Got away from the site for awhile, sorry to hear about your bad luck at the river. I heard my brother, while guiding a group of clients, finished off a boat limit by individually keeping a third fish. Apparently, the Warden was watching, and he legitimately was issued a citation for keeping over the creel. Both of ya'll seem to have gotten nailed by nit pickin, but the lesson on the river, as you learned,is know the regulations and abide by them strictly. On a better note have had great luck above Steel Bridge for keeper Blues. No real big guys yet, 20lbrs top release fish so far. Just a matter of time before the 50lb personal goal is accomplished. Let me know if you're coming up to Dam, may be able to coordinate a herring catching session.

Are herring easy to catch behind the Kerr dam? Have been catching some at the Gaston dam on the top side but they have been kinda small(about 4 inches). Do you catch bait from the cat walk at the dam or from a boat? Thanks

Big C the herring I'm talking about are the ocean variety and ain't in impounded waters. You can catch them fairly easy behind the Roanoke Rapids Dam for a few weeks in late April and early May.

hey backtrack ive heard that there catching some nice ones above the steel bridge glad to here they are. down in a post below they said a 50 lb was landed just the number im after, im trying to achieve the same goal you are 50lb+.
ive caught, them all the way up to 43 pounds but now im trying to break 50 i think i will be able to by next winter,ive learned alot this year, from reading magazines and reading this web site
im going tommorow morning theres a chance i might stop at the roanoke river dam on the way to the lake to catch some herring and stripers, but i dont know for sure yet, i know that ill be going to
eaton ferry tommorow though, theve been hittin great there lately. i dont know when ill be at kerr dam again probaly not until mid may but who knows maybe sooner you gonna be out tommorow
thanks for the report for above the steel bridge it really helps me out, let me know when you start seeing some over 25 pounds.

good luck

Yeah I'll be there tommorrow. Think I'm going to try to catch shad on top at Gaston dam, then ain't sure might just fish a few points around Pea Hill Creek back to dam or might load back up and head to Steel Bridge. If I fish the lower end I'll see if I can stop by Eaton Ferry way and compare notes. Good Luck. See you on the water.

sounds good i havent been to pea hill in a long time but i know the fishings problay good there, yeah try to stop by eaton ferry, i dont know excatly what time ill get out there im trying to get there by
8-10 am and ill stay until dark for sure.
if where not catching anything out there we might even head up youre way,

good luck, hope to see ya tommorow

katmaster jr,that 50lber was caught by a girl that works at the er with my wife.she brought it by the hospital for my wife to see.the fish was bigger than her.my son 5 years old caught is first big cat today 15.4lbs now hes hooked.

wow i bet thats the best fight shes ever had.
nice to hear about your sons fish thats a nice fish i know alot of adults that have never caught one that big

good luck

hey backtrack do any good sunday, i went to the roanoke rapids dam sunday to catch bait and i caught two 25 inch stripers, then i went to eaton ferry around 4 and they were hittin like crazy. caught some nice blues and lost alot more that were real big.

good luck, might go again this weekend you gonna be out.

dave i just saw that nice blue cat your son caught nice fish i bet he had his hands full with that one

good luck

hey backtrack you been out lately what are they doin up youre way. broke your 50 lb goal yet? there hitting good down around eaton ferry, caught some herring and stripers at roanoke rapids dam last weekend, of course i threw the stripers back, but kept the herring and all the gizzards i caught for bait, see ya

good luck

Naw man. Sick of work. Didn't get to go when I last posted I was going and ain't been since. Sure hoping to go this weekend. Need some advice, Thinking about trying the live crappie, always done shad or cut bait, but I can go to Tar River Reservoir and fill the livewell in a couple hours at most with under hand size and down crappie. Seems like a much easier deal than my usual trip to tailrace to catch herring or Gaston Dam for shad. Question is, Are you nose hooking these baits or tail hooking. I'm assuming you're using at least a 8/0 or larger hook. Do you and your Dad hook them different according to current flow? Also, I know you usually talk about white pearch, but I'm guessing crappie are just as good. See ya'll on the water!

yeah im sick of school but only got a week left,
crappie is problay about even or maybe better than white perch, when we use them live we hook them threw the lips but you can go threw the tail, but i think the best is to hook them threw the lips and then make a trailer hook about as long as the bait your using we ussualy use a treble hook for the trailer hook. the reason we use the trailer hook is because we have our hook threw one end that leaves the other end exposed for them to just rip off. but if that treble is at the other end it usually snags them as soon as they grab it. youi can also hook them threw the eyes, but that really dosent work as good, thats what we do for live herring we go throw the eye socket, we dont really change according to the current, usually when theres alot of current we just use cut bait

good luck let me know how you do

oh yeah backtrack the nc state record blue cat of
85 pounds out of lake norman was caught on a
white perch

good luck

hey everyone check out this cool new fishing website for gaston,kerr and all surrounding lakes and rivers.
but esspecialy for gaston

www.fishlakegaston.com

backtrack where ya at man