Shearon Harris Reservoir is known for big bass. It remains one of the best trophy bass fisheries in North Carolina. The manmade lake, which hosts central North Carolina’s nuclear power plant, consistently produces bass weighing 10 pounds and greater. The current lake record stands at 14 pounds and with the recent amount of trophy bass being caught it won’t be long before it’s broken.
Though Harris has a terrific bass population, it’s a tough lake to fish during the summer months. The boat and fishing pressure it receives makes the fish less active. It may take a few fruitless hours to find the fish, but the chance at a bass weighing in the double digits is more than worth it.
An average largemouth at Harris is between three and five pounds. This is a result of a trophy bass management system the state has implemented. To ensure the bass make it to breeding maturity a slot limit was applied. No fish between 16 and 20 inches may be kept for any reason. Not only does the slot limit better the bass population, it also makes for an outstanding fishery full of quality bass. Another contributing factor is that Harris has a tremendous amount of forage to maintain the bass.
During the late summer, big bass at Harris are typically found on ledges and deep main lake points. They cruise these areas in large schools following baitfish. The bass range in depths from 10 to 30 feet depending on recent weather, moon phase, and the thermocline. The weather has the strongest effect on the depth the bass stage. For example, if there has been a strong cooling trend the bass are likely to be atop the ledges and points feeding. If the weather has been unusually hot, bass will generally remain lethargic and stage on the edges of the drop-offs where the lower level of the thermocline is positioned. The moon phase effects daytime feeding activity. During a full moon, bass bite better from late evening to the early morning hours, but a new moon most of the feeding activity occurs during the day.
The best way to find late summer bass on Harris is to use electronics while idling over the main lake contours. It can eliminate blind-casting and wasted time on the trolling motor. Another good technique is to locate the hydrilla edges. Many times the bass will congregate at the edge of the grass to ambush schools of shad. Once a school of bass it located there are several ways to catch them.
Some of the favorites of the veteran Harris anglers are deep diving crankbaits, jigs, Carolina-rigged soft plastics, Texas-rigged 10-inch worms, and even jigging spoons. A great way to get the schools of bass at Harris fired up is to throw a crankbait past or jig a jigging spoon in front of them. The active fish in the school responding to the quick moving bait can agitate the whole school into frenzy. It’s not uncommon to find schools of bass averaging five to eight pounds.
Jay Nyce
Outdoor Writer
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