Moccasin Creek, 2/28/19

Debbie and I wanted to get out and do a little fishing, before the next rain moved in. We headed over to the Moccasin Creek bridge, and climbed down the rip rap to see if anyone was willing to bite. Deb caught these on her micro rig, 4lb mono, gold #0 beetle spin rig, 1/32 oz white crappie jig head w/red eye, and Strike King Smokey Shad grub. None were real big, but they were lots of fun to catch. She literally stood in one spot, once she found them, and caught all these plus a handful that got off. She also hooked a small bass in the process. 

I flipped a fluke a bit, but got no takers. I did catch a Black Crappie on another micro rig at the end of the evening.  Here's a few pics... 

231, 2/15/19

After spending a bit of time on Moccasin Creek, Debbie and I headed south to the hwy 231 bridge on Little River. Boy, our luck was different there! Debbie fell into a nest of Black Crappie and was on a roll there for a while, and also caught a blugill in the mix. She was using her Micro setup w/4lb mono, a #0 gold beetle spin rigged with a 1/16oz white jig head w/red eye, and a smokey shad grub.  I caught a nice black crappie on a Watermelon Zoom Super Fluke (never heard of that!), and a White Sucker (looks like a carp to me) on my micro rig with a beetle spin. Here's a few pics from the evening...

Moccasin Creek, 2/15/19

Debbie and I headed over to the Moccasin Creek Bridge for a bit this afternoon. The weather was fairly nice, temps were in the 60's, and the bridge shielded us from a lot of the wind. We fished a while, each caught something, then decided to go to another location. I caught a small bass on a Zoom Super Fluke in Watermelon, flipping it along side the bridge pilings. Debbie caught a nice black crappie on a beetle spin with a Smokey Shad grub. Here's a couple of pics... 

 

Tippett's Mill, 2/8/19

Debbie and I headed over to Tippett's Mill this morning. This is an old mill pond that used to be called Taylor's Mill Pond, back in the day. This is BIG place, fed by Moccasin creek and several smaller feeders. At the entrance / boat landing, there's cool old building...may have been part of the original mill house, but I don't know. It's basically a country bar where a lot of locals hang out. Nice place to grab a beer at the end of the day, with a very scenic roaring dam next door. . 

Anyway, this place has a wide variety of fish...large mouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, chain pickerel, catfish...I don't know what else. during the heatof the summer, there's LOTS of cover to fish off of (lillypads, etc). This pond is llooonnnngggggg.... We had the boat at least a mile or more up in the head end, and could have gone further. Piles of structure, etc. It was a good day for me, here's a few pics...

A pic as we were headed into the pond, looking back at the bar/millhouse. The water was calm, just a tiny breeze, and the temps were already near 70 degrees (on February 8!!).

I picked this black crappie up as we were cruising along, throwing a beetle spin rigged with a Strike King Smokey Shad grub.

I started throwing a watermelon Zoom Super Fluke,  rigged weightless with a 4/O Skeet Reese wide space hook, skin hooked on the top. Throwing to the bank and pulling it back, this guy hit it right at the bank... Never caught a pickerel that close to the bank, before.

A shot up the lake, as we continued to move along. Beautiful place!

Debbie was casting for Black Crappie. Barefooted on Feb 8, in a NC pond. Crazy weather, but we'll take it any day!!

This is the biggest beaver hut I think I've ever seen. This one was waayyy up in the head of the pond, where Moccasin creek comes in. The photo doesn't do it justice, it's at least 15 feet across!

Still throwing the fluke, this guy rolled out from some cover and hit it hard. I wish I'd have taken a shot of his belly, it was unusually wide, like he had been eating at the buffet a lot :-)

This pic belongs to the fish below. Totally couldn't believe this one!!

We were at least a mile up in the head where Moccasin Creek runs in. Caught this girl on a Zoom Fluke, rigged weightless and skin hooked with 4/O Skeet Reese hook. Casting up into all that marsh growth, she was laying only maybe 15 ft from the boat and nailed it. Pulled like a Mack truck! I was really surprised by the fact that Debbie and I were that close to her, laughing and talking, making noise, and she wasn't spooked.

