A true MONSTER!
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.
Starting at the lower end of the lake, we worked the coves around the campground and dam, managing to put a few sunfish in the boat to use at cut bait for future "jugging" adventures. It wasn't until making the trip up lake to our usual spots that I was able to flip in a crappie using a blue and white "winged" hair jig, with my grandfather following suit a few minutes later using a pink and white one (non-winged in his case). We were able to fish that place for around 15 minutes before having to drive back down the lake to pick up my father who had just arrived with my grandfather's boat, only to drive right back up the lake to fish. Luckily my boat gets good gas mileage, so I can make runs like that a few days in a row without needing to even think about filling up again. Anyway, the total for the day ended up being 11 sunfish and 9 crappies. Things looked good for the weekend, then Friday came along.
I had planned on going turkey hunting in the morning, but when I heard heavy rain drops falling when the alarm went off at 5 a.m., I just rolled back over to get a few more hours of sleep. After hearing the night before that only showers were expected during the day and it wouldn't be a total soaker, just dreary and chilly, the weathermen (and women) turned out to blow the "wet" part of the forecast. In fact, we tried braving the rain once it started around 10 with us already on the lake (we had our rain suits on, ready for the bottom to drop), but the fish just weren't biting and the weather was more suited for duck hunting than it was crappie fishing. We did however manage to bring in a sunfish and four crappie, with my grandfather and myself both losing a nice crappie each before we could get them into the boat. Back at the boat dock, the game warden for the area pulled up while we were getting ready to take out, and after following us to our campsite, he checked our licenses, made sure our fish met the 8" limit and that we had all necessary safety equipment in the boat. While it can be an inconvenience, especially in damp, dreary weather, we all have to remember that those guys are just doing their job.
Once the rain stopped, I decided to hit the woods for a few hours. Before I could do that though, I had to dry out my only pair of shoes. I put on my thinking cap and ended up using the hand dryer in the bathhouse to dry them out as best as possible. While they were still a little damp, my trail running shoes were dry enough to slip on and head out the door decked in my camo, shotgun and turkey backpack in tow. I decided to just find a random closed road in an area I had turkey hunted before and just walk in, do a little calling and eventually setup in a "turkey-ish" looking area. And I did just that, even though my feet were soaked (at least they were dry for the drive there!) by the time I finally settled into a large walnut covered area that looked like an old home site. The grass was weed-like and matted down, the woods were open and there were signs placed sporadically indicating this was a protected archeological area. I set my hen and jake dekes out in a breeding position and I plopped down next to one of the many walnut trees and blowdowns about 15 yards away. I clucked and purred a few different times on my slate during the hour I sat, but nothing responded back or came in. With my butt starting to go numb, I got up and gathered my decoys, walking around exploring the area I had found. I made a mental note of the deer sign in the area and circled back to the truck. It have only been a two hour hunt, but it was still a much needed break to get out and hit the Spring turkey woods.
Saturday started out just as dreary as Friday and kind of chilly with temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. My brother and mother had joined us the night before, so after breakfast and getting "minners" (minnows for those of you not from the country), we were all off on the water: My mom and I in my boat with my brother, dad and grandfather in the other. It was a slow start and warm up, with me catching a crappie that wouldn't keep and two small 1/2 to 3/4 lb bass. (one on a yellow and white hair jig and one using a finesse worm on spinning gear) while my mom somehow managed to catch a bass that wasn't much bigger than the crappie minnow she was using as bait. My dad and them (meaning my dad, brother and grandfather - again, for those not from the country) didn't have much more luck than us, catching one or two keeper crappies and few that they had to throw back. While we were heading back to the boat dock to get some lunch, I stopped in a cove that was usually a good place to catch one or two. I had no bites at all until I got fed up and switched to a black hair jig. Immediately I caught 3 keeper crappies in a row and things were looking up. My mom even caught a 1 1/2 lb largemouth, which put up quite the fight on her little ultralight setup, especially since she didn't have her drag set right!
I had planned on going turkey hunting in the morning, but when I heard heavy rain drops falling when the alarm went off at 5 a.m., I just rolled back over to get a few more hours of sleep. After hearing the night before that only showers were expected during the day and it wouldn't be a total soaker, just dreary and chilly, the weathermen (and women) turned out to blow the "wet" part of the forecast. In fact, we tried braving the rain once it started around 10 with us already on the lake (we had our rain suits on, ready for the bottom to drop), but the fish just weren't biting and the weather was more suited for duck hunting than it was crappie fishing. We did however manage to bring in a sunfish and four crappie, with my grandfather and myself both losing a nice crappie each before we could get them into the boat. Back at the boat dock, the game warden for the area pulled up while we were getting ready to take out, and after following us to our campsite, he checked our licenses, made sure our fish met the 8" limit and that we had all necessary safety equipment in the boat. While it can be an inconvenience, especially in damp, dreary weather, we all have to remember that those guys are just doing their job.
