Good luck David on your adventure to Santee Cooper and enjoy fishing with your dad. My friends in the low country of South Carolina are catching some bruiser Shellcrackers on the western branch of the Cooper River already but they have water in the 60s .....You should have fun in the kayak later this season as well...Last day of March so I'm happy!

Being down near Wilmington, Lake Sutton may be warming a bit like many of the Low Country S.C. waters......I know it was closed over the winter for some service improvements........My local river was up to 58 on the 20th of March but tumbled into the high 40s through the end of the month.....We have rebounded to the high 50s and things pick up dramatically here in the Northeast N.C. when water temperatures reach 60......I wish I knew more about Sutton Dave but maybe someone will chime in.......

I know a couple locations in southern Virginia that traditionally produce some early season tank shellcrackers but rarely big numbers until Easter......It's getting that time all across the state.......I always caught shellcrackers in March on Santee Cooper the 13 years I lived down there......The waters down stream of the lakes are already producing quality shellcrackers this season.....I concur on next week's weather.....excited about the warm up.....Just hoping we don't get stained up too bad tonight as this latest system goes through....

Your patience will finally be rewarded in the weeks ahead in many North Carolina locations......Female Crappie are poised to join their male counterparts in the river/creek shallows and the lakes will be right behind the tidal waters.......The Albemarle/Pamlico Estuary is at or approaching 60 degrees for water temperature and the bite should pick up.....Search for the highest temperatures you can find by looking at sunshine soaked areas and/or windward shores where warm water is piled up and circulated by winds, especially southerly components.....

I've caught bass, crappie and a few gills shallow on two area rivers this week...

Various tipped jigs under a float has been the trick....chartreuse, pink and red have worked the best..

The gills are starting to show....mainly Northerns at this time..

After fighting low water for the majority of the last two weeks.....today's southerly winds followed by southwest winds tomorrow will put the rivers north of the Albemarle Sound back at Normal Levels.....The high skies of early April and the churn from the wind tides will break the freshwater bite wide open......Water temperatures should reach the middle 60s this week and the moderate nights forecasted will help stabilize these temperatures which will also stimulate most species.....Until now the Coppernose gills have been few and far betwween but expect these jewels to become active in the days ahead.....The shallow water Crappie bite will be outstanding this week on many of the coastal rivers including the Little, Perquimans and the Pasquotank......Look for increased insect activity as many Dismal Swamp plants and trees begin to bloom along the shores and this will trigger insect activity and stimulate the shallow fish.....

We are on the verge of great fishing in the Northeast region of the state and I always get excited about these days...

Good luck today David......look forward to your report....

This week's weather will have a pronounced positive impact on the freshwater fishing across North Carolina.....Specifically in the Northeast region, the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds and associated rivers will warm to near 70 degrees or above before settling in the mid 60s for this weekend and beyond which is a great trigger for fish activity.....The churn from the sustained southwest winds will have a boiling affect even warming suspended/staging fish....I expect even a surface bite to come into play at some point very soon as the insect activity has blown up with flowering trees and plants....My tactics in the days ahead will include starting shallow and working out until contacting fish to determine their current positions....Rivers north of the Albemarle Sound such as Yeopim, Perquimans and Pasquotank will be at or just above normal levels and becoming darker by the day despite the chance of a little rain from a passing front this Friday.....The brackish waters could produce a multitude of species from bass, spawning Crappie and the elusive Coppernose Gills which have been holding out for warmer water...It's an exciting time to be a Bluegill/Panfish angler in costal North Carolina and I expect things will heat up on our state's lakes and reservoirs also....Good luck to everyone fishing North Carolina Style!

Little did I know what I was in for earlier this afternoon after work when I discovered that the waters of Bagley's Swamp had warmed up to 76 degrees and the fish responded in a big way.......I had an 86 fish trip with 47 Black Crappie up to 14", 36 Coppernose with the big fish @ 10.75" along with a couple straggler YP and a nice largemouth bass....Game on in Carolina!

This 14" Crappie was BFOD

This 10.75" Gill was the big gill of the trip....

Even a couple Yellow Perch were shallow...

A Largemouth had to get in on things...

76 degree water on 4/10/2013....Are you kidding me!

