There goes the neighborhood! Bad news for the Roanoke

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I was thinking the same thing. Actually I was thinking you'll be luck if you can even get 5 bites much less catch 5 keepers. Breaks my heart to see what's happened to that place. Used to be one of the best small lakes in the country
no grass, eventually not many bass. or in that case not as many.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
no grass, eventually not many bass. or in that case not as many.

No grass = the death if a fishery. There are several fisheries in NC that are prime examples of this.......currituck, mattamuskeet and Harris are most notable. I remember the good old days of shearon Harris.......catching 50+ 3 pounders with a 7-8 pounder thrown in consistently
 
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Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
No grass = the death if a fishery. There are several lakes in NC that are prime examples of them.......currituck, mattamuskeet and Harris are most notable. I remember the good old days of shearon Harris.......catching 50+ 3 pounders with a 7-8 pounder thrown in consistently

Currituck is not a lake.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
No grass = the death if a fishery. There are several fisheries in NC that are prime examples of this.......currituck, mattamuskeet and Harris are most notable. I remember the good old days of shearon Harris.......catching 50+ 3 pounders with a 7-8 pounder thrown in consistently
it was the damndest thing i ever saw when the wacky rig was introduced in that grass.
Of course when it was initilally impounded the catch rate was astounding but they were small.
You would pull one up and have a zillion following.

Only thing better was a few miles north at jordan. They both were fishable at the same time. In one year i fished jordan 92 days.
You were doing something wrong if you didnt catch 100 a day.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
it was the damndest thing i ever saw when the wacky rig was introduced in that grass.
Of course when it was initilally impounded the catch rate was astounding but they were small.
You would pull one up and have a zillion following.

Only thing better was a few miles north at jordan. They both were fishable at the same time. In one year i fished jordan 92 days.
You were doing something wrong if you didnt catch 100 a day.

My dad and uncle tell me about Jordan and Harris in the very early days all the time......pulling up on a point and catching 40 or 50......catching 200 a day......I got in on it at harris when it was really good but it was when the fish had grown up. The days of dragging a worm through thick hydrilla beds and slaying 3-4 pounders galore. Unfortunately I never got in on it at Jordan in its prime. My dad said they would catch them on anything that moved and had a hook stuck in it. He said one day they pulled up out in the middle of the lake in man's land to eat lunch. He decide to throw a worm out in like 40 foot of water, proceeded to catch a 7 pounder and they sat there in the same spot and caught who knows how many......no hump, no cover just tons of fish. He said it was unreal. He would also tell me about currituck......I really hate I missed out on that and back Bay. I got in on mattamuskeet in its prime. Probably the best largemouth fishery I've ever wet a line in. It was unbelievable. Unfortunately the good ol days are gone for all of those places. The grass left mattamuskeet, currituck, and shearon Harris and the bass went with it. Of course you'll hear the guys that didn't fish shearon Harris back in the day say "they're still in there" but they have no idea what it was like when the hydrilla was everywhere. I just don't know why the ncwrc won't leave well enough alone.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
it was the damndest thing i ever saw when the wacky rig was introduced in that grass.
Of course when it was initilally impounded the catch rate was astounding but they were small.
You would pull one up and have a zillion following.

Only thing better was a few miles north at jordan. They both were fishable at the same time. In one year i fished jordan 92 days.
You were doing something wrong if you didnt catch 100 a day.

I caught some Hawgs at Jordan in the late 80's and early 90's and I mean Hawgs. That is when I big bass fished there and 1 other spot. Miss them days but there are still some Hawgs in there. I caught a good 60 fish one day and I dont think one was under 4 and the biggest was over 8 . an 8 though nothing to sneeze at is not what we were after. there was a good amount of fish bigger than that.
 

Panthera

Eight Pointer
At least two 14 pound bass have been caught in Jordan..Add Randleman to the list that ain't what it used to be..Went there not long after it opened and caught 63 bass, well, two of us did.. My first fish that day weighed seven pounds..Now if you get ten you are lucky.
 

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
08abdede599d2ccf10734f1bb6270867.jpg


Spots have taken over Fontana, my dad doesn’t seem to mind


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
08abdede599d2ccf10734f1bb6270867.jpg


Spots have taken over Fontana, my dad doesn’t seem to mind


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I bet they can't resist that red lipped Shad Rap. They are among the best hard baits ever, IMO. Speckled trout like them too when trolled in the sound. The size your Dad has will run 6' deep and is subject to take any fish nearby.
 

Duckmauler dhc

Old Mossy Horns
08abdede599d2ccf10734f1bb6270867.jpg


Spots have taken over Fontana, my dad doesn’t seem to mind


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Going up there in a couple weeks and can't wait. I haven't noticed much of a difference in the amount of smallies I catch there since the spots came. But I did notice the overall catch rate go up and the size of all 3 species. Place is a fish factory. One of my favorites
 

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
Going up there in a couple weeks and can't wait. I haven't noticed much of a difference in the amount of smallies I catch there since the spots came. But I did notice the overall catch rate go up and the size of all 3 species. Place is a fish factory. One of my favorites

That’s probably due to the bait in the lake. It’s the only lake I can go to and find big balls of bait and not have a single mark of a larger fish on them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
Going up there in a couple weeks and can't wait. I haven't noticed much of a difference in the amount of smallies I catch there since the spots came. But I did notice the overall catch rate go up and the size of all 3 species. Place is a fish factory. One of my favorites

That’s probably due to the bait in the lake. It’s the only lake I can go to and find big balls of bait and not have a single mark of a larger fish on them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I caught some Hawgs at Jordan in the late 80's and early 90's and I mean Hawgs. That is when I big bass fished there and 1 other spot. Miss them days but there are still some Hawgs in there. I caught a good 60 fish one day and I dont think one was under 4 and the biggest was over 8 . an 8 though nothing to sneeze at is not what we were after. there was a good amount of fish bigger than that.
that was where many missed the boat at jordan. There were big bass to be caught even at the beginning.
The first time we fished the seaforth pond dam we used a 100 ct bag of 8 inch worms, biting them down to inches as the catches soared. In the midst of the action my dad actually quit to take a break from the catching. While he was eating I swung a giant in his lap. One of my fonder memories of the first summer at jordan. most every day you would encounter a big one. But who cared with hundreds coming in every trip. :)

We had pics that we had taken of the lake bed prior to flooding after the lake bed was cleared. The blown bridges, railroad beds, roads, humps, etc were all known and had astronomical numbers of bass on them.
You could catch them on any brushy visible cover you wanted but you could REALLY catch them on the hard offshore structure.
 
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