- Water temperature - 54-57 degrees
- Target species - Stripers
- Anglers - Greg, David and John
Headed out on the Roanoke with 144 big minnows and high hopes. It was evident right away it was going to be tough. The water was as high as we had ever seen it and flowing very fast. We determined we needed to head down stream and down we went. About the eight mile mark we set up and started fishing. Tried a little drifting but it was too fast to be very good. Anchored up and dunked minnows. I caught a small Striper on a Fluke near the bank but that was it as far as Stripers.
At about 11:00 AM John was knitting or something and I saw his rod being pulled into the River. He grabbed the rod and stayed in this position for about 15 minutes. The current made it very hard to gain much ground. When it was all said and done, we had the new NC State record Channel Catfish in the boat. It weighed in at 16 pounds. After we left the ramp, John called the biologist and set up a meeting tomorrow at 2:00 PM at the ramp to verify the species. We headed onward to Roanoke Rapids and the Atlas Fish Market where John had the fish weighed on certified scales. Here are a few more pictures of the fish after it headed on to the great stink bait hole in the sky (we tried very hard to keep it alive but it did not work out.) pic 1.......pic 2......pic 3
After the excitement of the day, we headed on to Gaston Lake and fished around a bit, caught a few Bream for bait and actually caught about 7 dozen Alewifes at the Dam. The water was being pulled and we had to dodge giant whirlpools but in the middle of all of that and over 95 feet of water, Stripers went crazy busting Alewifes on top in the chaotic water. We dropped an anchor all the way to the bottom and caught 25 Stripers from around 12:30 AM to 1:15 AM. Heck of a way to end the day.
