SEPTEMBER 22ND

Dad & I fished Bluestone lake from 3pm until 7:30pm. The fishing was slow for the most part. We only caught one fish off the pit bank. The wind on the main lake was howling, but the new river it was still and quiet. I started throwing flukes. I was getting some smaller fish to chase and had a couple bigger fish flash at it. I even had a smaller school of four hybrid bass come by and hit at my fluke, but I just couldn't get hooked up. Finally I ended up catching a little small mouth and a red eye on the fluke. Despite the fluke being slow I kept throwing it and it paid off. I had seen a couple of nicer fish come up and take a look at it so I figured if I kept trying it had a chance of landing a nicer fish. Once the shade set in up river I caught this 18.5 inch small mouth he also had fish about this same size follow him in as I was fighting him in. This fish was heavier than usual I measured his length but I didn't' want to put him to go thru stress of being weighed since I was turing him loose. I think he weighed just a shade over 4 lbs. Dad caught a small mouth on a minnow as well. We only caught 5 total fish but this fish made the evening worth the trip.

SEPTEMBER 17TH

Dad & I headed up to Bluestone lake to see if the bass fishing had picked up any with cooler weather. I caught 2 largemouth and a smallmouth off the pit bank with a grave digger. The wind was whipping around and there was very little cloud cover. We headed up the bluestone river and cranked the cliffs behind bluestone pool and fished the banks across from the bathhouse. I caught another largemouth on a black Berkley trick worm rigged up to a drop shot. Dad saw something in the water that looked like a musky, and given the number of muskies that have been caught there this month it may have been one. We saw lots of shad balls up in the bluestone river but not fish giving chase. We headed up to Bull Falls Campground and fished below the campground and from the big rocks on the left all the way up last big cut. After finding some shade and somewhere the wind had settled I started throwing a fluke. I was getting some hits on the fluke and some good ones. I ended up catching 9 total fish, 3 of which were really good quality. I caught a 15 and a 16 inch smallmouth as well as a 17 inch spot. The spot was by far the biggest I have ever caught. He was well over 2 pounds. I had several smaller fish hit at, grab, and miss the fluke. It was a good evening and a good time has had by all.

SEPTEMBER 13th

I waded from Welton park upsteam ~ 1 mile, on an overcast day between 10am and 12:30pm. I caught 23 fish using Joe Fly Elite spinners. All the fish I caught were small, the water was very low and gin clear. I multiple fish from five different species, small mouth, redeye, bluegills, fallfish, and even a stray rainbow trout of about 10 inches in size. The trout look native and had been in the water for quite some time. Given my late start and the water conditions I didn't think I did to bad.

AUGUST 25TH

Dad and I went to the lake at 6am and cranked the pits for about 25 minutes. I caught 2 nice largemouths in the 12 inch range on back to back casts. At around 7:30 we ran down the lake towards the dam and started looking for breaking hybrids. There were 3 other boats doing the same thing. One boat was Michael Taylor and one was Roger Williams. The hybrids were breaking but they were not in concentrated pockets and they were not staying up very long. I managed to catch one, but I didn't see or hear of anybody else catching one despite the large number of breaking fish. The fish I caught was 19 and a half inches. It was a half inch longer and a good bit heavier than the other 5 hybrids I have caught. By 9:30 the hybrids had quite biting and we went back to bass fishing. We re-cranked the pits and fished down below the marina. Dad caught a big crappie and 4 bass and I caught 1 more bass. The sky was overcast and the bass seemed to be more active. Later that day Dad talked to Roger and he caught a catfish, a smaller musky and hooked and lost a big musky around 1pm down on the Bluestone River behind the Bluestone pool bathhouse.

AUGUST 21st

Jason Brown and I fished the New River below Sandstone at Meador Creek and from 5pm till dark. The water was so low that we where able to wade all the way across. Jason caught 12 or 13 small mouth and I caught 6 smallmouth and a redeye. Jason was catching his fish on a drop shot finesse worm. I caught a couple on a rebel jerkbait and a couple on a spinner bait and the rest on a drop shot, after he showed me how to rig and use it. These bass were the first bass I have ever caught on a drop shot rig. It's an interesting technique. Definetly something I will try again. Jason says it has become one of his favorite techniques especially when fishing vertically in lakes. Most of the fish we caught were around 8 to 10 inches. We each caught one that was 12 to 14 inches.

AUGUST 18th

Brad and I went up to Blustone lake and chased hybrid bass from 6am till 9am. We caught 1 bass each off the pit bank in the dark off of crankbaits. I hooked and lost 3 more bass on the pit bank. We had only 2 pods of hybirds break the surface adn both were right beside the boat. We caught one fish each and one fish from each pot. Both fish were caught on a silver Bill Lewis Rat-L Trap, which seems to be the lure for breaking hybrids. It was a very cold foggy mornign especially for August.

