Well, I had a great vacation, and have a few pictures (coming soon - still on camera) but not as many as I want. We went to Newland, which is right near Boone.
We got their late last Sunday (11:45) , and were up until 2 am getting stuff "perfect."
On Monday morning, we took the boat to Price lake (rowboat only lake on Blue Ridge Parkway - hatchery supported trout, and stocked for bass and cats every couple of years) , and dad caught a single trout, and I had a few short strikes but didn't hook onto anything. Usually the trout kill it here, so we were a bit confused. Later that night, we went to bass lake, which is a lake covered in lily pads that used to be owned by Moses Cone and his estate. It has a wild trout stream feeding it, and in NC, you can only fish for wild trout with single hook artificials. So the lake is limited to those, no matter what you fish for (stupid rule - wild trout will stay in their stream, and not venture into a lake, so you won't be able to catch them there)
Dad had dropped the family off, and went into town to grab something, so I fished, and the rest of the family walked around the lake (of course, one camera was with dad, and the other with my sister)
I T-rigged one of Jim's senkos, and within ten casts, latched onto a 1 pounder. Dad hadn't gotten back yet, and my sister was on the other side of the lake, so I threw him back, as I catch one pounders all the time. Well, when dad got their, he was eying the water, and saw a nice one in the chop between two patches of pads. I throw about 6 feet off to the side of him, and as soon as it hit the water, he turned to it, saw what it was, and swam and grabbed it immediately. The thing was a definite 2 and a half pounder!! I hold the fish in the water and dad sprints around the lake to get my sister as he left his camera in the car. Just as she is running around the corner, the bass gets a BIG burst of energy, and gets away, dang near taking me in with it (I did not stay dry). I cannot explain how dissapointed I was (and still am) This is, of course, my current personal best. What really suprises me, is later in the week, I was talking to a ranger, commented on my 2 and a half pounder, and she was suprised. The thing is, the forrestry service (or whatever NC calls it) has never stocked this lake. What is in there is left over from moses cone over a hundred years ago. That REALLY made me wish I had a picture of the da** thing.
The next day, we go to the Linville river, in which we also always have a good bit of luck, and dad catches 1 stupid little trout, some redeyes, and a bream (what is a bream doing in a trout stream?) . I catch a couple of redeye bass, (have pics of 1 of em) and a little shad thing (I ain't sure what the heck it is, but do have pics)
Wednesday, we go to lake James, which a local (real nice old guy, but we couldn't get him to shut up long enough to leave - you know the type - nicest people in the world, but will talk you to death) said there were nice muskie and walleye in one particular section (what are yankee fish doing in NC?) Of course, with our underpowered boat, we couldn't get to that section but I managed to get a nice 1 1/2 pounder (yes we have pics) (I love outfishing dad using artificials, when he has naturals.) We didn't do anything on thursday, but on Friday, we went back to price lake, and I got me a trout finally.
On saturday, we fished the elk river, and I caught another little redeye, and dad caught a little largemouth (what is that doing in a trout stream either?) Then, we went to another wild trout pond (single hook artificials) on the moses cone property. I fished a T-rigged worm, and dad clipped two barbs off the treble of an inline trout spinner. Within seconds, he had latched onto a 3 and a half pound (at least) bass. I hear the splashing, and look over, and the thing is rolling, and jumping, with gills flared and everything, and time stops. Then the dam* thing gets off, as he couldn't get the single hook from the 1/8 ounce inline trout spinner through the lip of this muther. We threw a lot of spinners in that place, and the next day, threw everything that had a single hook into that place. We put bigger worm hooks on our inline spinners. I got one short strike on a chatterbait, which got stuck in a tree on the next cast. Didn't pull nuthin' outa that lake - but I will next time we go to that house.
Then, we went back to bass lake, and learned about both it and bass lake never having been stocked in the last 100+ years. That made me feel a bit better about not catching anything.
Pics will be coming soon!
After talking to a lot of people, and looking at a lot of factors, we learned why the trout bite was dead. Since it has been a lot hotter, the water temp is up in the mid 80s in the lakes, and we aren't sure about the rivers (no fishfinder when we didn't have the boat) but it was definitely hotter than usual. The bites would always be on the way to the bottom, whereas usually we leave it on the bottom and they swim around and find it. The only way to catch them was to basically bounce it off their heads, as it was too hot for them to exert energy to swim. The bites were real light too, and they don't fight much bringing them in.
