There goes the neighborhood! Bad news for the Roanoke

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
You guys must fish a different part of Lake Norman than I've ever been to. While I will agree that there are some good sized spots in Norman, they are few and far between. And I don't think spots have "saved" Lake Norman, unless you consider decimating the largemouth population as saving. They are fun and easy fish to catch, but I think they outgrew the forage base at Norman a long time ago.
you may not have ever had to fish Norman pre spots?
the LMB were hammer handles.
now norman routinely hosts national tourneys with spots being a player in most bags.
I haven't heard many if any complain of the decimation of the sorry LMB population pre spots.
guides can always produce action , they are almost as easy as the crappie to catch, not much to not like.
 

mbh78

Ten Pointer
Contributor
you may not have ever had to fish Norman pre spots?
the LMB were hammer handles.
now norman routinely hosts national tourneys with spots being a player in most bags.
I haven't heard many if any complain of the decimation of the sorry LMB population pre spots.
guides can always produce action , they are almost as easy as the crappie to catch, not much to not like.
I did fish fish Norman pre-spots. It was basically like it is now, except now it's spots instead of largemouth. Numbers are better now, but the average size is not much different in my opinion. The guides do always produce action, but that doesn't mean they are producing size. If you follow those national tourneys, most of the winner's bags will be comprised of largemouth, or at least a good portion of it will be. There are still good largemouth in the lake, but the are harder to find, especially if you are only there occasionally. You can definitely have some fun with the spots for sure, but after 30 or so 12-14 inchers, it gets old. I like to feel 'Ol Big pull my string every now and then. :)
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I did fish fish Norman pre-spots. It was basically like it is now, except now it's spots instead of largemouth. Numbers are better now, but the average size is not much different in my opinion. The guides do always produce action, but that doesn't mean they are producing size. If you follow those national tourneys, most of the winner's bags will be comprised of largemouth, or at least a good portion of it will be. There are still good largemouth in the lake, but the are harder to find, especially if you are only there occasionally. You can definitely have some fun with the spots for sure, but after 30 or so 12-14 inchers, it gets old. I like to feel 'Ol Big pull my string every now and then. :)
when I had to fish norman it was due to tournament trails visiting there. We would have full fields of bass master classic contenders and winners folks like david fritts, woo daves, that crowd,
They couldn't catch "ol bigs" in norman: nobody did. you could win with ten weighing 15 lbs. Now with a five fish limit that size wont win.
So that's my personal bias on spots saving norman. Night and day difference.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
So if wildlife took off restrictions on spots do you think it would bring them back in check? Do you think I enough people would keep them to make a difference?


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Well.........if you look at TN’s stance on spotted bass, I’d say the answer to your question would be no only a no, but heeeeelllllllllllll no.
Too many “bass fishermen” have been brainwashed into thinking all bass regardless of type, should be thrown back “so we can catch this girl again”.................it don’t matter if it’s a pond (that thinking has ruined many a farm pond), river, lake or reservoir.........
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Well.........if you look at TN’s stance on spotted bass, I’d say the answer to your question would be no only a no, but heeeeelllllllllllll no.
Too many “bass fishermen” have been brainwashed into thinking all bass regardless of type, should be thrown back “so we can catch this girl again”.................it don’t matter if it’s a pond (that thinking has ruined many a farm pond), river, lake or reservoir.........

Coons gotta eat.... though I feel bad feeding the masked bandits such rubbish
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
In the Flint in Georgia most guys kill em .....Shoal bass are king there and the spotted bass are either cooked or made into osprey food. Awesome river.
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
You would
Coons gotta eat.... though I feel bad feeding the masked bandits such rubbish
You wouldn’t believe how many times we’d go shock a pond only to tell the owners they need to keep some bass. You’d think we’d called their momma a whore. Lol
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I think that there are plenty of non brain washed bass killers out there to take up the catch and release crowd's slack.
My experience is in contrast to yalls on people not keeping bass.
I have seen the greed and the pond poaching/raping and the pond stocking from lakes and the stringers 10 ft long full of 10" bass.
Just my bias. based on my experience.
I will say that given todays tools and the pressure and the info it wouldn't take very long to really bottom it out if catch and release wasn't the norm.
the poor coon bait cannot escape now.
 

dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The bass from those muddy waters in the western part of the state might not be worth eating, but those in the brackish water down east taste pretty good.
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I thought spotted bass had always been in the river. Seems like I had heard of people catching them on occasion, but I could be mistaken.

