LAKE NORMAN
Norman’s two hot holes, the Marshall Steam Station below the Highway 150 bridge and the McGuire Nuclear Station near Cowans Ford Dam, create a paradoxical situation for striper fishermen.

During the winter, they’re a boon to fishing. Their warmwater discharges draw forage and stripers to their areas, easing the task of locating stripers along Norman’s 520 miles of shoreline.

During the summer, the reverse is true. Their warmwater discharges become a liability because they heat lake water already too hot for stripers, forcing the fish deep to cooler, more oxygenated waters.

As a result, Norman’s summer stripers become concentrated in deep comfort zones at select places.

Norman striper guide Capt. Gus Gustafson (704/617-6812) believes Norman has about a fish per acre after normal losses from annual stockings of 162,000 fingerlings. On a lake with 32,500 acres, that ratio is much less than on other striper waters, such as South Carolina’s Lake Murray.

While many local striper fishermen have difficulty finding and catching fish under hot-weather conditions, Frank and Doris Parsons, owners of Tackle Town in Maiden (704/483-1007), use a vertical presentation with rattling jigging spoons, called Shake-Rattle-N-Jig spoons, to target Norman’s deep-water stripers.

“As far as we know, we’re the only ones who make a lead-poured spoon with a glass rattle,” Frank said. “The glass rattle enables us to incorporate the noisemaker into a normal-sized flat spoon. The result is a flat spoon that’s denser than most metal spoons, falls faster, casts better, and gets more flutter on the fall.”

The Parsons’ jigging technique has attracted the attention of local fishermen.

“Other fishermen follow us around trying to see what we’re doing,” Doris said. “After someone sees us loading up with fish on a spoon, the word gets out.”

The Parsons’ jigging technique works best from July through February.

“The hotter or colder the weather, the better the fishing with jigging spoons,” Doris said.

To fish the spoons effectively, the Parsons position their boat on top of the fish, so the spoons can shake and rattle in front of the fish.

Their ability to interpret a depthfinder is instrumental to their success.

“We spend most of our time looking for fish,” Doris said. “We may spend as long as two hours riding around before fishing our spoons, but the wait is well worth it.”

What the Parsons look for with their depthfinder is four or five stripers grouped together near the lake bottom with baitfish close by.

“You need to see stripers and baitfish, not just baitfish,” Frank said. “Bright, sunny days make the fish stack up better for vertical spoon fishing.”

During the summer, the Parsons search for fish in 36 to 41 feet of water with the 35-foot mark being the most productive depth. Their structural targets include main-river points, secondary points at creek mouths, and underwater humps.

Once they locate fish, the Parsons differ about how to mark the spot. Frank prefers to use a buoy marker; Doris said that’s too time-consuming. Instead, Doris would rather idle the boat over the spot and have Frank drop a spoon directly on it. Then, they’ll fish in the vicinity where the spoon landed while observing their depthfinder.

If it’s windy, they front the wind and hold the boat steady with the trolling motor.

“You don’t want to drift and jig,” Frank said. “You have to stay on top of the fish.”

To vertical fish, they let the spoon fall to the bottom; then with a snap of the rod, they jerk the spoon 5 or 6 feet off the bottom, let the spoon fall back to the bottom, and repeat the process.

As the spoon falls, they keep a tight line and feel the spoon as it flutters back to the bottom. Most strikes come with the spoon on the fall. Some hits are mere taps since they’re fishing deep water.

While the presentation is basic, the rigging of the spoon is critical and so is the tackle selection.

“Tie the line directly to the swivel that comes with the spoon; a leader isn’t necessary,” Frank said. “Don’t put the swivel 18 inches up the line as in Carolina rigging. You’ll kill the action of the spoon.”

In clear water or under bright conditions, the Parsons favor the 3/4-ounce white rattling model with silver tape and a red eye. In dingy water or low-light conditions, they use the chartreuse model.

The spoon should be fished with a 6- or 6 1/2-foot bass-fishing rod.

“You want a sensitive rod to feel the taps, but you don’t want a rod with too much tip, because you can’t set the hook effectively with it,” Frank said. “Some guys fish the spoon with heavy striper rods with live bait tips, and they lose a lot of fish.”

The Parsons recommend 8-pound-test line, though fishermen can get by with 12-pound-test line.

“If you use line heavier than 12-pound-test line, you’ll cut the number of strikes you get in half,” Doris said. “The heavy line scares stripers and impairs the action of the spoon.”

The spoon doesn’t hang up as much as one would think.

“Give your line slack, and then lift,” Frank said. “The weight of the spoon itself usually dislodges the treble hook from the snag.”