I probably missed something, as it is 1:30 in the morning, and I am dog tired right now. I will add tomorrow.
We got their late last Sunday (11:45) , and were up until 2 am getting stuff "perfect."
On Monday morning, we took the boat to Price lake (rowboat only lake on Blue Ridge Parkway - hatchery supported trout, and stocked for bass and cats every couple of years) , and dad caught a single trout, and I had a few short strikes but didn't hook onto anything. Usually the trout kill it here, so we were a bit confused. Later that night, we went to bass lake, which is a lake covered in lily pads that used to be owned by Moses Cone and his estate. It has a wild trout stream feeding it, and in NC, you can only fish for wild trout with single hook artificials. So the lake is limited to those, no matter what you fish for (stupid rule - wild trout will stay in their stream, and not venture into a lake, so you won't be able to catch them there)
Dad had dropped the family off, and went into town to grab something, so I fished, and the rest of the family walked around the lake (of course, one camera was with dad, and the other with my sister)
I T-rigged one of Jim's senkos, and within ten casts, latched onto a 1 pounder. Dad hadn't gotten back yet, and my sister was on the other side of the lake, so I threw him back, as I catch one pounders all the time. Well, when dad got their, he was eying the water, and saw a nice one in the chop between two patches of pads. I throw about 6 feet off to the side of him, and as soon as it hit the water, he turned to it, saw what it was, and swam and grabbed it immediately. The thing was a definite 2 and a half pounder!! I hold the fish in the water and dad sprints around the lake to get my sister as he left his camera in the car. Just as she is running around the corner, the bass gets a BIG burst of energy, and gets away, dang near taking me in with it (I did not stay dry). I cannot explain how dissapointed I was (and still am) This is, of course, my current personal best. What really suprises me, is later in the week, I was talking to a ranger, commented on my 2 and a half pounder, and she was suprised. The thing is, the forrestry service (or whatever NC calls it) has never stocked this lake. What is in there is left over from moses cone over a hundred years ago. That REALLY made me wish I had a picture of the da** thing.
The next day, we go to the Linville river, in which we also always have a good bit of luck, and dad catches 1 stupid little trout, some redeyes, and a bream (what is a bream doing in a trout stream?) . I catch a couple of redeye bass, (have pics of 1 of em) and a little shad thing (I ain't sure what the heck it is, but do have pics)
Wednesday, we go to lake James, which a local (real nice old guy, but we couldn't get him to shut up long enough to leave - you know the type - nicest people in the world, but will talk you to death) said there were nice muskie and walleye in one particular section (what are yankee fish doing in NC?) Of course, with our underpowered boat, we couldn't get to that section but I managed to get a nice 1 1/2 pounder (yes we have pics) (I love outfishing dad using artificials, when he has naturals.) We didn't do anything on thursday, but on Friday, we went back to price lake, and I got me a trout finally.
On saturday, we fished the elk river, and I caught another little redeye, and dad caught a little largemouth (what is that doing in a trout stream either?) Then, we went to another wild trout pond (single hook artificials) on the moses cone property. I fished a T-rigged worm, and dad clipped two barbs off the treble of an inline trout spinner. Within seconds, he had latched onto a 3 and a half pound (at least) bass. I hear the splashing, and look over, and the thing is rolling, and jumping, with gills flared and everything, and time stops. Then the dam* thing gets off, as he couldn't get the single hook from the 1/8 ounce inline trout spinner through the lip of this muther. We threw a lot of spinners in that place, and the next day, threw everything that had a single hook into that place. We put bigger worm hooks on our inline spinners. I got one short strike on a chatterbait, which got stuck in a tree on the next cast. Didn't pull nuthin' outa that lake - but I will next time we go to that house.
Then, we went back to bass lake, and learned about both it and bass lake never having been stocked in the last 100+ years. That made me feel a bit better about not catching anything.
Pics will be coming soon!
After talking to a lot of people, and looking at a lot of factors, we learned why the trout bite was dead. Since it has been a lot hotter, the water temp is up in the mid 80s in the lakes, and we aren't sure about the rivers (no fishfinder when we didn't have the boat) but it was definitely hotter than usual. The bites would always be on the way to the bottom, whereas usually we leave it on the bottom and they swim around and find it. The only way to catch them was to basically bounce it off their heads, as it was too hot for them to exert energy to swim. The bites were real light too, and they don't fight much bringing them in.
I probably missed something, as it is 1:30 in the morning, and I am dog tired right now. I will add tomorrow.