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nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I thought spotted bass had always been in the river. Seems like I had heard of people catching them on occasion, but I could be mistaken.

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Their in the upper part of the yadkin, you can catch them from Idols dam up regularly.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
You guys must fish a different part of Lake Norman than I've ever been to. While I will agree that there are some good sized spots in Norman, they are few and far between. And I don't think spots have "saved" Lake Norman, unless you consider decimating the largemouth population as saving. They are fun and easy fish to catch, but I think they outgrew the forage base at Norman a long time ago.

Lake Norman was a bass desert before the spots came along. No one liked it, no one wanted to fish it. The largemouth in that lake are 100 times healthier now than they were before the spots. And it has some huge spots in it, you just have to figure them out to catch them consistently. I've been saying for years it is the best lake in the state. Those little green ditch pickles are boring after you catch smallies and spots. I know that they don't do well with the smallmouth population, but they cohabitate very well with the largies. Norman and Hartwell are classic examples of that as well as several other lakes in the southeast. Spots are the best thing that ever happened to some of our lakes. I wish the Alabama strained spots would get introduced to some more of our lakes.
 
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Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
Lake Norman was a bass desert before the spots came along. No one likes it, no one wanted to fish it. The largemouth in that lake are 100 times healthier now than they were before the spots. And it has some huge spots in it, you just have to figure them out to catch them consistently. I've been saying for years it is the best lake in the state. Those little green ditch pickles are boring after you catch smallies and spots. I know that they don't do well with the smallmouth population, but they cohabitate very well with the largies. Norman and Hartwell are classic examples of that as well as several other lakes in the southeast. Spots are the best thing that ever happened to some of our lakes. I wish the Alabama strained spots would get introduced to some more of our lakes.
They do not do well with some populations of largemouths. Cape fear below buckhorn being one example where the largemouth have been knocked back.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Are the largemouth in LKN doing better because alewives and bluebacks were also illegally introduced there?
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
As for the cape fear......Idk about that body of water......I've never fished it although I know people who have and do and it's never been known as a bass fishing mecca to begin with to my knowledge. I fish a lot of lakes where there are both spots and largemouth and in all of those lakes they do really well together. I could name off a double digits lake list. Norman is just one of them. But it doesn't bother me that so many people hate spots.....I go to Norman any day if the week and hardly see a soul......I try going to ttown, badin or another largemouth lake and constantly fish behind someone. Y'all can have the green trash fish. A 2.5 lb spot will pull a 6 lb across the lake. But it's all in what you like......some people spend their time looking for 5-8 lb largemouth, I spend my time looking for 2-5 lb spots and big smallies when I can. And I'll take however many 1.5-2 lb spots I can catch because they all pull like trains.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
As for the cape fear......Idk about that body of water......I've never fished it although I know people who have and do and it's never been known as a bass fishing mecca to begin with to my knowledge. I fish a lot of lakes where there are both spots and largemouth and in all of those lakes they do really well together. I could name off a double digits lake list. Norman is just one of them. But it doesn't bother me that so many people hate spots.....I go to Norman any day if the week and hardly see a soul......I try going to ttown, badin or another largemouth lake and constantly fish behind someone. Y'all can have the green trash fish. A 2.5 lb spot will pull a 6 lb across the lake. But it's all in what you like......some people spend their time looking for 5-8 lb largemouth, I spend my time looking for 2-5 lb spots and big smallies when I can. And I'll take however many 1.5-2 lb spots I can catch because they all pull like trains.
You might want to give badin another spin or two or three. The catches it gives up these days versus pre blueback introduction are amazing. it's revival is the only thing close to Norman's.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
As for the cape fear......Idk about that body of water......I've never fished it although I know people who have and do and it's never been known as a bass fishing mecca to begin with to my knowledge. I fish a lot of lakes where there are both spots and largemouth and in all of those lakes they do really well together. I could name off a double digits lake list. Norman is just one of them. But it doesn't bother me that so many people hate spots.....I go to Norman any day if the week and hardly see a soul......I try going to ttown, badin or another largemouth lake and constantly fish behind someone. Y'all can have the green trash fish. A 2.5 lb spot will pull a 6 lb across the lake. But it's all in what you like......some people spend their time looking for 5-8 lb largemouth, I spend my time looking for 2-5 lb spots and big smallies when I can. And I'll take however many 1.5-2 lb spots I can catch because they all pull like trains.

