By Darin Brown
Striped bass activity has been increasing on Badin Lake and the average size has been increasing. Most fish are still in the 4-10lb range so don’t expect to catch many trophy fish. Most are being caught trolling either bucktail jigs or 4” shad bodies. But be prepared for schooling fish chasing bait fish.
Crappies are being caught by slow trolling jigs and on deep water brush piles. A good rule of thumb is “ the colder the water the slower you troll”. Try the Newsome Creek or Riles Creek area on Tuckertown Lake. The Garr Creek area on Badin can produce some nice catches. The Flat Swamp area on High Rock Lake is a great winter trolling area for some slabs.
Largemouth bass love A-rigs this time of year. An A-rig is a wire form with multiple baits on it. Usually three to five swim baits. The most common form has five 1/8 oz jig heads with a swim bait on them. The Zoom Swimming Super Fluke Jr. is our best selling swim bait to use on the A-rigs. You can also use plastic shad bodies or curly tail jigs. Stay with the compact A-rigs, the large ones are hard to throw and must be used on very heavy rods and line. For the compact rigs use a medium heavy rod at least 7ft in length with a strong backbone. If you use mono or fluorocarbon line use at least 20 lb test. I like to use 50 lb braid line for A-rigs. You can fish it shallow or moderately deep. Hold your rod tip up to make the rig run shallower and hold it down to run it deeper.Vary the speed and twitch your rod tip occasionally. Cast the rig around structure similar to the way you would fish a spinnerbait.
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704-463-7053
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