Gary, Max, and Joshua from the Fisherman’s Post came with me today to experience the Roanoke River in March. This is how their day went:
We started out leaving the boat ramp and going straight to the fish. I was trying hard to show off and hook one on my first cast while demonstrating to the guys how to present the bait to the fish, but I ended up getting the braid tangled around the tip. We did have one hooked up by the fourth cast. We ended up catching around 30 fish at the first spot. I then took them up a creek to show them the herring spawning in the trees. It was really cool to quietly approach the bank and look down into the shallow, clear, black water and see thousands of them swimming around the swollen bases of the tupelo gum and cypress trees.
We then decided to go catch a few shad, so we broke out the ultralights and shad rigs and caught some hickories (most small bucks in the place where we were fishing). Joshua was lucky enough to hook a double speckled perch on his shad rig, and Max caught a white perch. We ended up with about 20 shad in a short period of time. We then left the creek and went on up the river looking for some more stripers. After checking a few spots that were not so productive, we then found a place that was holding them (a spot that has been good to me in the past on lower water) and ended up with about 20 more. After that, we were getting kinda hungry and decided to hit up the Cypress Grill for a hot lunch consisting of fresh fried herring, hush puppies, coleslaw, and french fries. After stuffing our faces with the very fish that we had just been watching swimming around under the boat (although the ones we ate were from South Carolina because North Carolina currently has a moratorium on river herring), we ran downriver and found another nice school of stripers, catching another 50 or so in a small 30-40 yard stretch of river. By then, we had some rain bearing down on us, and it was time to head home.
These guys caught 100 stripers, 20 shad, crappie, white perch, longnose gar, ate at the cypress grill, and got to see some amazing scenery and natural spring processes. What more could you ask for? Book your charter today. We can get you out there for this type of experience now!
