First Day of Summer

Big Mama caught on a clouser minnow

Hope you are enjoying the warmer weather in the Raleigh area.  Late May and June fishing has been great between rain storms.  Despite the wet weather the river has produced good fishing at every level 150, 750, and 2000 cfs have all produced.  White Bass and Largemouth Bass are on the prowl ambushing shad especially in the upper river.  At times you can see them pushing shad clear out of the water.  This is the time to throw the biggest fly in your box and slam it on the water and strip immediately and be ready.  .   Last year we had a fantastic May this year it looks like June will be the better month on the Neuse this year and we should have a great summer.  Lately we have been targeting the Largemouth with 8 weight rods, floating line, monofilament furled leader with 2x tippet throwing big deerhair poppers and large streamers.  Fish near dropoffs, sunken timber and as far as you can cast your fly under an overhanging tree in the shade.  Pound productive areas with multiple casts. Sometimes persistence will pay off.  There are many 2 and 3 year old Largemouth willing to hit.  For the larger fish stealthy approach and longer casts are necessary.  I was fishing a ledge a few weeks back near a sunken tree and missed a hit and a saw a flash near my fly.  I went back to that same spot and was greeted by my best largemouth this year.

Mark Bredin with a Largemouth Bass he caught on a guided Float Trip

When the water is generating at 750- 2000 crappie and white bass can be caught near the spillway.  Fish the edges of the current and seams. This June we have caught white bass on poppers, hoppers and streamers.

Anthony Lisankis with a White Bass on a Umpqua Yellow popper  on a recent Guided wading trip

Most of the larger crappie have been taken from the river fish like this are common

Some big Largemouth look like they have been threw a war!

The redbreast and bluegill are hitting a hopper and a dropper on every cast behind a rock or near sunken timber. It is outstanding action for your light fly rod weights.  Often while targeting brim you will be awarded with a small bass,crappie, or white perch. If you or a friend is new to flyfishing this is a great time to learn how to target fish, read the water and play fish.
It's been a busy guiding season so far.  With all of the rain and water releases coming out of Falls Lake from the Army Corp of Engineers wading the river has been difficult at times.  If you are interested in floating the river for some great bass fishing please contact me.

Yours in Flyfishing,

EJ

Fish Skull Baitfish Head with a Frantic Tail from Flymen Fishing Co

Fly Tackle: For Bass Orvis Helios 8 weight with Appalachian Furled Leader Company's Mono leader with 4' of 2X fluoro for streamers and mono for Poppers.
For bluegill and redbreast Orvis 4 weight Recon 8' 6" Rod, Hydros SLII Reels,  Mystic Au Sable 8' 3" 4 wt fly rods.

Dry Fly:  For bluegill and redbreast Elk hair Caddis Size 10-16, Turks Tarantula Size 10-14, Rubber legged Stimulator 12-16, Ants 14-18.
For bass Deer Hair Poppers, Hard Poppers, Dahlberg Diver, Gurglers.  Size 2/0- 4/0

Streamers: Chartreuse Frantic Tail or Zonker Strip w/ a Fish Skull Baitfish Head, Clouser, Wooly Bugger with Fish Skull Sculpin Heads in Black, Brown, Olive, White and Chartreuse Size 6- 10.  For larger bass sunfish patterns like Deerhair Sunfish or EP Bluegill patterns will become more and more important.  

Nymphs: Any nymph you cast will produce bites this time of year! Especially one with rubber legs like prince, copper john or hares ear.    

Weather:  Days are getting long! Its been a wet June with temps in the 80s and 90s.  We have been getting rain every week.  River water is in the low 80s.  Falls Lake is heating up reading 84 degrees.  

Wildlife: The Kayak, Canoe, and Tube hatch has begun on the river.  If you desire seclusion focus your efforts during the week downstream from Capital Boulevard.  Turtles lots of them.  Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Osprey.  

We use products from: Appalachian Furled Leader Company, Columbia Sportswear, Flymen Fishing Co,  Mystic Outdoors , Fly Craft , RIO, Umpqua Feather Merchants, 

Spring 17 Is Here!

