Lake Norman
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Lake Norman Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from Lake Norman. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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- Species
Largemouth BassTechniqueWacky RigsSeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureDocksAround noon was fishing docks and cast to some rocks on the bank. She hit it immediately
SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonSpring (Spawn)StructureLaydowns- Species
Spotted BassTechniqueNed RigsSeasonSpring (Spawn)StructureDocksCaught a fish on every dock using that wacky worm and Ned rig
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueWacky RigsSeasonSpring (Spawn)StructureDocks
Fished the southern portion from beatties Ford to Ramsey creek 4/7. It’s wacky rig season. Quantity came off riot baits baton, quality came off 4.3” keitech on a 1/4 oz ball head. Docks docks and more docks. Did catch 2 giant crappie in a shallow cove on a stunna jerkbait.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueNeko RigsSeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureDocks
We caught bass skipping true center sticks both with a Neko rig setup and a weightless texas rig up under docks ranging from 6 inches to 17 feet deep. I literally would wait and watch the bass chase the bait all the way to the bottom as it slowly sunk, and then as soon as it touched the bottom they would eat it. If it was anything more than 1/16 oz, they wouldn't eat it for us. Not usually an issue I run into but we had them pretty dialed to catch numbers during this tournament. Fish seemed to be isolated on the dock posts rather than way up under the docks. Especially in marinas. We didn't have to worry about skipping things way up under boats and working it out, we would legitimately make one cast at each support post on the outside of the docks, and that's where we were getting bit. I have the youtube footage to prove it, which I will release in the next couple weeks. We were catching fish anywhere from 15 inches up to 3.5 pounds. We caught one 15 incher that had 2 3 pounders and a 6 pounder chase it out when I hooked it.
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonSpring (Spawn)StructureDocks
During a recent College Bassmaster event, we found a lot of different types of patterns. One that accounted for our larger fish was that of bed fishing. Our larger spotted bass were starting to bed down, and so were some largemouth in the south end of the lake. Main lake and the north end were anywhere from 54-58 degrees, but we found some water that was 62-68 degrees. After trying to bed fish with a swim jig and hopping jigs and true center sticks around, the bait that really got those fish to commit and commit quick was the hot shot minnow. We had one fish that wouldn't eat a dropshot, so we rigged the hotshot on a ned rig head and it bit first cast with the new combo. We caught fish off beds around 3 pounds on the hot shot minnow in pearl color all week. Those difficult ones that were at least locked that wouldn't be interested in anything else only 5 casts at the most with the Hotshot minnow
- Species
Striped BassTechniqueSoft Body Swimbaits (Small/Medium)SeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureBrush PilesWater temp in the Mid lake region was close to 60 degree. Some of the spots were starting to bed in the south end, but the fish that weren't were found on brush piles at the mouths of creek channels, and off the first dropoff in anywhere from 10-17 feet of water. We focused on areas near smaller cuts, and outside potential spawning banks. We tried a couple different swimbait brands and colors, but the ONLY bait we could get them to bite was an Xzone mini swammer in 309 color. The spots were short striking every other bait we threw at them. We were super slow rolling 1/4oz jig heads tailed with that swimbait to fill out a limit when we weren't fishing docks or beds.
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueNeko RigsSeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureDocks
The spots were suspending under docks anywhere from the dirt to around 10-15 feet. I started out with a weightless wacky rig, and they wouldn't eat it until it had hit the bottom. I decided to switch to a neko rig to make getting to the bottom more efficient, and noticed that I got just as many, if not more bites this way. The Xzone True Center stick is a generally slower sinking bait to begin with, so for shallower docks I stuck with a weightless texas rig, and on the deeper docks I would pick up the neko rig. Skipping way up underneath pontoons and boat lifts produced bites on the shallower docks, but when it came to the deeper docks it seemed like they were suspending more on the dock posts themselves.