Plenty of Chunky gills in the mix today.....

Likewise David....I went out late Monday afternoon for a couple hours and although I caught a decent mess, the bite was much slower than today as the temps had just started climbing on Monday....Today was incredible especially after a few clouds rolled in and the sun started to set....the gills especially started rolling on the surface and became very aggressive.......

For yesterday's fish David, I used a small variety of jigs/ledheds in the 1/64 to 1/80 ounce range....I added the Chartreuse Shad 1" minnow by Gulp to a yellow jig head and tipped with a live cricket for the majority of the fish.  I also employed a small lead head jig with just a cricket once the gills got active and it proved very successful. I caught the largest Crappie, a bass and a couple gills on a river Critter jig I call the Green Darner...I posted a picture of this jig in the "jig fishing under a float discussion". I will tend to size up all the way to 1/32 ounce as the water warms and the fish become more aggressive....I missed several larger fish yesterday as a result of using smaller terminal tackle....Good luck and don't rule out throwing a tipped jig on your next outing, might just surprise you......

Thanks David....we got lucky in my region with just a little wind damage here and there......Had another great trip today...Will file a full report later this evening after I get back from a family outing....42 Crappie, 16 Gills and 5 Largemouth including a 20.5" personal Best for my friend and coworker Doc........

I had the pleasure of taking my friend Doc and his son Matt today and we headed out on the Yeopim River this morning after a cold front went through overnight. Air temps were in the low 50s and this knocked the water temps down to 69 from 76 but it certainly didn't impact the Crappie bite and some decent gills and Largemouth helped to make it a great day.......

We had three gills over 10 inches today out of sixteen total...

My friend got his personal best Largemouth today at 5 pounds ...

We had some beautiful Slabs today and chunky Largemouth as well..

My friends got some good eats out of today's mixed bag....

Big gill of the day was 10.25" .............

looks like a good time was had by all! congrats on a great day!

Thank you Mark....it's a great time of the year for me and the fishing has taken off with the warm up......

Had a great weekend on the Northeast North Carolina waters.....Fished with friends and kids both days on two different rivers with similar results on both.....Water temperatures averaged 70 degrees on both and despite sunny skies both days we caught a nice mixed bag of Largemouth, Crappie and solid Gills. We are in that heavy tree pollen phase which puts a slick on the water it's so heavy....After a few passing April showers this morning, we are looking at the possibility of several overcast days which will make for great fishing with the peak water conditions......My best bluegill bite of the season was yesterday afternoon as the bites became stronger and the fish fought harder. I live for this time of year and hope you all get a chance to get on some gills soon.....Look forward to some good results throughout the state....Enjoy your time on the water and share the experience with some others if given the chance....Good luck fishing North Carolina Style.....

Go give them hell David.....Hope you have a great time!

Good report David.....glad things are picking up in other parts of the state....I like red myself....I often fish a soft plastic called tomato seed that works great in my region.......Sounds like the gills are staged ready to go shallow in your region too.......Thanks for sharing with the group and good luck next time out!

After putting in a full day at work today.....I took a glance at the forecast and decided to take advantage of the light southerly winds and premium water temperatures for a little afternoon telescopic fun......I splashed my boat a few minutes after four and had a fish almost instantly after arriving at my hot spot....this pattern repeated itself dozens of times as I ended up catching 81 total fish in the three hours I fished.......The Crappie bite shallow in our region is incredible still, I caught and released 42 nice Black Crappie up to 13".....I also had a nice run on the Bluegill with 36 sunfish, mainly 8 to 9.5 inches today including two Redbreast Sunfish which we don't see often in our brackish coastal waters.....Two more solid largemouth and another Yellow Perch rounded out the deal......It was furious from the outset and the fish were caught shallow on a yellow 1/32 ounce jig head with either a Pumpkinseed or Chartreuse Shad 1" gulp Minnow and a live cricket.......fished 18 inches under a float in two to three feet of water.......I also hooked a big Snapping Turtle and saw another snake sunning on the river's edge.....A great three hours that would have been better if I could have shared it with a friend......Only one other boat was out and they were fishing for bass....go figure!

42 total Crappie today...13" was BFOD

A pretty Redbreast...