AUGUST 15th

Brad & I had been hearing about the hybrids running up on the lake for about a week now. Dad while carp fishing from the pit bank had gotten the low down on how it was down and he gave us a blueprint to try. We got on the lake that morning and bass fished from 6am till around 8am. We caught 4 bass a peice, including Brads first fish with a bait caster. We each caugh a mixed bag of small, largemouth and spotted bass. At around 8am we started seeing some other boats chasing hybirds. We would see them breaking and would run in and throw Bill Lewis Rat-L trap and spinner baits. We ran in on about 6 or 8 pods of frensied fish. We had 3 hook ups and caught 3 fish. I caught on 19 inches and 17.5 inches and Brad caught one that was 18 inches. They were all good fighting fish. The key to this type of fishing is not to fish while waiting for them to surface. Once they come up fire up the big engine and race right to them. It's really slow and then its really fast action. It's a differnt kind of fishing but it's also a lot of fun.

AUGUST 10th

Brad and I headed up to the lake around 7pm on a Sunday evening. We ran up to the grass beds and threw flukes until dark with only 1 smallmouth and a couple of missed strikes to show for it. Then right at dark we ran down to the pits and spent about 3 hour cranking from one end to the other. I ended up catching 7 and Brad caught 3. All the fish we caught were average to small sized. We caught 2 smallies, 1 large, 1 spot, and a handfull of redeyes. It was pretty slow going. We had a good time but the fishing was very tough.

AUGUST 6TH 2008

Brad & I headed out for some hot weather bass fishing around 5pm. We saw Dad & Roger chasing the carp from a lawn chair at the corner of the pit bank. We were fishing just below the fridge rock and had caught 1 small bass a peice when Brad got "the call". It was Melissa and she was having contractions and was ready to go to the hospital. I ran Brad down to the pit and dropped him off. He headed off and baby Bella was born the next morning at Raliegh General Hospital around 6:45am. With Brad's noticable abscense I called Aleshia and she brought Avery up and we went for a boat ride. I cautht a half dozen bluegills on a flypole for Avery to fondle and look at. At 8pm we headed back to the pits. When we got there Dad had a carp on. He caught it and took some pictures of him and Avery with it. It was like ~ his 42nd Carp of the summer. He has really been working on the carp with his two a day bank fishing method.

JULY 18th

I took my gradad Craigo and Uncle Doug bluegill fishing on the bluestone. We fished from 5:30 till 8:00pm. THere was more boat activity than any day I could ever remeber before. Catching fish was extemely hard. They used worma and a bobber and I used a flypole. We each caught a dozen or so fish. All fish were smaller gills except a couple nicer sized ones and couple of small bass. It was the slowest bite I have ever seen on Bluestone to date. I don't know if it was slow due to pressure, heat, boat traffic, time of year or what. I do know it was tough fishing even for smallball fishing.

JUNE 14th

Dad and I bluegills fished from around 8:30 till around 11:30am. We tried bassfihsing first with no luck. Dad hooked and lost one nice bass but we landed zero despite our best efforts. We used nightcrawlers and bobbers mostly, however towards the end we used flypole. The flypole seemed to be the most fun and easest way to boat fish. I ended up with 35 and Dad caugtht 30 gills. We had at least a dozen really solid sized fish.

JUNE 29th

John, Brad, & I camped on the East Shore Campground the night of the 28th. I woke up at 6:30 hopped in the boat and headed towards the dam. I tried to get Brad up and going but he was just too tired from the 2 days previous camping/fishing/drinking adventures, so I went alone. It was cool and overcast and the lake was unusually quiet for a Sunday morning. I fished with worms and a float. I didn't get a lot of hits like but the fish I did catch were big gills. I caught 6 of the first 7 on a downed tree limb coming out of the 1st cove across from route 20. Those 6 were as big as any blue gills I have ever caught at Bluestone. They all had bull heads, good thickness, and fought well. I fished for 2 more hours and ended up catching 21 total, a slow day by bluegill standards. I did however catch 10 gills that were of really good quality size.

JUNE 26th

Dad & I fished Bluestone Lake from 7am till 12pm. We bass fished for 2 hour then bluegill fished the rest. I caugtht 5 small bass and Dad caught 1 on crankbaits fishing the pit bank and the Hoche Minn Trail area. We used fly pole with flies and worms with bobbers blugill fishing. Dad caught 23 bluegills and I caught 30 of varying sizes. There were a lot of people on the water and the fish seemed pretty lethargic. The bluegills didn't even seem like there usual selves, they would hit but not very well and you had to work for the fish you got.

JUNE 20th

Greg & I bass fished the lake from 5:15am until 12pm. We caught 10 bass each of which only 4 or so had much size. We had the most luck on Lucky Craft Ghost minnow crankbaits. Despite throwing one a ton I didn't catch any fish on flukes. I did have 4 smaller fish strike at it but I had no takers. Most of the fish we caught were on the pit bank stacked up in one section from the main point down towards the dam. There were many people out on the lake and the seasonal fishing pressure on both the lake and the rivers is really starting to pick up, especially on Friday and Saturday. On our way back it we spotted Dad set up on the bank fighting for carp. He caught 2 that were 27 inches, one was ~ 10lbs and the other was ~ 8 lbs. Dad also lost one more good sized carp after a long fight before giving it up for the day. He also had several other hits were the carp didn't fully take or stole the dough ball bait. But as carp fishing has been going on Bluestone this spring/summer he had a pretty outstanding day especially when you consider the amount of traffic on the lake. Although he didn't see carp jumping everywhere as you often do, they were feeding heavily in that area on that day.

