YOU WILL CATCH FISH OR YOU WILL NOT PAY*
*APPLIES TO Yadkin River, High Rock Lake, Tuckertown, Badin Lake ONLY
336-309-5900
TRIP RATES
Maximum of 4 people per trip
Yadkin River, High Rock lake, Tuckertown Lake, Badin Lake
$200 for 1 Person
$250 for 2 People
$300 for 3 People
$400 for 4 People
Other lake options available are Lake Jordan and Lake Norman: Rates are higher due to my extra travel distance and preparation expenses. Call 336-309-5900 and talk with Barbara about any of our trips we have available.
$300 for 1 Person
$400 for 2 People
$500 for 3 People
$600 for 4 People
All trips are full day, 8AM - 3PM or 6AM-1PM (summer only). Your trip time starts at lines in the water and ends with lines in the water. And time spent catching bait with a cast net or riding to the first fishing spot will not be deducted from your fishing time and your fishing trip ends on the water, not at the dock. If you are on a time limit schedule please let me know the morning of your trip so I won't keep you out too long, I try extremely hard to give you a full and honest day of fishing and catching!!!
We furnish all bait, tackle and equipment! You furnish what you want to eat and drink and your freshwater fishing license, which can be purchased at Walmart or on-line at ncwildlife.org. All fish caught within legal limits will belong to the anglers.
If you have questions, want additional information or to book a charter, please call Barbara at 336 309-5900. Please leave a message if no one answers since we sometimes fish areas with no service. Barbara will get back to you as soon as possible.
336 309-5900
Wednesday, 4-24-24
I do my very best to keep my fishing reports up to date, but, every once in a while I get slack and have one I didn't get on because just like last night I was up until midnight getting some work done on the pontoon so we could fish today. I'll try not to make too big of a mess and see if I can do them both now!!!
Yesterday, Tuesday 4-23-24 we had Fred Liao from Charlotte, NC join us on a crappie trip to catch a few crappies for few dinners and mainly learn our techniques. We were on High Rock lake and we caught 23 crappies we kept 6 then released the rest. We also caught a good eating size blue catfish and a nice 15.5 inch white bass then called it a day a little early!!
Today, Wednesday, 4-24-24
We met up with Greg Olczak from Kenmore, NY and Bruce Hackman from New London, NC. We were on a crappie catch and release trip but since Barbara and I don't have a chance to go fishing for ourselves anymore, the guys agreed to let us keep a few for us and for some elderly neighbors that can't go fishing anymore.
We kept a total of 30, a half dozen for a couple fish dinners and the balance was some smaller crappies for some catfish bait for the catfish trips we have booked in a few weeks. We also caught another white bass today but is was only 13 inch and we released it along with several other crappies that were full of eggs so they could spawn if they ever get the opportunity!!
Thanks to both groups for fishing with us and we are humbled that you chose Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trips. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today and come back soon to fish with us again!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 4-20-24
We joined the armada of fishing boats on High Rock lake today and went fishing/catching crappies with hometown Lexington, NC crew of Tim Grubb, Travis Grubb, and Jeff Leonard.
It seemed like everyone had the same fishing holes in mind, but we did find 2 spots open and that was all we needed to put 60 nice crappies in the cooler for the guys. Still finding and catching them 20 feet deep.
Another great day of catching crappies with even greater people. Barbara and I were very pleased to be able to show the guys our techniques and the seldom thought of little details that take your fishing trips and turn them into catching trips. Now these guys, like many more that have fished with us, can take this information to any lake that has crappies, use these techniques and fine details and catch crappies any day and any time of the year!!! This technique is a product of 66 years of dedication to catching crappies!!! This technique and fine detail tips work even better in the hottest and coldest days of the year!!!!
Thanks for fishing with us and we hope we have met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!!
Barbara has a Dr. appointment Monday so we'll be back on a lake somewhere again starting Tuesday morning and if nothing happens, we'll be giving you fishing reports everyday right now at least until mid June, but I expect longer because Barbara Said she is still booking everyday now. Thank you all that believe in us and continue to support us every year.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 4-18-24
Today we had a special trip for crappies with Dan McCormick from Denton, NC and his son Daniel (JR) McCormick, and Dan's grandson Noah Allmon. This trip was purchased by Dan's daughter Christene for his Birthday back in February. It was too cold then, so we booked this trip 3 months ahead and made it happen today!!!
It was one of the most calm and beautiful days I've seen in a while, even gave us a little taste of summer days ahead, it got hot!!!! My wife and 1st mate on our charter boats did an excellent job today keeping everyone fishing, the hooks baited, netting fish, and taking fish off. I couldn't help her much today as I had to monitor our electronics close today to keep the smaller than average schools of crappies under the guys so they could catch them and catch them they did!!!
We ended our day a little before 3PM and we had 60 crappies on the clicker and also 3 good eating size bonus catfish and a 23 1/2 " Striper to round out today's catch for their fish fry this afternoon.
Got a few things we have to do tomorrow so we're not fishing. Be back out Saturday and pretty much everyday from then on. Give Barbara a call, text, or message @, 336-309-5900 to book your trip, unfortunately, we are booking well into June right now so we don't have anything available, unless we have a cancelation until June 4th, and that's from a cancelation!!!
We appreciate each and everyone of you and always promise to treat you and your family with respect, dignity and morally, and remember, you pay nothing up front to book your trip. You only pay after the trip when you are satisfied and had a great time. And should you not catch any fish,, then you will pay nothing for your trip, GUARANTEED!!!
Please go to our Guestbook page on our website and check out our clients comments about us, these really do say it all about us!! Till next time, thanks for coming by and God Bless you all!!!!!
Wednesday, 4-17-24
What a day we had today. Myself, Barbara and Bubba met up with a wonderful and extremely nice family today to go after more crappies today. They were Pernell and Denise Brown from Morganton,NC., Colby Brown from Asheville, NC., and Kaelin Helman also from Morgantown, NC.
We started off a little slower today than we have been doing and the crappies had me scratching my head this morning. I tried several places and put a piece of the puzzle together from what I learned at each spot. We fished about 12 places, had 12 fish, and I had my information and made my move.
I figured out they were still in brush ,but today they were 15 feet instead of 20 feet. But they wanted brush in 30 feet on the bottom edge of the channel that came up to around 17 feet and they were holding at 15 feet down to the top of the brush at 17 feet. I had everyone count the baits down to 15 feet and it was game on. When they would slow down biting I'd jog the ulterra 10 feet and it would start up again. I knew when I put those brush in the 30 feet of water that it would pay off one day, and that day was today.
We ended up with 51 very nice Crappies today and the comradery and laughs today was top of the line. Can't wait until next time, y'all were great people and great fishermen and fisherwomen!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 4-16-24
Today was another day on the crappie playing field. Still haven't found any shallow yet myself but I know some have been catching them shallow, but, for me and my Charter clients, we still getting them deep.
We had with us today, Tony Ray Deese, Charles Bell, and Charles Lindberg Locklear all from Pembroke, NC. We met them at the NC Wildlife Ramp and made our way to a drop off I had in mind, this first stop was awesome, in fact, it was also the only stop we made until we called it a day at 12 Noon with 100 crappies and a bonus channel catfish for some great family fish frys. We left the crappies biting but we had enough for 3 family's today!!!
We will be back on High Rock lake tomorrow and hopefully the saga will continue as we pursue more crappies to the delight of our Charter Fishing family's who are now our friends also!!!!
Just want to give you all a heads up, right now, as I'm posting this report , I can hear Barbara in the office booking Charters into June and July. Don't wait to call, text, or message 336-309-5900 before the season is totally booked. If your particular date is already booked, Barbara will be glad to put you on our waiting list of customers who we offer to give them names of other Captains but they tell her they just don't want to fish with anyone else except Barbara and I, now that's very humbling and we are so very honored to know folks like what we do that much!!! On that list, occasionally a certain date will open up due to unfortunate circumstances and next in line gets it if they can go, if not, we go down the list until someone can make it.
Our fishing family humbles us and grows bigger everyday, and so does our list of haters who we appreciate because without them I wouldn't know how great we have built Yeah Right Charters over 40 years, they humble and amaze us as well!!!!
Update on Bubba, our new Charter dog in training. I do believe he's going to be alright. In the past he's been a little shy of other people, but, today he welcomed all three guys on board with all four paws. Everyone was tickled , and when I went to get the truck to load the pontoon, I didn't put him on a leash today and he followed right behind me all the way to the truck, and me Barbara, and Bobo were very proud of him today!!!
Come on back and see how we do tomorrow evening. Fishing and life is getting better everyday, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 4-15-24
Had a great crew today join us on the Yeah Right Charters pontoon this morning as we searched and found plenty of crappies that wanted to ride home to be the guest of honor at the next several fish frys. We were fishing today with Steve Cobb from McLeansville, NC., Gary Harmon from Winston Salem, NC., Robert Cornelius from Concord, NC., and Charles Jones from Greensboro,NC.
We got set up on some structure that was about half way from the deeper water and the shoreline where they will most likely move to with sincerity if the weather stays like it is now. However, we were catching the males and females that are/ were holding around 18 to 20 feet of water.
I did make a run to the shallow area where it will be crazy when they do go shallow only to find it still void of any crappies that wanted to bite. On the way back from there we hit some structure around 12 to 15 feet and found a lot of fish in that depth. However, they were not the quality fish we were finding in 20 feet of water, so, we went back to that pattern and finished the trip up with 75 crappies for our efforts. Should have had a 100 or more, but, sometimes they just come unbuttoned and they win that round. Sounds like maybe that's why it's called fishing and not catching, but, I'll take 75 crappies any day for my fishermen.
Going to be back after crappies again tomorrow, can we pull it off again, check back late tomorrow evening and check it out.
Wanted to say it was nice seeing Captain Rita Rule of "Fish Rule Charters" today. She sent me a picture of some crappies that were caught on her boat that were at 20 feet also. Check out her charter service, she's a fine lady and she'd love to take you fishing on High Rock lake and at the coast!!!
Thanks to all that stop by to read my reports and are always interested in our fishing trips and supporting us over the last 34+ years of fishing charters. Till next time, take a kid fishing, and God Bless you all!!!
Saturday, 4-13-24
Back on High Rock lake again today with Harvey Watson, Jeremy Nichols, Matthew Nichols, from Troy,NC and Mark Stuart from Mt. Gilead, NC. With 3 days straight with winds, rains , and fronts pounding on the water I didn't know how it was going to turn out, but I was determined to find crappies for them to catch today!!!
The winds started off light then it got pretty breezy to down right windy as the day progressed. But, we kept on the move and found our crappies that wanted to bite in around 18 to 20 feet of water on very small bottom configurations and we presented our baits at a stealthy presentation so they didn't have to chase to eat due to all the inclement weather the past several days.
The guys went home this afternoon with 2 catfish, several white Perch, some yellow Perch, and 66 nice crappies for their fish frys. Another great day of catching fish, plenty of fun and laughs all day with good times and more great memories from some of our returning clients that are now part of the Yeah Right Charters fishing family and our friends!!
Back on High Rock lake again Monday morning, don't hesitate to contact us by text, message, or calling 336-309-5900 to get your trip lined up and in the books. Barbara just informed me that right now, as I'm writing this, our next available date is June 4th. We are booking up really fast now!!! Please know a deposit is never required to hold your trip and no charges ever for cancelation if something comes up and you can't go.We just treat you like we would want to be treated. You don't pay anything until after the trip and if you happen to not catch fish, and even if I don't think you caught enough fish, you won't pay us anything. It's just one of the many things that makes us a little different than most. So, come experience why we have been the #1 preferred charter business for family and friends for over 40 years now!!!
Thanks for stopping by, and come on back Monday evening and see what we found biting!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 4-9-24
They were calling for rain today but the guys wanted to go crappie fishing and since there wasn't any lightening involved, Barbara and I met up with Charles and Mark Kidd from Bennett, NC, James Dunlap from Robbins, NC, and Craig Williams from Troy, NC at Tamarac Marina this morning and we went to try to catch some more crappies.
Coming off a warm and calmer day yesterday it was down right cold this morning with the cloudy skies and the steady NE wind but the rain wasn't here yet. We found the crappies again on the drop offs into the main river channel in 15 to 18 feet of water.
I said yesterday I'd post a picture of the type bottom we have been catching them on lately. I know, I probably wouldn't believe you either if you told me this, but, it has worked for me for 2 days now. Whatever it is, all you can see is the bottom composition and we drop down and crank up one round, and we Catch some nice crappies from areas like this!!!! Today we ended the trip early after the rains got intense and we had 50 crappies of various sizes but most were very nice fish!!!
Got another crappie trip tomorrow, which will be determined by the weather as to whether we go. According to the forecast as of this report it's a tough call right now trying to figure out if it can be believed or not!!!
The water temperatures were in the upper 50's to the low 60's. If the weather is as warm this week as they are saying, it just might be the week the spawn gets serious everywhere!!! So, give Barbara a call, text, or message @,336-309-5900 and see if she has had a cancelation as April and May are booked solid and occasionally someone has something come up that is more important than fishing and has to cancel. So, if she does, get signed up and let's go Catching. Remember, on our boats on the local lakes and rivers, we honor our guaranteed "NO FISH-NO PAY" policy!!!!!
Update on our newest fish dog in training, Bubba looked up at me from his Gore-Tex Goose Down parka he inherited from our beloved late Bobo, and he gave me a little grin assuring everything was going to be alright. He gets better each trip and the fishermen and fisherwomen love him already!!!
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 4-8-24
Today we fished the big waters of High Rock lake for the first time since last fall. The fish were there as via the livescope in different areas of structure and at various depths, but we could only pick just a couple from a few of the spots we fished. As I was moving and looking I was noticing the small bunches of fish that were on drop offs and holding just off the bottom. With the winds, rains, fronts, flooding, could this be crappies that have pulled back to deeper water around 18 feet deep and just holding here waiting for conditions to get right to move up up to spawn. I told Rusty Orrell from Churchland, NC, Brett Hughes from Denton, NC, and TJ Morrison from Lexington, NC . Let's drop to the bottom and crank up 1 round. On our tackle we use, that's 1 1/2 ' off the bottom.
Well dang if it wasn't crappies, so with the day wearing on, I concentrated on these areas dropping from points and main river channel edges leading into deeper water and when we called it quits today we had 45 crappies in the cooler and you can see from the pictures some were nice fish, including a 15 inch white bass and another that was short of the 14 inch size limit and we released that one to grow up. Even got a couple shots of the eclipse but they didn't turn out very well, but I was surprised I could get anything with the phone camera!!!
Supposed to be back out on High Rock lake again tomorrow, but right now the weather might be a problem if the forecast holds. If we do get back out tomorrow and the crappies are still at the same areas as today I'll do my best to take some photos to show you what they look like. I'm sure you've seen it before and some might not have given it a 2nd look. Thank you all for your continued support and Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 4-1-24
Went to High Rock crappie fishing with Tom Sharp and his daughter, Francesca LaRue Sharp from Lexington, NC. Crappies were scattered from 18 feet to 3 feet and some wanted to bite and some didn't. The most amazing thing I discovered was the best bite was coming from crappies that were holding on a drop off and were no more than a foot off the bottom in 15 feet of water!!
We caught a few in 3 feet with a Betts twist on -twist off float using a bobber stop to keep our baits around 2 feet down. We also caught a few off some brush in 18 feet of water. Like I said earlier, they were scattered and not all wanted to bite.
Now, the catch of the day was when a,12. 9 lb. pound flathead Catfish hit our ultra lite crappie gear with a light wire Panfish hook with 6 lb. line and Tom masterfully brought it boatside to get it in the net. I was amazed with his fishing skill, that was only possible with lots of time on the water catching big fish, great job Tom!
We took today off to take Barbara to her doctor for a follow up from a procedure a week ago, and Bubba was scheduled today to get his last puppy shot. Tomorrow's Crappie trip has been unanimously decided that with the inclement weather coming in we will run this trip on a better weather day.
Thanks to all that keep supporting us and we hope we have met your every expectation for your fishing trips and possibly even exceeded your expectations. Your comments are appreciated here on our posts, in our Guestbook page on our website so others can see we are in the people business 1st and fishing business 2nd and we like to under promise and over deliver, every time, or adjust our rates to reflect your trip. Thanks again and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 3-30-24
Went to High Rock Lake this morning with Dexter Townsend, James Jones, and James Jones Jr. All from Charlotte, NC. I haven't been after crappies in a couple weeks because of the inclement weather we've been experiencing.
To put it in layman's terms....... it was tough enough and then the winds picked up to around 25+ mph. The water was medium light stained to down right muddy, just depended where you were at. The water that should have been in the 60's + this time in March Is still in the mid 50's and lower. The CFS flow at the dam was 8,000 plus today and the fish were really scattered and holding very tight to the bottom in the vicinity of bait. Seen very few on structure!!! By the end of our trip I was stressed out and burning like hot coals between my shoulder blades from trying so hard to find my clients good and biting fish.
I worked hard, and we did manage 28 crappies today, some good ones and some mediocre ones, but to be honest, it was 28 more than I thought we would get in today's conditions. You can give out, but, never give up!!!
Got crappie trips everyday next week. Sure hope with the forecast of stable and warmer weather the crappies become a little easier to find, and a little more eager to bite. If you go, be safe out there, these winds have been brutal lately. Till next time, God Bless You All!!
Friday 3-22-24
This morning Barbara and I met up with Jane and Oron Huneycutt from Albemarle, NC., Cordel Huneycutt also from Albemarle, NC., and Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC to see if we could continue our pursuit for crappies today.
Well, just as I had figured, the approaching weather front had pushed the crappies down just right off the bottom and in smaller bunches. Finding fish willing to bite was a bit tougher today and we had to keep on the move to pick them off on smaller structures.
We seen the weather/rains starting to threaten rain more around 3PM this afternoon n so we wrapped it up and headed to the dock to hopefully get everything done before the bottom fell out, well, we didn't get that to work out to good for us as I was loading the pontoon on the trailer and the sky's decided to drench me!!
We had a great time today with lots of laughs and plenty of crappies to go towards their regular fish frys they have quite often and Barbara and I get to go to them any time we can, and they make us feel like family every time. The final tally today was 120 nice crappies and 4 bonus channel catfish
Due to the rains tomorrow we have canceled our crappie fishing trip for crappies. If weather allows, we'll be on the hunt for Catfish Sunday morning and come on back that evening and see what we find. Thank for stopping by, take care of yourself and God Bless You All!!!
Butch &,Barbara's Freshwater Fishing Charters
Thursday 3-21-13
Today we welcomed Charles and Chuck Duncan from Hiddenite, NC and William Braswell from Hickory, NC on the Yeah Right Charters pontoon to go look for some biting crappies .
We started off and the bite was really slow and after 4 hours of marking crappies with only a few takers, I was thinking here we go again with another day like the past 3 days last week.
I finally got on a drop-off that seemed to have some nice crappies that wanted to bite. As time progressed so did the bite.we devided them up between the 3 and they had 33 nice crappies and one extra for the neighbors cat. It was definitely a day we won't forget for a long time
Back after more crappies tomorrow, wish us luck!!!
Tuesday 3-19-24
The front that came through last night and dropped the temperature to the 20's this morning didn't do much to help the crappie bite today.
We were fishing with some very good friends today. They were Sam and Chris Crockett and Greg Barksdale all from Waxhaw, NC. BTW/ Chris, Be sure to tell your wife we Thank her so much for kind thoughts and gift of that delicious pound cake, some awesome people today we are very proud to call our friends.
The livescope showed us the crappies were there today on most stops, but they could care less about our offerings. That front made them act like they had been hit in the head with a hammer. But, we kept at it and covered lots of water fishing everywhere and everything I figured might hold some biting crappies. We did catch some crappies along with a small channel catfish, a good eating size Blue catfish, and a Striper. But it was one of the toughest days I've had in a very long time.
I felt so bad about my ability to not get them into a great catch of crappies today, I donated the trip to our "No Fish - NO Pay"' policy, it was the right and ethical thing to do. They tipped their mate Barbara very well for all her efforts in keeping everything running smoothly in the cold, windy, and dirty water conditions today.
They are coming back soon for another day and them and Barbara and I will be out for revenge. Hang in there, all this crazy weather will be gone soon and will be forgotten when things get right and you'll have to hide behind your boats console to bait your hook or take a chance of being attacked by a hungry pack of crappies!!
Be safe if you go and God Bless you All!!!
Monday, 3-18-24
Today we went back to High Rock lake with a good friend Michael Hendrix from Wallace,NC and made a new friend Wayne Turner from Cheraw, SC that came to fish with us.
We were fishing the Flat Swamp area where the bite is really good, normally, this time of year. But, all the rains we've had, front after front passing through, temperatures all over the charts has taken a big toll on the crappie bite for me anyway.
We found plenty of crappies today, but, they just didn't want to bite, not even minnows placed right in their faces. But if you've fished with me then you know I don't like to take no from any fish so we aggravated the stuffing out of them enough to get 25 crappies to commit, and some were really nice fish, to take home along with a bonus flathead Catfish around 6 pounds.
Well, we have yet another front coming through tonight that's going to drop the temperatures into the 20's by morning. Well, you know that's going to really help the situation at hand, not!!! I knew I wasn't the only one having a tough time today in the swamp when we got back to the boat ramp and we were the only crappie fishermen still there.
I'm going to do something different tomorrow, don't know just what yet, but I can't take this kind of pressure 4 days in a row. I'll just have to play it by ear as they say and see how it turns out, but, I can tell you this, don't look for me in Flat Swamp area of High Rock lake tomorrow, I ain't going to be there!! I have got to find my clients a,bunch of fish tomorrow!
Come back tomorrow evening and see if we put a plan together that worked better than the last 3 days, I hope!!!
If you go, be safe and good luck, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 3-16-24
Today we went crappie fishing at High Rock lake with Larry Wall from Durham,NC. Justin Rotan from Mebane, NC, Daniel Lamdert from Mebane, NC, and Dakota Kolodgle from Hillsboro, NC.
All the crazy weather lately seems to still have the crappies a little confused but not so much if you stay with it and try different tactics you should not have a problem putting enough in the cooler to have several nice fish dinners.
From my observations it looks to me they are scattered now as they try to prepare for the spring spawn. It should all come together fairly soon if the weather/water keeps warming and fronts slack up some.
Just go and cast your favorite jig or dunk your minnows at different depths and different structures and you most likely will find some to take home with you. Main thing, be versatile, and keep looking for biting crappies. That's what we did today and ended the day with 41 pretty nice crappies.
Stay safe out there, thanks for stopping by, and till next time, God Bless You All!!
Tuesday, 3-12-24
Today we went to Badin with Glenda and Nick Tewell from Locust, NC and Dean McGinnis from Rockwell, NC. The best tactic for the last 2 days has been drifting baits under schools of shad for my Charter clients.
Glenda hooked an 8+ pound Blue Catfish and worked it to the net like the pro fisherwoman she is. A little later, Nick hooked up with a fish that acted like a nice Catfish as well, we won't talk about how that ended up!! Dean held his own by putting several very nice crappies well over a pound in the net as well today.
We finished the day with that Blue Catfish and enough nice crappies for a couple fish frys. It was a fun day with fun folks aboard the Yeah Right Charters Freshwater Fishing Adventures!!!
Got some follow up Dr. Appointments tomorrow and then if all is still well, and weather permitting, we'll be back on the water again Thursday after more crappies.
Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my fishing reports, couldn't do it without you all. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 3-11-24
Today we were pleased to have Darren Jones and Jacky Thomas from Nebo, NC join us on a crappie fishing trip on High Rock Lake. I was concerned after all the rain we got Saturday and then all the winds yesterday and the high outflow from the Dam today, at one time today the flow was in the mid 30 thousands CFS, with the flood gates open.
