily Double from Early May on the Albemarle......

Even in the heart of the Summer we find quality fish in the shallows on flooded cuypress....

May delivered as usual....

I love it when the Big Gills and Crappies are packed in together....usually occurs in early May...

Quality Coppernose dominate our brackish water rivers.....

A Classic Coppernose Daily Double....

Memorial Day weekend produced this nice pair.....

Caught in the same area a big bull shark was caught last summer....

Remember this region is only 10 miles from the Atlantic Ocean....

My nephew Dan caught his personal best gill back in June at 1 pound 12 ounces......a great fish that will probably go to Tim Overbaugh....

My Avatar picture comes from the most productive water I fish for large bluegills.......

I owe my success in this body of water to all the information I got from a man almost 90 years old....

This monarch gill comes from a location that I save every year for just 4 to 6 trips to minimize pressure and optimize the trophy gills that reside there......an amazing place to fish and I'm usually sleepless the night before......Going back there at least one more time this summer....

And finally earlier this week after work on Tuesday......I crossed paths with my best gill of 2014 and what a tribute to the waters I fish year round.....A great season and I still have five months......incredible fishing this year for sure........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Looking forward to Veteran's Day weekend.....with any luck at all I'll get out a couple times this weekend and close in on the 48 gills needed to reach the 5,000 fish plateau and possibly put a dent in the 73 crappie needed to eclipse 4,000 for the year as well.....our water temps are hovering around 53 to 56 degrees in most areas and a few wind shifts over the weekend might set up some good action on points and structure with the moving water but the fish will be a bit deeper than they were in October.......These times are very challenging with big temperature swings day to night but I embrace the challenge of sustained success year round, this is a lot different than Louisiana growing up when I was often in shorts and a t-shirt on New Year's Eve catching all the panfish I wanted from the bank in places like Hillcrest lakes or the T.L. James gravel pits.......gets quite a bit colder here in coastal N.C. but still no ice fishing.....got to find them and bust them vertically around here........only thing that's certain is I'll be out there looking for the next willing panfish.......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Catching 33 gills today drops it down to 15 needed for 5,000 and 26 crappie takes me to just 47 to reach 4,000.......our ten day forecast is a fisherman's friend so it looking better for reaching these milestones in November despite it getting dark before 5:00 these days..........

[Slip Sinker]

Congrats Jeff on a great season whether you make that milestone or not. i just want to say thats a lot of fish batter!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Ken.....I don't clean them all......no time to fish if you do that!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

With the time change and the shorter days I don't get to fish as often in November but last Sunday I took advantage of a beautiful Fall day and took 61 gills to move my yearly total up to 5.046 and I have scored twice since then, once on Veteran's Day and boated 42 gills and finally a few hours on the Little River today yielded 33 more gills........that extends my gill total for the year to 5.121. I also added 13 Black Crappie today on my gill presentations bringing my total to 3,966 with one good trip needed to top 4,000.......it has been an amazing year with a few more opportunities before ringing in 2015.......I want those 34 crappie real bad and will be fishing the "Holes" soon to get them as they go deeper.........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

A few November Daily Doubles as we push toward the 12th inning........been a lot of fun!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Water temps have dropped out to the lower 40s on the Albemarle and the fish are in transition heading for the deeper holes......find the deepest water on area creeks and the fish will probably be there.......some of the shortest days of the year as we advance towards the first official day of winter......makes it rough to wet a line while sill in the work force but I have added 21 more gills bringing my 2014 total to 5,142 and 6 crappie for 3,972.......I want those 28 crappie real bad and perhaps the weather will cooperate this holiday weekend and I'll get a shot.....After 18 degrees here Saturday morning we reached 78 today and those large swings are responsible for some of the toughest fishing we ever get here in coastal North Carolina.....Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and good luck on the water.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

No crappie yesterday since I located a productive gill pattern.  With the help of the friendly "quill" float I was able to boat 41 nice gills, most in the 8 to 9 inch class. Winds were relatively calm and the water was 42 degrees.......had to slow way down but it is late November...........Still need those 28 crappie but I'll sacrifice that any day the gills cooperate...........5,183 gills has made 2014 memorable on the Albemarle.....

[dick tabbert]

Its been a great and fun year for you Jeff hope next year you can repeat or even do better. CONGRATS...............

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Indeed Dick....many thanks for the opportunity to fish your jigs.....I caught several thousand gills on the infamous "Jelly Jigs"......

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

You'll get there Jeff.
Plenty of time this season, God willing and the creek don't rise.

[Jim Gronaw]

Those numbers and quality are staggering!

Sheeesssh!