I fished the Neuse River in a few sections this week and fishing remains good for Bluegill, Redbreast and Largemouth Bass. It seems the flyfishing with floating terrestrials is fading on the Neuse a bit and streamers and nymphs will be better to throw as it continues to cool. The fish seem to be moving away from the shallows into deeper water on the edges of current seams and back eddies. Slow and low will eventually be the way to go as the sunfish will not be as eager to chase flies for long distances. We have been having some cool mornings and the Fishing has been better during the warmest part of the day when the sun has warmed the water for a few hours. Don't be concerned about fishing early am or at dusk. I have spotted some hatches recently on the river that were neat to see: various Caddis species, White Fly Mayfly, Tricos.
Overall the surface flies that are working better are smaller. I did good fishing elk hair caddis patterns in 14-16. The river has cooled. Today was tolerable to wade wet but I would have preferred waders. This has been a long consistent water release from the spillway which has made wading real easy. Enjoy the fall foliage it's getting near the time of year where I'm looking forward to running into some Crappie fishing soon.
I wanted to give a shoutout to Paddle Creek. They are a kayak and canoe rental company in Wake Forest. I picked up a take away rental tandem Kayak from them and used it on Wake Forest Reservoir and the Neuse River. The process was easy and effective. On the WF Reservoir I paddled around fishing the edges with a foam spider and caught some nice shellcracker and bluegill. I had both of my sons on the tandem with me and we had a blast paddling around. I fished while they threw elodea at each other. If you fish there be aware that there is heavy elodea vegetation in the water. Dial up your leader to pull the larger fish out of the lettuce. Kayaking fishing is fun and I may be expanding on my experience with it soon with a kayak that is more designed for fishing.
Thanks to
Fly Tackle: Mystic Au Sable 8' 3" 4 wt fly rods and Ross Fly Start # 2 reels, 9 ft tapered leader to 4x tippet Dry flies: Cream or white Elk Hair Caddis, Humpies, Ants, Beetles, Spiders 14- 16 for Brim Terrestrials: Hoppers, Crickets, 6-10 for bigmouths Nymphs: Beadhead caddis, Prince, Zug Bug, Estaz Stone flies 12- 16 Streamers: Muddler Minnow, Clouser, Wooly Bugger in black or white Size 6- 12
Spin Tackle: Ultralight rod and reel rigged with 6 lb test line. Berkly Power Bait Pre Rigged Atomic Tubes in white, green and pearl. Johnson Beetle Spin, Phoebe, Mepps, Panther Martin, Rooster Tail Fish minnows! they are everywhere in the river right now.
Fish Species(I have caught): redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish, bluegill, green sunfish, largemouth bass, white bass, white perch, crappie, yellow perch, chub, catfish
Conditions: USGSWater data says the Neuse was flowing 138 cfs today at the spillway in Wakefield. It was sunny, high of 77 degrees. The water was cool for wet wading no more for me waders here on out for 2015.
Wildlife: red shouldered hawk, turtles, great blue heron, water snake, kingfisher, suckers, a big white koi with black spots.