We found the crappies via the livescope showing them on brush from 10 feet all the way to 30 feet moving around and pretty active, but they did not want our offerings today. After fishing many pieces of structure with only 2 crappies to show for our efforts l knew I had to do something different if we were going to catch some fish today.
I had been noticing very small tight groups of suspended crappies roaming around the last area we fished today so Barbara got them set up to drift some baits just over their heads as I maneuvered the pontoon to slowly intercept them with looking forward on the livescope to head them off.
Sure, wish I had put this pattern together sooner, but I was really stressed out about having one of the slowest days of crappie catching I could ever remember.
But not to give up we managed to get a decent catch today in the short time we had left to fish and probably missed about as many as we caught. We had a great time and I'm grateful these guys were veteran fishermen that knew how it goes sometimes. We going to try it again soon as they booked their next trip with us before they left the boat this afternoon.
Thanks Darren and Jacky for your support and fishing with us. You two were a real pleasure to fish with.
If you'd like to fish for crappies or catfish, or something else this year don't wait too long to call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900. She says we are booked solid March and April, and May and June and beyond is picking up now on bookings. Just wanted to give you a heads up, people really like the way we do business putting you first. And I've always liked to " Under promise and over deliver" on our fishing trips, and remember, we also Guarantee you fish, or you'll pay nothing for your trip.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 11- 28- 23
Today we headed back to High Rock lake with Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC and Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC to see if the crappies would still bite with the full moon, cold fronts blowing the waters up, and lake dropping like a rock one day and rising the next, dirty water from recent rains, and 52 degree water.
First 4 places produced not even a bite, none!!!! I spiritually had a little talk with Bobo, our gone but never forgotten fishing buddy, and then Barbara. After that we 3 put our heads together and the decision was unanimous to hit shallow real close to deep water in the main channel then work from shallow to deep on the drop offs until we found the biting fish. Around 15 feet was the magic number today with lots of suspended crappies trying to decide themselves what to do next!!
After we found the biting fish we proceeded to steadily put very nice crappies in the pontoon, yeah pontoon, even in all this wind, to the point that we actually didn't have time to get any single pictures of the catch. We started at 9AM this morning to let it warm a little from our regular 8AM start time which would put us finishing up at 4PM. However, at 3PM, we had 100 very nice crappies in the cooler plus a bonus channel catfish so we called it a great day and headed to the boat ramp with visions of many fish frys in the near future.
I'll have to give Sam and Gary credit to the success for our trip today. These 2 guys have been regular customers ever since we started our Freshwater fishing Charters around 2 years ago. They have worked with us and have perfected our method and techniques on the unique way we target crappies. At times today, we could just barely keep up with them getting fish netted, taking out the hook, and getting them back in the water. At times it was pandemonium with crappies laying all over the floor waiting to go in the cooler when we had time to get them in there....
Thank you Sam and Gary for trusting us to teach you all how we catch crappies. You all are great guys and you both are definitely a force to be reckoned with when ya'll hit the water on the Yeah Right Charters pontoon!!!! Can't wait until our next trip, till next time, God Bless You and thank you Lord for making the fish bite.
Monday, 11-27-23
This morning we were watching 3 different weather forecast and 2 of them was calling for 10 to 15 mph winds with gusts up to 25 and 1 of them never mentioned any wind. Well, 2 out bid just one so we pushed the trip up to 10AM and we'd see what it was doing then. At 10AM the winds were maybe 5 mph.
We then met up with Chuck and Sue Antony from Ruston, LA. and Chucks twin brother, Mike Antony, who lives on the shore of High Rock lake in the Flat swamp area. We pulled away from Mike's dock and would just see how it went.
Well, I can't believe that what was supposed to be a very windy day turned into a beautiful day of catching crappies. , again!!! Starting at 10AM meant we would be fishing until 5PM but after hitting 4 places we had all they wanted by 3PM with 45 nice crappies in the boat and one of them even got Chuck a nice frame worthy NCARP Citation from the NC Wildlife Resources division for an exceptional catch today.
Great and fun times were had by us all today and Mike got his freezer filled back up with some more Crappie fillets for more future fish frys. Just like when we were doing Saltwater Fishing Charters and had the best Saltwater clients you could ever have, we are now building a growing following to our Freshwater Fishing Charters with the best fishing folks ever!!!! Thank for choosing us for your fishing trips, we have been humbled and Blessed at the same time, you all are the best!!!!
Weather permitting, we will be back on High Rock lake again in the morning tracking down some more hungry crappies to invite to be the guest of honor at the next fish fry, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday, 11-14-23
Today Barbara and I had David Nicholson back with us again and he brought his Brother Allen Nicholson so he could experience the fun and fish so many get to enjoy on our fishing charters. I don't often get a request to do a two species trip since it doesn't really give each species the time really needed to make it happen if the bite is tough that particular day. But, today we did a catfish and crappie trip and all went well.
We started off catfishing and it looked like the catfish were really going to cooperate today. We picked up a channel cat, then a blue catfish, and shortly after this a 15+ flathead Catfish. We were in the bait heavy and the catfish were hanging out below picking off Bait and our baits as well. We continued to keep fishing for catfish hoping the bite would fire back off again, but all we managed for the next few hours was just bites with no hook ups. It was getting later in the afternoon and I was stressing out now from not going crappie fishing sooner since we only had 1 hour and 45 minutes left into the trip. But, I suggested it anyway and they both agreed.
We went to a place where we have been doing well on the crappies all year, but not today. After about 10 minutes I said let's go. I made a hail Mary run to another place, dropped the livescope in and before I even got to the log I usually find fish on I ran across a good school of suspended crappies. It was a God send to me, we couldn't hardly keep the rods in the water and in the little time we had left on our trip the guys put 36 nice crappies in the cooler to go with their catfish today.
Another great trip with great folks and plenty of fish to take home for fish frys. It just don't get any better than this!!! I have to thank God for his favor on us today, for without God, I am nothing!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!
Monday, 11-13-23
Today Barbara and I were fishing with Doug Wells, Ben Davis, and Eddie Davis, all from Lexington, NC.
We put in at flat swamp and commenced to hit brush piles in water around 12 to 20 feet. The fish were there via the livescope but very few on each place would cooperate. So the key today was to keep going to spot after spot and get those couple and move on to the next place.The winds were howling and the lake keeps dropping making it even harder to entice fish to bite but the gang today beat the odds and put 35 nice crappies in the cooler for a fish fry.
Thanks to you all for going fishing with us today. Barbara and I only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Sunday, 11-12-23
Today was a special day for Barbara and I. One of the guys was Clyde Hogan, from Lexington, NC that I had not seen for at least 35 years. We go way back to the very beginning of professional Bass fishing and we fished many bass tournaments together. Even won some!!! With him were some of his friends Micahel Kennedy from Lexington, NC and the owner of Randy's Restaurants in the Lexington and Welcome area of Davidson County. Lee and Hayden Kennedy were on board with us today to run down a few crappies for a nice fish fry!!
The weatherman said it was going to be winds of 9 mph today, I just wonder where he was talking about, at one time today the main lake was white capping from a stout blow. We marked a lot of structure today and a lot of fish as well in and around these structures. Only to pick up a couple fish off each one.
We started our search today in the flat swamp area of High Rock Lake and I hit quite a load of structure in depths from 5 feet to 25 feet still just picking at a few fish here and there. As we were fishing Barbara and I was discussing an area we call the "hang up hole" we call it that because 99% of the time you drop a jig or bait to the bottom there you will get hung up. So, we always count down to just the top of the structure as crappies feed by looking up anyway!!
We were a long way from this place, but what did I have to lose. We know what the area can do so I went out on a limb and told everyone to wind in,we going on a little road trip by water. We took off for to the spot, I live scoped it and it was loaded with fish in the brush but on the outside of the brush there was a lot of suspended crappies around 10 feet down. I told Barbara to count the baits down to 9 and 10 feet and let's see if they were hungry. Hungry wasn't the word for it, for a little while it was fish after fish coming over the side of the pontoon.
We had made a long run late in the trip and we're now on the main lake. We hated to call it a day after taking me so long to put the puzzle together today but we had to head back to the Pebble Beach boat ramp If we didn't want to run in low light conditions of on coming dark 30. We took our pictures, checked the clicker on the cooler and it read 65 nice crappies in the box, and pointed the pontoon towards our destination and off we went.
What a fantastic day of fishing, even if it was cold, starting off with a long time friend I hadn't seen in many years, and, at the end of the day we had made 3 more new friends that we are now looking forward to spending more time fishing with Clyde, Lee, Hayden, and Michael.
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, November 10, 2023
Today we went to High Rock lake after crappies. We watched the weather close and decided that we probably would have a window of good enough weather to get some crappies. We were fishing today with Rusty Parsons and his son Alan Parsons from Randleman, NC., we also had Rusty's daughter Sarah Lovejoy from Boone, NC to come along as well.
The morning was very nice with 60+ degrees, but, it didn't take very long for the winds to pick up and the temperatures to start dropping. We were still OK with this. Then around 12PM a very light rain started, a rain so light it would have been greatly appreciated in the middle of Summer but not in these conditions.
Around 1:45 we had 39 crappies in the cooler and the call was 1 more or 2pm, let's go get warmer, didn't take long at all and we had our 40, nice crappies and we called it a a day at 2PM.
It was an awesome trip with more fantastic people. God continues to Bless us with some of the best people in the world to book fishing trips with Yeah Right Charters!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 11-9-23
We were back on High Rock lake again today chasing more crappies. We met up with repeat friends and clients Douglas Newell from Fayetteville, NC and Don M Royster, Sr from Denver, NC.
We moved a lot today due to picking up a few crappies on each stop and after a couple the bite would go south. I don't know why they do that, but I do know is when it does you have to recognize it and leave the rest till the next time. A couple on each stop and we made around 25 stops and that's in the vicinity of 50 crappies. We caught crappies today from 2 feet all the way to 24 feet. A friend, Luis, came by today and dropped off 11 crappies for the guys to take home, and the clicker had 57 on it today and adding in the 11 from Luis gave us a total of 68 crappies. Thanks Luis, they and I both appreciate you!!
The weather is supposed to make a down hill shift tomorrow with possible rains and cooler if not colder conditions on the water. Barbara talked with tomorrow's group and we'll be meeting them in the morning at Pebble Beach to see if the crappies have decided they are a little more hungry than they were today.
The bite was actually good today, there were quite a few fish missed today, probably about as many as we caught, but, that's just a reminder of why it's called fishing and not catching. But honestly, I like the catching part of fishing more for my customers, much more than the fishing part of fishing!!
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 11-8-23
This morning we went to Tamarac Marina to pick up one of our regular fishermen David Nicholson from Union Grove, NC and his friend John Baugus from Hamptonville,NC came with him. We were looking for catfish today and I went down the lake towards Panther Creek where I had been livescopeing catfish while I have been crappie fishing in the area.
.They were still some around but as we slow trolled they didn't seem interested in my freshly caught shad. I decided to try anchoring and as soon as I anchored on an area where we could also fish for a few crappies while we try this technique a bit. I had no more than got anchored when we got a bite, no hookup, but a bite.
We picked up a few nice crappies to put in the cooler but after around 30 minutes with no more bites we moved on. I knew I had to find the fish and Bait in the water depth they were liking today. Baits were fresh gizzard and threadfin shad I caught this morning with my Betts 8' Super Pro Cast net. Fresh and lively Perch and cut Perch we caught this morning as well, and some live Bream that we caught this morning as well. We did have a crushing hit on the live Bream but it came off as well. They just weren't committing whole heartedly to the baits today, but we still had a great time catching and fishing. We caught all our fish today except for one on Extremefishingconcepts.com planer boards. If you haven't tried these amazing boards, you. Need to, they pull great at slow and fast speeds. Today, was the first time I've had a chance to use these boards and I'm the one that got hooked the worse, they are everything I've heard about them, and more!!!! And David, that rabbit salad was awesome, hate I didn't ever have time to try your jerky, hopefully next time if you have it again. I'll guarantee you that if Bobo was still with us, he would have been your best buddy with that jerky, he loved it!!
Well it was a slow pick today and we finished up with catching 5 nice blue catfish, we had 6 more good pulls on the Shakespeare MH Catfish Rods that just didn't hook up, and 5 more fish on that we got almost to the net that just came unbuttoned. That's the way fishing goes sometimes, but I don't have to like it, just accept it!!!
Thanks guys for fishing with us again and we'll see you again next Tuesday. Thanks everyone that takes the time to read my reports. I hope you pick up some tips to help you with your fishing as well. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 11-6-23
Today we met up with Vivian Hedgepath from Louisburg,NC, Nic Kizer from Garner, NC and Nelson Manzanares from Smithfield, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp to go catch some crappies. We started picking up a few crappies this morning and the bite got better as the day progressed. I wanted to take some single pictures of them holding the bigger fish and they requested we didn't take any pictures so we honored their requests. I did sneak in a couple pictures with Barbara holding a couple nice crappies!!
We tight lined minnows today and caught our fish on structure, on drop offs and along the main Creek channels in water from 12 to 15 feet. Once again, Randy Hodge stopped by and gave my fishermen 7 nice crappie he didn't want to clean. Thank you Randy, that's really nice of you to do this!!!
I found out later this evening that Nelson didn't want to take any crappies home with him so that left all the fish with Nic and Vivian. With that information, we ended the trip this afternoon with 66 crappies and 7 more from Randy, making it 73 fish to take home and that was enough to clean after a 2 hour drive back home.
Had a cancelation for tomorrow and decided not to post it so I could use that time to get our Striper boat almost ready to go in a couple weeks to Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia to fish a striper tournament with a bunch of friends. We look forward to this fishing trip very much every year!!!
We'll be back out on High Rock lake Wednesday morning, but this time we will be in pursuit of some catfish. Been a while since I've had a catfishing trip and Barbara and I are looking forward to a change of pace in the middle of our crappie trips. If I do have a report tomorrow evening it will be where you can catch some shad for catfish bait, that is, if I find it😁!!
Making our fishermen and fisherwomen happy is the driving force behind us and God gets us through it all still at 72. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 11-3-23
This morning we met our fishermen at Tamarac Marina to search for some biting crappies. Notice I said "biting crappies"!!! When Isaac Jerome Heggins, Jimmy Heggins, and Pete Phillips, all from Salisbury, NC got on the boat this morning I told them that the 3 day blow, the high pressure that we had and then was replaced with the cold low pressure, and the water now in the 50's,would most likely have the crappies a little confused and their appetite might be a little off key. So, I figured it was going to be tough bite today.
I try not to be negative, but sometimes I have to lay it on the line to let them know what just might happen and if they still want to go, and the fish don't bite, our NO FISH NO PAY guarantee is still valid, even in tough conditions and heads up notification of conditions. I got to be fair, honest, moral, and ethical in all my business practices and treat everyone that fishes with us the way I would want to be treated, And I especially like to "Under promise and over deliver"!!!
We left Tamarac Marina and headed out to where I figured the crappies would be and I was right, they were there, but I think their mouths had been sewed shut. I could see them come up to the baits then turn away and if I moved up too close to the structure quite a few would just swim off and leave.
Well now, around noon we had just a couple nice crappies for the first 4 hours of our trip and it was obvious the bite we had been having on the main lake had gone south with the weather. I decided to take our crappie hunt to the Flat Swamp area of the lake. Our first stop in the swamp and we were greeted with several various size crappies. Now that was more like it. Each stop produced the same results. It wasn't a barn burner bite, but it was much better than the morning bite we had. I had already wrote the day off as a "donated trip" but I somehow managed to put together a decent trip, the guys were very happy, and that's my goal, and we ended the trip this afternoon with everyone having enough crappies for several plates of fresh fish. A couple times the bite got so fast I could hardly keep up with the count as they were putting what they caught in their own buckets. But it was somewhere around 35 to 40, a lot more than I ever thought we were going to get at noon when I made the decision to make a major move, what did I have to lose. I told the guys that since I was already a zero for the day so far, it was my only hope to be a hero today. Like I said earlier, I like to " under promise and over deliver" and that's just what Barbara and I did today.
Thanks for stopping by, taking the weekend off, I HAVE GOT TO SERVICE THE TRANSMISSION IN THE TOW VEHICLE before Barbara has to pull the boat to the ramp while I push. But Monday morning we'll be back at it again!! Hope to see you on the water and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!
Monday 10-30-23
Another day on High Rock lake chasing crappies with more great friends and even greater people. Barbara and I have been really Blessed to have made so many new friends through our new adventure of Freshwater Fishing Charters.
We were fishing today with Natasha Cowan, Harry Cowen, Bertha Cowan, and Barry Russell, all from Lexington, NC. Our first stop this morning started off a little slow then it was like the preverbal light switch was flipped on and the crappies fought over our minnows to get into our cooler and after 1 1/2 hours when the bite finally slowed we already had 60+ crappies. A few more places hit and we ended a fantastic day of great conversations, many laughs, and just hanging out with good friends while putting 100 crappies in the cooler and Barry even added a nice channel catfish and another even bigger blue catfish to the days total catch. Their cooler today was pretty big but just barely had enough room to hold the fish and be able to have some ice to keep them cold. Good thing they were locals and didn't have to go very far before they could clean them up for the freezer!!
The cold front coming in is supposed to bring in rain starting early tomorrow morning. We will see what it's doing around 5AM and make the call on tomorrow's Crappie Charter, but it doesn't look good right now. Then it's supposed to get colder after tomorrow, but, we all knew it would, it does it every year about this time. When you book a fishing trip when it's warm and the time for the trip hits in this weather, it's sorta a bit intimidating and we have just had Thursday, November 2nd to cancel and also Saturday, November 4th also canceled saying it's just too cold for them right now. We've turned down several folks for November because we didn't have anything left open, well we now have 2 days open up. We very seldom have cancellations so call or text 336-309-5900 quick before we are booked solid again.
I want to take a moment to Thank everyone who has made this our best year ever in our new Freshwater Fishing Adventures. I truly hope we have met y'all's every expectation and maybe even possibly exceeded your every expectation. We sure hope we have!!! Thanks for stopping by and till next time,,God Bless You All!!
Sunday, 10-29-23
Well, today we had David Kirkpatrick from Lexington, NC., Vaughn Porcher and Edwardo Benitez from High Point, NC. on the pontoon going after crappies on High Rock lake. The first stop proved to me that they must be feeding up for the coming cold front. 1st line in and for the next couple hours it was pretty good action with some very nice crappies.
I was very surprised when Barbara told me on the way home that Vaughn had never been crappie fishing. I'll just make a long story short here with that information. Barbara explained to them what we do and I was thinking all day they already knew how we fish for crappies. It was "once and done " with the instructions and the crappies never knew what hit them!!!!!!!
Edwardo got the biggest crappie today at 1.12 oz. and many more hit the cooler right behind that one but were just shy of that weight. The total count that we kept today was 140 that went home with the guys for several family fish frys.
Thanks guys for choosing Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip today. You had many Charters to choose from and we are honored y'all chose us for your trip. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation.
Looking forward to tomorrow's Crappie fishing trip. Will the crappies still be bighting after the passing of the cold front. I don't know, but, I know I don't like to take no for an answer when it comes to catching fish so I will not give up and will do all I can to hunt them down and coax them to bite, and if I can't, then we don't charge a dime, yep, NO FISH NO PAY guarantee on our charter boats.
Thank you all for reading our reports, liking our pages, commenting on our posts, and following us. If you haven't hit the "LIKE" icon, we encourage you to do so, if you don't follow us, we would love to have you join our family of followers, and if your not interested in any of that, we're still very appreciative that you read our reports. Oh yeah, most fish today were caught at 10 feet. But after the cold front I'm expecting them to go deeper. Man, I sure took up a lot of your time with this report, I'm sorry, and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 10-28-23
Today we had the pleasure to fish with a couple local guys that wanted to learn our techniques for Crappie fishing thinking it would help them immensely in taking their grand kids fishing. After a brief session they agreed this would definitely be the way to take them crappie fishing and definitely get them hooked on fishing. Our method makes it easy to fish brush for the seasoned Angler and beginners alike. Its taken me more years to perfect this method than most fishermen on the lake have been alive. Simply put, it's easy, stress free, fun, and it catches fish!!!
Just ask C.J. Fritts from Lexington, NC and Jerry Shipton from Denton, NC. We spent the day honing their skills to get them ready to introduce their family to crappie fishing the easy and restful way. The bite was pretty good with the unseasonal weather and full moon right now. We were heading to our last stop of the day when we ran across Randy Hodge and he ask my guys if they wanted some more crappies to go with their catch today. Randy shared part of his catch today with the guys and gave then 12 very nice crappies. Thank you Randy, the guys and Barbara and I Thank you sir for your generosity!!!
When all was said and done today we had 150 fish ln the 2 coolers, not counting the dozen Randy gave them, if you count those it would have been 162. The Lord keeps Blessing us with the finest men and women this area has to offer to join us on our fishing trips. We promise to treat you all with honor, dignity, respect, and treat you by the "Golden Rule".
Back on High Rock again tomorrow for more crappies. How will it come out in the end? Just stop by here tomorrow evening late and we'll let you know.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 10-27-23
Today we picked up Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC and Wayne and Brandon Benjamin from Charlotte, NC to run down some more of the crappies like we been catching lately. Gary has crappie fished with us many times this year and wanted to get his friend Wayne and his son Brandon hooked on crappie fishing. Today was Wayne's 2nd crappie trip and it was Brandon's 1st time. By the end of the day Wayne and Brandon were catching on to how to do this and I do believe they were the big catch today and next trip they will be dialed in and give Gary a run to the finish.
We caught some nice crappies today, lost quite a few, and just had a great day of fishing and able to teach some new fishermen the art of catching crappies. Like I told them, they did great and we all have to learn sometime. None of us start off at the top, we all have a learning curve to help them hone their skills over the next many years. These guys are off to a really good start and we are proud to be able to teach them.
We caught crappies from 10 feet down to 18 feet today. We ended the trip this afternoon with 70 nice crappies. You know you had a good day when you have ro offload your catch with a shovel!!, I expect the fronts we have coming in the next few days is going to change up and mix up the patterns as we know now. But, the fish will always be somewhere in the lake, we'll just have to figure the pattern out again.
We'll be back on High Rock lake again in the morning with more crappies being our target species. The water temperature this morning was at 60 degrees and by 3pm it was at 67 degrees. Thank for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 10-25-23
This morning we met Russ Gobble, owner of Shumaker's Appliance and Furniture in Lexington, NC and he had 3 of his crew members with him to go crappie fishing. Joining him today was Ritchie Green, Steve Pribble, and Justin Thomason all from Lexington, NC.
Our first stop would soon set the stage for today's fishing pattern. I was seeing lots of crappies on the livescope but after you picked just a few off the bunch the bite would shut down.
This is typical when the water drops into the very low 60's and today it was 60 degrees and the crappies are on the move again coming out of the coves and working down deep points leading to the main channels where they will winter in schools while waiting for the warming spring temperatures to start bringing them back out of deep water to move towards the shallows to spawn when the spring water temperatures get around 65 degrees. If you don't find them now in 15 to 25 feet deep on points around structure, then look for suspended fish in the same areas. They are on the move again now.
I spent the afternoon focusing on this pattern and we stayed on the move and did our work putting a few fish in the cooler on each one of many stops today. We had some nice crappies and we ended our trip with 71 slabs in the cooler.
Really enjoyed meeting you all today and fishing with you. Barbara and I hope we met your every expectation today and hopefully we might have even exceeded your every expectation. Talks are already in the air about our next trips to be made. We are looking forward to seeing ya'll and catching some more fish.