Moccasin Creek, 2/7/19

On the way home from the Secret Pond, Debbie suggested that we stop in at the Moccasin Creek for a few minutes. We found a place to get the truck and boat trailer off the road safely, and climbed down to the river for a bit. Debbie caught a nice Black Crappie, and we each hooked a decent bass and lost both of them. Debbie hung her bass in the edge of the shade on her micro setup with a beetle spin, and he was a fighter! He ran back and forth with her, came right up out of the water and did a nice tail walk, let us see him, spit the bat out, and took off. Even if she didn't get him in, that was worth the stop. I caught a smaller bass on a fluke, but didn't get a good hook set, and he got off right at the bank. Again, worth the stop! Here's a pic of Debbie's Crappie and a couple of beautiful sunsets at the bridge and on the way home. 

 

The lord does some awesome work, for sure!!!

 

Secret Pond, 2/7/19

Debbie and I headed out to a private pond we call the Secret Pond (inside joke). Anyway, it's a place where we typically catch loads of fish. Alas, today was not the day for that :-)  . Oh well, we still had a great time and did manage to catch a few. Here's some pics...

Here's a pic of Debbie with out little 10' Jon boat. It's an old '86 model Landau 1048, extremely light (only 62lbs!), and easy to load / unload. The 48" width is a big plus for stability while moving around in the boat. 

 

The typical beetle spin setup that has always worked in the pond had no takers, so Debbie switched to live bait and found a few bluegills. 

Another beautiful bluegill Debbie caught. She loves fishing with live bait on her 10' B&M composite Crappie pole setup.

 I was playing with a Zoom fluke, rigged weightless, and picked up this anxious little guy.

Barrett's Farm ponds, 2/5/19

Debbie and I headed to our favorite ponds this afternoon for a little fishing in this beautiful 70+ degree February day, Barrett's Farm Ponds in Bunn. We had a great evening, even though we couldn't stay very long. Better days are coming!! Anyway, here's a few pics and how we caught them...

OK, so we were playing around at Pond #1. Debbie brought out her 10' B&M Composite Crappie pole and red wigglers. Wham, this guy was ready to rock and roll :-)  We poked around there a few minutes, I was throwing a wacky rigged Senko and a Beetlespin. After a few minutes, we headed down to the back side of pond #2 by the spillway.

 I tossed a wacky rigged Senko up the bank towards the boat landing, and this fella hopped right on :-)

Debbie moved around the dam, throwing a beetlespin with a  Smokey Shad grub, and hit this guy pretty close to the spillway.

We were watching a bunch of fish wallowing around at the surface, behaving like carp. Nothing you throw at them got their attention, they would just splash and take off. Knowing there's no carp in this place, I got a bit sidetracked trying to figure out what they were. I realized they seemed to be popping at some tiny insects that were on the surface... so, I got out the fly rod with a green bream fly, found an opening int he trees where i could cast, and started playing with them. Right away, it was obvious that they didn't want a fly that was moving, behaving like bluegill. So, I would cast, let tickle the fly a couple of times, and let it sit. After about 15-30 seconds, wham!!!! They would slap at it, grab at it, etc. Finally snagged this guy, and sure enough, it was a fat little bluegill. 

Well, mystery solved, and we had to head home. Can't wait to head back!!!

Amos, 2/4/19

Debbie and I stopped by a private pond we call Amos for a bit this evening. This pond had a kill back last summer in the heat of the year, due to low oxygen and high tannin in the water. A lot of large bass died, but it looks like there's lots of nice bluegill and small bass doing well...nice to see that! I continued my spurt of breaking and repairing fishing gear, while Debbie was catching fish. She was using a #0 gold beetle spin frame, 1/16oz white crappie jig head with a Strike King Smokey Shad Shadpole grub on 4lb mono.Here's a few pics...

Zebulon Park, 2/4/19

Debbie and I stopped in to fish on Little River a bit today, just upstream of the Zebulon park. I was busy breaking fishing gear in snags, but Debbie proceeded to catch a couple of Large Mouth Bass on her micro setup. She was using a #0 gold beetle spin frame, 1/16oz white crappie jig head with a Strike King Smokey Shad Shadpole grub on 4lb mono. Works great!! Here's a couple of pics...