Biologists have long indicated that Lake Rhodhiss is among the most fertile lakes on the Catawba River chain, even though it was impounded back in 1925. Fish growth rates are excellent, and the overall amount of fish in the lake is also tremendous. The lake is known to produce some whopper-sized stripers, and Neeley said that the number of crappie in the lake is incredible, even if size is a little lacking in some cases.

MOUNTAIN ISLAND LAKE
Chris Nichols, who hails from Gastonia, guides on Mountain Island Lake, 3,280 acres of water wedged in between Lake Wylie and Lake Norman on the Catawba River chain. The location is about all you need to know about the lack of fishing pressure on the lake, even though Nichols says, "If you go and see more than a handful of boats in a whole day, that's a bad day. And most of those guys will be striper fishing or catfishing. The fishing pressure on bass is minimal; you can go there and have a lot of fun."

Nichols said that Mountain Island is full of 1- to 3-pound bass, with an occasional 5- or 6-pounder showing up. In terms of quality, the bass more closely resemble fish from Lake Norman than Lake Wylie.

In September, bass will be in transition as the water starts to cool and baitfish start to move shallow and back in creeks. If it's been a long, hot, dry summer, bass will almost certainly be out on main-lake structure, such as humps, channel drops and long points that run close to the river channel. In that case, Nichols will either use a DD-22 crankbait, a Hopkins jigging spoon, a Little George tailspinner or Carolina rig a 4-inch Zoom finesse worm.

"Not many guys will fish a Little George, but when bass are deep, it's pretty deadly," he said. "I throw it as far as I can on 8-pound-test line, let it go to the bottom, wind up the slack and pull it off the bottom 4 to 6 feet, then let it flutter back down -- the way you'd fish a 1-ounce Hot Spot. It's deadly on bass, and it will catch a lot of big fish, too.

"You're looking to fish it on humps that come up 10, 12 or 15 feet off the bottom, or ledges that drop off into the river channel."

Nichols (704-868-2298) said that if you catch an early fall, or if the summer is fairly mild or wet -- keeping the water level fairly high -- baitfish will start back into shallow water in early September, setting up a totally different pattern.

"You'll be looking at throwing a Rat-L-Trap or Hot Spot, in 1/4- or 1/2-ounce sizes, across points, and you can get a pretty good topwater bite on a Heddon Chugger or even a buzzbait," he said. "Fish will hit a buzzbait if you fish it around laydowns and rocky points."

Nichols said that there are plenty of rip-rapped and rocky banks at Mountain Island that will hold baitfish and bass early in the fall. He likes to target those areas with a Rat-L-Trap or a No. 5 or No. 7 Shad Rap in natural or silver with a black back.

"Mainly, you're looking at a couple of creeks, and they're not that big, but the shad will move up in them, and the bass will go in right behind them. Sometimes the shad will surprise you; they'll move real early."

Nichols said that boat docks are an off-and-on producer of nice bass at Mountain Island. He'll try to target them with a jig-and-pig, but he doesn't rely on them all the time.

"There are some days when you can catch a big stringer of fish off piers, but it's kind of like Lake Wylie. You won't catch 'em like that every day. It's off and on. You're not guaranteed to catch bass on piers every day. But it can be a good secondary pattern."