In the upper reaches of both Hager's and Mountain Creek, the fishing was NOT hot and furious earlier today. We used our fly rods to pitch hair jigs (I'll be posting a video blog on this setup and technique sometime this week) of different weights and colors and threw Panfish Assassin soft plastics on small jig heads with ultralight spinning rods; I even did a little bass fishing with my 6'-0" spinning rod using both a watermelon seed-colored finesse worm and a green pumpkin/chartreuse tail-colored baby brush hog on shakey head jigs. The result for those 4.5 hours of fishing? 2 fish total (my bream and my grandfather's crappie) and 3 or 4 bites resulting in missed fish. After dropping off Seth and I back at the boat landing, my dad and grandfather headed back out and up the lake in search of some fish that were willing to bite, though I am not holding out much hope that they catching a limit right now. Even if they don't, it was good to get back out on the water and enjoy a rain-free and sunny NC March day.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, check out this eHow article on how to tie your own hair-jig. Or if you prefer soft plastics, head on over to the Bass Assassin website to see what they offer in their panfish line. Until next time, tight lines!
-C.B.