1 section I fish was a BIg Bass hot spot. No more. Spots have taken over and you rarely catch a big one anymore.
and yes LM are lazy in a lake. catch a 6lb largemouth in a river and he is gonna drag that spot for days. lake LM are not river largemouth. I see hardly any difference between a river LM and a river SM . but yes it is all in what you like.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
You might want to give badin another spin or two or three. The catches it gives up these days versus pre blueback introduction are amazing. it's revival is the only thing close to Norman's.

I've fished badin my whole life and I've been to badin several times this year, I liked it a lot better before the blubacks were introduced. The lake is so different since the bluback herring. It's amazing how different spots and largemouth react to bluebacks. Badin used to be an awesome offshore structure lake in the summer. Now they roam out over open water chasing herring and don't hardly relate to structure at all and it makes it extremely tough(at least for me and a lot of people I know). It's like lake Murray and all the southern lakes that have largemouth only and bluebacks, it's great in the spring, decent in the winter and terrible summer and fall. I wish someone would introduce spots in badin, I think they would thrive there. The tournament weights may be as high or higher but that doesn't make it a place to go have a fun day of fish catching.
 
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Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
1 section I fish was a BIg Bass hot spot. No more. Spots have taken over and you rarely catch a big one anymore.
and yes LM are lazy in a lake. catch a 6lb largemouth in a river and he is gonna drag that spot for days. lake LM are not river largemouth. I see hardly any difference between a river LM and a river SM . but yes it is all in what you like.

I've caught them in rivers, lakes, creeks etc. Some places they fight harder than others but I've never seen any LM rival a smallie or spot......just my .02
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I've fished badin my whole life and I've been to badin several times this year, I liked it a lot better before the blubacks were introduced. The lake is so different since the bluback herring. It's amazing how different spots and largemouth react to bluebacks. Badin used to be an awesome offshore structure lake in the summer. Now they roam out over open water chasing herring and don't hardly relate to structure at all and it makes it extremely tough(at least for me and a lot of people I know). It's like lake Murray and all the southern lakes that have largemouth only and bluebacks, it's great in the spring, decent in the winter and terrible summer and fall. I wish someone would introduce spots in badin, I think they would thrive there. The tournament weights may be as high or higher but that doesn't make it a place to go have a fun day of fish catching.
maybe I can help you on the summer structure bite. it is still in play better than before for some. I will fish Saturday on Jordan with a great structure fisherman who considers badin his home lake. I'll see what he will say.
Granted he has the entire lake bottom pictured on a lap top from a few years ago when it was drawn down but the new electronics are just as good anyway.
Just giving you some options, maybe. :)
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
maybe I can help you on the summer structure bite. it is still in play better than before for some. I will fish Saturday on Jordan with a great structure fisherman who considers badin his home lake. I'll see what he will say.
Granted he has the entire lake bottom pictured on a lap top from a few years ago when it was drawn down but the new electronics are just as good anyway.
Just giving you some options, maybe. :)


I remember the drawdown very well......best days I've ever had on that lake. It was incredible as it always is when one of our lakes gets drawn down that far.
 

Panthera

Eight Pointer
Spots are going to have a target on their backs soon enough. hopefully there numbers will be dropped way back, they have destroyed some great small mouth lakes in WNC.
Like Lake Chatuge.. Originally they claimed the Alabamas they stocked were bucket stocked by fishermen.They finally admitted what they did. Same people that some here are falling all over themselves patting them on the back. The Bamas are going to ruin the largemouth fishery at Norman.. And Belews..
 

Panthera

Eight Pointer
I’m sure some large mouth would end up being called spots or hybrids


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I’m sure some large mouth would end up being called spots or hybrids


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I believe they do hybridize with the Alabama bass. The Alabamas are now in the upper reaches of the Yadkin, from the Rockford area north. Most of the fish called "spotted bass" are Alabama bass, except for some down east stocked by the NCWRC which are truly spots. The fish at Norman, Belews, and other lakes are the Alabama bass, which has shown through genetic testing not to be closely related to the spotted bass. Alabama bass' closest relative is the shoal bass.
They ruined the smallmouth fishing at Lake Chatuge and are doing the same thing at Fontana now. And at Belews Lake they are decimating the largemouth there, like they did at Norman.
I have caught them, and agree they are fun to catch. But do we really want to sacrifice our native largemouth, which grow fat and heavy for a fish that is a great fighter, but rarely reaches such sizes?
 
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