Catawba River Kayak Fishin

[ofishlbizzness]

Lake Wylie paddler boats huge crappie on float down Catawba River

Black trick worm draws strike from 3-pound slab crappie




Phillip Gentry
Yesterday at 12:25 pm | Mobile Reader | Print

Stewart Venable

Paddler Stewart Venable of Lake Wylie caught this 3-pound crappie last Thursday on a trip down the Catawba River below Rock Hill.

A kayak fishing trip for on the Catawba River produced a pleasant surprise for Stewart Venable of Lake Wylie, S.C., on June 25, when the black plastic worm he was pitching into a laydown was inhaled by a huge black crappie that measured 17 ¼ inches long and weighed exactly 3 pounds.

Venable said he regularly fishes a section of the Catawba River below Rock Hill for largemouth bass and wasn’t exactly surprised by what the river produced.
‘A lot of anglers don’t realize it, but there are some really big crappie in this river, and they love to lay up in these blowdown trees just like a bass,” said Venable, a Jackson Kayak pro-staff angler who was fishing with a friend, Josh Bowling of Rock Hill.
Trying to get Bowling his best river bass from a kayak, the two anglers were casting topwater lures when Venable decided to hit a couple of laydowns.
“I have a few laydowns that are always key for the bigger crappie and white bass, so I always hit those on this section of the river,” said Venable. “The water was dead calm, with no release, and under those conditions, the fish will hold in 5 to 7 feet under a large laydown. I always make a couple casts with a very small square-bill (crankbait) around the outside edges, then use a cut-down trick worm to get underneath.”
Using a light-action spinning rod to flip a black Zoom trick worm cut down to almost a finesse size on a 1/0 Gamakatsu hook and a split shot on 8-pound fluorocarbon, Venable said he was pleasantly surprised when the thump he felt turned out to be his personal-best crappie.
“I freaked once I saw that it was a crappie, since papermouths are so bad to tear loose,” he said, “and this guy fought hard like a bass all the way to the net.”
Venable, typically a staunch CPR angler, kept the big crappie to be mounted. He was also proud to report that Bowling also ended up catching his personal best kayak bass – a 21-inch largemouth – on the same outing.
“We both had a great day,” said Venable. “River fishing is a great way to beat the heat of summer, plus, there are no jet skis, power boats or pontoon parties to deal with.”

[gabowman]

Good read John...thanks for posting. And congrats to the two young men that were fishing from their kayaks. Sounds like a little piece of heaven where they were fishing (no water lice, bass boats, or pontoon parties).

[bestfriend]

That is one nice crappie! Congrats to the fisherman.

[STUMP HUNTER]

You know he about fell out when he seen it was a crappie Awesome fish, congrats to him.

[BigDawgg]

Man that is something to be proud of. I know they are there along with a lot of other big fish. When I was a kid along time ago and I mean along time ago. We would take an old jon boat and drift the river bottoms from the dam to the Hwy 21 bridge. We caught a bunch of fish. But I will leave it to the younger people due to age and all those rocks. This is a very nice article John thanks for posting it. My brother Wayne a couple of years ago went to the Bridge area and waded out and caught some stripers and bass. It really is a wilderness area along those banks.

[ofishlbizzness]

BigDawgg , When you was a kid they called it Catawba Stream ! Had'nt grown to a creek yet ! Hey Stevie got a yak and canoe. He said when you ready to go ?

[uncle remus]

thanks for report John good read