36 decent Gills today...9.5" was BFOD

A Couple Bass in the 15 to 16 Inch Range...

A Yellow Perch..

And finally a pretty big snapping turtle.........water was 76 degrees with a wind tide from the south pushing water in......fish were hammering the jig under a float shallow around cover and man made structure.......

Outstanding report, as usual! Great variety! Our water today was from 61 to 64 degrees.

nice variety Jeff.  I went yesterday morning in the Northwest River. Not as much to report one 3 lb LMB on the Va side, on the NC side 2 white perch that were 12" some too small white perch and some too small crappie four more LMB (one keeper).  resorted to throwing rubber for the bass the perch hit a live minnow. caught the crappie on Greg M's "Spark bug" tied in blue dun. Water was too high and still stained in some areas.  But still lots of fun as always great sunny day with low wind! (sunburn! give the dermatologists something to complain about LOL).

Thanks Mark and David....good information......I'll be hitting Northwest in the weeks ahead Mark......it should be taking off up there soon.....

I woke this morning for a cup of Joe and I quickly threw on the weather and they promised a very windy day today for Coastal North Carolina with a developing coastal storm.......Winds were dead calm so I threw on some heavier clothes to handle the 48 degree air temperature and shot over to the Little River hoping to get in a little fishing before it got too nasty.......I splashed at 6:10 and the water temperature read 64, down 10 degrees from mid week and river levels were a few inches down despite Saturday rains.......I set up to fish a jig under a float at 18" and the fish responded quickly......

First fish today was a nice Flier as they are pushing shallow alongside the Crappie that are still there...

The Crappie are still shallow and I caught my 20 in the first hour this morning including several fish at 12".......

Most fish of today's 42 were caught on this 1/64 ounce jig head and Gulp 1" Chartreuse Shad Minnow tipped with a live Cricket or Grass Shrimp....

I had some nice gills and had caught and released 21 sunfish when the winds began to gust above 30 mph and it was no longer fun just trying to put my light bait where I wanted to.......

Seeds are first to nest in our eastern waters and they are packed in....less than a foot in many cases...

The "Smelt" pattern picked up this bass and a few other gills this morning....

Our rivers are getting prettier every time out now as evrything blooms and the trees green in including the Bald Cypress which make for a very scenic picture......

As a Winter storm spins off to the Northeast, expect the winds to shift to southerly late tonight and begin pushing our water back to normal levels.....These winds are forecasted to increase throughout tomorrow afternoon....Water temperatures are hovering around the 60 degree mark with three nights in a row down in the 40s...it will rebound a little today and jump again tomorrow from sunny skies and the in flux of warmer waters from the shallow sound.....The Crappie will still be there for the taking and more and more gills will push in to the shallows of the creeks and rivers north of the Albemarle. This rising water event is a great time to capitalize on returning fish and an abundance of bait activity following warm water layers......The week ahead still is a bit topsy turby with up and down temperatures but things look increasingly better looking at the long range predictions......Remember the next Full Moon is Thursday the 25th and both sides offer good fishing traditionally.......In my mind a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work so I continue to work the odds in my favor......Good luck to you all fishing North Carolina Style......

Congrats David...that's good news for central N.C. anglers......Look forward to the report and the pics.....

The day started bad and ended great! I hit the water with 2 poles rigged with slip floats and my favorite jigs. Within 5 mins i had 2 nice gills, then things went bad. I made a cast into a tree and lost my float and jigs. Then, while adusting the depth on the other pole, i broke my line. I spent the next 30 mins trying to rethread the bobber but couldnt get the 2lb test back through. Just as I was about to give up and head in, i decided to cast a jig. Thats when the real fun started. For the next 2 1/2 hrs the action was nonstop. Most fish were caught in 2-3 ft of water, although many of the bigger ones were a little deeper. They were not picky at all, hitting rooster tails, roadrunners, jims flies, and bass pro rubber shad in all colors. I went through many lures because they were shallow around trees and stumps-lots of snags. Many healthy fish with alot in the 8-9 inch range. Some bigger fish too, in the 9.5+ inch range. What a day! Pictures below.

Nice report David..thanks for sharing the story that was your fishing day.....Nice gills!