Be sure to check out Shumaker's in the pictures and go by and see these guys and check the store out. 1st class operation and has been in business for more years than I can even count. I was 16 years old when I started doing business there, and I'm now 72. You don't last that long unless you are doing an honest business and treating people right and with respect!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 10-24-23
We went back to Tamarac Marina this morning to pick up Thomas Long, Pete Phillips, and Theo Gladden all from Salisbury, NC. Pete and Theo had fished with us before but Thomas was the " new guy" this morning. Yeah, now he's "hooked" as well.
The bite for me had changed since last week and I had to try to figure them out again. I was beginning to worry I wasn't going to be able to. Not really sure I did, but I managed to put together a bite that got us 70 nice crappies and a few perch to boot to go in their coolers today even with a lot of lost and missed fish!!! But, you can't catch them all!!!
Usually this time of year I've moved to fishing Flat Swamp area of High Rock Lake and I went there one day last week. We caught some, but it didn't produce like the main river has done for me all year so far, so we went back to the drops and structure off the main channel again today. Water was 60 degrees with calm winds and very little flow through the dam and the lake was down 2.93 feet. Will be back on High Rock lake again tomorrow might as well not try to fix something that ain't broke, not yet anyway!!!
Thank you all for reading our fishing reports, please be sure to like us on fb and like my personal page as well, and click the follow icons and come along with us through our fishing reports.
Be safe on the water and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Sunday, 10-22-23
After canceling Friday and Saturday due to all the drama from the weather forecasters we decided to just go today and come back if it was too bad to fish. The only thing we had were some windy conditions but we have fished in lots harder winds than we had today in the Pontoon.
We met up with Cody Tyler and Robert Biesecker from Lexington, NC and Brantley Wray from Trinity, NC at Tamarac Marina this morning to go after crappies. We stayed on the move fishing 16 to 20 feet of water and this was where we found the best bite.
I strayed off this pattern for a bit just to be reminded that I had found the best bite at the best depth and I needed to get my butt back in that zone. About that time I heard one of the guys say " we were hoping to have one of those 100 crappie days you post pretty often on your reports" my reply was, I'll do my very best to make it happen!!! I made my way back to some structure I have on the drop offs on points leading to the main river channel. We fished these areas and when the day ended we had 105 fish on the clicker that consisted of 101 crappies, an eater size channel catfish and Blue Catfish. We also got a flathead Catfish that we took a picture of and released, didn't count and a couple nice Perch to round out the 105 mark.
I love it when a plan comes together and I want to thank God for guiding me to the right places today to fulfill my fishermen's wishes. Without Him, I am nothing. Thanks for stopping by to read my fishing reports and adventures and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 10-19-23
This morning we were back on High Rock lake with Michael Fox from Greensboro, NC and Craig and Morgana McCracken from Holly Springs, NC and we were in search for some biting crappies.
It was a tough day to find and then get them to bite much, but, we stayed with them from 14 feet down to 23+ feet and put together a good catch of 50 nice crappies today.
Tomorrow's trip has been canceled because of the weather forecast for rains and storms. And now it looks like Saturday and Sunday's trips are going to be blown out with 25+ MPH winds. Will just have to play it by ear and not take any unnecessary chances to jeopardize anyone's safety or comfort. If the next 3 days get cancelled, Monday looks good at this time and we'll be back on the water again Monday morning.
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 10-16-23
We met our fishermen this morning at Tamarac Marina to look for some crappies on High Rock lake. We were fishing with Phillip Flowers from Conover, NC. Michael Driver also from Conover, NC and Matthew Flowers from Catawba, NC.
We left the dock and as I got closer to the main river/lake I asked Barbara where did all this dirty/muddy water come from. She then reminded me about all the rains that fell Saturday here and all the way to the mountains. Then to stir the pot, today's wind forecast must have been for another planet, it sure wasn't here!!! Well, we are here, let's do the best we can with the time we have to do it in. I knew after our first 6 stops I had a long row to hoe today. All we could do was stay on the move and put our baits in front of every crappie we could find on the livescope.
For us, they just didn't like all the rains, the lake rising another foot, the brown colored water, the temperature in the mid 60's, and the 2 fronts that came through the last 2 days. Too bad it's not a full moon or I'd use that excuse as well. What crappies we did catch were good quality fish. We ended the day with 24 crappies . After coming off days with triple digit catches of crappies I told the guys I couldn't control the bite but I can control the way our business is run, and I did what I felt was the right and ethical thing for no better than the fish that were caught today. If you've fished with us before, Offshore Saltwater, Near shore Saltwater, backwater Saltwater, and now freshwater Charters then you know what I mean. We're going to always be as fair and honest as we can possibly be every time!!
Trying to get hold of tomorrow's crew that's going on a Crappie trip to inform them of the conditions on the main lake so we can make arrangements for a different place to pick them up. Sure don't want to fish the main lake again for crappies until it clears up some. Thanks,everyone that stops by to read our reports. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 10-13-23
Today Barbara and I had the pleasure of meeting 4 brothers this morning at Tamarac Marina and took them in search of some crappies. They were Tanner Maston, Justin Maston, Brandon Maston, and Tyler Maston from Concord, NC. When you meet young men like these guys it still gives you hope for this country!!
Apparently the cold front we had yesterday finally hit home today, for me anyway, I found the bite today less aggressive than yesterday. But the quality of the fish was still good!!,so, we stayed on the move and picked at them all day and when it was time to head back to the marina, we had 65 nice crappies in the cooler.
I sure hope these guys come back to fish with us again sometime, today was just one of the many reasons why we still do this at our age!!!
We have canceled tomorrow's Crappie Charter because it's supposed to rain. Yes, we will fish in the rain but one of our fishermen had a procedure and he couldn't get it wet. No fish is worth risking someone's health and safety!! We will just rebook when the weather is better!!
OK, it's late and I've wasted enough of your time.....Till next time, God Bless You All!!
Thursday 10-12-23
This morning we headed down to Tamarac Marina to meet up with Chuck Duncan from Hiddenite, NC Charles Duncan also from Hiddenite, NC also William Braswell from Hickory, NC and Roger Braswell from Taylorsville, NC.
I struggled this morning to find biting crappies. They were still around 18 feet per the livescope off the main river channel but they had buried into the structure and were hard to get them to bite. It definitely took a stealthy approach, for us, anyway!!
We left our first stop with only 10 crappies in the cooler and stopped on the underwater bridge that was left when the lake was built. Same thing here, the fish were there and we picked at a few of those as well, but not the kind of bite I was looking for. I took a gamble and from here made a major move across the main lake to shallower structure. Now, we were getting somewhere!!! We stayed on structure in around 12 to 15 feet the rest of the day and when we wrapped the trip up at 3PM we had 115 very nice crappies in the cooler for the guys to take home for a family and neighbors fish fry.
Back after more crappies in the morning, can we keep the pace going, just come on back tomorrow evening and see how we do as the crappies are starting their fall patterns now that the water is cooling down!
Thanks for stopping by and Barbara and I would appreciate it if you would hit the like button when you read our reports. Be sure to follow us on fb and Instagram as well. If you want to go on a fishing trip where on the local lakes and rivers you are GUARANTEED to catch fish or your trip will be FREE!!! All you have to do is call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she'll get you set up and/or answer any questions you may have. When you call or text, you're not obligated to book and you don't pay a penny until your trip is run and everything goes as planned.
We'd love to show you how we do business the old fashioned way!!! Just go on our website yeahrightcharters.com and read our customer comments on our Guestbook page, these say it all about us!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 10-11-23
Today was one of those days you have in the fishing charter business. It was great people, good fishing, loads of laughs and excellent comradery. The only way it could have possibly been any better would have been if Bobo were here to go along. But, unfortunately Bobo's Time on earth had caught up with him and he had to go live with God until my time is up on earth and we meet at the rainbow bridge, but, until that time comes, life goes on and we have to keep pushing forward as best we can, no matter how hard it hurts!!!
Today we picked up Jason King from Biscoe, NC., Harvey Watson from Troy, NC., Steven Roberts from Charlotte, NC., and Hugh Huggins from Mt. Gilead, NC. at Tamarac Marina this morning on High Rock lake to go after crappies.
Hugh and Jason have fished with us several times now and knew the technique we use to catch crappies. At our first stop, Hugh and Jason were putting a whooping on the 2 new guys. They didn't take long until everyone was dialed in and then it was "Game On"!!!! We caught some nice slabs today, and when all was said and done we had 104 very nice crappies in the 60 qt. Cooler.
Back on High Rock lake again tomorrow after more crappies. Tomorrow's group have fished with us before and they too are a " hoot' to fish with!! It's gonna be another good day with great people, I know, we had a blast last time, just like we did today!!!Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 10-5-23
Seems like folks are coming from all over to go fishing with us here at Yeah Right Charters. It's an honor we don't take lightly and we love to really spoil our fishermen. Today we picked up David Blythe from Mt. Holly, NC., David Holsinger from Mt. Pleasant, NC., Tim Harge from Belmont, NC., and Danny Auten from Charlotte, NC. at Tamarac Marina to go get their cooler filled with some nice crappies.
The bite was a little slower than yesterday but it was still a good bite, just had to search a little more today for crappies positioned and moving that show signs of wanting to bite our baits. The guys picked up really quick the small details that make the way we do this so effective.
Great times were had today and we ended the day with 100 nice crappies in the cooler. I bet on their next trip they will bring a bigger cooler. If this interests you we still have very few days left open in November, sorry, October is booked solid, don't hesitate to call or text 336-309-5900 or you'll miss out again.
Taking tomorrow and the weekend to get some things done I have GOT to get done, but we'll be back on the water again starting Monday morning. Thank you all for coming by to read our fishing reports and please know y'all are the best. Be sure to hit the like button while you are there and let's go fishing sometime, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 10-4-23
Today we picked up Douglas Newell from Fayetteville, NC and Don M. Royster, SR. from Denver, NC. at Tamarac Marina to go out on High Rock lake and fill both their coolers with crappies. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?
Our first stop in 18 feet of water was a blast. We didn't even get the 2nd rod in before we had a nice slab on the first rod. We made a total of 3 stops today and the fish were biting really good. It's that time of year and if the weather holds it will just get better now through winter, and winter time is Barbara and my favorite time to catch crappies. They just taste better when they come out of cold water, or at least that's what we think!!!!
When we finished this afternoon we had on the clicker cooler counter 135 crappies. I know we missed some getting on the counter due to a malfunction that I had to fix when I got home this evening.
We had a lot of fun today, Lots of smack talk, fish caught, fished missed, laughs and just great folks doing what we all love when people fish on the Yeah Right Freshwater Charters boats. Thanks guys for choosing us for your fishing trip today. You had lots of choices and we were very honored to show you what we are about and how we spoil all our fishermen!! Barbara and I only hope we met your every expectation and maybe even exceeded it a bit!
We are back on High Rock lake again tomorrow in pursuit of more crappies. Drop by tomorrow evening for our fishing report if you have time and please "Like" us on fb and all the other 109 venues that carry our reports. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 10-2-23
Today was a great day to be crappie fishing. They are on the move and we are moving right along with them on a regular basis. Barbara and I had a group today that came from all over to get on the pontoon and learn how we do this. The guys caught on right from the start and that really help us put the crappies in the cooler!! Fishing with us today was Willie Anderson from Raleigh, NC., Bernard Cooper from Wake Forest, NC, Ken Ingram from Greenville, NC and Billy Lawrence from Clayton, NC.
We started off slow this morning as I was trying to get dialed in on today's depth that we needed to be targeting the crappies in. Turned out it would be 15 to 20 feet today on points leading to creek mouths.
When all was said and done, the automatic clicker cooler said we had 121 nice crappies. The guys were very pleased so much they booked their next trip before they ever got off the boat this afternoon.
Barbara told me October is booked full and the phone is ringing every day as we are now booking November steady, don't wait to call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 if you want to fish with us and have a great time plus catch fish, guaranteed, or the trip and good times on the local lakes will be Free!!
Thank you all who continue to support us give us such rave reviews on fb, our website, and our guestbook. And thank you all that follow us and like our post on our social media pages. Ya'll are the best!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 9-30-23
Today we met James Jones, Sr. from Charlotte, NC James Jones, Jr from Concord, NC and Michael Mwanza from Concord, NC at Tamarac Marina to get some crappies. It started off a slow bite picking up a couple here and a couple there, but we stayed on the move and I was determined to find some biting crappies so we could fill the cooler.
With only 1 1/2 hours left on the trip, I finally hit the jackpot and we went from 18 crappies to 70 crappies before we called it a day!!! The guys were great to fish with, they caught on real quick to the no hassel laid back way we catch crappies, and even one of them had never been on a boat and had never caught a crappie, can't say that anymore, he out fished everyone. At one time he could hardly keep a rod in the water he was catching crappies so fast.
If you'd like to give this a try, on a vessel with a USCG Captain with 66 years fishing experience please give us a call or text @ 336-309-5900 and that can get you all the information and rates with no obligations to book.
Have a Blessed day and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 9-28-23
Today we went fishing on Badin Lake with Sam Crockett and his brother Chris. They wanted to catch some Bream. The winds were pretty stiff and that didn't exactly help matters any, it was a tough day for me but we figured them out and put the puzzle together.
We put 80 Bream in the cooler and with about 1 1/2 hours left on today's trip we topped the cooler off with 20 crappies then headed to the fish cleaning table to prepare today's catch for some more fish frys.
Thanks Sam and Chris for fishing with us today, it was a blast as always and already looking forward to our next trip. Thank you also to you all that follow us and for liking our posts.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 9-26-23
Today we were back on High Rock lake with Jon Murphy and Jeff Falcone both from Carthage, NC.
I was finding lots of fish on the live scope around 15 to 20 feet but we couldn't get them to bite. We had hit around 6 places and only had a couple crappies in the cooler. So, I made the decision to head down lake and work the main channel drop offs in the 20 foot depth range. Here the bite was not fast but it had some consistency to it which was much better than what we had been finding.
We stayed with this technique all day and when we called it a day around 3PM, we had 100 crappies in the cooler. What I was thinking was going to be a very tough day had me determined to find my fishermen biting fish. I'd like to beat my chest and say I'm that good of a fisherman, but I'll have to admit a little luck can go a long way sometimes!!!
If you want to go catch some crappies, Catfish, stripers, etc. Call or text 336-309-5900 for information and details about our trips and our famous " NO FISH-NO PAY " guarantee. October only has a few days left open so you better hurry so you won't miss out on a great time and fish frys. I've waited all summer for this fantastic weather we are having now, it feels great after all the sweltering heat we had this summer!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 9-25-23
Running a little late tonight but I finally got a chance to get todays crappie charter trip posted. We picked up David and Nicole Nicholson from Union Grove, NC.
Our 1st stop was on the shallow drop off on the main river where we have been catching some very nice slabs last week. The livescope showed there were still crappies and Bait in the area but they didn't seem to want our Bait this morning. I tried a couple more shallow points that dropped into the main river channel with the same results.
Then I went back to deeper water again and the 15 to 18 foot range was where we found our biting crappies. When the clicker hit the 60 crappies mark, we called it a day. We had a great time again with lots of laughs and conversations. They did real well today, not bad at all for someone that the only time they went crappie fishing was over 40 years ago. Somehow I have a feeling it won't be that long until they go again. Talks already are planning a return trip!!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading our post. If you get the chance let our sponsors listed below know that we told you about them. They all carry quality fishing goods and great customer service, if they didn't, I would not promote them. Be sure to click the "like" button on our fishing report, if you like it, and be safe on the water.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 9-22-23
This morning we had 2 different weather reports. The one on channel 8 said it was going to be rather windy, the weather for High Rock Lake said the wind was going to be around 10 to 12 mph. So, we called Gary this morning to see what they wanted to do and I told them that one of the forecasts would most likely be right so we decided to go into it with an open mind and just play it by ear and come in if too bad.
Well, it was channel 8 weather for the win today, rather windy it was. The fish we had been catching in 10 tp 12 feet of water had moved out a little deeper today. So, Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC who fishes with us regularly now brought his friend Wayne Benjamin from Charlotte, NC along on his very first fishing trip, ever!!!
The bite was slow today, the livescope kept us fishing schools of fish that the front from the storm on the Beach had them confused. But, I don't ever give up and we stayed on the move and started picking up more crappies in 18 to 20 feet of water.
We had some nice crappies today for the fish frys and ended the day around 2PM with 30 crappies to take home and another 15 that were filleting size, but not a as big as we like to fillet, we put into our Catfish bait cooler that gave us 45 total fish today. Our main mission was accomplished! Wayne is the one that got "Hooked" today. He said, I will be back, we can't wait to get him and his son onboard on a good crappie catching day!!!
Thanks for everyone that stops by to read my reports.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
09-21-2023
The weather is showing signs of fall temperatures in the air but I expect the fishing to just get hotter than it is right now, if that's possible!!!
This morning we met George Dunagan and Grover Cooke from KING, NC. Harry Hacker from Mocksville, NC. and Hubert Walser from Lexington, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp to pursue a cooler full of crappies for some fish frys.
We started off shallow again this morning but the shallow bite we have been having had slowed. The water is starting to cool down some now and the crappies are starting to make their fall moves and patterns as they begin to get geared up for the cooler water migration of shad into the creek coves.
We had a 60 qt. cooler full of very nice crappies today with many pushing the 1 1/2 pound mark and more. You couldn't have asked for a better time, weather, bite, and group than we had today. We wrapped the trip up at 3pm with 101 crappies heading to various parts of NC today for lots of fish frys!!!
Thanks for stopping by and Barbara said we have very few days left open in September and October. Don't hesitate to call or text 336-309-5900 to book or just get information if you want to get in on some of the best weather and fishing of the year. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 9-18-23
We had a beautiful day today to meet up with Chris and Jane Maney from Mars Hill, NC to see if we could get them some High Rock lake crappies to take home with them for future fish frys.
Again today we had our best luck on shallow drop offs at around 12 feet of water. We scoped several deep brush and found quite a few crappies there but with the water dirtiest it's been in a while and the flow a little over 7000 cfs and a stiff wind today the deeper fish just weren't interested, not for us anyway.
We kept working the shallow water drops on the creeks and river channels edge and when we called it a day we had 63 nice High Rock lake crappies heading to Mars Hill.
Great time today with these two and really looking forward to our next trip!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!
Saturday, 9-16-23
Yes, it's after Labor Day so we do weekend trips now because there's lots less boat traffic and it's much safer. Before I do the fishing report, I said yesterday I'd do an update on the prop singing, the new prop does not sing. Now when I got home from today's trip I took the " singing prop" in my shop and chamfered the trailing edge 18 degrees and rounded it up instead of the squared off edge it had. Will be seeing if that fixes that one. If we get to go crappie fishing Monday, I'll let you know if that stops it on the original culprit. Now, to today's fishing report!!!
This morning we stopped at Hills minnow farm to get ice and bait and listening to some of the local fishermen talking about yesterday's crappie fishing was some of the worse they had had all year is not exactly the way you want to start your day when we picked up Tee Gregory, Terrell Chavis from Stoval, NC and Link Gregory from Henderson, NC. at Tamarac Marina this morning.
Our first 4 stops were messing with my mind along with what I had heard this morning at the tackle shop. After 4 stops we only had 3 crappies in the cooler. On the 5th stop it wasn't looking any better, the fish were there according to livescope, but you know what they say, you can lead a horse to water but, you can't make him drink. The crappies had been being shallow and that's where they should be right now, and they were, but didn't want to bite. So I threw all logic in the lake and went back deep, 20 feet, give or take a couple feet, and there was a few fish in the deep water, not as many as in shallow water, but the deep ones would bite. On our 6th stop we put over 20 nice crappies in the cooler.
Then after a couple hours of picking a crappie here and there, the deeper crappies would come up and look at the bait and turn away, now they didn't want to bite, not for me anyway!!! So I went back shallow and got on top of a drop off on the main river channel, in 10 feet of water and here we finished out the day and when we headed back to Tamarac Marina at 3PM we had 78 very nice fish in the cooler including 4 nice bream an a good eating sized channel catfish and around 11AM this morning I'd have been happy with just the 4 Bream. Never give up!!!!
Thanks for coming by and checking out our fishing trip results, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday 9-12-23
Saying we had a great time today would be an understatement, these guys were a real hoot!! We got started a little late this morning. When we got to Tamarac Marina to get the pontoon boat ready for this morning, we were greeted with a monsoon kind of rain. When it let up we met up with Dickie Hollar and Jamie Simerly both from Taylorsville,NC and their friend William Braswell from Hickory NC.
We started off again this morning shallow on the tops of drops into the main river channel where we had been catching them all last week. The fish were there but they were sluggish and shy to bite. Although we picked at some working down the drop it wasn't the bite I was looking for. I made a move back to deep water and these crappies were eager to join them as guest of honor at their fish fry!!!! The livescope was instrumental in putting some very, very nice crappies in the box.
I pulled up the radar around 2pm and we had thunderstorms building in and around Charlotte heading our way. So, with this in the near future, we decided to wrap the trip up with the 75 very nice crappies, 4 good eating size catfish, and a nice flathead Catfish we released to grow bigger. God Blessed us today with more than we deserved!!!
The only way this trip could have possibly been any better would have been if Bobo was still with us and on the boat like he was every day for 14 1/2 years. I'll miss him to my last breath, but I know he is in heaven now and not in any more pain and playing with all his doggy friends. See you again soon Bobo!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Sunday, 9-10-23
Today was another great crappie fishing trip on the Yeah Right Charters pontoon boat with Sean from NC, Dorothy Blair & Greg Blair from Columbus, Ohio, and Nate Blair from Charlotte, NC.
I was surprised to find the crappies still shallow after they had dropped the lake to 2' but the majority of today's catch came from 10 to 12' of water on the main river channel on the windward side. Very few fish came from anything over 15'. Guess the bait fish are starting their move to stage for their fall approaches to the coves . We found plenty of crappies on the livescope but only the shallow ones seemed interested in our baits today, especially the suspended crappies.
We ended the day with 62 nice crappies, 2 good sized bream, and 2 perfect eating size catfish. They had such a great time today and were very excited about the bream. So, after they asked a little about the best time to go bream fishing on Badin, they booked a bream trip before they got off the boat. This should be an awesome trip, bream fishing is one I love to do as well, and I have very good places on Badin to catch some nice bream!!!
Right now got tomorrow off unless someone calls or texts 336-309-5900 to go fishing, but Barbara just told me we do have a crappie trip on High Rock lake on Tuesday.
I'm very proud of Barbara, she has become a very good mate on our trips. She was a little "rusty" at the beginning but has buckled down and come a long way and today with 4 people, I was proud of the way she handled herself and kept all 4 peoples hooks baited, their fish off the hooks, got their hooks unhooked from the structure, and netted the bigger fish, plus attended to their needs. She has officially become a very important asset to the Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters team!! Guess I'll have to keep her around for as long as I can!!!
Thanks for stopping by to read my posts. I hate that sometimes they are a bit long and I hope you don't mind too much.....till next time, God Bless You All!!
Friday, 9-8-23
Today was a very special day for us. We had our nephew Tim Koonts' wife Kathy on board with her Dad, Bill Swicegood, whom I hadn't seen in a very long time, and her 2 brothers Tim and David Swicegood all from the Lexington, NC area and we were crappie fishing on High Rock Lake.
We caught crappies at every stop we made, some places better than others, but areas from 10 feet deep on drops to brush and logs in 15 to 20 feet all held fish today. It was a warm to hot day and when the clicker on the fish box hit 80, we called it a good day 2 hours early and headed back to Kathy's lake house to unload the fish and cool off some.
It's after labor day now and we are now taking some trips on the weekends again since the boat traffic is on the decrease from mid summer and it's less dangerous now.
Supposed to do another crappie trip Sunday, doesn't look too promising from the weather forecast so far, but we'll see how it turns out. Hope we can, they have come all the way from Ohio to fish with us!!!
