Fishing Forecast: Lake Norman yields hybrids; first bluefin tuna reported at Cape Lookout
Fishing prospects for the holiday weekend and the days immediately following appear good at lakes Norman, Hickory and Keowee.
On the Carolinas coast, the Morehead City and Charleston areas are producing best.
Lake Norman: Very good for hybrids and spotted bass on Alabama rigs trolled in the Stumpy Creek arm and along the main channel near the Plant Marshall hot hole. Spotted and largemouth bass on a variety of lures – especially jigs – cast to docks with brush underneath. Live baits are producing a good mixed catch within the Marshall and McGuire Nuclear Station hot holes. Very good for catfish on cut baits, with the Little Creek area producing especially well.
Lake Wylie: Good to very good for crappie on minnows worked around brush 15-25 feet deep. Good for white perch on minnows, jigs and small spoons 25 feet down toward the back of creeks. Catfish along ledges 15-35 feet deep on cut gizzard shad, herring and white perch.
Mountain Island Lake: Fair for crappie on minnows around brushy cover 15-25 feet deep.
Cane Creek Park: Largemouth and crappie on shiners and minnows, respectively.
Yadkin/Pee Dee River lakes: Fair for crappie from High Rock through Tuckertown, Badin and Tillery, with the latter yielding the best catches. Little activity at Blewett Falls because of a low water level.
Lakes James, Rhodhiss, Hickory: Good for smallmouth bass at James on shiners and spoons trolled in and near the canal connecting the Catawba and Linville River arms. Good in the tailrace at Lake Hickory’s Oxford Dam on Zara Spook-type lures. (Some anglers are having fine luck drilling holes in the topwater lures and filling them with split shot to add weight and get them under the surface).
Fontana Lake: Action remains good to excellent for limits of smallmouth and spotted bass. The fish are striking best on Andrew Minnow and Damiki’s Armor Shad lures in a smoke color pattern cast to the shoreline.
Lake Wateree: Catfishing good to very good for anglers drifting cut baits at the mouths of creeks and over humps in the reservoir’s lower half. Fair for crappie along ledges 16-18 feet down from Wateree Creek uplake.
Lake Murray: Good for striped bass on live baits from the dam up to the middle section of the reservoir, where a major striper tournament is scheduled Saturday. Anglers also are catching stripers in surface schools on Li’l Fishie lures, bucktails and topwater plugs. Good for white perch on earthworms, jigs and minnows. Fair for catfish drifting cut baits over the flats.
Lake Thurmond: Good for stripers in the backs of creeks on live baits either free-lined or trolled with planer boards. Soap Creek, Broad River and waters near the U.S. 378 bridge remain the best areas to fish.
Santee Cooper lakes: Good for crappie to 3 1/2 pounds in Moultrie, the lower lake. The crappie are suspended 8-12 feet deep over brush that’s 15-20 feet down. Plentiful catfish in the 2-12 pound range on cut mullet, perch and shad fished 10-14 feet deep. Some catfish in the 30-pound class also reported.
Lake Keowee: Good to very good for largemouth and spotted bass on live baits worked on drop shot rigs 20-65 feet down in channels and on points and humps.
Lake Jocassee: No report.
Lake Hartwell: Good for largemouth on artificial worms and jigs fished around structure. Good for channel catfish on crawlers and cut herring around ledges and humps 15-40 feet deep.
Outer Banks: Nags Head area: Little activity in the surf and at piers because of foul weather. Oregon Inlet area: Good for striped bass for anglers trolling along the bridges leading into Manteo. The Manns Harbor Bridge has been especially productive. Little activity offshore because of rough sea conditions, but limits of blackfin tuna and some bigeye when parties are able to get out. Hatteras Island: Little activity because of rough seas, but blackfin and king mackerel catches are likely to resume as the weather improves. Red drum continue to hit well in Pamlico Sound. Scattered black drum, blues, puppy drum, whiting and small flounder in the surf. Ocracoke Island: Fair for yearling red drum in the surf. Morehead City area: The season’s first reported bluefin tuna, a catch measuring 75 inches, boated just off Cape Lookout. Very good along the beaches for false albacore, with flycasters sharing in the catch. The albacore also are being caught in Beaufort Inlet and The Hook at Cape Lookout. Good to very good for king mackerel around artificial reefs 12-15 miles offshore on live menhaden and cigar minnows. Improving in the backwaters for red drum and speckled trout.
Southeastern N.C. Coast: Very good offshore for king mackerel and wahoo when sea conditions are favorable. Flounder and gray trout at the near-shore artificial reefs. Black and red drum, flounder and speckled trout throughout the area’s backwaters. Black drum limits at piers, along with red drum, speckled trout and scattered whiting.
S.C. Coast: Little River area: Trout in the backwaters and Intracoastal Waterway. Grand Strand area: Fair for flounder in Murrells Inlet on mud minnows and mullet. Flounder and speckled trout in Winyah Bay at Georgetown, with the North Inlet producing especially well. Little activity offshore because of foul weather. Fair blues, drum, and whiting at piers. Charleston area: Very good for speckled trout at creek mouths and shell rakes close to the ocean. Good for gray trout 40 feet deep around artificial reefs. Plenty of sheepshead around bridges and jetties. Beaufort area: Good for reds in the marsh grass during high tide. When the tide falls, the reds continue to hit live baits and lures on the mud flats.
This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Fishing Forecast: Lake Norman yields hybrids; first bluefin tuna reported at Cape Lookout."