Thanks Fred, that makes sense - Thank you

Now when someone asked me what I am fishing for I can tell them “Black Bass” so whatever I pretty much catch falls under the the Black Bass category and it looks like I really know what I am doing. Yeah that’s what I was fishing for!

May not work for Catfish though, unless that’s one of them there “whiskerd black bass”...

Yes, I think you are correct. Lake Norman has a lot of what we call “spots” … it’s a very aggressive “black bass” … a buddy of mine knows more about these things and he says there’s like 10 species of black bass including largemouth bass which apparently are used to cross breed some of these local kinds of black bass. All I know when a spot hits your bait it’s not a tap, those spots smack the crap out of it!

Lake Norman has several species of Bass, what are Calico Bass, not heard of those...

The clouds rolled in and the Bass started biting… most were in 15’ water right off docks near the main channel. Cold front rolled in but so did the cold beverages…

Yes carp make excellent cut bait. I was dubbed the carp master for years by a couple fishing buddies of mine... many years ago a trip to Dale Hollow fishing for smallmouth I finally got a fish on... it was a carp... caught a couple catfish with that fish, then years later a trip to Michigan River that was famous for Walleyes according to the In Fisherman Magazine .. skunked for 2 days... finally got a fish and was all excited... it was a carp. Carp are fun to catch, but those bream a lot better to eat! Good luck this spring and yes tight lines catch fish - keep sending pictures!

I have been told the best way to eat carp is cover it with mud, bake it in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Pull it out and let it cool for 30 minutes. Separate carp from mud. Throw away the carp and eat the mud.

When you get a chance take your kayak to Shem Creek in Charleston, there’s a couple small ramps that kayaks port out of and Shem Creek is loaded with red fish!

Absolutely went back in for someone else to do battle with... good luck, this fish was a fighter!

Fished Capers Reef this morning…. nothing exciting but Winds kicked up and a long rough ride in… just for the heck of it fish the narrows 500 yards from where we were staying and battled this red on a medium heavy spinning rod with #5 circle hook with shrimp with 1 oz sinker on the bottom for 10+ minutes…

Hey it’s was still a good day 9 in the box including a couple white perch and we had at least 20 throw backs… we got on the lake and caught some fish!

My buddy Rick and I ventured out on Lake Wylie yesterday. Uh oooo bass tournament, there must of been 100+ entries. Rather than take a chance possibly messing up some guy by catching his winning fish we decided the right thing to do was do some crappie fishing even though we didn’t have the right equipment. I had crappie fished for 30+ years... not bad for rookies.

I would start with a depth finder / graph, no reason to spend a lot of money just good enough to show you how deep of water you are in and help you find the fish ie how deep they are etc… Good Luck!

Dan grew up in Michigan his wife’s from NC, they lived in Michigan for a year...

yes, this time... we don't even go out on a crowded day.

A few years ago some idiot must of been pulling a tuber 50-60 mph, the guy came flying off the tube bouncing across the top of the water and landed up 10' from our boat... after I made sure he was OK I asked him "What are you thinking?" he replied something about it being a contest on who could hold on going the fastest...I replied, well I hope you won...

My suggestion... if you are new to the area and planning on staying for awhile... head to your local bait shop, talk to somewhere there who actually fishes... then (this is where most novice anglers mess up) DON'T ASK where is a good place to fish and what are they biting on... can you imagine someone who fishes a lot telling 3-5 people a day where they fish... no one is that nice... hey I have an idea, let's saturate my best spot with a 100 anglers that way when I get off work and go there its fished out... not happening... ask them who is the best guide for the money on the place you want to fish... spend a couple $100 bucks for a 1/2 day or whatever the costs is and then you know where the fish are, what they are biting on and more... best $ ever spent for a novice angler if you are actually serious about catching fish.