OK, I've got to post this......you can say what you want to, think what you want to, Laugh at me if you want too, and call me crazier than you thought I was, I'll probably agree with you on that last one. Barbara has told me several times she has felt the presence of Bobo since we lost him on July 31st.
Well today Bobo wanted to let me know he was still watching over me, I was sitting in the driver's seat and felt something bump the seat beside me. We were sitting still fishing a brush pile, no one was near me, everyone was up front in the 24' pontoon, no, I'm not crazy, and now I too believe God has let Bobo tell us he will be with us until we can all meet again someday in heaven. God is good all the time, loves the animals, and miracles really do happen, that I know because I'm still alive today, but, that's another story!!! What a glorious reunion it will be for Barbara, Bobo, me and all our lost fur babys!!!
So, yes as they all have been since Bobo went home in July, this and all my fishing reports will be dedicated to " Bobo, Bestest Fishing Dog I've Ever Had In My Life " until I retire from Charters or I'm called home!!!
Thank you all for stopping by, I'm still trying to climb this very difficult mountain and several times I've slipped and fell quite a ways down a hill, but, with God's Blessings, Grace, and his Strength behind me, I will make it one day to the top!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 9-1-23
Today Barbara and I spent the day crappie fishing with a family we have known for a few years now and they treat us like family and we have been so Blessed to be able to spend time with the Huneycutt family from Albemarle, NC and they all, like us, have adopted each other as family. Fantastic Christian folks we love very much!!!!
We hit High Rock lake this morning with Oron and Jane Huneycutt from Albemarle and their son Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC. looking for crappies. It was a great day of catching crappies, great conversations, lots of laughs, and lots of nice crappies also.
We headed back to Tamarac Marina this afternoon with 75 very nice crappies in the cooler and we met up with Ryan's wife Anissa, their daughter Marisa, Marisa's boy friend Cody, and Ryan and Anissa's grand kids Hayden and Kinsley for dinner at Tamarac.
After a very nice dinner, we loaded up the pontoon with everyone and took them for a ride on the lake. The kids weren't really sure about it but we didn't go far before they were loving it. I asked Ryan if they were in a hurry to get home and he said no. Then I asked if the grand kids had ever caught a crappie, no they haven't. So I made a turn and stopped on a drop off where crappies are known to hang out this time of year. It didn't take long until the pontoon was filled with giggles, squeals, and the air was filled with great times and laughter with Hayden and Kinsley cranking in crappies. It was a great day that just tickled Barbara and myself to have been able to put those kids on their first crappies ever. And I know from all the excitement, I now have them "Hooked on fishing".
So with this afternoon action, the crappie count ended up at 85 very nice crappies and with 5 bonus 2+ pound blue catfish and 1 channel catfish for the annual Huneycutt fish fry in November and God willing Barbara and I will be there to share the love and fillets with our adopted family that has adopted us as well.
I have added a few pictures of the fish we caught today using livescope on the 93SV along with what they look like on regular sonar and down view to hopefully help someone that's learning to use this equipment to see the difference in the pictures. Also if you're going fishing this Labor Day weekend for crappies, I kept a count on amounts and depths today also. Hope this information helps you put more crappies in the boat this weekend...... 7' 20 crappies, 12' 25 crappies, 20' 12 crappies, 15' 22 crappies and 6 bonus catfish.
Good luck and stay alert on the lake this weekend, most likely going to be crowded!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 8-25-23
Yesterday we had a trip for crappies and today was our 2nd day chasing biting crappies on High Rock lake again with Rich Robinson from Dilliner, PA.
It was a hot one for sure and the crappies cooperated enough to get us around 40 to go with yesterday's catch of 35. It was enough crappies for our fish cleaner to stuff 4 zip lock bags completely full of fillets for Rich to take back to Pennsylvania with him.
If you go to High Rock lake this weekend to fish for crappies, the water is in the 80's and you'd think they would be deep. Here's a tip for you, Yesterday and today most of our fish came just off the main river channel drops in water around 10 to 12 feet. Some on small pieces of structure but most were suspended!! Good luck if you go and be careful out there!!
Taking the weekend off to do probably nothing. My parts will be here Monday to get a new lower unit on the 115 Yamaha to stop the bearing whine, and Tuesday got a Dr. appointment. Seems like the older you get the more Dr. appointments you get also
Thanks to everyone that continues to support us and read our fishing reports. You All are the best, appreciate it if you'd like us on fb and please check out our website by clicking on yeahrightcharters.com and read some or all our customers comments on our Guestbook page. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 8-24-23
This morning we met Rich Robinson who drove down from Dilliner, PA to go crappie fishing with us. It was a hot day today and the crappies made me work hard before we finally located some that were interested in biting.
We ended the day at 2PM and dropped today's catch of 35 nice crappies in the cooler at the fish cleaner to have them prepared for the trip home to PA. But that trip will happen Friday afternoon after we get tomorrow's High Rock lake crappie trip in with Rich again. We had such a great and fun time today that he wants to do it again tomorrow.
We had 35 crappies in the cooler, but Barbara and I both agreed we lost more than we caught today. But, you can't catch them all!!!
It's late and 4AM comes in just a few more hours and we got to go back to Tamarac Marina to do it all over again tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and come on back tomorrow evening to see if we find them again.
Till next time, God Bless You All !!!
Frid -23
Went to Tamarac Marina this morning and once again picked up Rosine Bush from Pineville, NC and Russell Miller and Terry Davis from Charlotte, NC to restock their supply of crappies we caught several weeks ago. It's always a lot of fun and laughs along with great conversations when this group is on board. Anthony couldn't make it today, we missed him and he missed a great and fun trip today.
For the most part crappies are holding deep around 20 feet but we are finding the bite better with suspended fish around 15 feet on channel drops and long points. Close to structure, but not on the structure. We called it a day at 2PM this afternoon with 60 nice crappies in the cooler and a tired crew from all the catching we did today. Russell even caught a bonus flathead Catfish today that we got pictures of and released it to grow even bigger!!
I hate to admit it, but the livescope definitely has been a game changer in my fishing career and I hate to admit this also, but I have grown to love this technology. Said I'd never get one, never say never about anything, it can come back to bite you!!! Don't get me wrong, it's not a magic wand or anything like that. You still have to catch them, but it has opened up a new world making it so much easier to find and catch fish you never knew existed.
I just have the basic package, thought I'd start out with a 93sv and then update to a 10 or 12 inch screen. I'm tickled with the 93sv and it works great for me, my opinion, it's all in the basic setup. Just set it to your likings and that's it!!!
Taking a couple days off this coming week to do routine service on the pontoon engine and to jerk the lower unit off and replace the thrust bearings, roller bearings, and thrust washers in the forward drive gear assembly. I'll be done in a couple days and will then have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday open for Crappie,catfish, or other trips.
If a trip would interest you we'd love to take you fishing and get you a bunch of fillets for your freezer. And remember, with us, we have a " NO FISH-NO PAY" guarantee on local lakes and Yadkin River!! Just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 for information and questions about our Freshwater fishing trips.
Thanks again to everyone that has expressed their love and prayers to us and for our little Bobo who passed July 31st at 11:10AM. He was a very special gift from God to us so we could give him the best life he could ever dream of. It's getting easier on Barbara and I, but we still miss him awful bad and so does everyone else that has fished with him in the past. Thanks,for y'all's continued support and till next time, God Bless You All!!
Thursday, 8-17-23
Today we had the family fishing with us that went on Tuesday and today we had the whole family because Dr. Alvin Abaqueta could join his wife Dorene and their son Cameron all from Davidson, NC.
Once again we were after more crappies and more crappies we found and caught today We still had to stay on the move to several areas today where we had structure in the lake and they had lots of crappies on them and we would catch a few fish at each one, but, I was noticing on the livescope that most fish were biting that were suspended off to the side of the structure and not directly associated with it. I rethought my search tactics and started looking on points and drops for suspended crappies around 10 to 15 feet down in 20 feet of water. It actually worked pretty good for us today and we ended this day with 58 very nice fish to add with their catch on Tuesday. Going to be some good fish frys in the future in the Davidson, NC area soon!!
Thanks for choosing Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trips, we hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!!
Back on High Rock lake again tomorrow for some more crappies. Check back tomorrow evening and see if they are still suspended or just where they might be if not. Thank you all for your continued support and let's go catch some fish!!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Wednesday, 8-16-23
Today we had Harold Yost from Faith, NC And his Grandson Austin Shore from Mooresville, NC crappie fishing with us. All crappies today produced some nice fillets and some crappies were very nice.
Austin caught a bonus flathead Catfish today that hit the scales just over 8 pounds. Missed Bobo being with us today. If you ever fished with us when we were doing Saltwater then you know how much he loved to jump on a shark, and he had adopted Catfish as his new Freshwater shark, he would have come unwound with this catfish. Bobo, us and everyone that knew you sure miss you. But no one can take away the memories you left with us little buddy!!
We dropped around 45 crappies off at our professional fish cleaner and went to Tamarac Marina to chill out and get a bite to eat before going back to pick up the fillets to take home!!!
It was a good day of catching crappies with a couple great guys and look forward to fishing with them again soon.
I want to take a moment here and Thank Kim, Ryan, Barbara and Mike for the precious thoughts and wonderful gifts you guys blessed Barbara and I with and to everyone who took the time to say such nice things about Bobo, their memories of great times fishing with him, and all the prayers to help Barbara and I ease the pain at this time from loosing the best fishing dog and loyal companion ever!!
Words will never be able to express our gratitude and appreciation, thank you again, and we love you all!!!!
Back on High Rock lake again tomorrow for the 2nd day of crappie fishing with the family we had on Tuesdays trip. Hope we can still run down another bunch tomorrow, we'll do our best for Bobo's honor!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday, 8-15-23
I'm doing my best to cherish the memories Bobo and I made over the years, trying to accept what is, letting go, and pushing to get Barbara and I back in the loop and moving forward with our lives. Our family, our Charter business, all our fishing friends, and our close friends near and far, and neighbors are making a big difference in our lives to get everything back to tolerable times and move on into the future. Thanks for all the prayers for us and Bobo, we needed them more than Bobo, we are just now realizing the terrible pain Bobo was in and we are getting peace knowing he isn't hurting from the bone cancer anymore. When Barbara and I meet Bobo again we will all be in new bodies to love each other for eternity with never any more pain or suffering!!! GOD IS GOOD!!!
Today we did the first half of our crappie trip on High Rock lake with Cameron Abaqueta and his mom Dorene Abaqueta from Davidson, NC.
Once again today we looked at a lot of crappies on the livescope but could only get just a few that accepted our invitation to be the quest of honor at an upcoming fish fry. Not wanting to miss any invites, we stayed on the move and picked up a few guest at each stop. We ended the day with 50 filleting size crappies in the cooler. Tough day for me to find biting fish, but Dorene and Cameron stuck it out with us and loaded the cooler up today.
But I have to give due credit to Cameron, he was one of the best crappie fisherman I've ever seen in my life. He has eyes of an eagle and would set the hook on a crappie and I still only seen just a few of the bites he caught fish on, the man was very good and really concentrated with intensity and didn't miss a bite all day!!!! I was very impressed!!
Thursday, Cameron and his dad AL will be doing the families second trip with us. Cameron said he learned from his dad, so, if we don't load the boat with crappies Thursday, I'll have to take the blame for not getting on the crappies on this trip!!! Check back Thursday evening and see how it all turns out.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 8-14-23
Yep, it's hot but the crappies are still biting good. Today we met Danny Cofell and Jerry Exum from Rockingham, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp at 7AM and took off after some crappies.
It was kinda crazy the first few hours and marked lots of crappies on the livescope in water 18 to 20 feet, a few would bite, then they shut down. This went on at all the deep structure we fished. The water information on CFS on the Cube Hydro is down right now on High Rock lake dam but I could see from the Narrows CFS at over 8,000 CFS they were pulling pretty good.
The lake at the mouth of Abbotts Creek was full of flotsam this morning. As I was looking for more fish on the Rowan County side I ran up a drop off and found a good school of suspended crappies on the top side of the drop in 13 feet of water. I thought, with the water in the mid 80's they should be deeper, can't believe just 13 feet, but why not, it looked good and I've seen crazier things!! I got the front of the pontoon in position and divided the school between the guys and here we went from 23 crappies to 56 crappies in about 1-1/2 hours. Their goal today was to catch 50, so, with 56, we called it a day had headed to the dock!!!
It was a great day of catching fish with some fantastic people. We had a blast, lots of laughs, and great conversations, and I can't wait till our next trip.
We'll be back on High Rock lake again in the morning......wonder where they'll be tomorrow. I personally think that with the water yo-yoing up and down like its been doing lately they are just looking for the right water pressure over their heads to make them comfortable and they are now where they want to be, not so much where I want them to be.
Thanks everyone for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!
Friday, 8-11-23
A few weeks ago Teresa Wagner, from Thomasville, NC went crappie fish with us here at Yeah Right Charters and she had such a great time that today she came back to catch some more crappies and brought 2 new friends with her. They were Angie Smith and Dawn Carter also from Thomasville, NC.
Today was a little challenging with the river running red and pulling the water pretty hard through the High Rock lake dam. Some of my normal spots were loaded with crappies but they wouldn't bite and the few that did were decent fish but I knew I had to do something different than what I was doing.
I elected to make a move to get our baits down to some crappies in areas that were less affected from the hard currents and where the water below the surface wasn't as dirty. You could tell via the livescope the water in the main flow several feet below the surface was pretty dirty from all the rains recently up river.
With this strategy in play,,there were a few times we could barely keep up with taking fish off and keeping baits in the water and sometimes the bite was real suttle to the point I'm sure we missed as many fish or maybe more than the 60 nice crappies we were able to take by our professional fish cleaner we have available for our customers on High Rock lake. If you want this service on High Rock lake be sure to request it when you book and if he's available, which so far has been every time we needed him to clean fish arrangements will be made to have your catch cleaned. We'll drop the crappies off and go to Tamarac Marina where you can have a great meal or snack in the AC and then just drive around the corner and pick up your fish ready for your trip home. Works out really good and everyone loves this service!!!
Thank you Teresa for your thoughtfulness and surprise. Here's a toast to you, coke and rum, yes ma'am!!!! Taking the weekend off, might fish a catfish tournament Saturday night, haven't really decided yet on that, but we might!!!!
Will be back on High Rock lake again Monday morning, weather permitting, and every day next week. If you think you might be interested in hanging out with us and catch some crappies, Catfish, etc. just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 for information and to ask any questions you may have. You are just getting information, you are not obligated to book, you're just getting information on what we do and what we offer, then you decide on your time schedule. But, don't procrastinate too long, August has very few days left open and September, and October, are booking faster every day.
Another great day fishing with even greater people. It was a blast girls and we're already excited about our next trip. Thank you to the 2 guys that came by my boat today to say they were sorry about the loss of our precious litttle Bobo, that meant a lot to Barbara and I and was very thoughtful of ya'll and thank you to all who have said we were in your prayers, sent us cards and shared pictures of Bobo that you took when you went fishing with us.
Wednesday, 8-9-23
As hard as it is without my shadow beside me anymore we have to keep moving forward and this morning Barbara and I met up with Johnny Byers and Mike Gregory from Miller's Creek (North Wilkesboro, NC area) at Tamarac Marina so we could get today's crappie catch professionally cleaned for the guys!!
The Yadkin River is red muddy but the crappie bite and the lake area so far is still very fishable and producing some very nice crappies and lots of them. We steady picked away at the crappies today in the 20 to 25 feet range on very small pieces of structure. The larger structures did not do much for us today. I often fish the really small structures that most won't even give a second look and isn't beat to death. The next approach to today's catch was finding suspended crappies that were moving. Most were hard to keep up with on the livescope, but those that we did keep up with long enough to get some baits in front of them produced some slabs!!!
We unloaded today's catch of 75 crappies and a bonus channel catfish at the cleaning table and went to Tamarac Marina to rest a bit before the guys went to pick up there catch filleted and packaged for the trip home to Miller's Creek, NC.
Another great fishing trip in the books with some even greater folks that wanted to go fishing with Yeah Right Charters Freshwater Fishing Adventures today. Ya'll had many Charters to chose from and we are honored y'all chose Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip today. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today, Thank you again for giving you the opportunity to show you why we are #1 on Google and have an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau for over 25 years now!!
The weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate with us tomorrow. We called tomorrow's charter and informed him of the threatening weather we are supposed to have. He has rebooked hoping for better conditions before he drives from his home in Pennsylvania to fish with us again.
Thanks to everyone that continues to support us on the water and off the water and recommends us to your family and friends. We couldn't do what we do without each and everyone of you, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 8-4-23
Taking life one day at a time now and today we went crappie fishing with our very good friends and fishermen Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC and Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC. Another great friend Ryan Huneycutt stopped by this morning to lend Barbara a helping hand and we are so grateful for his unrelenting friendship and generosity that we all love from Ryan towards everyone he meets. Not many like him anymore in this world, thank you Ryan!!!
We started off on a spot that I "thought" would be a good place, the fish were there via the livescope, but after a bit, with no bites I got my foggy brain in gear and told my little buddy Bobo, that is now In heaven, that the water has dropped 3 feet and we needed to adjust our strategy to reflect the lower water pressure the fish were feeling now.
So, with that in mind, I left the 16 feet water and headed deeper where the pressure would still be the same as before the drop. It was the right move and we stayed here most of the trip. We ended the trip with 70 very nice crappies and quite a load of "slabs" in the cooler today and a couple bonus catfish and lost a BIG catfish that was just too much fish for the 6 pound line!!!!
Thanks Sam and Gary for fishing with us again and I really needed to hear your kind words about my little Bobo at this time in my life, and thank you again Ryan for your unselfish generosity and unwavering friendship to come on Friday's, your day off from work, to just help Barbara without expecting anything in return, you 3 guys are some great and awesome friends and people!!!
Schools are starting back now and if you, like many, have tried to book a fishing trip in the past only to find we have been booked a couple months out, well, we're still booking but not as fast right now so it might be a good time to try again. The bite right now is awesome and will just keep getting better as the water and weather will start cooling before long and this triggers the instint for the crappies and other fish to start feeding up for colder conditions ahead!! Bookings always slows a little when schools start back up for a couple weeks then will take off booking hard again as fall approaches!!!
Thank you to everyone that has had me, Barbara and Bobo in your prayers. I wanted to thank you all individually but I've been overwhelmed by soooo many expressing your love and thoughts, for us all. Never dreamed so many actually cared, I'm humbled and very Blessed!!! I'm doing better, not great, but better, and I think I'll be able to let go some more in the distant future. Not going to lie, never ever experienced anything like this in my life, and pray I never have to again. Your thoughts and prayers are the only thing that has gotten me this far now. I Love you all and so does Barbara and Bobo!!!
Let's go fishing, it's good for the mind and soul, and they good eats also.....love you all and thanks again, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday,7-28-23
Again, I'm sorry I'm late putting on the report for Friday. But after spending a day in this summer heat catching a boat load of crappies, then when we get home and getting the boat ready for the next day, when I get in the house my priority is taking care of Bobo. By that time we are exhausted and sit down for a few minutes to rest and cool off and some how when I finish resting it's 4AM in the next morning again.
Yesterday we had a new group fishing with us and they came up to High Rock from NC and SC. They were Anthony Thomas from Aiken SC, Alden Sanders from Charlotte, NC Rosine Bush from Pineville, NC and Terry Davis from Charlotte, NC. These guys were a real hoot to fish with yesterday just like all our great fishermen and fisherwomen are that choose to fish with us at Yeah Right Charters. We have the best people that love the sport of fishing as much as we do!!
We hit only 3 places today and when we called the trip a wrap at 2PM we had 98 and possibly a few more, good to very good to great filleting size crappies in the box. They were very happy with them all and that's what makes Barbara and I very happy!!!
Update on Bobo, Bobo wasn't doing well at all yesterday, and I had myself psyched up to take him to the vet today to give him eternal peace. He had not used the bathroom for 2 days, he wouldn't eat, couldn't walk, and could hardly move. Actually, we didn't expect him to make it through the night. I got up this morning and he had gotten himself up and went from the bedroom to the kitchen to his emergency pet pee pad when he has to go and can't get us up, and peed. So, when I got up and seen this and he had gone to the den to lay back down, I picked him up and took him outside and set him down and he waddled off and had a good poop. We came back inside and I placed him on his bean bag and and we had a good breakfast with his special prescription diet, pumpkin and cool whip for dessert, and he even took his arthritis medicine without biting me this time, and topped everything off with a half bowl of water!!!
Please keep praying for Bobo, I know if it's God's will, He can make this all go away in a miracle!!!
Thanks once more for reading my blog, and myself, Barbara and Bobo love you all. Till next time, God Bless each and every single one of you and everyone else in this world and I pray you never have to go through this pain of loosing a precious fur baby!!!
Thursday, 7-27-23
Warm day for sure but the crappie bite on High Rock lake were much hotter than the weather. We picked up John Cranford from Winston Salem, NC Jack Nelson also from Winston Salem,NC and Devon Mabe from Lewisville, NC. at Tamarac Marina and took off to see what we could find.
We only made 2 stops today to put 65 very nice crappies in the cooler for the guys to have several fish frys today. The bite was so hot today we actually ended the day a couple hours short of our regular time and dropped the crappies off at our available professional fish cleaner to have them processed for the guys at a very reasonable price!!! We can get Everette to professionally clean your fish when fishing at High Rock Lake but we have to know in advance when you book to make the necessary arrangements ahead of time!!!
Bobo is still going with us, can't make him stay home, so I keep a sun block "suspended blanket" over him, keep him wetted down and have him a battery powered fan blowing on him and he is staying very cool and seems to really enjoy it and still enjoys being on the boat with us even though he isn't active with the fish or customers anymore as we have to carry him now anywhere he wants to go as he has very little use of his back legs anymore.
I made the gut wrenching and sick to my stomach decision yesterday to take Bobo to the vet to lay him to rest. I carried him from the car to the lawn to use the bathroom before we went in. He peed and stumbled back to the car trying to get back in to go home. I picked him up, put him in the car, and we went home. I promised him as long as he can still function any at all and wants to stay with us I'll do anything and everything I need to do to make his and my wishes and prayers from us and all of Y'all praying for him come true. He has been there for me everyday for 14 years and I'll be there for him to the very end!!! Sure do love this little guy and we love all our followers on our personal and business fb page's. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the fishing results and Bobo enjoying his boat rides now!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thank you Jack Nelson for capturing the real us!!
Tuesday, 7-25-23
Sorry I'm late with today's fishing report. Been a very trying time for me today worrying about our beloved little Bobo, but, the show must go on!!
This morning we met up with Larry Christian from Taylorsville, NC and Ricky Rouse from Denton, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp to go after some crappies for several fish frys. We only hit 3 places today and we ended the trip with 120 nice crappies for the guys to divide up for some family fish frys. Just about every crappie today was filleting size and some were very nice fish.
Thanks Larry and Ricky for fishing with us today, sure wish you could have met Bobo when he was feeling better , I know you too would have loved him!!!
We got home this afternoon from our trip around 3PM and I did a little work fixing a couple things that needed attention on the pontoon and then went inside around 4PM and I have spent the entire time, till 11PM making Bobo comfortable, letting him eat all the good stuff he wanted and just consoled him and loved him until he went to sleep on his bean bag around 11PM, then, I figured I'd better put today's report on now so I could go to bed, I'm exhausted, but I'll be by his side so he'll know I'm there with him and comfort him best I can to the very end. He really enjoyed riding in the pontoon today when I held him up so he could see and get some wind in this hair, and I enjoyed making him happy and comfortable today in the heat keeping him out of the sun, keeping him wet, and having his fan blowing on him!!