Once the rain stopped, I decided to hit the woods for a few hours. Before I could do that though, I had to dry out my only pair of shoes. I put on my thinking cap and ended up using the hand dryer in the bathhouse to dry them out as best as possible. While they were still a little damp, my trail running shoes were dry enough to slip on and head out the door decked in my camo, shotgun and turkey backpack in tow. I decided to just find a random closed road in an area I had turkey hunted before and just walk in, do a little calling and eventually setup in a "turkey-ish" looking area. And I did just that, even though my feet were soaked (at least they were dry for the drive there!) by the time I finally settled into a large walnut covered area that looked like an old home site. The grass was weed-like and matted down, the woods were open and there were signs placed sporadically indicating this was a protected archeological area. I set my hen and jake dekes out in a breeding position and I plopped down next to one of the many walnut trees and blowdowns about 15 yards away. I clucked and purred a few different times on my slate during the hour I sat, but nothing responded back or came in. With my butt starting to go numb, I got up and gathered my decoys, walking around exploring the area I had found. I made a mental note of the deer sign in the area and circled back to the truck. It have only been a two hour hunt, but it was still a much needed break to get out and hit the Spring turkey woods.
Saturday started out just as dreary as Friday and kind of chilly with temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. My brother and mother had joined us the night before, so after breakfast and getting "minners" (minnows for those of you not from the country), we were all off on the water: My mom and I in my boat with my brother, dad and grandfather in the other. It was a slow start and warm up, with me catching a crappie that wouldn't keep and two small 1/2 to 3/4 lb bass. (one on a yellow and white hair jig and one using a finesse worm on spinning gear) while my mom somehow managed to catch a bass that wasn't much bigger than the crappie minnow she was using as bait. My dad and them (meaning my dad, brother and grandfather - again, for those not from the country) didn't have much more luck than us, catching one or two keeper crappies and few that they had to throw back. While we were heading back to the boat dock to get some lunch, I stopped in a cove that was usually a good place to catch one or two. I had no bites at all until I got fed up and switched to a black hair jig. Immediately I caught 3 keeper crappies in a row and things were looking up. My mom even caught a 1 1/2 lb largemouth, which put up quite the fight on her little ultralight setup, especially since she didn't have her drag set right!
My mom's 1.5 pounder.
After lunch, with the sun out in full force and beating down on my now cherry red neck (thanks a lot Mr. Sun, squats were so much fun today with my neck still burnt!), we fished all over the northern end of the lake and worked our way back down. The final count for the day crappie wise ended up at only 4 for me and 0 for my mom. I did manage to catch quite a few sunfish however, some as big as my hand, using the old "bobber and minner" technique, which is always a fun time. The other boat didn't have much luck either, with my brother out fishing my dad and grandfather. He actually hooked a nice 3 lb bass on a hair jig but it came off (so I hear). I think their total was around 10 crappie, 10 sunfish (one was a huge warmouth) and a few bass. Even though the bite wasn't spectacular, it still was a beautiful day and a perfect way to end the weekend fishing since I didn't go out on Easter Sunday. Instead I slept in and packed up, which turned out to be the smart thing since the fish weren't cooperating according to my dad and grandfather.
All-in-all, the weather went from good to bad to good, the fishing went from ok to bad to ok and the amount of fun I had was through the roof. I always try to remember that every trip is a new adventure. They leave you with new stories to tell to those who will listen, more lies to spread about the one that got away and an ever increasing love of the outdoors. Somehow, I think that this trip proves yet again that I am always right (But don't tell my friends, family or fiance that, they'll just laugh).
-C.B.
All-in-all, the weather went from good to bad to good, the fishing went from ok to bad to ok and the amount of fun I had was through the roof. I always try to remember that every trip is a new adventure. They leave you with new stories to tell to those who will listen, more lies to spread about the one that got away and an ever increasing love of the outdoors. Somehow, I think that this trip proves yet again that I am always right (But don't tell my friends, family or fiance that, they'll just laugh).
-C.B.
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