Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Where can you go in North Carolina to find fishing that will appeal both to the top dog and teen, to the caretaker and kid, the expert and experimental fishermen in the family?

There are answers all over the map; the only problem is deciding where to go and how much travel is required. After all, it is 543 miles from Murphy to Manteo. At least that's what it says on the sign on the westbound shoulder of Route 64 near the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

No matter where you live in the Tar Heel State, there are places within easy driving distance that can provide fishing of all spectrums, from live bait under a float to tough, technical fishing.

This month, we will explore three of them.

HICKORY-MORGANTON AREA
In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains lie these two cities that are located so perfectly for the fisherman that it's amazing that neither is overpopulated by guys with bass boats and fly rods.

Hickory and Morganton are about 20 miles apart on Interstate 40, at the foot of the mountains. By some sort of lucky coincidence, the Catawba River runs reasonably parallel to I-40 for about 40 miles in the same area, giving fishermen in Catawba County and Burke County cities easy access to a number of reservoirs that hold fish of all shapes and sizes. And both are within a drive of 45 minutes to an hour to some top-drawer trout streams to the north and west, and in the case of South Mountain State Park, to the south and west.

The westernmost lake on the Catawba chain is Lake James, about 15 miles west of Morganton. It covers 6,500 surface acres on two distinct arms -- the Catawba and Linville rivers. Lake James is deep and clear, characteristic of higher mountain lakes in terms of habitat and fish species, but with the advantage of being the warmest and easternmost reservoir in North Carolina to have smallmouth bass and walleyes.

Prime fishing months for those two, however, will be over before school's out. The best bet is to fish red-clay banks around the mouth of the Linville for some late-spawning walleyes that are just finished recovering from their reproductive stress and feeding heavily. Sliding a night crawler (threaded onto a leadhead jig) down a red-clay bank can be productive, especially when there's a laydown tree around. And there will be a few late-spawning smallmouths on their way back out of creeks and the Linville that can be caught on live shiner minnows in 5 to 15 feet of water on secondary points, normally with rocks or some other kind of cover.

For guided trips, try Stanley Correll of Catawba Lakes Guide Service at (828) 205-1429.

Lake Rhodhiss covers 3,515 acres and stretches about 10 miles from just northwest of Hickory to just northeast of Morganton. It is one of the least-pressured lakes on the Catawba chain. Biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Duke Power guess that a lot of fishermen bypass Rhodhiss for either Lake Hickory or Lake James, in part because Rhodhiss is a fairly narrow lake with a lot of river-fishing features.

However, those fishermen are missing out. Those same biologists admit that Rhodhiss is probably the most fertile reservoir on the Catawba, producing more pounds of fish flesh per surface acre than even famed Lake Wylie or nearby Lake Hickory.

Rhodhiss warms up a little later than reservoirs downstream, so the spring spawning run of the lake's striped bass is a little later. It's not unusual for fishermen to run into spawners in early June well up the river, often as far as the municipal water-treatment plant on the outskirts of Morganton. And the chance of catching a trophy striper is probably better at Rhodhiss than any other reservoir on the Catawba.

For guided trips, Capt. Frank Maddy at (704) 263-0801 and Capt. Joe Jobin at (704) 240-0165 do a lot of work on Lake Rhodhiss.