I've had a cancelation for tomorrow's Crappie trip and I didn't advertise it because I wanted to spend the day just being with Bobo because it could very well be our last day together, he's not hurting because of his medication, but he's paralyzed in his back legs and I have to walk with him and support his back legs so he can use the bathroom, this afternoon's bathroom session didn't work very well because he is almost too weak to stand up. I know his time is near and he'll be better off. But, I just hope I'll be able to climb the biggest mountain I've ever had to climb. I really do love this little fellow more than I love myself, we've been together everyday and he's been with me everywhere I've ever gone for 14 years. It's going to be a major lifestyle change I'm not looking forward too Till next time, don't laugh at me too much, I can't help it, I love Bobo because he has always done his very best to please me and his love for me has always been unbelievable, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 7-24-23
This morning we met up with Natasha, Harry, Bertha Cowan from Lexington, NC and Barry Russell also from Lexington, NC to see if we could find some crappies today. Only took 3 places to get 58 very nice crappies in the cooler today.
The winds were all but calm today and when the cloud cover lifted it got pretty hot on the lake today.
Sorry I'm just kinda out of it this evening but I was up all night with Bobo and in the heat today and it's now 7:30PM and Bobo has gotten worse. But just like this morning, he literally drug himself off his bean bag with his two front feet to get to the boat this morning to go fishing. He showed a little improvement this evening when we got back to the boat ramp but by the time we got home he was actually worse this time.
This is the hardest mountain I've ever had to try to climb as I know I'll be saying good bye real soon and as much as I don't want to, you can see in his eyes he also doesn't want to leave us either!!! This little guy has been by my side everyday and everywhere for 14 years, just how do you just walk away from that????!!!! But out of the love we have for him we may have to visit the vet tomorrow evening after our fishing trip tomorrow to say our heart broken goodbyes!! Please pray for me, Barbara and Bobo at this time. I'll probably get through this, but right now I wouldn't bet on it!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!
July 21-22, 2023
I've got a lot on my plate right now and it's very hard for me to keep up, but know I'm doing my best. I've got a lot of things that need to be fixed, repaired, etc. but my main concern at the moment is Bobo. We don't want to let him go and I would feel greedy but he doesn't want to leave us either. He is fighting hard not to leave. He's still eating, drinking, and not in pain with the medicine he's on. He has trouble walking and even standing. He doesn't want to do anything at all except sleep and just lay on his bean bag, but, when we start to leave to do a charter he gets up and makes himself go out to the boat to go. Everything else like using the bathroom, etc. we have to carry him out. His age according to the charts at the vets is the same as mine, 72, and he is just like me, the charter business and all our great fishermen are what keeps us going!! Please continue to pray for him and when his time finally comes to cross the rainbow bridge I'm going to need some prayers then for me. This is the biggest mountain I've ever had to climb, and my wife knows I've climbed and conquered some mighty big mountains in my life, but none like this one!!
Sorry for the long update on why I'm being late with my reports some right now, but I'm just human and being stressed to my limit right now and trying hard to understand just how to pass this terrible test God is giving me. My prayers have been for Bobo and asking God to consider when someone adopts their pet to please grant that pet a life span to match its owner. Let's all pray for this, as all things are possible with God!!!
Friday, we were fishing again with Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC. He had to go by himself today as his fishing buddy Gary Coffee had some schedule changes at work and couldn't get off today. Our first stop was a good one with some nice fish fish being caught! The bite slowed here and I checked the lake flow and it went to over 11,000 cfs so since we were fishing the main lake we tried to find that greener grass on the other side of the fence!! So we went to areas less affected by the discharge and here we picked a few crappies at each spot, it was like we could just pick off the few dumb ones quickly, and the rest of the smarter ones didn't want any part of our plan. I checked the flow again, and it had dropped some at that time and I told Sam that I'm old enough to know better than to be proud, I'm going back where we started and glad we did. We finished up our trip at 2PM with 45 nice crappies for his family and friends fish fry!!
Sam, thanks again for fishing with us, you and all our fishermen and fisherwomen are like family to us and we always look forward to fishing with you!!!
OK, yesterday, Saturday, we were on a catfishing trip. I was going behind High Rock dam but the flow from Friday had dropped to like 120 cfs so we headed up river with returning friends and clients Thomas Snipes from Mebane, NC and Joe Harris from Chapel Hill, NC.
You know the saying "what a difference a day can make" well, it's true. I had some small fresh crappie, Bream and Perch from the fishing trip Friday. I also had fresh chicken, nightcrawlers, frozen shad, and some live perch we caught while catfishing, even had some of the big snails I caught in the cast net, figured as big as they are and as many as there are in the lake, the catfish are bound to be eating some of them.
I started off on one of our normally most productive spot we have in the river. We caught one small channel catfish, about 1 1/2 pound and didn't know we had it until we were bringing the baits in to move. Worked 6 more places that we do good at heading up river using some of "All" the baits we had with us on all 10 rods. We never got anything more than just a half hearted little pull on a rod or maybe 2 and others we didn't even get a bite on log jams, deep water, outside bends with log jams and drop offs, you name it we couldn't get a bite........ I thought the spawn was over!!!
OK, it has to be the baits. We pulled everything in and I headed the bay boat on up river and caught some gizzard shad and put them in the bait tank, and started over. Longer story short, even live and wiggling cut bait didn't help one bit. We did get one more channel catfish at the last place we fished about the same size as the first one we got this morning. However, Barbara caught it while trying to catch some Bream, and for what it's worth, they weren't biting either.
Absolutely the worse day I've EVER had catfishing. Can't ever remember a day like this on the river in my life. The guys were most noble and tried to pay us anyway, but I told them "we talk the talk, and we walk the walk' our website and brochures say "NO FISH-NO PAY" and 2 small catfish in 7 hours isn't what I call a fishing trip, and Barbara even caught one of them bait fishing. We're already looking forward to our next trip guys, it's possible we could do worse that today, but I'll put my reputation on the line we won't.
Once again, prayers appreciated now for Bobo to be assured we'll always love him, and to give me strength right now to not just give up. Thank you all so much, and may God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 7-18-23
If you don't keep your nose to the grindstone, for those that don't know, that's an old timers saying from many years ago, and I took a day from a cancelation to haul more Rock and rode the skid steer spreading them and now it's 6PM Wednesday afternoon and I don't have yesterday's fishing report posted yet.
Well let me get caught up right now!!!
We picked up Mike Antony from Advance, NC at the Southmont wildlife and we went to just catch a few crappies that were good filleting size. I told him that I'll do what I can and with the Blessings from God, I think we can do this.
We pulled out from the ramp and I headed the pontoon to deep water now that the water temperature is in the upper 80's. Well, God listened to me and put us out in the middle of the lake on some structure I'd never fished or seen before and to make a long story short....... We got him all the 15 big crappies he wanted plus 10 more and we got 15 small ones to go in our freezer for some catfish bait for upcoming catfishing trips. Along with the crappies, Mike also got 2 good eating size Blue catfish and a channel catfish and Mike even hooked a 4.2 lb. Largemouth bass on the ultra lite tackle and managed to get it in, now that was a fight!!!!
At that time it was 12noon and Mike said I'm very well pleased with our trip today and let's head in, I have more fish than I ever expected!!!
Thanks Mike for fishing with us again, and I hope you had a very enjoyable and tasty fish fry and we hope we met and exceeded your every expectation today!!
The hot weather has caused some cancelations lately. We have had another cancelation for tomorrow, Thursday, 7-20-23 so tomorrow is open for a fishing trip if you want to go call or text 336-309-5900 before 9PM tonight 7-19-23 and lets go catch some crappies or catfish! We understand how it is today, but back when I was younger we didn't have AC, and people were used to the heat, we had to be, we didn't have it!! The schools didn't have AC either as most cars didn't have it. It's a different world these days and if you have a trip booked with us and it's going to be a very hot day then we understand when you call and cancel your trip. You'll not be charged a dime as long as you call or text us and let us know ahead of time as we usually have a waiting list for people that want to fish with us that procrastinated and called for a particular day and it was already booked.
But, usually on the water if we have a little breeze, we can put the top up on the pontoon and it is fairly nice, and nicer than on land!! We just don't want you to take any chances if you're not sure and especially not for a fish. You can always rebook when it's cooler. It's just the way we do business, your safety and comfort will always be more important to us than a fish or your money!!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday,7-17-23
After canceling Friday's crappie trip and Saturday's catfish trip because of all the drama from the weather forecasters that actually turned into 2 pretty fishing days we decided to hit High Rock Lake this morning for crappies.
Today, once again we were fishing with Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC and we were honored and blessed to have his daughter Tonya Omar and her son Bilal Omar from Durham, NC. join us this morning!! We jumped on the 24' pontoon at 7AM and we went to our 1st and only stop we needed to make today!!!!
Tonya and Bilal could only fish a couple hours this morning before we had to take them back to the dock to head back to Durham, NC at 9:30AM. All three were catching crappies but it was Bilal that put on a catching school by catching the most fish, the biggest fish, and I don't think he missed a one. I was amazed at his fishing ability especially since it was his 1st time crappie fishing and we were tickled pink to be able to put him on his very 1st crappie and quite a bunch more in just a short time.
When they had to leave to head back the clicker had 25 crappies on it. After dropping them off we went back out with Sam. We hit a few other places but the bite just wasn't there, so it didn't take me long to decide to head back to our 1st stop this morning. It was a good move because here Sam took today's total catch from 25 to 65 nice crappies!! Just a great and wonderful day of catching fish and good conversations with some great people!!
Back on High Rock lake again tomorrow. So far, after all the rains we had upstream, High Rock lake is still very fishable on the main lake. There's some limbs and logs but right now not too bad. Water temperatures today was around 85 degrees and the best bite we found was in 16 to 21 feet on points and drop offs leading into the main river channel. Just like in winter, fish slow now, the hot water can and does sometimes makes them lethargic just as cold water can in winter.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 7-13-23
We went back to High Rock Lake again today with a couple that has become regulars on the pontoon boat with us chasing crappies. They were Danny and Ruby Stevens from Kernersville, NC. If you read yesterday's fishing report then you know the water in High Rock had risen nearly 3 feet overnight making the fishing a little challenging. Well, last night it had dropped nearly 2 feet, now it was a really challenging today.
I finally found some crappies that wanted to bite right on the main river channel just before it dropped off into deeper water on some structure in 18 to 21 feet. We had a couple dozen that went around a pound each and a few that went over a pound today. Our overall catch today hit the clicker around the 50 fish mark.
We had a trip for tomorrow but the weather doesn't look very promising so we're not going to take any chances and we'll take the day tomorrow as a God send and take our Bobo to the veterinarian tomorrow and see if we can get him some help. Please keep praying for him, he sure could use it right now, and we could too!!!
Supposed to have a catfish trip Saturday but the weather might be an issue on this trip also We'll just have to see how it plays out. If we can't go catfishing and weather clears up we'll be back on High Rock Lake early Monday morning for another full week of fishing trips on a couple different lakes next week. Keep check on our fb page and our website to see where we go and what we catch!!! Till next time,God Bless You All!!
Wednesday, 7-12-23
Today was another High Rock Lake crappie mission. With the water temperatures climbing to almost 90 degrees today and the lake coming up nearly 3 feet in 24 hours I knew it was going to be a challenge today to find biting fish. Finding crappies was not the problem, we found plenty, problem was beating them in the head long enough to make them bite. But, I've always liked a good challenge!!!!!
We had one of our regular fisherman with us today, Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC and today he had a good friend John W Goodwin from Charlotte, NC.
The water had a slight tint to it from Monday's trip but it was still very fishable and the crappies were definitely stacked up on brush and other structures in around 16 feet. I'm expecting them to hit their deep water summer pattern very soon with just a couple more degree temperature rise!!
We had a good catch today with 45, even though they were not aggressive at all. We had some nice crappies and a few very nice crappies also. I'm pretty sure we missed as many as we caught with the light non aggressive bite we had!!!
Will be back on High Rock Lake again tomorrow and we'll see what they are doing then. We'll figure them out again and if we don't we will still have a great time riding around trying to get a bite, and if they don't bite, it cost you nothing to spend a day fishing with us, sometimes I don't charge for a trip even if I don't think you catch enough to warrant it an official fishing trip. It's not just about the money on our boats, never has been and never will be. Why do we do this, it's just the way we do business. You know, "The Golden Rule" and #1 customer service!!!
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hit the like button on our fishing reports on fb, check out our website @ yeahrightcharters.com and read actual comments from our past fishermen on our Guestbook page on the website.
Please continue praying for Bobo. He's not doing well at all, but he still won't stay home, he has to be on the boat everyday with us, but everyday, I expect it to be his last day with us. Without the prayers, he wouldn't have made it this far!!! Thanks again for your prayers for him and us, this is a very tough time for me, Barbara, and little Bobo, none of us want to be seperated from each other!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 6-10-23
Today we were back on High Rock lake chasing crappies and we found plenty to offer our baits to. We met up with Bobby Hursey from Norwood, NC. Harold Morse and Hugh Higgins from Mt. Gilead, NC. and Jordan Baker, Bobby's grandson, from Texas.
Again today, we looked on the sloping points that dropped off into the main channels and around 16' we found a whole lot of crappies holding on structure and about as many, maybe more, just suspended in the 16 to 18 feet water around 4 to 8 feet down. Both scenarios produced crappies today. Took a picture of the loaded up livescope screen today but it didn't download in my gallery. For some reason the bite was sporadic today but we aggravated them enough to get 80 + - crappies in the cooler.
Wednesday well be back on the lake every day weather permitting for the rest of July and the way its looking now the whole month of August as well. If you want to fish with us this year you better call 336-309-5900 and get on board while I think we have a few more days open before winter. Just call or text 336-309-5900 and Barbara can tell you exactly what we have left available!!
If you will, PLEASE say a prayer for our little buddy Bobo, he has taken a turn for the worse again. It's just day by day now, and I know I have to let go, but he has been with me everyday, everywhere I've been for 14 years. It's very hard, we love him so much and he loves us so much in return!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 7-8-23
Yesterday I said we were going catfishing today but with the crappie bite being what it is right now we met up with the Turrentine Family from Clayton, NC to see if they were still biting good!! And they were biting really good in 15 feet of water, however there was a lot more smaller crappies mixed in today's catch than yesterday but we still got a good catch of crappies big enough for some good fillets.
After putting 75 crappies in the cooler we made a move hoping to find a more steady bite of crappies in the pound + size. It was the cardinal sin in fishing. We left a great bite to look for a more consistent bite from more bigger crappies. Well, not only did we not find bigger crappies, we found that our first stop was our best stop again today. Then while getting ready to go to another spot I did the unthinkable. I hit the stow button on the Ulterra remote and didn't notice a chair in the way and it stopped the stow operation and jerked the drive belt completely out of the shaft bracket.
So, I went into into the 60's mode of old school anchoring on our structure just to find the fish bite very slow. We ended the day around noon with 81 crappies and 3 dozen small crappies in the catfish bait cooler for upcoming catfishing trips.
I got home and accessed the Ulterra trolling motor damage and swapped it out with our newly rebuilt spare unit and parts to repair the one we had today are already on order and I will rebuild it for a spare. Not fishing tomorrow, but will be back on High Rock Lake bright and early Monday morning stalking more crappies. Call or text 336-309-5900 and let's get you set up on a fishing trip before we get completely booked solid this year!!! And remember, you pay nothing up front and nothing until the trip is done, because, if you do not catch fish on our charters, you owe us NOTHING, ITS FREE!!!Thanks for stopping by, be sure to hit the like button on our reports if you want them to continue and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 7-7-23
You may have noticed I took most of the week of the 4th off from fishing and haven't posted anything. Well, it was off from fishing but I hauled about a 100 tons of crushed concrete, crusher run concrete, and ground asphalt on the dump trailer to the house to get all my driveways done.
But, today we started back running fishing charters and picked up where we left off. This morning we met AL Lide and Frank Lide from Charlotte, NC and John Adam's from Lawrenceville, GA. at Tamarac Marina to go after some crappies in the upper 80 degree waters in High Rock Lake.
Our first stop today was action from the very start. We were catching crappies in 16 feet of water on brush and I would lock onto a school of suspended crappies when they got into the beam of the livescope and stayed with them until we had to move back to the brush. We left this area when we had 80 crappies of all sizes in the cooler and explored some other areas. These guys liked crappies like Barbara and I do. Whole, scaled, with heads removed and fried whole with bone in, we think they are much better than fillets, but, we all have our own preferences in many things. If you haven't tried it, you really don't know what you're missing, especially the fins and tails, they're a delicacy!!! We called the trip a wrap a little after 2PM with 110 crappies in the cooler not counting a couple dozen small crappies for a catfish trip tomorrow.
The hotter it gets the better the crappies will bite, if you want to go catch some just call or text 336-309-5900 for information on our trips. Then you decide and call back and book with not a dime up front. You only pay after charter is complete and is a success. If you don't catch fish, the trip will be FREE!!!
We are booking really fast, so don't wait too long to call or text for information, Barbara booked 3 trips while I was writing this report. Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 6-30-23
After a very good day yesterday filling the freezer with 100 crappies yielding 200 fillets we decided to switch up today and we took James Faulk, Jr. and his good friend and headed the 23' Riddick Bay Runner up river for some catfish.
Not going to lie,t he catfish bite was tough today. I fished every possible scenario and finally caught our first blue catfish that was nearly black, I sure thought the spawn would be over by now, but apparently not completely. I was feeling discouraged only having 6 eating size catfish in the cooler but felt better about talking with another fisherman in the afternoon stating he had only one blue catfish about 4 pounds for his efforts.
It was a blessing to get to spend 2 days in a row fishing with these 2 guys. Mighty fine folks from the east coast area and we are going to be fishing together again soon if it's God's will.
Thanks for stopping by, not fishing today, Barbara has a Dr. appointment and I have one of the BBQ Centers, on North Main Street of Lexington, NC banana splits on my mind, If you haven't ever tried one, then you can't begin to understand!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Wednesday 6-28-23
This morning was the 1st day of crappie fishing for James Faulk, Jr from Tabor City, NC and his good friend who requested to remain totally anonymous and we will honor his request.
The guys booked today and tomorrow for crappies but after putting over 100 crappies in the cooler today they said they had enough crappies to do them. They never even thought they would catch that many in just one day and we left them biting.
I wanted to get them plenty for the freezer while they were biting and told them we didn't have to go fishing tomorrow if they had plenty of crappies. Well, yes, we have enough crappies, can we go catfishing tomorrow? We going catfishing tomorrow!!
Come on back tomorrow evening and see if they are off the spawn good yet. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 6-27-23
This morning we left the dock at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp with Teresa Wagner and Eric Beck from Thomasville, NC and Barry Palmer from Denton, NC. Once again we were on a crappie hunt. The river and rains have dirted the water a little more from last week's rains and the really bad storms that hit the area last night with torrential rains and large hail didn't help the crappie situation at all.
I started this morning where we found the crappies suspended just outside the brush piles yesterday but this morning they had moved back into the brush piles, were kinda dormant and not moving much at all and when they are like that they can be reluctant to bite. I kept moving to different places, depths, and structures until I put my information together on these moves. I told everyone, OK, with what I've seen so far I think I now know what I need to do. I told the group let's go across the lake to where I think has just the terrain I need to put the pattern together .
We made a run across the lake to the downwind side and I was back tracking with the livescope. With only 7 crappies in the cooler from nearly 4 hours of fishing, I was hoping I had figured out where they should be holding. We were moving along with the 36v ulterra and I immediately hit the spot lock. There they are, suspended nearer to the deeper water and a little shallower than yesterday, which I thought was strange, I figured they would be suspended deeper than 10 feet. Now, if they aren't like all the others I've found so far this morning and will bite, we should be good. We stayed here on these fish to wrap up the trip with 66 crappies of all sizes in the cooler. With that, we called it a day and headed back to the dock and called our "fish cleaner" we have available to clean our clients fish for them on High Rock lake and they will be headed his way to finish today's trip with bags of fresh crappie fillets when he gets done!!
We'll be back after more crappies on High Rock lake in the morning with a couple guys that have driven up from Myrle Beach, SC. to fish for crappies with us and learn our techniques. Where will they be tomorrow, I want know until after tomorrow's trip. So come on back tomorrow evening and find out if I figured them out again, they sure had me scratching my head this morning, but I knew they were somewhere in the lake, I just had to keep eliminating water until I found the right school I could figure out. Wish I could say I can do that all the time, and I do 99.9% of the time, But should they win the game, and should I not be able to find and catch them, then your fishing trip on Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters is FREE, GUARANTEED!!!! We don't charge for beautiful boat rides and great conversations on the water "trying" to catch fish. We are a fishing charter boat, not a cruise ship!!!
Thank you all for your continued support and all the very kind comments you put on our website "GUESTBOOK " page. Be sure to like us on fb, leave a comment if you'd like, and be sure to check out our website @ yeahrightcharters.com and we hope to be able to continue to provide all fishermen and fisherwomen the best fish catching experience on the water!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!
Monday, 6-26-23
Well we finally got an open window in the weather after listening to the forecasters and cancelled everyday last week. They got it right several days but also missed a few that we could have fished . But, you have to keep your clients safety your top priority in the charter fishing business.
This morning I decided to try the main lake for crappies, yep, even after all the rain last week and high water, I figured it would be the right place to go. With us was Tee Gregory, from Oxford, NC. Vincent Gregory, aka, "Link" from Henderson, NC and Sekedric Royster from Oxford, NC.
Our first stop proved to be our best stop of the day. The bite was fairly strong for a while and when it got weak we started moving from place to place and we picked at the crappies the rest of the day. The water got up to 80.17 today so the awesome summer pattern will be in full force very soon. About all the crappies we caught today had moved from the structures we have been fishing and were suspended in around 15 feet of water and are in the process of moving on down to the deeper water the hotter it gets. We ended the trip with 66 crappies of all sizes in the cooler today while fishing with 3 very good folks and they were so happy with today's fishing trip they booked another trip before they got off the boat this afternoon!!!
After crappies again tomorrow, I think, got some catfish trips coming up soon, but I'm thinking crappies are still on the menu for tomorrow. Check back tomorrow evening, and see how we do. Thanks to everyone that makes what we do possible and Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 6-17-23
Our good friend Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC was hosting a catfish trip for his co-workers at Almond Electric and Heating, his son Cordel Huneycutt, and co-workers Todd Huneycutt from Troy, NC and Mike Denning from Albemarle, NC.
I knew the spawn would play a big factor today because catfish are spawning right now and when they spawn, they take it very seriously, and unfortunately, eating at this time is way back in the back of their minds. That pretty much means I've got to make my baits and presentation much more attractive than that lady catfish he's got his eyes on, talking about a tough day for me to produce catfish on the Yadkin River, it doesn't get tougher than right now. The good thing though, the spawn is about over and when it's all done in a couple weeks, all they will think about then will be eating, then all these slow producing days will be long forgotten.
I sound like we skunked out, but actually I got pretty lucky for the choices I made to drop some baits. We didn't set the woods on fire, but everyone was very happy and had a great time, and knowing what I know about spawning catfish, I was pleased as well.
Weather looks "iffy" all week, but if we don't get unfishable weather we will be back on High Rock lake chasing crappies every day this week. Thanks for stopping by, until next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 6-16-23
Today we picked up Gene and Mike Rainey at Gene's pier on High Rock lake to go fishing for crappies. We caught a lot of crappies today and we released a lot of crappies today. They weren't really interested in anything less than "really big crappies".
Well I found some fish on several places that looked like on the livescope were what they were wanting but only a couple would bite on these spots but it was enough to prove that they were what they were looking for. Wish I could make them all bite, but that's in the hands of God himself. I have no control over that.
We did get enough they wanted to keep to get some good fillets from for a couple fish dinners. We had 51 on the counter and released a whole lot more that most any crappie fisherman would have been very pleased to invite to dinner.
