I had surgery in late June and it had been a while since I did some serious fishing on the Neuse River and was looking to get a tightline and an update on my blog. I fished the Neuse River below 401 yesterday and the fishing was great. Recent rains had gotten the river up and the bite was consistent. At first I targeted the brim with a gold bead chain bugger size 10. It immediately produced some nice Redbreast and Bluegill. When I got to around the 10th fish I saw some black tails in the water spotting some largemouth bass. I caught a small largemouth with his little brother chasing him when I was reeling him in. I kept working my way up stream through some deep chest high water. I'm 6' 4" so the water was deeper than normal in all of the shallow spots. I cast the bugger at some surfacing Gar but no strikes. That is when I heard a large fish erupt on the surface upstream. I guessed it to be a largemouth hitting a dragonfly, or frog on the surface. I tied on a big Yellow and Black hopper in size 6. Walked with stealth toward the target and pounded the bank and it produced a healthy 3 lb largemouth. I then had a huge hit on the same fly and it broke me off it was probably the large fish I was after. So I switched it up and tried the Gurgler for a bit one good hit nothing else but liked the action and will probably use it in high water in the future. Switched to the hopper and dropper to finish caught a some more brim on the dropper and a few more small bass. A great day. I learned long ago fishing with my dad some of the best summer fishing comes after the rains. The fish are looking for easy meals that have been washed into the river because of runoff, wind, and higher water. One last note, I tend to fish below 401 on weekends in the summer to avoid kayakers, partyers, etc. just and FYI! Cheers!
Shoutouts go to Columbia Sportswear, Costa Del Mar.
Fly Tackle: 3 or 4 weight fly rods, 9 ft tapered leader to 4x for largemouth bass
Dry flies: Elk Hair Caddis, Humpies 14- 16
Terrestrials: Hoppers, Ants, Beetles, Crickets 8- 14
White Gurlger(floating fish pattern)
Nymphs: Hot Wire Prince, Beadhead caddis, Prince, Zug Bug, Estaz Stone flies 12- 16
Streamers: Muddler Minnow, Wooly Bugger in black or white Size 6- 12
Spin Tackle: Ultralight rod and reel rigged with 4 to 6 lb test line.
Berkly Power Bait Pre Rigged Atomic Tubes in white, green and pearl.
Gulp Cricket
Johnson Beetle Spin
Small Popper
Cant go wrong with worms
Fish Species(I have caught): redbreast sunfish, bluegill, green sunfish, largemouth bass, white bass, white perch, crappie, yellow perch, chub, catfish
Conditions: USGS
Water data says the Neuse was flowing 149 cfs today at the spillway in Wakefield. It seemed higher than that downstream. It was a sunny and high was 90 but not humid. The water was a bit higher than normal.
Wildlife: Large Caterpillar(My boys and I had never seen one so large!), Kingfisher, Lots of Frogs in the reeds near the bank, Red Shouldered Hawk, Beetles, ants, Damselflies and Dragonflies.
