27 February 2011 West Neck Creek is the place to be!

Headed out this morning for alittle fishing on West Neck Creek.  Glad I did!

I arrived at West Neck Marina around 10:45 a.m., paid my ramp fee, then lauched the boat.  Weather was beautiful and warming up as the day went on!  It was mostly sunny, air temp around the lower 60's, southeast/east wind at around 5-10 mph, and water temp started out around 53 degrees and was up to 56.5 degrees when I pulled the boat out at around 2:15 p.m.

I tried a new spot out to start the morning off.  It was a flat with a bunch of old stumps right under the surface and it was on a point that had the wind hitting it.  I had no luck there with the spinnerbait.  The water was super dirty on the points due to the wind.  Moved on to another point and caught a little dink hugging tight to the stump.  Had to bounce the spinnerbait off of it then he hit.

Had enough fun in the wind so I headed to another spot on West Neck Creek.  Worked about a 3/4 mile stretch with my spinnerbait and a jig.  Had some good luck and ended up catching two really nice bass!  The warming water had them feeding but they were hanging close to cover.  I had to knock the jig and spinnerbait on, thru, and over the wood to get them to bite.  Also had to slow the baits down as the bass were biting, but not super aggressively!

I ended my time out there trying a few small crappie jigs at the bridge hoping to get acouple to bring home and fry up for the wife and I.  No luck there.  Here soon the crappie will be going good!

There were ALOT of boaters out today.  Talked to a few of them and most of them said they were having luck with crankbaits for bass.

Saw another nice otter out today swimming!

Here are pics of a couple of my bass and my lucky spinnerbait!

26 February 2011 West Neck Creek & Pungo Ferry Bridge

Went out this afternoon and did more graphing and exploring than I did fishing on the North Landing River and some of it's feeder creeks.

I started my day off fixing my trolling motor.  I had to replace the three pop rivets that hold my older Motorguide Trolling motor head inplace.  Once that was fixed, I loaded up my old Nitro boat and headed out for alittle while to the river.

Air temp was in the 40's but the wind chill had it feeling like it was in the 30's out on the water!  It was partly cloudy and pretty soon after getting on the water it went to overcast.  Wind was East/Southeast while I was out there at around 10'ish mph.  Water temp in West Neck Creek and the main river was 51.3 to 53.2 degrees.  Water was muddy with little visability.

I put in at West Neck Marina.  There was good water in the Creek.  It was alittle low but it was nice to see water back in there as it seems all we have been getting is North wind here lately blowing the water out and to the south!  My first stop was the bridge by West Neck Marina.  No luck there.  I worked all the pilings with a spinnerbait and beetle spin.  Then I headed to a nice little spot by marker 6 that has done me well here of late and no takers there with the spinnerbait or beetle spin.  I decided to head out to the main river and down to the Pungo Ferry Bridge.  After getting to the bridge, I trolled a chartruese crankbait that dives to 6-8' for some stripers.  I found lots of fish on the graph in the 6-10' depth but had no takers after trolling up and down the river a few times.  I headed to a little canal that backs up to some grain silo's.  Good water depth in there at around a constant 10-14' deep.  LOTS of fish showed on the graph.  I had one fish on my Chartruese crankbait midway up the canal, but it got off after a short fight...not sure what it was.  After that, not a bite.  I did some graphing in the area and found some nice points and depressions that I want to come back to at a later date and fish.

Headed back to West Neck Creek and fished a few more spots with no luck.  The temp was really dropping and I was getting alittle chilled so I called it a day.  It was nice to be out enjoying Mother Nature and it was a nice suprise to see three BEAUTIFUL Bald Eagles flying up and down the creek!!!  They are a beautiful bird and graceful in flight!

A pic of West Neck Creek east of the bridge

21 February 2011 Went and checked out Lake Mt. Trashmore

I had about an hour this afternoon after work to try and slip over to Mt. Trashmore and check the lake out.  I have heard there is fish in there and I was hoping that maybe a couple of them might have been hungry.

Lake Trashmore is a freshwater lake that only allows fishing from the bank.  Sounds good...except that there is a wood fence about 3 feet into the water from the bank and is almost impossible to fish over.  You will find a few breaks in it to get some casts out but for the most part, 85% of the lake is going to be unfishable or a ton of work.  All the real fishy looking area's just about had this fence around it making those areas hard to access.

It's a nice place....just don't think I'll be heading back out there anytime soon.  Maybe once it warms up.  I spent alittle time throwing a beetle spin and spinnerbait and had no takers.  I had one fish strike the spinnerbait but was unable to hook up.

It's worth a shot if you are looking for a place close by without a lot of time to go somewhere to fish.

Kevin VanDam wins his 4th Bassmaster Classic!

Just wanted to share that Kevin VanDam won his 4th Bassmaster Classic down in the Louisiana Delta.  This ties him with the most Classic wins (4) with Rick Clunn.  This also is his 20th B.A.S.S. level win which ties him with Roland Martin for most B.A.S.S. wins!

The man is a Bass Fishing Machine!

Congrats KVD!!!

20 February 2011 West Neck Creek is SHALLOW!

Ran out to West Neck Marina around 1030 this morning hoping to get alittle fishing in.  I should have called Dewey at the Marina first to see what the water level was with all this North wind we have been getting.

When I arrived the water at the ramp was almost non-existent and Dewey had it closed as the water might have supported a boat to be launched if you were lucky, but with the wind continuing to blow from the North/Northwest you probably would not of had any water available to get your boat back on the trailer.

I really had no back-up plans other than fishing the Creek so off to find something to do with the wife!

18 February 2011 West Neck Creek is Great!

Went out today on West Neck Creek.  I put the old boat in at West Neck Marina.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day as it was mostly sunny, temps in the lower 70's and the wind was managable at around 15'ish from the Southwest/west.

The south and west wind had the water level up around normal in west neck but the wind switched to the north in the afternoon and the water started to drop alittle.  Water temp. had warmed up alittle since last weekend from the lower to mid 40's to 56-58 degrees depending on where you were. 

I worked the shores and stumps with a beetle spin for awhile and had no takers.  I had been having some good luck with the beetle spin but not today.  I switched to a spinnerbait with a copper and silver leaf, and a custom silver and black speckled skirt that mimmicks a shad.  With the water being in the mid 50's I figured the bass would be alittle more active and willing to bite a spinnerbait.  My decsion was correct!

I ended the day with 5 nice largemouth bass!  I had a few more that short stiked and I was not able to hook up with but it was nice to catch a few nice ones!  I caught all the bass in the wind close to cover.    Here are a few pics of the day!