2004 FISHING CALENDAR The calendar is in PDF format. The Adobe Reader can be downloaded for free here.

By Mike Marsh

Tar Heel anglers are a lucky lot. No matter where they live or what time of year it may be, hot-action fishing destinations are within a day's drive.

Blue-and-white trolling skirts with "horse" ballyhoo are used for bluefin tuna. Bluefin tuna are found by trolling along temperature breaks and watching for surface-feeding fish or by locating them with sonar.

Striped bass come to the top at dawn and dusk and on overcast days they may stay up all day. Topwater chugging lures that imitate shad cast into schools of feeding stripers entice savage strikes. Frozen, fresh or live shad trolled or drifted through schools of shad or at the depth stripers are seen on the depthfinder take deep-holding fish. Bucktail jigs and jigging spoons also work when the fish are deep.

Porpoises eat red drum, tossing them into the air to break them apart. Seeing porpoises right on the beach is an indication that red drum are in the area. The fish are feeding on small squid. Therefore, anglers use jigs and natural baits like squid or shrimp to catch them from the surf.

Photo by Jeff Samsel

The colder the weather, the better opportunities there are for catching the really big fish. Smaller catfish and other potential competition cool off, while the big fish stay active.

Best baits for blue catfish are cut baits like shad, herring or mullet. Best baits for flatheads are live offerings, with the best bait a bullhead catfish. Anglers using homemade blood baits have caught the largest catfish.

Anglers use light lines and spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs to catch largemouth bass from points heated by the sun on cold days in February.

The WOFES dredge disposal has held the biggest weakfish concentrations. Artificial reefs and natural ledges also hold lots of fish. Spoons, jigs, cut fish or shrimp catch weakfish from waters as deep as 40 feet.

There is also an 18-inch size limit to increase the trophy potential of the lake's Florida-strain largemouths.

Soft plastics, medium-depth crankbaits and tube jigs are good choices for Sutton Lake bass.

Anglers watch for flocks of birds diving into baitfish schools to find bonito, then get ahead of the school.

Flies that imitate glass minnows are used by fly-anglers. Casting anglers use bucktail jigs, spoons and poppers. Trolling crankbaits, spoons and jigs when the fish are deep or the water is rough will catch lots of fish.

Anglers trolling multiple rods catch big crappie along the creek channels. Purple and white, chartreuse and yellow tube jigs and twistertail jigs have been hot colors. The biggest fish bite the tiniest jigs, down to 1/32 ounce.

Shad can weight 8 pounds and offer great sport on light tackle. Anglers cast 1/8-ounce darts and twistertail jigs. Slower retrieves result in the most hookups.

Standing brush and creek channels running through in the shallower areas also hold lots of big largemouths. In the weeds, spinnerbaits and soft plastics work well, while along the creek beds and rock faces, crankbaits produce lots of fish.

When the water warms, trout become more aggressive. The rocky pools are clear as crystal, so anglers use ultralight tackle with line of 4-pound-test to cast tiny spinners.

Birds working baitfish and jumping Spanish mackerel are dead giveaways about where to fish. Most anglers troll spoons. However, the fish can be caught by casting lures and flies.

"Salem was by far our best bass lake," said NCWRC biologist Kin Hodges. "We caught 70 fish per hour in our electroshock survey, with not many below 14 inches. There were a lot of fish up to 23 inches. I'd put it up against Falls, Jordan and Harris."

Salem is about 400 acres and is undisturbed and gorgeous, although it is in the midst of Winston-Salem. The lake has produced over 200 largemouths over 5 pounds in a season.

One rod acts as an anchor, casting a sinker that will hold bottom. The fishing rod is used to slide a bait to the water by means of a release clip that frees the line when a king mackerel strikes. A pair of treble hooks is inserted into the live bait.

Anglers use light tackle to catch spots, croakers, pinfish and other fish to use as king mackerel bait. The favored bait is a live bluefish.

Anglers use silver spoons to catch white perch. They cruise the lake watching activity. If the fish don't show, find a concentration of baitfish and begin jigging or trolling with a spoon or dropping live minnows.

Twenty-fish days are common. Most are 10 to 12 inches, with one fish in 20 going 14 to 18 inches.