Carvins cove (a hidden gem)

[westonhar00]

Carvins cove is about a 10 minute drive from my house, so I've kind of always used it as my little personal quiet place to fish when its a low key day. At carvins cove, you can't have a motor over 10 horse power, so on my tracker I just have a little 6 hp kicker that gets me around pretty well. bass fishing there has always been tough because back in the days carvins cove used to be pounded with fishing pressure. but I believe in 2013 they started stocking hybrids and having some success. it brought back some fishing interest to the area. Before I had my boat I would fish on the bank and I frequently would see small hybrids get caught with the occasional 15-20 incher, but the weird thing was that they would always be caught on chicken liver.! and that astonished me at first, but over the years I have found that at carvins cove if you want to catch hybrids, truly your best bet is chicken liver! once I got my boat, I would go out and get on schools of them and I would drop down chicken liver and get one on every cast, and then as soon as I would drop down a little swimbait or a fluke , or spinnerbait, or really anything that you would think a hybrid striper would eat, they wouldnt touch it!!! and over the years that has proved its self time and time again, they won't hit a lure!! and you can't use live bait out there anyways. but anyways, I have been heading out there all this past week and fishing the same cove, just using a 1/2 oz sinker a swivel, 3 foot of leader and a size 2 octopus hook with a small piece of chicken liver, basically fished just like downlines right above the bottom. getting crushed!!!!! right around sunset the big girls would come out to play and I had probably 6 double ups with 18 + inchers, which are nice size hybrids. and they fight like heck! went back to the same cove the next night and tried trolling some chicken liver behind the boat and was surprised to see one rod almost get pulled out of the boat it was hit so hard. so I don't know if you guys know what I was thinking at that point but it had me jittery like a kid on his birthday, I pulled out the planer boards!!!! set up away from where the school was and pulled a full spread with light lined chicken livers right through them and boom!! two of the far side boards jerked back and It was on. and just as I thought, after a couple of days, they had moved on somewhere else as the water warmed up, I may have to try to go out there again soon and find them. but, needless to say, I had a fun time. I would put pictures but I have no idea how to get them on here. tight lines!!

[mwardncsu]

sounds like a blast!

[piper]

Sounds like a lot of fun. What would kayaking be like? Are the decent fishing spots within safe distance of the landing? I think catching a few hybrids in a kayak would be a lot of fun.

[flintster55]

I kayak at Carvins usually at least twice a week. Lots of good spots within paddling distance of the ramp. The bass fishing is really good (tough at times) with the ultra clear water in the summer, but I would rate it up there with SML in terms of quality and quantity. I caught a LM last night that was probably close to 4lbs. I have gotten into the hybrids a few times as well on chicken livers myself and they are a ton of fun to catch. I usually have my best luck in April and May for them though since they go much deeper in the summer.

[westonhar00]

Piper, the hybrids right now are in the big coves in about 10-16 ft of water. You can catch small hybrids on chicken liver all day in areas not too far from the ramp. I’ll pm you

[greg]

I used to fish Carvins Cove all the time when I was growing up. My mom would take me out there and drop me off, coming back later in the day to pick me up. I would walk the banks and fish from shore, caught a lot of nice fish doing that. When I got older and could drive, I got a small 14' aluminum boat with a 7.5 HP motor, I would go after school and on weekends. Then I got my first fiberglass bass boat, and could fish from one end to the other with ease. I used to love going to the Cove fishing, it was loaded with bass, and good ones. Then they changed the rules and regulations about what boats could be used, and I have not fished there since.