Hello all welcome to spring.  It is a great time to be flyfishing right now. Fish are active on all rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds and hitting an assortment of nymphs, dries, and streamers.  Fishing for bass, crappie, sunfish, has been great.  Rivers have been low all March in North Carolina.  During periods of low water to have success fishing in the rivers, I use longer leaders and concentrate on deeper, well oxygenated water.  When fishing on days when it hasn't rained in awhile, fish early and later in the day.  Be persistent be willing to move to another location or change flies if you are not hooking up.

• Neuse River below Falls Lake: Bluegill and crappie bite remain consistent.  Largemouth are starting to bite in log jams and eddies.  Nymphs have been producing solid catches and the streamer bite is starting to turn on.  Caddis have been consistent on the river if you choose to fish dries and any elk hair in size 14-16 will produce in slower tailouts for rising fish. The redhorse are starting to gather is schools and will spawn. They are easy to catch on nymphs in shallow riffle water close to the dam.  

@shawneheifert

• Neuse River below Milburnie Dam: Gizzard shad have moved in and are all around the pools below the Dam.  Fishing with weighted Shad Flies/ darts will produce.  Crappie can be found there too with an occasional white bass.  
• Haw River: Bass and Sunfish are hitting throughout the river.  Glencoe, and Saxpahaw sections of the river have plenty of fish taking streamer and nymphs. 
• Tar River at Battle Park: American and Hickory Shad are in the deeper water on current edges.  I have not caught shad there yet this season however recent reports from Orvis Raleigh, and NCWRC indicate more fish have moved in there.  Be careful out there the area is receiving heavy fishing pressure.  
• Falls Lake/ Shearon Harris: are producing some great pre spawn Largemouth Bass action this Spring.  Clouser minnow has been the ticket on rockpiles along bridges.  I had the chance to fish with Michael Talmarkes and David Goldstein who have mastered the technique of flyfishing these areas even in the roughest conditions.  These bass pros come equipped with stripping baskets, 8 weight flyrods with sinking line, and patience.  They false cast and snake roll cast like champs even in the wind. 

  

  @transylwader

  
  

  

  @thetriangler

  
  
• Eno River: White bass run is on and fish are being caught by both spin and fly anglers.  There are some big females especially downstream of Pennys Bend near the railroad bridge.  These fish will take a variety of different flies both jigged and stripped.  My favorite is the silver bullet cone head white or pink wooly bugger in size 4 or 6.  

• Ponds and Small Lakes: Fishing has been excellent for largemouth bass and bluegill.  Spawning bass will happen in April and these big mamas deserve you give them a break until they're done doing the lambada.  Small streamers like clouser and dumbell eyed wooly buggers have been great on prespawn fish near timber, under trees, under piers, bridges and rockpiles.  

Catawba River Tailrace:  I now do float trips to fish this great brown trout fishery 3 hours from Raleigh. The river is low but is fishing excellent right now.  Hatches of Giant Stoneflies and caddis are predominant.  Fishing nymphs in the riffles proved to be the most successful method of fishing the river during the low water conditions.  We also caught fish running black wooly bugger streamers.  Its great to have the opportunity to wade sections that are usually only fishable from the raft.

@shawneheifert

I am now proudly listed with Flymen Fishing Company as a Flyfishing Guide in North Carolina.  Their product line is on the frontier of fly tying innovation.  I am very excited about incorporating their caddis, mayfly, stone beads, as well as the fish skull and popper heads I purchased from them into my fly designs. Check them out they provide excellent customer service.

My guide service is offering a variety of different trips on local rivers and private largemouth bass water.  If you are looking to schedule a trip please feel free to contact me April is going to be great to wade or float!

 Cheers, EJ

Nymph-Head® Evolution™ Stonefly tungsten beadheads

Fly Tackle: Mystic Au Sable 8' 3" 4 wt rod, Orvis 4 weight Recon 8' 6" Rod, Hydros SLII Reel, Orvis Axis Rod 8'6"  Appalachian Furled Leader nymph/ big bug 3x- 5x size.  For large lake bass 8 Weight Helios II 9 ft Rod and an Appalachian Furled Leader Bass/ Saltwater.

Dry Fly: Size 14-16 Elk Haired Caddis in brown, grey, and tan on 9-12 leaders.

