The single
most popular place to fish for bass on Lake Norman is
the hot water discharge at the McGuire Nuclear Station
(L-3). A second discharge chute associated with the
Marshall Steam Plant, south of the Highway 150 Bridge
and immediately north of marker 15 (J-17) is fished
heavily as well. Both "hot holes" are full
of smallish shad, causing bass to be picky. Light line,
four/six pound test, combined with drop shot rigs, four
inch flukes or worms, small spoons and even crappie
jigs trailed behind larger lures get a lot of action.
Bass will surface feed throughout the day. Activity
depends on the amount of water flow and the degree of
cloud cover. The smaller fish feed on the surface while
the large bass suspend lower in the water column. As
with the rest of the lake, white, chartreuse, and shad
colored baits are popular with bass fishermen.
Ramsey Creek at the lakes lower end and McCrary Creek
south of Highway 150 are warmer than most creek arms,
since they are both affected by the warm water discharges.
The hot hole effect in these creeks is most noticeable
when the wind has been blowing from the west and west
south west for a few days. Ramsey (L-4) is the more
popular of the two warm water creeks. It has a combination
of sandy banks, rock piles, long shallow points, under
water humps and roadbeds. Try fishing the areas in Ramsey
identified with by the red numbers 17, 16, 22, 26, 2,
28 on the Atlantic Mapping G.P.S. of Lake Norman.
Parallel fish the rip-rap at Cowans Ford Dam and the
area near red numbers 1 and 8 as well as the rocks around
green marker 1 at the rivers lower end. More spotted
bass than largemouth will be taken in this area of the
lake. Marker A1 (currently missing) is on the end of
a very long point that juts out into the lake and holds
fish throughout the year.
Reed and Davidson Creeks are the homes of many
long clay points that touch the creek channels.
Each is easily found on your topo map. The shoal and
points associated with channel markers D3, D4, D7, D8
and D10 and D11 hold both largemouth and spots. T markers,
2 and 4 in Davidson Creek hold both species as well.
Humps identified with red numbers 113, 108, 107, 140,
191, 156, and 161 vary in depth from less that fifteen
feet to twenty-five or so. The area between Williamson
Road and Interstate I-77 (east of red number 420) is
a breeding ground for shad. Spring bass frequent its
sandy banks and the brush piles placed against the rip-rap
on each side of I-77. The boat docks in both creeks
regularly hold bass.
Stained (muddy) water is generally found in the backs
of Reed, Mountain, and McCrary Creeks after a rain.
Above the Highway 150 Bridge stained water can be found
in Cornelius, Stumpy and Terrapin Creeks. The water
temperatures tend to drop as you go up river.
The shallows near markers M1, M2 in Mountain Creek are
the site of early morning bass feeding activity.
A road bed identified by red number 254 has great definition
and holds bunches of largemouth at times. The first
cove past the roadbed and on the right, is loaded with
Christmas Trees, a thousand or more dot the small cove.
There is a large brown boat house on the left side as
you enter the mine field of tress. As Mountain Creek
narrows down, near red number 405, the boat docks on
either side hold quality fish when conditions are right.
The area beyond the narrows, opens into a mud flat with
the old creek run wandering thru it (406). This entire
are is a major breeding ground for river shiners and
threadfin shad. The back of Terrapin Creek, on the west
side of the river channel, and above the 150 Bridge,
also narrows and dumps into a flat before being blocked
by Molly's Backbone Road.
The further north you fish the more blown downs you
will be able to fish. The east bank of the river channel
from marker 19 north to marker 25 has plenty of fallen
trees to cast to by Lake Norman standards. The lake
begins turning into a river north of marker 25 and the
Buffalo Shoals Rd. Bridge. The river has sandy shoals,
rocky banks as well as several bridges and numerous
feeder creeks. The bass tend to be larger up river,
but not as plentiful. They feed best when the current
is flowing, on some days it doesn't run at all. The
power company doesn't provide a schedule has to when
it releases water from Lookout Shoals Dam. Boaters are
warned to exercise caution above Buffalo Shoals Road. |