Heading to the river tomorrow to hopefully not get humbled too bad from the spawning catfish. June is a major spawning month for catfish and the bite can be non existent this time of year. All you can do is work your butt off and keep searching out some fish willing to bite. I'll do all I can, and that's the best I can do, but I'll promise to do my very best and if they don't bite, the trip will be free, and that's the guarantee we give all our fishermen that fish with us here at Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters, you'll catch fish or your trip is FREE!!!
Again, thank you all that continue to support us and read our fishing reports and like us on fb and comment on our fishing report posts. Couldn't do it without You All, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 6-15-23
We met up with Carlton Crotts from Denton, NC and Jack Payne from Lexington, NC at Tamarac Marina this morning to go crappie fishing.
It was a beautiful day and the crappies were biting good. The guys stayed busy all day and brought home 65 nice crappies for some fish fries. We had some of the biggest crappies we have caught all week.
Another Blessed day to be on the water with more local fishermen showing them how we do it. Back on High Rock lake tomorrow for more crappies then up river Saturday for some catfishing. Thank for stopping by and God Bless you All!!!
Wednesday, 6-14-23
When we posted we had Wednesday open up from a rescheduled trip, Bill Lackey from Taylorsville,NC and Terry Pennell from Hiddenite, NC jumped at the chance to book us for crappies like a duck on a June bug!!! I was a little concerned about the weather that was predicted and the very breezy conditions fishing from a 24 foot pontoon boat. Well, the rains never developed and I found out today that we can still catch crappies in a 24' pontoon boat in 20 to 30+ mph winds. It's actually easier to stay on the fish when windy better than when calm!!
Our 1st stop this morning was on fire and one of several more stops today we could barely keep up they were biting so fast. It was pretty good action all day with a couple of stops that started off red hot and then slowed. That's when we'd crank them up and move on to another place. A few more time's through out the day we couldn't hardly keep up the bite was so good. We had 85 good crappies on the counter at 3PM and we had caught several small ones for catfish bait on our upcoming catfishing trip this weekend that we didn't count as they went into the "bait cooler"!!!
I knew I had heard of Bill Lackey from somewhere but just couldn't place where it was. Then finally this afternoon, I found out that Bill was the winner of one of our " Shakespeare Micro Lite spinning outfits that Barbara and I had given away at one of our giveaways at one of my crappie seminars when I used to do seminars at the boat shows!!!
What can I say, another great day of crappie fishing with some more great folks that are now considered members of our Yeah Right Charters Freshwater Fishing Family. We sure hope we met your every expectation today and hopefully we might have even exceeded those expectations. Hope ya'll had half as much fun today catching crappies as we did having the opportunity to take ya'll fishing for crappies!!! Back on High Rock lake after more crappies tomorrow, come back tomorrow evening and check out our fishing report. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 6-12-23
This morning we were watching the weather and after listening to the forecasters, I couldn't make heads or tales out of what they were saying... it was kinda like, if it's cloudy it might rain and if it's clear the sun will shine but it won't if it's cloudy then the winds might blow but they might not............the heck with this, we going fishing.
So, we met Dave and Kristy Snell from New London, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp and went crappie fishing/Catching!!!
Again this morning Barbara was very patient and skillfully taught Dave and Kristy the techniques we use to slay the crappies on a daily basis. It didn't take long at all until we could hardly keep up baiting hooks and taking crappies off the hook.
This was a very nice couple to fish with today and the comradery and fun was from the start all the way to 3PM when we called it a day with 100 very nice crappies in the cooler, iced down, and ready for some great fish frys in the near future.
Again, I want to thank everyone that has supported us in our conversion from saltwater Charters to Freshwater Charters. Never would have ever dreamed there would be so much interest in our Freshwater Fishing Charters. We couldn't do it without you all so Thank you and God Bless You All!!
Update, thank you all for the prayers for Bobo, they have been answered, I knew they would be. God worked through the vets hands and I'm happy to say Bobo seems like his old self again. Waiting on results from his last blood test, but so far, all reports have been good and we got him on the right medication and it was by the Grace of God we got some more time to spend with our little fishing buddy. Again, Thank you all for the prayers and God Bless You!!!
Friday 6-9-23
This morning we picked up Tim McAferty from Stevensville, Montana, and Kevin, Kent, and Kirk McAferty from Aberdeen, NC. to go on another crappie round-up. We went to our 1st stop and 1st mate Barbara showed the guys our techniques and explained how to replicate how we do this after 50+ years crappie fishing together and perfecting this technique over that time!!They caught on very fast and in a few minutes the crappies started flying over the side of our 24' pontoon boat, and Kent, the youngest of the group and Tim's grandson would be the one to put the biggest crappie in the cooler today weighing 1lb 11oz. However, there was plenty more knocking on his door but just couldn't make it past Kent's big fish weigh. Congratulations Kent on the big fish of the day!!
We kept on the move from one place to another picking up some very nice crappies at each stop. We finished the day with 160 nice crappies in the cooler and probably missed half that many if not more. We kept some small ones for some catfish bait for upcoming catfishing trips and we didn't add those to today's 160 count.
Another great day of fishing High Rock Lake for crappies with some awesome fishermen and awesome people. Weather looking a little questionable the next several days, so not sure when we'll be able to go again right now. But, if we get to go we'll have the results posted right here for y'all. Thanks for all the prayers for Bobo, he is feeling a little better but we're going to the vet Saturday morning so praying God will work through them to help him feel better!!! Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!
Thursday, 6-8-23
Today we met up with 3 guys from my hometown of Lexington, NC to go get some crappies for several fish frys. They were Weldon Wood, Hubert M. Walser, and Ronald Richardson all from Lexington, NC.
We got to our 1st spot and Barbara's teacher instincts kicked into high gear and she had the guys mastering our technique in record time this morning. Now, I just needed to get all those fish I was seeing on the livescope more interested in biting our hooks
We made several stops and were getting the same slow bite everywhere we went. As the day progressed, I finally got through my stubborn head that the deep fish, 18 to 20 feet were on a fasting diet. As I was running to my next place I thought why not. I'm going shallower, didn't really want to, but several deep places had only gave up about 15 crappies so far. I veered off course and moved up to a brush pile that was only 14 feet deep. There wasn't the huge amounts showing on the livescope like on deep water, but there was enough and they were much more active all around and in this shallow water structure. We only had 2 hours left in our trip and with just 2 shallow areas we went from 15 crappies to 75 crappies plus a lot of smaller crappies and even some perch for the catfish bait box for upcoming catfish trips and we didn't even count those.
Guys, we know you had several choices to choose from for your fishing trip today. We are very Blessed and honored you chose Yeah Right Charters for your freshwater crappie fishing trip. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!
Going after more crappies tomorrow, we'll see where they are tomorrow and which one's, if any, will bite. Check back tomorrow evening and see what we find!!!
One other thing, I never ask for anything but our fishing buddy Bobo " the fishing dog" sure could use some prayers right now. He's not doing real good and I just can't handle seeing him like this. Mighty hard time for me, Barbara, and Bobo right now!!! TIA, till next time,,God Bless You All!!
Wednesday, 6-7-23
Picked up Paul Jacobs III from Reidsville,NC Brandon Stafford from Parma, OH., and Shiqwai Hill from Greensboro, NC at their AirB&B on lake Tillery this morning at 6AM. We went after catfish and it was a very tough bite for us this morning. To make matters even worse when I fueled the boat up this morning a malfunction on the cutoff caused gasoline to spew all over my arms and hands. I washed with soap and water several times but still couldn't the scent to leave 100%. What a way to start the day.
I tried everything, anchoring, drifting, slow trolling, and bobber stops and floats. We did get 2 good bites on the floats one missed the hook and the 2nd one broke the 30 lb line. It didn't pull that hard I thought to break the 30 lb line, I'm thinking maybe a gar. We then decided to go catch some perch and try some live bait fishing.
Catching perch I found out that when Brandon caught a perch it was his first ever fish he had ever caught, you would have thought he had just landed a 1000 lb marlin. How easy we forget the simple times in our lives when we all first started fishing!!!
Live bait didn't help today for me, it was just one of those days that we were definately fishing and not much catching. But, we still had a great time and the guys said they had a blast and enjoyed every minute of the trip today.
Will be back on High Rock lake in the morning and hoping the crappies bite just a little better. They should, they are done spawning, and the catfish are in full spawn mode right now, and that can make it very tough sometimes to get them to bite.
I only got one picture today, I just had to show the joy and excitement in Brandon's face posing with his 1st ever fish. That's what it's all about right there!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 6-3-23
This morning we left out from Southmont wildlife boat ramp with Kirk Hopkins from Lexington, NC and Chris Hopkins from Concord, NC and Jonathan Hopkins from Atlanta, GA. Kirk had gotten his 2 sons a Christmas gift certificate for a fishing trip. We had tried several times to put the trip together but every time the weather had different plans. Today we finally got everyone together and it all worked out.
After we talked some this morning I realized that this trip was another " I'd like to stock my freezer with some crappies since I don't have the opportunity to fish much" type trip. My reply to that was " Let's go see if we can find some crappies to cooperate with us today.
We got started and it was soon apparent that these guys were very quick learners. 15 minutes into the trip they had the technique mastered and at that point I'd put their ability against anyone's to catch crappies using our method. It was an absolutely awesome day with some great folks that loved the sport of fishing and catching as much as anyone does. I'll have to admit it though, I was glad to see our 3PM fish trip quitting time and time to start heading back to the dock. Not because I didn't want to fish with them anymore, but because Barbara and myself was wore slam out from netting fish, baiting hooks, taking fish off about as fast as we could go today when we hit our 3rd spot around 10: 30 this morning.
The cooler with the built-in counter/clicker said we had 190 crappies in the box of all sizes and a good amount of 1+ pounders. No need to ask where I bought that cooler with the built in counter/ clicker, it's another one of my inventions, and we love it, especially on lakes that have limits.
Kirk, Chris, and Jonathan, y'all had many choices to choose from for your fishing trip today. We are blessed and very honored you chose Yeah Right Charters for your freshwater fishing trip today. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation!! Hope to see you guys again soon sometime in the near future.
Man, what a day it was today, never dreamed we would beat yesterday's catch, but we blew that trip out of the water, but, we only had 2 fishermen yesterday and today we had 3!! Thanks for stopping by.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 6-2-23
Once again we had Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC and Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC. and the guys told me they had been having fish frys with the bounty from our past crappie fishing trips and were just about out of crappies and needed to restock their freezer.
We left the dock this morning and we only made 3 stops today and we named the 1st one "Good" the 2nd one Great, and the 3rd stop "Greatest". To say we restocked their freezer doesn't do it justice. When the bite finally slowed down enough on our 3rd stop that we could catch our breath Barbara looked at the clicker on the fish box and said well with the bigger one's in the other cooler we now have a total of 150 crappies for your freezer today. With that we called it a good day early and headed to the dock, Gary told me to tell you all that we did leave the fish biting.
It's that time of year now where the crappies are starting to settle into their summer holding pattern and the bite will just get better as they settle to deep water and school up in bigger schools to ride out the "Dog days" of summer. Yep, it's hot out there this time of the year but the only thing that can be hotter is the great summer bite we will have now.
We would love to have you come fish with us and discover why we can guarantee you fish or your trip is free!! Please check out our website @ yeahrightcharters.com and read some comments on our GUESTBOOK PAGE. If any of what we do interest you just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she'll give you all the information you need to decide if you'd like to go fishing.
If you would like to send a friend or a loved one on a trip, again call or text Barbara and get one of our gift certificates. They don't cost anything to get one and you'll pay for it only after the trip is run and you caught fish and had a great time!!! Just check us out, ask around about our reputation we have earned from coast to coast.
Back after crappies again tomorrow, come on back tomorrow evening and see what we find. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 6-1-23
This morning we met John and Linda Bartlett and their grandchildren Levi and Lila Rosser all from Salisbury, NC. The fish of choice was catfish. They only wanted some smaller eating size ones to take home for some fish dinners.
It was a challenge for me to find a good bite on the catfish. With the upcoming full moon on Saturday and the fact the catfish are in their spawn cycle, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Our 1st stop and we barely got the lines set and we had 2 eating size catfish in the cooler. I thought it was going to be a hot bite here, but, that was it!!!
Moving on, we hit a couple more of my favorite places only to find a good many nibblers, but, no takers. Oh Boy, I thought, this ain't good. I had another spot in mind and when we backed the 23' Bay Boat in and I dropped the 2 Talon anchors, I just had a good feeling about this place and I said we are going to catch some fish here!! I was getting ready to bait the second hook and the first line in rod doubled over!! Here we put the rest we wanted to keep in the cooler and the bite was pretty steady and at one time I even got behind trying to keep up with baiting hooks, netting fish, and setting the Shakespeare Catfish rods with 6000 ambassador 5500C reels out.
Another great day of fishing with a group of awesome people. Folks like we have fishing with us in our Freshwater Fishing Charters has only reinforced the reason why I still do this at 72. And we want to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the great reception we've had in our newest adventure. You all and God are what makes Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters the best it can be, and that's something we'll never forget or take for granted, again Thank God and each and everyone that have chosen us for your fishing trips!!!
Will be back on High Rock lake tomorrow looking for more crappies that will bite. Actually, as the water continues to get warmer the crappie bite will just get better. They will be moving to deeper water and schooling up even better. For those that might not know, crappies will pattern the same in dead of winter and dead of summer.
Thanks for stopping by, I hate I get the reports on so late sometimes, but our normal day starts around 4AM and ends around 9PM most of the time and I only get the reports on after we get back from fishing and I get everything ready for the next day.
God Bless You All and Till next time, FISH ON!!
Friday, 5-26-23
I want to thank Jeff Roper from Iron Station, NC and Kenny Black from York, SC for coming and crappie fishing with us today on High Rock Lake. I'll be perfectly honest I was concerned this morning about fishing in the gusty 25 mph winds predicted for today being we were fishing in a big 24' pontoon. Well, worry no more, it even fishes great in those kind of winds!!!!!!!!!
What else can be said......these two guys came to learn and to catch fish and both missions were conquered and exceeded my expectations. We caught some nice crappies today, caught a lot of crappies today, lost several crappies today of various sizes with one most likely 3 lbs or better just out of net range. And that's the way big crappies just get bigger, you can't catch them all, but, we did have 77 on the counter today, and we missed a few when the bite got heated up several times today!!
The comradery today was as good as it gets and it just don't get any more fun than it does on the Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charter boats. Already looking forward to our next trip with these guys!!!
If you'd like to join our fishing family and experience the fun we have while catching fish, just call or text Barbara @ 336-309-5900 and she'll give you all the information you need to decide if you'd like to go. You are not obligated to book when you call or text. You're just getting information, and you can then think about it, ask others about us, and book your trip when you are ready too, or not book at all if you don't think you would like to go....the decision is yours to make when and if you are ready!!!
Tomorrow's weather has been predicted to turn nasty so we have rescheduled that trip for another day!! Thanks to everyone that likes us on fb, comments on our fishing reports, and even those that take the time to stop and chat with us at the boat ramps!!! We love you all and you all are a big part of what makes Barbara, Bobo, and myself keep doing what we do so Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 5-25-23
This morning we met Brooks and Phyllis Ferguson from Statesville, NC at the Southmont wildlife boat ramp at 8AM to go round up some crappies. We picked a few at every stop we made but just couldn't hit that structure that had the motherload that was just waiting for us to show up.
They told us that they love to crappie fish but just couldn't seem to get them to bite much. Well, they paid attention and soaked up what Barbara was teaching them like a sponge. With the information on how water temperature effects crappies as to where they are located I taught them, I do have a feeling that from this day forward the crappies are going to be in trouble no matter where they go fishing.
Around 1PM I was heading to another place to try and they told me that with 45 crappies in the cooler already they had all they wanted so we called it a day and headed back to the dock. Brooks and Phyllis, y'all had lots of choices to choose from for your fishing trip today and we are honored y'all chose Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip today. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!!
If any of what we do interest you just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she'll get you set up with information with no obligations to book a fishing trip and when and if you decide this is for you just call or text her back with your chosen date to see if we still have that day available. She said we still have 3 days left open in June, 16, 26, 27 and July and August are booking now as well. Don't wait too long to call or you'll miss the boat again this year!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 5-22-23
Today Barbara, Bobo, and I picked up Ruby and Danny Stevens from Kernersville, NC at the Southmont boat ramp at 9:30AM to get them some crappies for several fish frys. We accomplished our mission by fishing structure on the main river channel edge in around 20 feet of water.
Tight lining was the preferred method again today and it worked great putting 35 nice crappies in the cooler and some of them were really nice. The regulations placed on High Rock lake several years ago by the marine biologist to keep every crappie you catch to reduce the population has produced fantastic results at bringing the lake back to one of the best crappie lakes in NC.
Thanks Danny and Ruby for coming back to fish with us again. Barbara and I always look forward to fishing with you guys whenever you can make the trip.
Taking tomorrow off, and had a cancelation for Wednesday, if you'd like to go for some crappies or catfish call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 by 9PM Tuesday night. Please don't respond on this phone, this one is used for fishing reports and it seldom gets checked and I might not see your reply for several days!! The 336-309-5900 number is monitored nearly 24/7 and replys will be almost immediate!!!
Till next time,God Bless You All!!
Sunday, 5-21-22
We hit the river in the Carolina skiff with Tim Jackson who owns Jackson's Farm Deer Processing off Hwy 47 in Lexington,NC. But, Tim wasn't fishing, he was treating some of his employees, James Giles, and his wife Kym, and Jonathan Giles to a catfishing trip.
We went behind the High Rock lake dam but the water flow wasn't right but we still gave it a try for about 1 1/2 hours. With no bites, I suggested we make a major move and everyone agreed. We regrouped and I swapped the pontoon for the Carolina Skiff and we launched again at York Hill ramp in the Yadkin river. We kept hitting places until we got on a pattern. Although we didn't set the woods on fire, the guys went home that afternoon with several good eating size Blues and channel cats and Jonathan got his biggest fish ever today with a 17 lb. Flathead he wanted to have mounted.
The excitement today from the group was catching and I'm so glad I decided to make the big move!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 5-29-23
Little late tonight with todays fishing report, but I forgot I had been servicing catfish reels and had 4 more to put back together this evening because we have a catfish trip tomorrow.
Today we went back to High Rock lake for more crappies with Steve Conley from Belmont, NC. James Conley from Marion,NC, Chris Conley from Belmont, NC and Quentin Conley from Marion, NC.
I'll be honest, I didn't get very many single pictures today, I didn't have time. The guys kept Barbara and myself very busy today netting fish, baiting hooks, taking fish off, and I also had to keep the 24' pontoon on top of the fish. Again today they were in the 20 foot + -- depths today. When I would scope the structure and the fish were not moving, just kinda laying there, I would move on and didn't bother fishing for them. Only targeted active fish holding in and around structure.
To say we had a great time is an understatement, it was another awesome day of catching crappies on High Rock lake with more great fishermen and meeting new fisherman today!!!
Got about 25 more small live crappies for the bait holding pen to take on catfishing trips. I'll have some with me tomorrow as a matter of fact. We called it a day this afernoon when the counter on the big crappie fish box cooler said we had put 100 crappies in there. I have a feeling there's gonna be a big fish fry in Belmont, NC sometime soon!!!
Thank you all for fishing with us and also thank everyone that takes the time out of your busy day to read our fishing reports. I hope I help you find more fish when you go fishing. Please be sure to hit the "Like" button on our fishing reports on Yeah Right Charters fb page and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 5-19-23
Today we went back to High Rock lake to try our luck again on crappies. We picked up Ryan, and his wife Anissa, Richfield, NC and his mom and dad, Oron and Jane Hunneycutt from Albemarle, NC. They have become great friends and understand the effects of weather on fish and fishing.
I try not to make excuses, but I was upfront with them about the cold low pressure we had today and the strong cold East winds that had the lake white capping again today. With that information and with the results we had today, I'll never ever second guess my fish catching ability and techniques I've developed over the last 60+ years of chasing fish both fresh and Saltwater!
It started out slow, as expected, but I was able to put the pattern together after 2 places we started at this morning. The 24' pontoon is a fish catching machine and 4 people have plenty of room to fish without falling over each other. The fish were holding deep today around 20 feet deep and were schooled up on very small pieces of structure starting around 14 feet down to 20 feet on drop offs connecting to the main river channel. When the "smoke cleared" back at the dock we had 80 crappies, and 2 dozen little crappies in the bait tank to to put in the holding tank at home to keep alive for future catfishing trips!!
If you think you would like to go catching with us, all you have to do is call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she'll give all the information you need to decide if you'd like to go. Then you can think about it and call or text her when you have decided to give it a try. And as always, on our local lakes and river, you are guaranteed to catch fish, or your trip will be FREE!!!
One other thing you might not know about us here at Yeah Right Charters, did you know we have carried an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau for over 30 years now!!!
Back after more crappies tomorrow on High Rock lake. Check back tomorrow evening and see how we do........Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 5-18-23
We went crappie fishing again today with Dave Magdalinski from Burlington, NC, Larry Martin from Burlington, NC, Phil Martin from Mebane, NC. and Dennis Brooks from Mebane, NC. I wonder now why I was so concerned about the fronts that had gone through lowering the pressure and then this morning we had ENE winds that were blowing hard enough to white cap the lake all over. Well, after shattering the full moon wives tale a few weeks ago, and today, I'll never worry about that stuff anymore, I'll just go fishing and do what I do to the best of my ability.
We caught some really nice slabs today and we caught a lot of crappies of all sizes. 99% were filletable, another 8 were good catfish bait, and when we called the trip short of our regular 3PM quitting time we had 70 crappies in the cooler for the guys to take home.
Once again another great day on the water doing what we all like to do, no, not fishing, we all love the catching part of the sport of fishing!! Great group today, and like Dave said, "Had A Blast! As Usual!!!
Will be back after crappies again tomorrow, give Barbara a call or text @ 336-309-5900 and let's go catching, crappies or catfish, either one is biting good right now!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday, 5-16-23
The weather was a little "iffy" this morning but we moved forward towards High Rock Lake to meet up with Chason, Kristin, and Levi Frye from Lexington, NC to go after some crappies for a family fish fry!!!
We had a little drizzle then it cleared up and the winds picked up to around 20mph but the heavy 24' pontoon fishes good even in these winds. The low pressure had definitely affected the bite we have had the last couple days but all that meant was I had to just work harder to figure them out!! 18 to 21 feet were the magic depths today along with a very extreme slow presentation with very limited movement of the bait. They all caught lots of fish today and they all caught some slabs as well......but it was 9 year old Levi who put the biggest fish of the day in the boat with a 1lb. 7oz crappie. Levi's Dad Chason had a 1.3 and sister Kirsten's was 0.14oz, but they couldn't beat Levi's big fish today.
Lots of fun was had by all and Barbara and I kept the wheels turning smoothly today as I kept the boat over the brushpiles with active fish in them, and Barbara kept hooks baited, fish netted, and fish off hooks to keep everything running smoothly.
We ended the day with 50 fish in the cooler heading to the fish fry and another 25 in the bait cooler heading behind the dam on upcoming catfishing trips. What a Blessing it was to be able to help make wonderful memories for this great family that they and I will remember for the rest of our lives.
Eye Dr appointment tomorrow, after that, we will be out every day the weather permits for a while. If you want to fish with us don't hesitate to call or text Barbara @ 336-309-5900, we are booking the Summer up fast and only have a couple more openings in June and July is booking fast now with very few days left open there. Again, PLEASE call or text the number above. I use this phone and number strictly for fishing reports and business purchases. If you call or text me, and not Barbara, I may not see it for a month, if then ...so please use # 336-309-5900 for all information and charter trip enquiries, Thank You!!!
