Inside Out Outdoors

Just a quick hitting entry on something I just learned today.  Any big-time bass fisherman right now (and I would bet a large sum of money that you old-timers knew about this long before 2012) has to have heard about the Alabama Rig and the magic it is working when you can find where the bait fish are.  Well as you might have read on other blogs and news stories, B.A.S.S. has now effectively banned the use of this rig in all of its Bassmaster Elite competitions (and only the Elite Series) via a "one-lure" rule.  To read more about it, check out the Bassmaster website.  So what do you think, is this the right thing to do from a sportsmanship standpoint?

C.B.

I started the day the usual way:  Getting bait at the South end of the lake.  My buddy Brian and I were set up on the water by around 7:30 a.m. and we had the first of many fish on by 8:00 a.m.  We were fishing in about 70 feet of water with minnows suspended at 20, 30, 45 and then one just off the bottom.  One Lake Trout hit at 45 feet and the other at 30 which is a bit unusual as they tend to suspend deeper in the water or lay on the bottom.  The Smallies were caught mostly between 15 and 30 feet.  After a whole lot of laughing, high fives, and reeling in fish we ended the day with 2 Lake Trout, 3 Small mouth Bass and 1 Yellow Perch.  I've included a bunch of photos and weight / length of each fish in our "On The Water Media" section which can be found here.  I'll also attach the photos to this post for easy viewing :)

-Paul Nicolucci

I arrived at Owasco lake for my first fishing outing in a couple of years up here in New York on Monday night.  My Grandfather picked up some Mooneyes and we decided to try our luck out where we usually fish.  We fished the evening and had no luck....not even one bite!  Oh well, that's fishing!  You won't catch anything if you let one evening deter you, so we decided to try again Tuesday morning.  We started fishing around 8 am and around noon we finally had some activity!  We had three bites, only one of which led to a fish in the boat:  A decent smallmouth bass that I landed.  The bass measured 17 inches and weighed-in at 2 pounds 2 ounces. 

My buddy Brian came out with me after work around 5 pm and we decided to just cast some spinnerbaits over rock and weed beds.  We had a successful couple of hours, with Brian landing another nice bass about an inch shorter and one ounce smaller.  I caught a small Northern Pike (21.5 inches / 1 pound 8 ounces) which we released.  We also got a couple of good-sized Yellow Perch and some other panfish.

I've included some photos of the bass and the pike that we caught.  We are fishing the rest of the week as well and I'll keep everyone posted with our catches! 

-Paul Nicolucci

Everyone has to admit that they have an all-time favorite fishing lure.  It might take you a couple of minutes to really figure out which lure is your favorite, but think back to a time when the fish just were not biting and try to remember the lure you looked for in your tackle bag.  I know that I always seem to fall back onto the Rapala Jointed Minnow in the FireTiger color combination. 

I've fished this lure in a variety of ways from casting under docks to trolling, all of which have been successful.  I really like this color combination in all water conditions, it has the color for murky waters and also fish don't seem to mind the bright color scheme in clear water either.  It has a great swimming action when trolled or retrieved at a moderate speed that fish just can't seem to resist!

The species of fish that I have caught include Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout and Brown Trout.  I'd really like to hear from some of our readers as far as what their favorite lure is.  It's quite interesting to see what others fall back on when the fishing gets tough!

Happy fishing!

-Paul Nicolucci

As mentioned in the blog entry below, I was gone this past weekend camping, fishing and even turkey hunting.  Instead of taking my boat back to Conover for safe keeping at my parent's house, I decided to just come back on to Charlotte after leaving the campground Sunday and return the boat today...so I could spend a little time out on Mountain Island Lake yesterday. 

After letting my buddies Justin and Eric know of my plans, Eric decided he would join me.  I loaded up around 4:15 pm and was on the lake by 5 pm.  I trolled up and down one of the banks in the cove of the Neck Road access area until Eric showed up around 6, then we were off to check out the upper, river-like section of the lake that we had never been to.  It was evident that Duke Energy was pulling water from the lake as well as releasing it from Lake Norman due to the faster-than-typical current.  We just used it to fish the bank, quickly at that, and enjoyed our time out on the water.  I was able to navigate the boat down a creek channel that I ducked hunt this past year and pointed out one of the blinds in the area to Eric.  Eventually we worked our way through the large flat section in that general area, throwing worms at the edge of grass mats.  While doing so, we were lucky enough to have two Bald Eagles soar over us, a first for me in this area of NC and a testament to the great asset the Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refugee is to the Mecklenburg, Lincoln and Gaston County area. 

Hitting the river channel and its current again, we floated down the bank, having a whitetail doe run to the water's edge a mere 50 yards from us, looking at us like we were not supposed to be there.  During that, I managed to pick up a feisty 1.5 pound largemouth on my finesse worm and spinning gear (I love that setup!).  After letting him go and floating down the bank a hundred yards or so, a beaver popped up on the bank and swam upstream, which was a pretty cool site to see as the sun was setting.  We ended the day fishing one of our favorite little coves, where Eric somehow managed to catch a bluegill with his line stuck in a tree, the lure barely touching the water three feet below where he was hung.  As we headed back to the dock, all I could think about was how there is no better way to spend my time than with one of my dear friends out in God's creation.  Until the next fishing trip recap, tight lines!

-C.B.

With much anticipation, this year's family camping trip to Arrowhead Campground, located in the El Dorado area of North Carolina's Uwharrie National Forest, started for me last Thursday.  After making the hour trip back home to Conover to pick up my boat and meet my grandfather, who was pulling the camper, off we headed down I-40, Highway 70 and eventually Highways 49 and 109.  We arrived at the campground around 1:00 pm once we had to gotten our fill of food from the grill of the El Dorado Outpost and by 2:00 pm we were on the water fishing for crappies.