Post by 31Airborne on Nov 1, 2020 18:18:24 GMT -5
My best friend (Jerry) and I have been talking for years about making a series of trips to lakes/rivers that have long been on our bucket lists. As we both approach retirement (for good this time) we finally managed to pull one off. We both have had Shearon-Harris (SH going forward) and Jordan on our respective lists so trip #1 was to NC. We made the Raleigh area our base of operations (New Hill actually). Found this lovely B&B - Jordan Lake B&B - not 5 mins from one of the Jordan ramps. Let me tell y'all - if you ever go down this way fishing, visiting, sight-seeing, whatever you need to check this place out. Beautiful home w/ spacious rooms and private baths for each. The hosts, Carol and Greg, put out the best breakfast I've ever had. This is a first rate place, doods. Worthy of a getaway w/ your best girl. The joint has it all: pool, hot tub, fire pit, you name it. 5 mins to the New Hope ramp on Jordan, 14 mins to the closest SH ramp, 20 mins to Raleigh if you have a hankering to see the big (by NC standards) city. The lot is large (5 acres) and has a circular drive. Plenty of parking and easy access to power if you need to charge up. Please keep Jordan Lake B&B in mind if'n you ever head this way.
SH details - Neither of us had been here before. We did manage to get a couple of maps to do some cursory homework but the detail on the maps was pretty poor (Navionix has spoilt me). We picked this lake first because it has a reputation for cranking out monsters. There we many things Jerry and I planned for - food, drink, leisure time, catching up - but a hurricane, a major cold front, a blue moon, and fall turnover weren't anywhere in our planning. If you ever wanted to fish a lake after a perfect storm scenario this was it. When the local doods come off the water and complain about not getting a single bite you know it's tuff. We saw 69* when we launched; WTs rose to 71 during the day. The wind kept WTs down. The water was clear at the ramp but that was a bit misleading. We would see areas where visibility was no more than 18". In other areas we had 3-4'. We marked tons of bait everywhere - in the main channel, deep, shallow, on flats, on points, you name it. We marked fish all over the water column. Most of them were suspended. We did find some areas where they were tight to the deck. These areas tended to be points near or on channel swings w/ ready access to deep water. The sharper the contour lines the better. Our fish came from the usual magic zone - 5-12'. T-rig, C-rig, shakyhead, and chatterbaits accounted for our fish. No big ones (Jerry had one ~3.5 lbs on the second day) but we didn't get skunked. Secondary points were best for us.
Jordan details - we fished Jordan for half a day on the second day. We didn't venture too far from the ramp. There was a large feeder creek maybe 10 mins from the ramp that had all kinds of nice points, bluffs, and bridges in it. Jerry hooks up on our first Jordan lake fish - a solid 16" keeper - on a chatterbait worked off of riprap. From there we hopped main lake and secondary points working soft plastic presentations (fish were tight to the bottom here, too). We had a number of shorties take our C-rigs and had one 14.99" fish eat my jig off of a rock formation. WTs here were the same as SH - they ranged from 68 to 71. Jordan was stained pretty consistently everywhere we went (2-3' of viz). Main lake points were better than secondary points. The points had to have sharp breaks. 5-8' was the magic zone for us.
Summary - so no monsters but we didn't get skunked on days when the local doods were leaving the ramp shaking their heads. Was kinda cool being able to piece together workable patterns based on map study and on-the-water learning. Going to a new lake and being able to figure something out has always been a passion of mine. We were able to do it on this trip.
Some props for NC: the boat ramps we used were the best we'd ever seen. Duke Energy and NC state parks have got it going on. Magnificent ramps w/ plenty of parking, tie-off piers, and in locations protected from prevailing winds. The SH ramps are free. I'm not sure about the state ramps. No one was tending the entrance hut and there was no honor box at the ramp. (Ol' Airborne may be guilty of a misdemeanor.) You will have no trouble finding someplace that gets you safely in the water, w/ plenty of room to launch and recover, and reasonably secure (we saw cops at both lakes on both days).
Bucket list trip #2 will be in TN. Tim's Ford and Pickwick are on the slate. Can't wait.
If you need or want details beyond what I've given here PM me or gimme a shout. Happy to share.
peace,
B
SH details - Neither of us had been here before. We did manage to get a couple of maps to do some cursory homework but the detail on the maps was pretty poor (Navionix has spoilt me). We picked this lake first because it has a reputation for cranking out monsters. There we many things Jerry and I planned for - food, drink, leisure time, catching up - but a hurricane, a major cold front, a blue moon, and fall turnover weren't anywhere in our planning. If you ever wanted to fish a lake after a perfect storm scenario this was it. When the local doods come off the water and complain about not getting a single bite you know it's tuff. We saw 69* when we launched; WTs rose to 71 during the day. The wind kept WTs down. The water was clear at the ramp but that was a bit misleading. We would see areas where visibility was no more than 18". In other areas we had 3-4'. We marked tons of bait everywhere - in the main channel, deep, shallow, on flats, on points, you name it. We marked fish all over the water column. Most of them were suspended. We did find some areas where they were tight to the deck. These areas tended to be points near or on channel swings w/ ready access to deep water. The sharper the contour lines the better. Our fish came from the usual magic zone - 5-12'. T-rig, C-rig, shakyhead, and chatterbaits accounted for our fish. No big ones (Jerry had one ~3.5 lbs on the second day) but we didn't get skunked. Secondary points were best for us.
Jordan details - we fished Jordan for half a day on the second day. We didn't venture too far from the ramp. There was a large feeder creek maybe 10 mins from the ramp that had all kinds of nice points, bluffs, and bridges in it. Jerry hooks up on our first Jordan lake fish - a solid 16" keeper - on a chatterbait worked off of riprap. From there we hopped main lake and secondary points working soft plastic presentations (fish were tight to the bottom here, too). We had a number of shorties take our C-rigs and had one 14.99" fish eat my jig off of a rock formation. WTs here were the same as SH - they ranged from 68 to 71. Jordan was stained pretty consistently everywhere we went (2-3' of viz). Main lake points were better than secondary points. The points had to have sharp breaks. 5-8' was the magic zone for us.
Summary - so no monsters but we didn't get skunked on days when the local doods were leaving the ramp shaking their heads. Was kinda cool being able to piece together workable patterns based on map study and on-the-water learning. Going to a new lake and being able to figure something out has always been a passion of mine. We were able to do it on this trip.
Some props for NC: the boat ramps we used were the best we'd ever seen. Duke Energy and NC state parks have got it going on. Magnificent ramps w/ plenty of parking, tie-off piers, and in locations protected from prevailing winds. The SH ramps are free. I'm not sure about the state ramps. No one was tending the entrance hut and there was no honor box at the ramp. (Ol' Airborne may be guilty of a misdemeanor.) You will have no trouble finding someplace that gets you safely in the water, w/ plenty of room to launch and recover, and reasonably secure (we saw cops at both lakes on both days).
Bucket list trip #2 will be in TN. Tim's Ford and Pickwick are on the slate. Can't wait.
If you need or want details beyond what I've given here PM me or gimme a shout. Happy to share.
peace,
B
