Shellcrackers

Most of the fish ive caught were 3/4 to 1 lb. They seem to always come back to the same select coves year after year. I have not targetes them in the last few years mostly bc ive moved away a bit from Charlotte. Badin/HR is now my home lake.

I have also netted some 2+lbers trying to catch bait on Badin. May play around there sometime soon!

Thanks Pete. That's sorta my consensus too. I've spent enough time on both systems to realize the grass on the yadkin lakes is greener in pretty much all aspects. Plan is to forego the spawning fish and spend the summer finding them deep!

Don't know your travel limits, but Waccamaw and Sutton are shellcracker hotspots. The ones in Sutton are some of the largest I've ever seen. Last time I caught them there they were eating crappie minnows around blowdowns in the ditch. More than half were at or above a pound. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by KScott

Thanks slabinator! I fish from a kayak, so a slow drift or paddle is no problem! Thinking ahead here.... All said lakes are pretty heavily populated with white perch. From hours spent dragging catfish baits around, I know dragging some nightcrawlers around is doomed to be eaten by perch at some point. If I'm getting pestered by them, in your experience, do I need to move and try to avoid the area?

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I don't know how to avoid white perch. My solution to them is to keep everyone I catch including the little ones and eat them.

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Originally Posted by slabinator

I don't know how to avoid white perch. My solution to them is to keep everyone I catch including the little ones and eat them.

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That or throw them on a hook for Mr. Whiskers.

ALOT of them end up back on a hook for cats. Not only do they work well, the freeze well too. My profile picture is on in the low 40s that I caught in February on s fillet from a perch that had been in my freezer for at least 6 months! ��

If you see clam or mussel shells on the bank where the otter have been eating them it is a good area.

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Originally Posted by slabinator

I don't know how to avoid white perch. My solution to them is to keep everyone I catch including the little ones and eat them.

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White perch grow nice tomatoes'

I do not know about y'all, but I love eating white perch and the small ones make excellent bait. They are fun to catch as well.

I need a little review. Would spider rigging worms / crickets in the shallow areas we catch Crappie in the spring be productive for Bream?