Fishing North Carolina Style

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Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 17, 2013 at 5:08pm

Had a great ice breaker weekend in Northeast N.C. Combined both days for 73 Crappie, 25 gills and 8 bass all relatively shallow and caught on a variety of baits but a Chartreuse 1/32 ounce jig lead the way and all fish were caught on Telescopic poles......like to ease the bait in when these fish are located shallow.....Water temperatures in both rivers were 54 degrees today but they won't climb much this week with mild days and chilly nights...We may even lose a couple degrees with several overcast days and some more rain....The water jumped three degrees from Saturday to Sunday but that resulted in a little more gill activity on Sunday.....Cold fronts like the one hanging over us don't hurt the Crappie bite, in fact you may see a jump in the bite behind the front if you can actually get out......I fished alone both days as a friend from Virginia cancelled today because of the forecast........He's kicking his self right now because he could have had a mess of Crappie for the pan but tomorrow is another day.....I cleaned 20 this weekend and really look forward to that fresh fish ......Spring is just three days away now but I'm still loyal to Good Friday and that's not until the 29th.....We're right on the verge of some of the best freshwater fishing the tidal brackish waters offer......it's hard to set that clock for work when you know you can go catch a mess of fish......but with longer days now that late afternoon bite is still pretty good....Good luck to you all and please share your testimony and pictures here with us on Fishing North Carolina Style.....Jeffrey

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 17, 2013 at 2:42am

A Green Darner is a common Dragonfly that frequents the Dismal Swamp and many other regions during the Spring through the Fall.......Thousands inhabit the shallow shore lines and provide a food source from the larvae stage all the way through the mature fly.......Most often an olive green color hence the name.....

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on March 16, 2013 at 6:30pm

HEY JEFFREY , WHATS A GREEN DARNER?

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 16, 2013 at 5:46pm

You can see the Chartreuse in this Crappie's mouth.....I caught fish on the Pink Glow 2" Baby Shad tipped with a minnow, Gulp 1" Minnows in Chartreuse Shad and Emerald Shiner on lead jig heads also tipped with a live minnow....

Well the dogwoods are in bloom in Eastern North Carolina and the first day of Spring is next Wednesday.......Water temperatures in most of the tributaries around the Albemarle/Pamlico Estuary are in the low 50s and should continue to hold there and start rising throughout the remainder of March......I set out this morning with marginal weather promised but I had to get on the water.....Light winds and high water in the Northern reaches of the Albemarle sound greeted me as I headed for Deep Creek off the Little River......Within minutes of baiting up with a Chartreuse Shad Gulp Minnow Jig and Live Shiner combination, a solid Black Crappie greeted me and broke the ice on a good day......These fish were scattered a bit but relatively shallow in the stained 51 degree water......I covered some grown catching a few here and there until I had nearly a 20 fish limit of 10 to 12 inch Crappie.....I had caught seven bass along the way up to 14 inches....They were all released as I was looking forward to a fresh Crappie dinner........I shifted to some micros from time to time and managed five small to medium gills, no big Coppers yet......I stopped and chatted a minute with a team from the "Fishers of Men" tourney and then headed to check out another creek on the way home......I managed another 13 Crappie on this stop for a total of 31 for the day.....I got rained on during this stop followed by sunshine which shut down the bite, surface temperatures had risen to 54 degrees at noon when I picked up.......Had a great time and so excited that another Spring season is here.......

 

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 10, 2013 at 5:02pm

Thanks Jason.....I was fishing under a float solely from telescopic poles.....I had the micro in this bass' mouth on a ten footer and the Green Garner pattern in 1/32 ounce on another........These bass were ambushing around cover in moving water...I was fishing three feet deep in six to eight feet of water and it actually saved my trip......I also managed 11 gills on the sunken barges at three feet under a float but none of them were over 8 inches....Game wardens were working the river and the launch today with the spring fever in the air....I got checked completely for boating and licensing regulations as well as bait and live well searches......No worries, I actually like to see the enforcement in my region....Glad you got out Jason......it'll get better from here I promise.........

Comment by Jason Preslar on March 10, 2013 at 4:43pm

Nice job and great write up Jeffrey. Were you using a float for all these fish? What depths? It was a little windy in the yak today and not many fish to show for my efforts. I did get a nice gill at a pond later though. I'll post a couple pics later this evening. Congrats on a good day Jeffrey.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 10, 2013 at 3:22pm

Didn't go out early today since it was 28 degrees at first light.......After breakfast with the family,  I headed down to the Pasquotank River and went to a couple of my favorite creeks....couldn't fish back deep in those creeks because they were still very stained.....water is hanging right around 51 degrees......water had been down more than a foot from the heavy Northeast winds this past week but it was starting to come back in and that water movement near the mouth of the creeks had the Largemouth going nuts.......I caught a five fish bag of bass at 21 pounds and 13 ounces with the largest bass @ 6 pounds and 1 ounce on a new experimental jig that I have named the Green Darner.......Tipped everything today with live grass shrimp......I fished two of the sunken barges too and managed 11 gills but they were all under 8 inches today......Spring was in the air as we climbed into the mid 60s today for air temperatures and the week ahead looks good for kicking up the water temperatures also.....Everything is right on schedule.....the bass are arriving shallow with the water temps above 50 and the gills won't be long behind them.....

This fish and two others over 3 and a half pounds came on a Silent Stinger shallow around structure.....

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 9, 2013 at 11:54am

Went a took a drive this morning looking at the water in a few rivers......rivers don't look too bad just down roughly a foot from the sustained wind tides of the past week.....water will start coming back in overnight tonight and into tomorrow......Many of the feeder creeks are still stained a bit......water temperatures hovering around 50 degrees and are sure to climb this week with high temperatures forecasted to be in the 60s almost every day with moderation at night also.......This will surely start triggering fish activity that we are looking forward to...With all the new creations from the members and ideas shared, it can only be a productive spring with lots of great bluegill stories and pictures....Looking forward to it!

Comment by Jason Preslar on March 5, 2013 at 5:22pm

Yep, fished til the rain ran me off.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on March 5, 2013 at 5:18pm

Jumped out for an hour on the water ahead of Winter storm Saturn......still chilly and breezy with water temperatures below 50 degrees still and stained a bit....Fish were not active.....took 7 small to medium gills on a Silent Stinger tipped with live crickets...

You can really feel a change pending around the water with plants beginning to bud and pine trees starting to produce pollen but pesky cold fronts are keeping the nights colder thus the water temperatures are being held down.........

Hang in there Bluegill fans.....it won't be much longer in Carolina....The coastal forecast has zero nights below freezing over the next ten days and that takes us closer to the first day of spring.....

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