JUNE 17th

Brad & I started bluegill fishing beside the dam on a sunny afternoon around 5pm. Using worms and a bobber we fished from the dam down to just above the east shore campground. I caught 30 bluegills and 5 bass. One of which was an 18 inch fish that weight a little over 2lbs, the picture didn't take though because the memory stick wasn't pushed in all the way. Brad caught 35 bluegills and a redeye. We then went down and tried to cranked the pits. I caught a 12 inch bass on a grave digger right away and Brad hooked and lost a bass on a red 300 series Bandit crawfish crankbait. Because the pit was so crowded we decided to head down the the triangle rock and fish. I caught 2 more bass down there on a fluke, one smallmouth and the largemouth in the picture that measured 14 inches. In roughly 3 hours we caught over 70 total fish and 6 bass including 3 bass over 12 inches.

JUNE 16th

Dad and I started bass fishing on Bluestone lake around 5:45am. Dad caught 2 spotted bass and I caught 3 bass on the pit bank with a grave digger crankbait. We then headed up to the fridge rock and fished up about 500 yards. I missed 3 smaller fish with a fluke and otherwise we had no success in a place that usually generates some fish. We headed over to the cliffs and fished. I caught one more smallmouth and a small largemouth on a grave digger and then we headed back down and re cranked the pits with no luck. We switched gears and headed up the bluestone river behind the pool and started carp fishing. We fished for carp from 9am until 11am having only one bite and no hook ups. At 11 we headed back home because it was getting hot. We caught 7 bass but they were all fairly small, the biggest being a 12 inch smallmouth.

JUNE 6th

Dad & I started fishing Bluestone lake on a hot one. It went from 70 to 90 degrees by 10 am. We caught all of our fish before 9:30am. We fished from 6am until 11am, but all the action was early in the shade before it got hot. I missed several fish off the pits and caught one smaller black crappie. We then got on a pretty good pod of fish above the fridge rock. I caught 5 LMB's up there a bluegill and a white crappie. Dad caught 2 nice sized largemouth bass. Dad also hooked and lost really good bass on a Zara Puppy. That fish was ~ 3 to 4 lbs, it hit on his first cast and only about the second twitch. I believe had that plug had a little bigger hooks he would have got that one. Before it got off it had a couple of really pretty jumps right in front of the boat.

JUNE 3rd

Dad & I fished Bluestone from 6am till 12pm. We started off bass fishing. From 9 till 12 we anchored below bertha and tried carp fishing. I caught 4 small bass on a grave digger crankbait off the bit bank and 1 more bass along with a 2 bluegills and redeye above the cliffs on the left. We had no luck what so ever with the carp. In three hours and moving the boat to three different place without even getting a bite. We tried Uncle Josh's carp bait, the usual homemade carp bait, berkely carp bait, night crawlers, and even trout power bait. We saw some several carp all around us, but they just wouldn't hit. We even tried chumming them up with a can of hominy. The chumming definitely got them stirred up but it didn't help us get any hits.

JUNE 2nd

Brad, Dad, & I started fishing Bluestone lake around 4pm. I caught 3 spotted bass and a spot off the pit bank with a grave digger crankbait. We headed up to the fridge rock and continued bass fishing. I caught a nice largemouth on a fluke right off. It was 17 inches long and was up shallow when he hit. Brad caught a redeye on a grave digger as well. We started bluegill fishing with nightcrawlers. We had mixed results. We caught a few here and there with mixed results. We were missing a lot of hits, catching a few fish, but the bluegills definitely weren't in full swing yet. Brad caught 20 or so bluegills and I caught 16. We caught a couple of bluegills that were pretty good sized. We recranked the pit bank just before dark. I caught one more spot and a bluegill off the pit bank with a grave digger before called it quits. The water temp was between 72 and 76 degrees.

JUNE 1st

Brad & I started fishing in the New River below the dam at 6:15am on a cloudy Sunday morning. When we arrived at 6am there were already ~12 other fishermen hard at it. We waded from just below the tail waters down to Jimmy Dillon's house. Brad threw in-line Elite spinners that he had made and I threw a Yo-Zuri Pinn's minnow. It rained lightly for a little while but the wind never blew much. Brad caught 25 small mouth bass. I caught 52 total fish including one bluegill, one spotted bass, and the rest were smallmouths. We caught 77 fish in less than 3 hours, all but about 5 of which were smallmouths less than 8 inches in length. I caught 1 fish over 10 inches and Brad caught 4 or so that were well over 10 inches.