“As good as it gets” would be an appropriate way to describe the fishing in Weldon right now.  Despite the high, rising water, the fish have gathered for the spawn right where they should be.  When we left Sat. afternoon, Weldon was just how everyone remembers it who has fished it when the rockfish population made their initial comeback back in the 90’s.  We ended up with well over the triple digit mark just on my afternoon trip.  The jig bite was crazy.  My customer Rick caught 12 fish on 11 casts among many many more while his father live bait fished off the stern.  We started out with 3 poles and quickly ended up with only 1.  When you can only keep one pole in the water while live bait fishing, the bite is about as good as it gets.   We had plenty of slot fish, too.  (22-27″).  What an awesome fishery!

The fish are starting to spawn.  We saw hard spawning activity up and down the river in the early morning and late afternoon.  They are ready to do what they cam there to do.  Pretty neat to watch it and throw a topwater plug at em to disrupt their party.   The crazy thing about the fishing now in Weldon is that there were only 3 boat trailers at the ramp when we got back.  The fishing is as good as it gets up there!  Fun stuff but after about a month long stint away from my wife Austin and son Tripp, I will be focusing my efforts on the speckled trout and puppy drum on the Pamlico River.

Some pics from the past few days:

The WRC biologists shock sampling in the Little River.

A blue heron overlooking us as we fish.

Capt. Rod Thomas in the background having a little fun!

A quality fish on the fly!