Streamers: Dumbell or bead chain eyed wooly buggers, zonkers, clousers and muddlers in white, black, chartreuse and olive with flash.  

Nymphs:  Stonefly nymphs, dragon fly larvae, jiggy nymphs, Caddis Pupa, Prince nymph, Copper John, Hare's Ear, Squirminator,  Squirmy Wormy, and dare I say the Mop Fly?

Spin Tackle: Medium light spinning rod and reel rigged with 6 or 8 lb test flourocarbon line. Spinnerbait is one of the best early season lures.  For the river Berkeley Power Bait Pre Rigged Atomic Tubes in white, green and pearl.1/16- 1/32 oz Jigheads with realistic eyes white twister or paddle tail.  VMC Paddletails.  Minnows will do well under a float!

Conditions: Neuse River is coming out of Falls Lake at 61 Degrees.  March was one of the driest months on record in North Carolina.  Prior to yesterday's welcomed rain every river in North Carolina was less than 10% capacity or lower.  Let's hope we get consistent rain this April throughout the state.  You can follow all the rivers flow data here https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/rt

Wildlife:   Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Turtles, beaver, muskrat, and mink.   

Proud to use products from: The Orvis Company, Mystic Outdoors, RIO, Redington, Columbia Sportswear, Marmot, and Flymen Fishing Co.

Mild winter

Winter has been mild in the Raleigh area this year.   The Neuse River has been easy to wade and float for months and is warming daily with the great weather.   Nymph fishing has taken center stage and producing most effectively.  Low water and water clarity make fishing slow and small the most effective tactic.  The generally consistent winter white bass bite has been off.  The majority of fish being caught have been crappie.  It seems there are less and smaller fish in the river this year.  I have witnessed hundreds of fish being kept from the river for peoples table perhaps that is a factor.  As with most fishing, you will get more and bigger fish to take if you are fishing the less pressured areas, lighter tippets, and smaller flies.  My advice would be to slow it down and get your nymph or nymphs near the bottom. The two most effective techniques have been dead drift and micro strip tease/ jigging.  In addition to crappie, bluegill and white perch are around with an occasional largemouth bass, carp, yellow perch, chub, or redbreasted sunfish which will all take nymphs.  Fishing is somewhat slow but dont let it discourage you be persistent and watch your line, indicator, and flashes for strikes.  I have learned to set on anything when nymphing and it does me well

  

Soon the white bass will run out of Falls Lake into the Eno River.  If you are tying or buying flies, white and chartreuse clousers and wooly buggers will produce.  I have always had better success with a silver bullet head as opposed to gold for white bass.  Below the Milburnie Dam on the Neuse the Gizzard Shad are starting to show that means the American and Hickory Shad will follow.  As of now there is not enough water for good runs.  Hopefully we get some rain and it kickstarts both of these runs for a great March.  I will be running float and wading trips on the Neuse and Eno Rivers.  Im adding the Tar River once I learn how and where to fish it a bit more.

I am now the proud owner of a Flycraft Stealth  what a great experience so far with their customer service and product.  Please contact me if you want to float the river!  I also have private water access to fish in Rolesville.

Fly Tackle: Orvis 4 weight Recon 8' 6" Rod, Hydros SLII Reel, Orvis Axis Rod 8'6" 7 ft tapered leader to 5x.  Mystic Au Sable 8' 3" 4 wt fly rods .

Dry Fly: small flies on long leaders

18-22 like Adams Parachute, Midge, Olives.

Streamers: Dumbell or bead chain eyed wooly buggers, zonkers, and muddlers in white, chartreuse and olive with flash. 

Nymphs:  Midge Pupa, Caddis Pupa, Prince nymph, Copper John, Hare's Ear

Spin Tackle: Medium light spinning rod and reel rigged with 6 or 8 lb test flourocarbon line. Berkley Power Bait Pre Rigged Atomic Tubes in white, green and pearl.1/16- 1/32 oz Jigheads with realistic eyes white twister or paddle tail.  VMC Paddletails.  Minnows will do well under a float!

Conditions: Cold water but spring will arrive sooner this year.  River temp is warming daily and is 53 degrees.   

Wildlife:   Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Turtles