You are guaranteed to catch fish on our Charters or the trip is FREE, plus you will enjoy fishing with us, that's another guarantee, and I guarantee that!!!!
OK, that's enough, thanks for stopping by, and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 5-13-23
The weather worked out beautiful for us today to go back to High Rock lake and meet up with Travis Woerner from Burlington, NC. After a short talk with Travis I found out that he had grown up fishing and hunting with his dad in and around the great lakes areas of the USA. And no doubt after today his dad has taught him very well how to catch fish, especially crappies.
Travis took his skills he learned from fishing with his dad and applied them to the fish in High Rock lake today and this guy single handed put just over 90 crappies in the boat. The right skills and the right presentation just go hand in hand, great job today Travis!!!!!
Next couple days look unsettled weather wise so we might just wait and start back fishing on Tuesday morning. I need a couple days off anyway to do some tweaking on trolling motors, boat items, and rods reels and tackle!!
I want to stop and give a big THANK YOU to everyone that has followed us from our Saltwater Charters to our Freshwater Charters, and another big THANK YOU to all the new fisherman we have met that have chosen us to guide you on your Freshwater Fishing Adventures!!! Barbara, Bobo , and myself truly hope we have met y'all's every expectation and pray we might have even exceeded those expectations!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 5-12-23
Today we were fishing High Rock lake again for crappies with Tony and Kim Brown and Andy Murphy all from Carthage, NC. Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC joined us today to give Barbara a helping hand and it was a good thing he came along.
Our 1st stop and it was game on. There for a while we could just barely keep lines in the water, to say it was fast and furious would be an understatement, it was the type of fish catching you usually just dream about!!!.
After it calmed down there we moved to another spot and it was on again and here we beat yesterday's big crappie of 1 lb 12 ounces with a 2 lb black crappie that earned Tony a NCARP Recognition award for an outstanding catch!! The rest of the day we continued to pick crappies up at every stop and on the last stop we caught a dozen or so and then the bite got really finicky. I positioned the pontoon where I could watch them put the baits in front of the fish and would then tell them to set the hook, he has it, and we finished up catching several more without them even knowing the fish had taken the bait!!!
We caught some quality crappies in deep water 18 to 20 feet, on a beautiful day on the water with some very nice folks from Carthage, NC. If we counted the ones I kept for catfish bait we had close to 100 fish today, but the take home freezer stocking tally today was 86 give or take a couple!!
Weather a little bit "iffy" tomorrow, but right now plans are to hit High Rock lake again tomorrow to go for some more crappies. Some rain is OK with me, but if any lightening is involved that's a no go from me!!!! If you go fishing be safe and courteous of others on the water. I was spot locked on a point today and had a fisherman trolling circles around me. It was OK, but come on, have a little respect for your fellow fisherman Till next time,,God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 5-11-23
We went crappie fishing again today with another great group of fishermen. They were Roger Holmes from Salisbury, NC. Steve Burton and John Phafer both from Statesville, NC. To say we had a great time is definitely an understatement, it was a blast with great conversations and just plain old good times!!!
We started out slow this morning with one of my favorite crappie fishing holes kinda let us down, but I stayed on the hunt and some of the most unlikely places were the most productive. You never know , you can't give up and sometimes you just have to think outside the box, and be ready to switch up at a moments notice when the status quo isn't working.
It was a beautiful day of catching crappies and some were really nice ones. Biggest crappie today was just shy "4 ozs" from hitting the scales at 2 pounds and several more in the pound+ size.
We ended the day with a mid 60's count on keeper crappies and I kept about a dozen small one's for up coming catfish trips. Placing our total catch around 80 for today. We will be back on High Rock lake again tomorrow in pursuit of more crappies. Be sure to check back in tomorrow evening for our final results on that trip. Thank you all for supporting Yeah Right Charters and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday, 5-9-23
After several real good catfishing trips we picked up Ronnie Thompson and his grandson Cooper Welch from China Grove, NC. but today, instead of catfish , we were back on the trail for more crappies. Our 1st stop was not exactly what I was expecting. Plenty of fish in the 20+ feet of water in and around the structure, but, they just weren't really interested in our baits. We caught a few here but finally gave up on them and moved on.
Several more stops produced the same results. We made another run to another deep brush and while I was idling towards the brush on the point, I was scanning with the livescope and seen a school of fish off to my right so I moved over to this school and hit the spot lock on the Minn Kota on the point about 75 feet from where I was originally going. I told the guys don't know what's holding them and if they are crappies and will bite but we just found the mother load. First line in and "fish on"!!!
We ended the day early today with 50 crappies for several fish frys, plus, Ronnie said that was all he wanted to clean. Both these guys were good fishermen and that always helps us tremendously to make it happen. Cooper was a "natural" and I told him I wasn't sure if I could hold my own fishing with him. In other words both guys were good fishermen but, Cooper was gooder!!!
If you like our fishing reports, please like them on fb. Feel free to make a comment also, we would really appreciate it,. If any of our trips interest you just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 for any and all information. No obligation to book when you call, you're just getting information to help you decide later if you would like to learn why so many fishermen and fisherwomen rate us # 1 for their fishing trips. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday May 5, 2023
Today, Friday, we met Oron, Cordel, and Ryan Huneycutt once again to go catch catfish for the Huneycutt family reunion fish fry and to celebrate Cordel's birthday. This family has become family to us and we are truly blessed each time they go. We met them this morning at old Whitney landing and went behind Tuckertown Dam.
We had another great day of catching catfish on Badin Lake and the action kept us pretty busy after I finally figured out what presentation the catfish wanted the baits presented to them. Guess it was the full moon, or what ever it was , but we had to tight line our baits about a foot off the bottom to get them to cooperate with us today.
We ended the day with 18 nice eating sized catfish and even had several not get the circle hooks and a few just came off but we still had plenty for the big annual Huneycutt fish fry.
It's always a pleasure when the Huneycutt family can get away to go catching with Barbara and myself!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
May 4, 2023
With an unexpected change in plans and a cancellation we had a couple of days to open up for charters. This was the first one.
Thursday, we picked up Gordon Tracey from Asheville, NC at Tamarac Marina and we headed up the Yadkin River after catfish.
The bite wasn't on fire but we caught enough to keep us interested. Everything was released on Thursday and we all had a great time catching and releasing channel catfish and Blue Catfish plus some wonderful conversation with Gordon who was born in Trinidad, lived in Canada, been all over the world and held some unique jobs.
Barbara and I both are looking forward to our next trip with Gordon!!!!
God Bless you all and FISH ON!!
PS. The turtle is a soft shell turtle, a protected species. Caught 2 of them!
Saturday, 4-29-23
Today we were on a catfish adventure with Garrett Moore, Alberto Chavez, Billy Harris from Mooresville, NC and Mason Dixon from Landis, NC. I was thinking about going behind High Rock dam today but to be honest, with the outflow around 24000 + I'm just not comfortable in water that turbulent. This comes from my many years as an offshore Saltwater Charter boat Captain and knowing just how quick a good day can turn on you and in turbulent water it just makes it worse at best.
So, I elected to head to the head waters of High Rock lake where we would only have some flotsam to deal with and much less turbulent waters. It turned out to be a good decision for today. We caught blues and channels and lost several and had a big one bite and we knew it was a good one when it rolled on top and broke our 50 pound leader.
If you decide to fish behind the High Rock lake dam just please be very careful and respect that kind of outflow!!! And if you fish the river, be sure to not anchor where a big log or tree can get tangled up in your anchor rope, that could be disastrous with the river current right now!!!
Supposed to go after crappies tomorrow, but that's in limbo right now with the forecast for more rain tomorrow. Haven't decided just yet not to go, but most likely won't, but, if we do, I'll post the results here tomorrow evening!!
Thanks for stopping by, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 4-26-23
Back on High Rock lake again today with some folks that are very dear to Barbara and I. They were Tim, Kathy, Darrell, and Stanley Koonts of Lexington, NC.
Our 1st stop this morning found lots of Crappies in and around brush in 21 feet of water. It was a good bite for most of the morning and around 11AM the bite slowed and we ventured to other areas where we just picked a few here and there. It was obvious by then that the morning bite was the best today.
With 40 Crappies on ice and the rains starting to threaten us we called the trip a little early because it was too cool today get very wet, that would make for a bone chilling boat ride. And just in case you are wondering, yes, Kathy out fished everyone today. Stanley caught most all the big crappies, with Tim and Darrell adding to the tally as well. Such a great day with even greater people, I know that for a fact, they are family!!!
Weather permitting be back on High Rock lake again tomorrow chasing crappies. Right now Friday looks like a possible "wash out" and Saturday just might let us go after some catfish. Just have to take it day by day this time of year.
Just a reminder, we still have "Gift Certificates" available, they cost you nothing to obtain and we only get paid after the trip is run. Just call or text 336-309-5900 and get your loved one or fishermen in your life a special surprise gift for that special occasion. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, 4-24-23
Ever have one of those days when you are under no pressure, you're just kinda laid back and don't have a care in the world. Well, today I finally got one of those!!! Barbara and myself, along with our good friend Tim Jackson and our son Master Capt Chris Foster and his wife Holly went catfshing.
Holly started the day off this morning with a nice 38.4 pound blue catfish that will get her a NCARP Recognition award from the state of NC. Pictures were taken and we immediately released this beast to grow even bigger and make more little catfish for future fishermen and women!!! Tim reciprocated with a blue catfish also that was a good size to eat and then a couple more were caught between Holly and Tim and then the bite shut down for us. After trying a few more spots it was obvious the bite was over so we made the decision to load up and head to one of my catfishing holes a few miles away on the Yadkin river above High Rock lake.
This was a smart move as Holly and Tim picked up where they left off on Tuckertown Lake and they together put together a good catch of good sized catfish for Tim to stock his freezer back up with, which was the whole itinerary for today's catfishing trip.
A great and relaxing day with family and friends doing what we all love to do, CATCH FISH!!!! It just don't get any better than this!! Had a cancellation for tomorrow and I didn't advertise it because I needed the day off to do some maintenance on fishing gear and tackle. Weather permitting, be back every day after tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, be sure to like us on fb an leave us a comment if you want to on our fishing reports. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Sunday April 23, 2023
Today we picked up Ron Boles from Lexington, NC at his dock in Abbotts Creek to go get a few crappies. The past few warm days we have had made the cold and fog this morning on the water an interesting start for the day.
We found the crappies in deep brush again along the channel drops and put around 20 in the cooler this morning. When we got back to his dock today he only wanted 4 crappies for dinner this evening so we had plenty. I showed him several areas to fish where he could find and catch some crappies and the techniques we use often with deep dropping and then "spider rigging". Both techniques worked for us today.
Ron you had lots of choices for your trip today and we are tickled pink you chose us. We surely hope we didn't disappoint and was able to share some tactics and techniques with you today!!!
Going after catfish in the morning, now I just got to decide where to go. Check back tomorrow evening and see where we went and hopefully I'll have a good report with lots of catfish coming over the gunnell!! Thanks for stopping by and God Bless You All!
Friday 4-21-23
Once again we were fishing with Sam Crockett from Waxhaw,NC and Gary Coffee from Monroe, NC. These guys have become regular fishermen on our Freshwater fishing charters and we look forward to fishing with them everytime they come to town to fish with us. It's always a very fun day on the boat with them!!! Also, we had a very dear friend Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC join us today just to help out and spend some time with us on the boat and Barbara really appreciated the help he gave her today. We met Ryan through our fishing charters in Saltwater but over the years we've become more that just friends, we are more like "brothers"!!!
There are still a few fish shallow, but I've found that the majority have moved to the points and drops making their way to their summer hangouts preparing for the summer months and hot weather.
Gary got the first line in this morning and it was immediately attacked by a fish we were all hoping was a crappie as big as the fight was, but, it turned out to be a nice channel catfish . We continued to fish areas in 18 to 23 feet of water adjacent to spawning areas that made good travel lanes to get the crappies to their deep hot weather hangouts where they will be more comfortable in the hot summer water that's just around the corner. We had a blast today and when we wrapped it up this afternoon, we had 66 crappies and a channel catfish, and even several nice Bream in the cooler.
The bite is on and will just get better as summer heats up the water. If you want to learn the simple way to catch crappies like we have developed over many years of crappie fishing that will put you crappies in the boat anywhere and any time of the year, just call or text 336-309-5900 and Barbara will get you all set up and it won't cost you one penny until the trip is over and done and maybe not then if you don't catch any fish....but I wouldn't plan on that happening!!!
We have cancelled tomorrow's trip because they are calling for thunderstorms and bad weather, got to keep safety #1 in this business!! Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Thursday, 4-20-23
Today we picked up Randy Crane and his son, Ian from Waxhaw,NC. and they had with them Randy's sister, Lisa Jackson from Navarre, FL and Germany!! The water had dropped a few degrees this morning so we went back to the main channel brush where some fish were active in the structure but were not as eager to bite as yesterday. We fished it about an hour and only had 11 crappies, not good enough as far as I was concerned.
OK, let's just see if there's some still on the shallow banks. We made the run to a "hot spot" we found a few years back but here we only caught 1 medium male. As I was leaving the shallow area I was thinking " where would I be if I had just came off the spawn" I figured the closest brush pile from where I was spawning. All I can say is that I don't know if I was right or not but we made the move to a brush pile about 40 yards from a spawning area and I didn't even have time to take pictures we were so busy. It was around 1PM when we found them and in 2 hours we went from11 crappies to 75 and lost and missed probably half that many as well.
What a great pleasure it was to fish with Randy, Lisa, and Ian today. Thanks guys for choosing Yeah Right Charters for your freshwater fishing charter.
We will be back on High Rock lake again in the morning trying once again to put the puzzle together. So come on back tomorrow evening and see what we find and I promise, if I have time tomorrow, I'll take more pictures!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Wednesday, 4-19-23
Today I decided to get off the bank and go back deep for the crappies. I think Steve Swain and his son Stevie from Salisbury, NC will agree to it was a good decision!!!
Our first stop and we had a Crappie on the hook before we could get another line in the water. For a spell, 2 rods was all we could get in the water and continuously have fish on those two rods before it finally calmed down some, but not a whole lot!!!
The bite was good all morning everywhere we went. We accumulated over 70 crappies in the cooler for the guys to take home for some family fish frys and around 1PM they said they had had enough, even Barbara and I not being use to the blue bird skies and heat we had today and the awesome bite we had were give out too. It took us both netting fish and taking fish off, the bite was definitely today!!
Thanks, Steve and Stevie for fishing with us, you had many choices to choose from and we are humbled that you chose us for your fishing trip today. We surely hope we at least met or even possibly exceeded your every expectation!!!
Will be back on High Rock lake chasing crappies again tomorrow. Will they still be deep, I'll know in the morning!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All
Sunday, 4-16-23
Today we had a couple guys that this was their 1st time crappie fishing with us. They were Thomas Snipes from Mebane, NC and Joe Harris from Chapel Hill, NC. Again this morning we started off deep and the crappies were there according to the livescope, but weren't as active nor as interested in our baits today as yesterday. We gave it about an hour and picked at a few crappies but again the quality fish we were looking for didn't seem to exist here.
I made the decision to go back shallow and it proved to be the right choice. It took several stops to put together a good catch for these guys but we made it happen.
We ended our trip a little early because of the threat for rain looming over our heads and with a short day, we still had the guy 35 to 40 nice crappies to carry home with them.
If any of this for, crappies, Catfish, Stripers, etc would interest you we would love for you to spend a day with us so we could teach you how to do what I've spent my whole life doing.....catching fish....and if you happen to not catch any fish, or not enough fish to suite me....your trip will be FREE!!! Just call or text 336-309-5900 for any and all information about your trip....you are not under any obligation to book when you call!!!!
Thank you Thomas and Joe, y'all had lots of choices for your fishing trip and the fact you chose us out of all the others available is something we don't take lightly, we just hope we met or possibly exceeded your every expectation for your day of "catching" with Barbara, Bobo, and I.
Saturday, 4-15-23
Today we had some returning guys that have become real regular on our charter boats and it's always a good time when we go. They are John Kirkpatrick, Jessie Allison, Larry Allison, from Concord, NC and Derrick Massey from Charlotte, NC.
We started off deep this morning and were doing pretty good in 20 feet of water but the quality of the fish just wasn't there this morning so I decided to hit the shallows even though we had 22 crappies in the box in just an hour and a half, I wanted some bigger fish for the guys.
When we got to our 1st shallow spot is when the Ulterra trolling motor decided it didn't want to cooperate so I messed with it a bit and said the heck with it and dropped anchor. And then it started!!! When it was time to head back to the dock at 3PM, the guys were facing the fruits of their labor, so to speak, because now they had to go home and each one of the 4 guys had around 25 nice crappies each to fillet. I know we missed a few on the clicker at times when they were biting fast, but we had at least 100 for our efforts today!!! Once again, the Betts slip floats got the job done keeping our baits suspended at the right depths!!!
Another great day of fishing, catching, laughing, and just plain old clean country fun....man, it don't get any better than this!!! Already looking forward to our next trip!!!Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Wednesday, 4-5-23
Sorry today's report is so late but got home and had to find a problem with the Ulterra on the pontoon. I reported I had it fixed last night but today I found out I did not have it fixed. We were still able to catch crappies today as I have the God given ability to compromise when necessary!!! Finally found out the real trouble....it was a bad ground from the control board that serves the trim module side of the trim motor.
OK, we picked up Ben and Claire Cameron that came up from Pinehurst, NC today to go fishing with us for some crappies. Our first stop was one of the best stops we made. We found way more fish today than we did the past 2 days before but apparently the full moon effect had them a little more reluctant to bite. But, enough bit to make it a good day of crappie fishing and Ben and Claire were fantastic to spend the day with and they both are very well seasoned and experienced fisherpeople.
Taking a couple days off due to inclement weather forecasted and to get my truck front end lined up, get some new tires on it, so we'll be ready to hit the road again chasing more fish!!!
Give Barbara a call or text @ 336-309-5900 if you are interested to get information. No obligation, you're just getting information so you can choose wisely if you think you would like to go fishing with us and let us teach you the ways we do it to the point that if you do go and don't catch fish, your trip will be FREE!!!
Thanks for stopping by, please like us on face book, and would appreciate it if you'd comment on our post. Have a Blessed night and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 4-4-23
Today we headed back to High Rock lake once again to round up some more crappies for some more up coming fish fry's. We had with us today on the 24' fishing machine pontoon boat Gary Coffey from Monroe, NC and Sam Crockett from Waxhaw, NC. This pontoon has spoiled us all, such a great and roomy vessel to fish from for all kinds of fish, just ask today's fishermen and all those before them!!!!
We had a moderate bite today but it was steady. Every time I started to move someone would get a bite so we gave it a little longer. Just as we finished up one spot and started to move the Ulterra wouldn't stow. Trim motor malfunction was the problem. That was just a minor inconvenience for us though. I've had these motors long enough now to know what to do in most any situation and keep the supplies on board to handle these problems. Since I had just completely rebuilt this motor I figured it was just a minor adjustment of one of the sensors, and it was, I adjusted it at the boat ramp before we left this afternoon and we are ready for tomorrow's Crappie trip on High Rock lake again!!
Anyway, we were able to continue fishing today and we still had the spot lock feature so we were good to go!!! We caught some nice fish and when the dust finally settled around 3PM this afternoon we had 56 crappies in the ice box.
Another very fun trip today and they are already booked again in a few weeks to do it again. Great guys and loads of fun today and we even enjoyed catching crappies while doing it. It just don't get any better than this!! Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You !!
Monday, 4-3-23
I thought when I retired from offshore Saltwater Fishing Charters after 30 years I was done with 18 hour days, well never say never!!! This morning we left out at 4:30AM to meet Charles Bell and Andrew Smith from Pembroke, NC at Jordan to chase and catch some crappies.
We started out and our first stop started producing some respectable crappies and we pretty much had action all day and we ended the trip with the boats full limit of 80 nice crappies.
That's about it for tonight....have another trip tomorrow on High Rock lake for crappies again and it's now nearly 10PM. These long days like this just ain't as easy as they once were 40 years ago.
So, enjoy this short report and the pictures and I'll have another crappie report tomorrow night for High Rock lake. Thank you all for stopping by and God Bless You All!!!
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Today we picked up Aquil Shamsid-Deen, Walter Lee Monroe, Otis Worthy, and Robert Brown from Charlotte, NC. at Tamarac Marina on High Rock lake to pursue some more crappies. Walter Lee was the new guy today but the other 3 have fished with us a least 4 times now since we started our Freshwater Fishing Charters, and it's always a great time and loads of fun every time we go fishing!!!
We picked a few here and there in brush piles before I finally found the one I was looking for off the main river channel in 22 feet of water.
We finished the day up on this place putting 65 nice crappies in the cooler for several fish fry's. Already looking forward to our next trip coming up soon. Heading back to Jordan Lake in the morning for more crappies. Hope they still biting there. If they are we should find them!!
April is booked solid and May and June are booking pretty fast now. Don't wait too long to call Barbara @,336-309-5900 if you would like to experience a fishing trip the way we do it here at Yeah Right Charters, we promise, you'll be very happy with the way we do business and you won't believe the fun you'll have!!! And as always if you don't catch fish you'll still have a great time and no fish means you'll owe us nothing. That's our NO FISH-NO PAY Guarantee!!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading our fishing reports and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 3-31-23
Today we changed up and went back crappie fishing. At 8AM this morning we met up with Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC, Cordel and Oron Huneycutt from Albemarle, NC. at Jordan lake today to see if the crappies were biting. We have fished together many times and we met through our fishing charters and our friendship has now nurtured into more like family!!! Always enjoy these trips with these guys!!!
I could write a book about today's trip but not to make this too long, we found the crappies and as they say, " the rest is now history" as we got our 5 legal boat limits of 20 fish per person for a total of 100 very nice crappies and headed back home around 1:30 this afternoon. It was definitely an amazing trip and can't wait until we go again very soon.
If you want to get in on a fishing trip where you will catch plenty of fish and be guaranteed to not pay a dime if you should not catch fish on our local lakes then it simple and pain free with no obligation to book when you call or text Barbara @ 336-309-5900 for all information about your trip.
She said April is booked now with some others on a waiting list should we have a cancellation. May and June have already started booking so don't wait too long to call or these will be full as well before much longer!!!
Thanks to everyone that continues to support us and read our fishing reports, we really do appreciate it. Tomorrow is canceled due to bad weather moving in, but the Next week looks great right now and if the weather holds we'll have reports daily now for April!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 3-20-23
Running a little late this evening so this will be short as it's nearly 11PM and I've got to head to Jordan Lake in the early morning to see if we can round up some crappies.
Scotty Pate came up from Eagle Springs, NC to go with us to see if a catfish would bite today. We'll, I ain't going to lie, it was one of the toughest days I've ever had to find a biting catfish. We started off behind the High Rock Lake dam only to have our baits ignored. Moved on down into Tuckertown Lake and had the same results. Finally loaded up and went up the road and launched again at High Rock lake and here we finally found a "hole" that gave us some bites and Scotty was able to Finally get a decent Blue catfish to take home for dinner. We had another rod to bend over and drag pulled only to have it pull the hook. Then after that another smaller Channel catfish was caught and released and then we called it a day. We didn't get skunked today but we sure scared the devil out of it....LOL!!!
Always a great time when Scotty comes to fish with us and already looking forward to the next time.
Got to go now, 4AM will be here in 4 1/2 hours and it'll be time to do it all over again just like I've done nearly everyday for the past 32 years. Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 3-28-23
It was a little cooler this morning when we left the dock on High Rock lake to go catch some more crappies with Terry Anderle and her grandson Evan Klein, both from Uniontown, Ohio and returning fisherman Tony Harris from Thurmond, NC. It was Terry and Evans first time ever crappie fishing but after today I have a feeling it won't be their last. Tony has fished with us before and is as good as they get at catching fish!!! But, it didn't take long until Barbara's past experiences from being a 31 year school teacher had Terry and Evan hanging right there catching crappies right along side Tony as they honed their techniques to perfection!!
