River fishing vs lake

[Flatwater]

40 to 50 wind today so I am home . I find that if the NWR water is low I head south to Carolina to find the fish and if the water is up I head north towards Bobs to find the fish.

I wish I had a conductivity meter I could find the salt line. Should be easy to make one. One day to the next everything can be very different. A bass fisherman told me a while back that the salt water chases the fish. I keep saying I will keep a log book like others, but I miss most entries.

Lakes folks find the brush piles and fish them out (my opinion) Only thing left is dinks. To find bigger fish you seek out unknown waters and a few big fish can be found. I just do not think fish move as much in lakes. (spring being an exception) NWR and N landing rivers are hard to learn and be consistent as the water (brackish) moves the fish long distances. I also think that river fish are thicker, I should log weights of 10" river fish vs 10" lake fish to see if I am correct. Hmmmmm maybe I will build some brush piles.

[REDBOAT]

I was under the impression that the water in the sound was not that salty?

[Idunno]

Hey Flatwater,

Have you ever done any good way up-river? Near/past the power lines? Close to Ballahack Road? I know it stays deep, 17'ish all the way up there.

Dean

[crappiefarmer]

Crappie are tolerant to salt water. I have caught very good numbers of crappie when the salt water had pushed up the Sound. I fished Yeopim a week ago or so and only caught 2 crappie but caught a flounder to go along with them. What hurts crappie is at spawn. The fry cant tolerate the salt water and they will die. Bass and Brim will move with the salt line but crappie not so much. If the water is fresh in their normal areas for the time of the year and salt water moves in, they will stay put. I have seen this on the Alligator river too. That river gets very salty. Also, I did well in Pembroke creek a couple years ago on brushpiles when the water had turned salty. Our local extension agent takes water samples for salt content for those in the area that irrigate out of the Albemarle Sound and closer tributaries. Pembroke that year was almost as salty as the Ocean and just out of the mouth of the creek, people were catching Red and Black Drum, flounder, and down the sound a little further were speckle trout and sheepshead at the sound bridge.CF

[crappiefarmer]

I was under the impression that the water in the sound was not that salty?

Redboat, It depends on the drought. If it stays dry long enough, the salt water will work its way up the sound and tributaries from Oregon Inlet. If it is a wet season, the salt stays flushed out. Usually a couple big rains in the area will flush it out. Has to be some good runoff. usually that transition back to fresh water will kill the fishing. It sucks pretty good behind a big rain when the water has gotten real salty. Water is pretty salty now as we have been in a pretty long dry spell until recently. The ground has been absorbing a lot of recent rainfall but is now getting saturated and starting to see some runoff. will take a lot to push the salt back out of the sound. A couple years ago, they were catching flounder and blue crabs were running all the way up to Winton, Up the Chowan river. There were also Manatees spotted and Tarpon were caught on the Roanoke down by the mouth around the HWY 45 bridge. Out in the sound down closer my way, there was an 8 foot Bull shark caught and just this past summer on the Yeopim, they were catching speckled trout and Stingrays and skates. I had never heard of any of these animals ever being caught up this way. Over the past 5 years, There has been some strange things showing up.CF

[jim.b]

i'll take the lake fish. bigger size. all my cititions have come from lakes. as far as n/w river i like it when the water is falling. crappies to me seem to gather at creek mouths when the bait is pushed out.

[Slack Tide]

depends on the river and or the lake ...I have found a better class of 12 to 15 fish being thicker and pulling harder to be in the rivers ,,but have found many hogs in the lakes....

[Don French]

In general, tidewater fish weigh less than lake fish of a given length, this applies to all species. Think of it this way, tidewater fish go jogging every time the tide changes. Lake fish can just lay there and get fatter. Growth rates can be faster (for a given year class) for tidewater fish because of the diverse forage available, including migratory shad species. Any lake is a closed system so the growth rates are established by the abundance, or lack thereof, of the exisiting ecosystem. From my experience river fish are better fighters on the line, but you will never match the weights of fish caught from lakes. That's my 2 cents, and I'm sticking to 'em!