A Roanoke River Slam? I was expecting to catch a few Striped Bass and maybe a Largemouth Bass, but not a Blue Catfish with the artificial lures I was casting.
I read about the Roanoke River from an old Bob Newman book called "Saltwater Angler's Guide to The Southeast: Flyfishing and Light Tackle in the Carolinas and Georgia."' The draw of the river seems to come from the Striped Bass, but many of the anglers I chatted with were there for the Largemouth Bass.
I was interested in catching some Stripers on the Fly so I brought the 9ft 8wt' Orvis Clearwater Rod with a 300g sinking line (depth charge) in case the Stripers were hanging lower in the water column. When casting upstream, I found the river running too fast downstream for my sinking line to get down to the Striper's level and I couldn't strip line fast enough, either. So, I anchored upstream and fed my sinking line into the current downstream and stripped line upstream. That did the job.
Most of the fish I caught were on the spinning reel using a 5" Electric Chicken Scented Paddlerz with the Z-Man Texas Eye jig head. The vibration from the lure setup along with some Procure Flounder Pounder seemed to be the variables that attracted the fish. In between catching Striped Bass, a Blue Catfish got curious and bit the 5" Paddlerz I sent past it and I found my personal best Catfish ever in my net.
Near the end of the day, I cast a green plastic grub near the bank and finished the day off with a Largemouth Bass.
Beware! If you are kayaker, most of the people driving powerboats won't think twice about zipping past you within casting distance at top speed and will zoom through the bridge posts at 30 knots with no idea if anyone is fishing behind it. Attach a tall flag to your kayak so they will at least try to avoid hitting you.
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26 фев 2024