Enjoy...My sources report nice catches on the Cooper River....haven't heard any particulars about the lakes but it's time and Full Moon is tomorrow!

I am jealous!

Me too Jim.....I was down there in the Low Country this time last year but I'll be content Fishing North Carolina Style once Mother Nature settles down a bit.......Welcome to the group Berle!

After water temperatures reached as high as 76 degrees in early April, we have struggled the past ten days to return to 70 degree air temps thus the water has fell to near 60 degrees and continues to bounce with the chilly nights in the 40s....Perhaps more significant has been the sustained northeast winds for days which pushes our rivers and creeks to extremely low levels which upsets fish that want to push shallow.....Well after a week of these conditions we finally got a little high pressure and the light winds to go with it thus the water has begun to return and this subtle movement and water in the high 60s proved positive yesterday on the Perquimans River......I snagged my two grandsons for an afternoon on the water and what a blast we had.....They do not employ their own pole from the boat so we were rotating to the front on a ten foot telescopic and man it was fun.....We wound up with 71 total fish including 33 Crappie with solid fish up to 12", 11 Largemouth Bass with my oldest grandson Owen catching a 16" for his new personal best, little brother Cody also caught a 14" bass........We also put together 27 sunfish including solid gills to 9.5" and a pretty good seed for our waters....These fish were all caught on a pink 1/32 ounce jig head with a 1" gulp minnow with either a cricket or a grass shrimp tipped on........Can't wait to get the boys back out into Nature's classroom....The weekend looks good so we should experience good results in Carolina this weekend...Good luck to everyone on the water!

After a memorable trip with my grandsons last Friday afternoon, the urge could have been to take a couple friends right back to Bagley's Swamp on Sunday afternoon but my instincts pulled me to the upper Pasquotank and we were blessed with a great afternoon.......The guys met me at the Waterfront Park Boat Launch in Elizabeth City and we splashed at 2:30 p.m......I observed water temperatures in the low to mid 60s in the deep harbor and this stayed pretty consistent until we reached a couple creeks on the upper Pasquotank.....66 degrees was the highest reading and I searched for cover from the shifty winds of an approaching frontal boundary........I explained to my friends that this creek will still have Crappie Shallow and perhaps we would benefot from the arrival of some big Coppernose gills which are inching closer to the shallows........Right away the Crappie and Bass bite was hot in shallow cover as we fished south to north....I recommended 18" float settings and we all tied a different jig on to host our crickets and live grass shrimp.....The local weatherman promised heavy overcast with the approaching rain and it did not disappoint......At roughly 4:30 we experienced heavy over cast and the sunfish bite followed closely incuding 7 fish over 10 inches, 5 Coppers and 2 Redears........Ultimately the big jumbo grass shrimp nearly two inches long became the preferred bait as we were getting crushed by some grreat panfish.........We had landed over 70 fish of six different species when I pulled the plug with little popularity at 7:15.....My friends we are very close to some awesome days on the Albemarle/Pamlico Estuary including a May Full Moon that may be Earth shattering in this region.......Good Luck everyone and can't wait to hear about your exploits Fishing North Carolina Style.......

Well it appears that the week's rains have finally passed but we'll now have to deal with those pesky Northerly winds post cold front which will start dropping water levels on the rivers north of the Albemarle Sound tonight....Provided they diminish a bit during the overnight hours we should have sufficient water to support a decent bite in shallow water near creek channels and deeper cuts....This weekend it will be key to locate water temperatures as high as possible, expect the bite to be better even if the difference in temps is only two or three degrees, that might be all it takes in these lingering conditions.....the biological clock is pushing our fish to move in.....Last Sunday I located some heavy cover along one shoreline that was receiving a churn from the wind thus pooling the warmest water on that particular bank and the bite responded...Food sources will be moved about by the wind tides and surface activity should continue to increase as we work through May and insect activity increases.......Good luck to everyone chasing gills and we look forward to any updates you are willing to share...

Fished a couple hours,(casting w/beetle spin) Tues. PM. Little River, out of wind. several 15/16" Puppy Drum. A number of small Stripers. A fairly good scattering of White Pearch, with a few keepers.