Water temperatures were in the mid 50's this morning so once again I opted to stay deep around 18 to 20 feet for our technique to get a good catch of crappies for todays group .I'll have to say it was a good decision as we ended the day with 66 crappies in the fish box headed to Thurmond, NC and Uniontown, Ohio for several good fish frys.
Have had a cancelation for tomorrow and I needed this day to get ready for a catfish trip on Thursday and to service the Yamaha on the pontoon since it's been running just about every day lately.
Thank you Tony, Terry, and Evan, you guys had many Charters to chose from and we are honored you chose Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip. We truly hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation. Remember, when you fish with us you are Guaranteed to catch fish on our local lakes, and if you would happen to have a day they don't bite, then you'll get a day of fishing and fun trying for FREE!!! If what we do interest you just call or text Barbara @ 336-309-5900 to get set up or no obligation information on the fishing adventure of a lifetime!!!
Also, thanks to everyone that stops by to read our reports and as always, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Monday, March 27, 2023
Today we hit High Rock lake with Neil Rodgers from Hampstead, NC. We still found the crappies deep although I know some are starting to move up as the water keeps getting warmer daily.
We got a few at every stop we made except for 2 places. They were there on the livescope, but not interested in biting so we moved on. That's why I invested in the livescope so I can keep my clients on active biting fish and not waste any of their fishing time on fish that don't want to bite. If they are moving, they will bite, if they are not moving, they don't want to bite right now. And that's especially true in brush piles like they did today and we ended the day with 35 nice crappies and a good fight on the light tackle from a flat head catfish that we sent back home to his mama to grow up!!
Neil, thanks again for your trust and consideration in Barbara and I and Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip today. You had many choices and we were honored you chose us and we don't take that litely!!!
Back to High Rock lake again in the morning to see just where we find the crappies again. Come on back tomorrow evening and get our fishing report right here.
Till next time, be safe on the water and don't work all the time, call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and take a break and go fishing with us, I promise, you'll have a great time and catch fish. And if you don't catch fish you'll still have a great time, and the trip will be FREE!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!
Sunday, 3-26-23
Today we were fishing for crappies on High Rock lake with Andy Dalton and his Son Caleb from Sparta, NC. The mission was to get enough crappies to have several family fish frys. We started looking shallow and worked our way deep once again. 15 to 20 feet deep was the magic common denominator for today's catch of around 63 nice crappies.
We had to dock the boat once and get off the water long enough to let a thunder storm pass. Lightening doesn't always play by the rules and we have to respect mother nature and keep safety first always!!!!
It was a great and fun day of catching crappies with these guys and we hope to be able to do it again sometime. Waters warming a little more everyday and I predict if things continue on the path we're on now they'll be shallow in a week ot two.
Thanks for stopping by and till next time God Bless You All!!!!
Monday March 20, 2023
Went to Badin this morning to fish with Glenda and Nick Tewell from Locust, NC. This will be short tonight as we have to go back to Badin again in the morning and when I got home I had to weld up my prop and fix a leaking fuel filter on the Yamaha because no one had one in stock so I just fixed what I had so we could not disappoint my fishermen.
The fish were there, but they were tough to get them to bite. We stayed on the move until we found some in 25+ feet of water that wanted to bite. We didn't load the boat but we did have around 20 nice slabs, plus, we lost several more big crappies trying to pull them into the boat without the net under them!!
March 8, 2023
Well dang if it wasn't a tough day for me and "Kropi Krusher" Mark Carmany from Apex, NC today. We started out up river for catfish this morning and on our first stop we just got the lines in and Mark soon had something pretty big on the hook that pulled the hook about 20 feet from the boat. And that my friends was it!!!
We moved to other areas up river only to not get bit. I had talked with my good friend Tony Schramm that morning and he was going behind High Rock dam, that was where I wish I had made plans to meet up with Mark. After talking with Tony and found out that this was where I should have gone because they had a hot morning bite there.
We weren't that far away from the dam so we loaded up the Carolina skiff and went there. But, unfortunately the bite had diminished and we fished the rapids, the boil, the calm water, and we had shad, Perch, crappie, chicken, and nothing could entice a bite for us today.
I think we were just too late for the bite as it was most likely winding down from the feeding overnight with this big ole full moon. That's the only excuse I have right now, so I'm sticking with that one until I can think of a better one. Mark wanted to know how much he owed me at the days end, and like I tell everyone once in a while when the unthinkable no fish day happens, we don't charge anything for boat rides!!!
Once again Bobo was just give out after trying to see if a rod was bending over today, he came home and crashed and burned on his bean bag. The photo dump is of today's catch and the picture of the reason I believe it happened the way it did. Thanks for coming by, and accept my apology for my no fish, fishing report. You always get the truth from us, no matter how bad it makes me look. Love me or hate me, it is what it is and will always be that way from myself and Yeah Right Charters..
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
March 7, 2023
Today we hit High Rock lake with a group from Charlotte and Concord, NC. They were Aquil Shamsid-Den from Charlotte, NC, Tish Buckwith from Charlotte, NC, and Dee Shamsid-Den from Concord, NC.
We didn't set the woods on fire today but we did manage some decent crappies and ended the day with 33 crappies. And I'll be honest, with 30+ mph winds from a cold front passing through coupled with a full moon, made it one of the toughest days I've crappie fished in a very long time
Going after some catfish tomorrow, I know the full moon makes catfishing tougher but at least the muddy water doesn't bother them, now if I can just find some shad in the morning!!
Thanks for stopping by, oh and while I'm thinking about it, a friend of mine said someone had a catalytic converter cut off their truck today while fishing. Looks like I'm going to have the same infrared security system installed on my truck like I had on my sport fisherman when I was chartering offshore at Southport/Oak Island, NC. At least I'll know who did it when it happens and can forward it to the local authorities.
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
February 26, 2023
Today we went to Flat Swamp on High Rock lake with a group that has become "regulars" on our Freshwater fishing trips. They always book again before they get off our boat for another trip. Thanks guys for your trust and faith in us and Yeah Right Charters. If at anytime we don't treat you with respect and ethical ways please let us know!!!
This group today was John Kirkpatrick, Jesse Allison, Larry Allison from Concord, NC and Derrick Massey from Charlotte, NC. High Rock Lake is trying to get its act together but this year so far she has been hit with so much rain, and a possibility of lots more coming this next week, cold fronts and water up and down with huge numbers on the water flow gage from the dam. But, it will be back to normal soon, I hope!!!
Luis and us were the 1st boats there this morning and Luis located some fish before I got to the area where I also wanted to fish. I tried staying on the outskirts of the bite he had but that wasn't going to do the trick for us. They were at one spot under the bait and that's where you had to be. I made the decision to do the right thing and give Luis the room here and not crowd him by exercising some "professional Courtesy" and go find my own fish so we wished him well and for him to catch 'em up and off we went.
The bite was really slow everywhere we went and the fish were small everywhere we went as well. I remembered a sunken road bed Barbara and I had fished about 40 years ago about this time of year so we made our move to there. Time was running short when we hit this spot but here we were able to catch some nice crappies and a Flat Head Catfish. I sure wanted to release the Flathead, but it was theirs. They caught it. It was legal to keep, and they wanted it, and so it was theirs!!! Even though we did OK today I wasn't real happy with 4 people only catching 20 crappies and a catfish for a full day trip, so as many of you already know, I run my business and treat folks the way I would want to be treated and be ethical, honest, and fair in all my transactions. So, I made sure they were taken care of the way Yeah Right Charters takes care of its family of fishermen!!!! If you've fished with us before and had a slow day of catching, then you already know!!!
Thank you everyone that likes our fishing reports, likes us on fb, likes our posts on fb, and that follow us on fb. You all are what keeps us striving to be the best at what we do, and we couldn't do any of it without you all!!! So, Thank You All Again, and till next time, God Bless You All !!
Friday, 2-24-23
Today it didn't rain, it was warm, and they said light winds, well 2 out of 3 ain't bad. If you fished today then you know about the forecasters version of "lite winds"
Barbara and I took some very special friends today to Jordan Lake to restock their freezer for some future fish fries. We were fishing today with Oron Huneycutt and his son Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC. It started off kind of slow but we kept moving around and were picking up one here and there, then I did a complete rig change up, got the boat anchored up on a channel drop and it was game on. Nice sized Crappies were coming in the boat from both sides and for a while Barbara and I could hardly keep up netting the slabs and taking the fish off the hook. We started around 8:30AM this morning and at 12:30PM the counter on the cooler said we had our 4 limits of 20 crappies, and 80 crappies this size is a lot of big fillets!!!
We called it a good day with lots of catching fun, the usual ribbing and fun from these 2 guys, along with some great conversation and getting to share a morning of fishing with a couple of guys that have become like family to Barbara and I.
We already have another trip planned in a few weeks to go back to High Rock lake and pick up where we left off there last year. Jordan is hot right now but you have to do your homework and put in the time to find them. I usually use livescope to help me find the fish. But putting time on the water to learn to read your equipment and you too can do like I did today and find your target species with just the down vu on the Garmin 93SV ultra.
Talked to several guys today that I have met through fishing and everyone I talked with had a great day of fishing. Was going to Badin tomorrow for some stripers but the guys didn't want to fish in the wind, rain and cold expected tomorrow and we don't want to either. Be back on High Rock lake again in a couple days, will let you know how we do there, right here, or on our website yeahrightcharters.com
Thanks for stopping by and reading my reports, till next time be safe on the water and God Bless You All!!!
February 19, 2023
Today, we picked up Dave Magdalinski from Burlington, NC. Dan Lambert from Mebane, NC, Douglas Hummell from Willistion, NC. and Justin "the fishing machine" Roten from Mebane, NC. at High Rock lake to go catch some crappies. Since there was 4 of them we elected to use the 24' pontoon since this would give us plenty of room and the lake was down 3 feet just a couple days ago so getting under the bridges would not be a problem.
We launched the pontoon this morning and I immediately knew something was wrong, I told Barbara, can you believe this, I grabbed my phone and checked the status of the lake this morning and it was 0.01 Below Full pool. I might could get on the other side of the bridge if I hit it running a couple hundred miles per hour. I felt kind of sick knowing the time of year it is and knowing where we needed to be this time of year wasn't going to happen today for us............!!!!!!
We were marking plenty of fish along the mid channel and tight lining with minnows and jigs could only get us some bites from a couple of Blue catfish. It was a great fight on the 12' Shakespeare ML Crappie Hunter rods but it wasn't the crappies that the guys wanted. So, we switched up to the 7 ' rods and went to brush. Here we found plenty of crappies on the livescope but they weren't very active which is not what you want to see on the livescope. I was still sick to my stomach because we were water locked on both ends of the creek with bridges we couldn't get under, man the lake had come up really fast over 2 days!! But, I wasn't about to give up and I fished hard trying tight lining, deep dropping, trolling, all with minnows and Crank'in Crazy Custom Jigs. The fish we kept today were decent and threw back some not much bigger than the minnows we caught them on.
I know because people tell me all the time I stress too much over catching fish, but I want my clients to catch fish more than most of them do and I like to post those reports where I at least sorta look like I know what I'm doing, but, I've also learned after 66 years of fishing it sometimes happens to all fishermen. And the only way I can post it is to tell the truth as it really happened, no matter how much it hurts me to do so. I wasn't happy with todays total catch and we had caught enough to make it a trip, but I still had to give the guys a substantial break on the rate today, it was the ethical thing to do in my opinion. It's the way we did business for nearly 30 years in Saltwater Charters and I have carried our untarnished reputation over into our new adventures in Freshwater Fishing Charters. I Just hope it earns me as much respect in the Freshwater charter fishing world as it did in the Saltwater!!!
Got a trip to Jordan Lake the first of the week, but I checked the stats on it and it has risen quite a bit, so you can bet I'll check it again before I head that way.
Sorry I went on so long with this report, but we had a lot of curve balls thrown at us today but we buckled down and did the best we could do with the conditions we were trapped in due to high dingy/muddy water. Thanks for stopping to read my reports, and till next time, God Bless You All!!
1-27-23
Today, Barbara and I spent a cold and windy day on High Rock lake among all the trash and logs with Chris Thompson from Midway, NC, and Jeff Thompson from Colfax, NC. looking for crappies. When the guys got to the boat this morning, I told them the reports I had gotten about others not getting a bite, and they said that's OK, we are mainly here to learn how you do this!! It had to be one of the toughest challenges I've had in a very long time. The water temperature was 45 degrees today and very heavily stained, Cube Hydro at one time was letting nearly 14,000 cfs through the dam, and the lake was steadily rising.
We started off spider rigging without a bite, and everyone else we talked to this morning was also saying they hadn't had a bite. So, after a couple hours doing this with no results, we broke out our short rods and started hitting structure adjacent to the main channel drops..... again, nothing, then Jeff caught a "tater chip" crappie. Well, that was a start and gave me some information on what to do next.
We stayed with the short rods, and I went to the deepest area in Flat Swamp, where I have structure on some deep drops in 30+ feet of water. The water here was a lot muddier than where we had been fishing, but there was nothing in the cleaner water we could get to commit to our baits, we could see the fish on the live scope but nothing bit except for the iddy bibby crappie!!! Here we finally put the puzzle together, we caught some respectable crappies at 31 feet and several good eating size blue catfish. We also lost a few fish here that just pulled the hook, we only kept 2 blue cats and released another one had another one get off at the boat, and caught enough crappies for a fish fry.
I did my best today to give them all the little details that make our techniques work well for us, and they soaked it up like a sponge and will do alright on their quest for crappies!!!
We have more rain forecast for the coming week. If it materializes, we might have to let the crappies rest on High Rock Lake for a bit because the catfish should be on a feeding frenzy!!!
Thanks for stopping by to read our reports, I myself was amazed I pulled it off today, I mean it was that tough!!! Be safe in the cold weather and cold water, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Tuesday, 1-24-23
We went back to High Rock lake again this morning with Chris Frandock from Greensboro, NC. Water is still heavily stained, or you could say mildly muddy, either way it's not its normal winter color for 46 degree water. Also sounds like tomorrow's not going to help it any either with another round of heavy rain moving in!!
Oh well, it is what it is, just hsve to work a little harder to find the biting Crappies. We hit a decent morning bite with some very nice crappies in the 28 degree weather and 46 degree water. About 11AM or there about the 10 mph wind that was forecast started to stir a little and it didn't take long before everyone was having the same problem I was. The fish were there, still in the area, but they just refused to bite after the winds picked up, like flipping a
" no bite" switch.
We were spider rigging when the bite shut off so we picked up and moved from fishing deep creek channels to another area where we switched up and started tight lining brush in 25 to 30 feet of water hoping the approaching front didn't have them shut down yet. Here we picked up a few more nice fish to add to the cooler and by that time it was time to head back to the dock. We ended the day with 25 good fish for some fish fry's and I think Chris picked up enough tips today to be a force to be reckoned with on the crappie catching scene.
Barbara and I always enjoy the days we spend with our clients fishing who become our friends after a day on the water with us, and today was no different. Looking forward to our next outing and hope we can fill the cooler up next time, but Lord, I'm not complaining, the bounty you Blessed us with was truly appreciated!!!!
If any of this interests you, just call or text 336-309-5900 and we can make it happen. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 1-21-23
We hit High Rock lake today with Chris Lyerly from Gold Hill, NC. The mission was to mainly see how we do things when we crappie fish and experience the techniques and if we catch a fish that would be alright too!!!
Chris was a natural and he looked and caught fish like he has done this all his life. Barbara and I both were very impressed at how fast he picks up on the little details that takes you to the next level in crappie fishing. I see many crappies in his boats live well in the very near future.
We waited until around 9AM to start this morning because it was really cold after being in the 50's and 60's the past 2 days. The water still remains very dirty to muddy depending on which part of the lake you are on. Water temperature is still in the mid 40's and the crappies are still suspended in 20 feet of water from around 10 feet down and scattered all the way to the bottom.
Chris said he learned a lot today that will help him in his crappie fishing. I was honored to be able to teach him how we do what we do and I really believe he knows how to do it now!!!
We ended the day with 42 nice crappies, probably missed good solid bites of about that many and it was just a great day fishing with a really great guy. Can't wait until our next trip!!!
Till next time, thanks for stopping by and God Bless You All!!!
Friday 1-20-23
OK, so I bragged on the weather forecast yesterday, but last night one forecast was saying that today it was going to be very windy with gusts up to 30+ MPH. What else could I do but cancel today's trip.
Got up this morning and every forecast was saying breezy with winds around 10 MPH. We got in touch with today's group and told them the weather had changed and the strong winds were in the mountains and are now not expecting to hit here. They tried to put it back together but wasn't able to do it, we hated it, but safety ALWAYS overrides all decisions, and we have to use the weather information as we get it!!!
Well, Barbara and I looked at each other and I said, we are already loaded up so let's you and I go. You'll never believe what we did.......We put the boat in the water at High Rock lake around 10:30. It was breezy like they said, almost windy between 10 to 15 MPH and a 24' pontoon is a beast to handle in those winds. The water is still fairly dirty to muddy, as for the temperature, I forgot to even look but I'll be sure to look tomorrow. We ended the trip around 3PM and headed back to the new fish cleaning station I built a few months ago with 30 nice crappies for us a few and some going to friends that don't have the means or opportunity to go like we do, but after all, catching fish is our job!!!!
Thanks for stopping by to read our fishing reports, you all are the best!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 1-5-23
I was in the shop this morning around 10AM and Barbara came in and said we should have gone fishing today. It's really nice outside. What you want to fish for, I asked, she said crappies. After getting everything done we put the boat in at Flat Swamp on High Rock lake around 12:30 and something suddenly reminded me, we had a LOT of rain yesterday, the Swamp was muddied up the worse I had ever seen it, but I have been gone from this area for nearly 30 years so I might have seen it before and just didn't remember it.
Talked to a couple fishermen that were leaving when we got there and the bite report was not good at all. Oh, and why were they leaving, well, like I said, it was very nice when we left the house, but by the time we got to High Rock lake the wind was howling and the lake was white capping. Now here's where we were at, the wind was blowing hard, the water was in the 40's, the water was muddy, it had risen over 2 feet over night, and to top all that off, it was a full moon rise today and did I mention that they were pulling the lake hard today with around 12,000,cfs going through the dam making a cold water current . I've said before tough conditions keeps you on your toes finding fish and cold and muddy water together in itself is a big challenge.... but all this at the same time... give me a break........oh well, we were here let's see what we can come up with.
I hit several places down the creek where the water was actually more fishable, you guessed it, not a bite!!!! I was heading to another area and stopped and told Barbara these fish are so confused right now I think they headed to the deepest water they can find and are in panic mode.
I actually surprised myself today at the fish we caught. I'll never worry again about fishing in muddy water in the winter time. You just got to figure out where they are and make the right presentation to them, and todays presentation was "Dead still" no movement in the baits at all. If we worked the baits any at all we came up with a white perch, but that's not bad either!! If you go to the Swamp tomorrow, give it a try. This is a tactic I've used for years in winter time, but I've never had any confidence in cold and muddy water. It just goes to show you're never too old to learn something new. Last week they were suspended about 10 to 12 feet down, but today they are on the bottom or Just inches off the bottom in around 25 feet of water. Drop down and crank up about one round off the bottom and keep your baits, minnows or jigs, as motionless as possible and you might be pleasantly surprised as well.
Thanks for stopping by to read our fishing reports. We appreciate you all and hope you the very best in 2023. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Thursday, 12-29-22
This morning we picked up John Kirkpatrick, Larry D. Allison and Jessie Allison at the Flat Swamp boat ramp on High Rock lake to search for some crappies. I chose to leave from the Flat Swamp dock figuring it would have the cleanest dirty water in the lake, and it did!!!
Our 1st stop found the crappies suspended around 10 to 15 feet in 20 feet of water. It was some tough conditions for sure with 38 degree water that was very heavily stained (muddy) but perseverance, slow presentation, and patience was of a virtue today.
Talked to several at the ramp this afternoon and all were singing pretty much the same song of how tough it was today. Most said they didn't catch anything, and a few, like us, caught some but it wasn't one of our better days. I went into this thinking that after 2 weeks of single digit temps and lots of cold rain that this was not going to be an easy task so I actually didn't paint the guys a pretty picture Wednesday afternoon but they wanted to try their luck anyway. Well, we did catch crappies, we did have a great time, we joked and laughed a lot, I wasn't satisfied even though we caught enough to charge the normal rate, but if you know me then you know I do business and treat people the way I would want to be respected. So I just did what I thought was the right and ethical thing to do and charged a hundred bucks to help cover some of the expenses and we are going to do it again when the conditions get better.
Guys, I know you had a lot of charter boats to choose from for your fishing trip, and we here at Yeah Right Charters are honored you chose us. Barbara and I only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation on your trip with us and got to experience what we mean when we say, with us, it's not all about the money, that's why you're not charged anything up front and if you don't catch any fish your trip is FREE, and if I don't think you caught enough, your trip rate is adjusted accordingly!! Thanks again and till next time God Bless you all!!!!
Monday 12-12-22
It has been a while since we have gone to Jordan Lake for crappies. So with the season being where it is we figured the winter time crappie bite should be getting fired up about now. So, we loaded up the tackle onto the pontoon, met up with our buddy Rusty Orrell and Barbara and I headed to Jordan this morning.
On the way we were reliving some past experiences from fishing Jordan in the winter and we have had some fantastic trips when it has been cold in years gone by. We get there and unload the boat and take off to fish one of the local "hotspots" for winter crappies.
Today that Hotspot had cooled off some!!!! We seen a fish being picked up here and there, some where crappies and some were perch, catfish, and largemouth bass. We stayed on the move and Rusty picked up a nice crappie and several perch. I kept the perch for bait for a future catfishing trip. But a consistent crappie bite wasn't working for us. After probing all the usual cold water hangouts I had pretty much eliminated a lot of water and areas. I was getting ready to run to another part of the lake but wanted to check the drop-off from the lake bed that drops into the main river channel. I figured that if they were on the move again from the unstable weather we have been experiencing lately this should be where they should be!!! The bite was still slow, but here we did start picking at some very nice crappies in about 28 feet of water. Enough to keep us interested enough to hang out on this drop off the rest of the afternoon
Here, we ended our trip today with 25 crappies, threw back a good many shorts under 10 inches, caught a catfish, and just had a great time fishing with our good friend Rusty. Sometimes you just have to throw all experiences to the wind and just take a deep breath and think, now, if I was a fish today, just where would I want to be......I'll take a little luck over skill any day when I have too!!!!
Also, in case you didn't know, the 15th of December dead line for the High Rock Lake drawdown to 8 feet has now been extended until the 18 of December. As of right now it's down 8 feet below full pool. Be careful with this low water, bad things are lurking just under the surface all over the lake right now!!!
Barbara, Bobo and I want to thank you all for stopping by, God Bless you All, and Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!
Monday, 12-1-22
Went to the swamp this morning to meet up with Jonathan Seed from Charlotte, NC, I. Christopher Williams from Troutman,NC. and Ricky Doll from Indian Trail, NC to look for some biting crappies. Upon arriving I found the water temperature at 51 degrees and the water stained to the point of almost muddy, especially for the swamp area.
We located brush piles and fish all morning and found plenty of crappies hanging out there and moving around the brush with fish moving in and out and swimming all around. Just what you want to see when looking for crappies but most weren't interested in our minnows.
We still picked up several nice crappies today for dinner and topped things off with a bonus flathead Catfish.
If you fish then you know sometimes it's your day and sometimes it's not. That's why it's called fishing and not catching. And if you've fished with us then you know we have built our business on truth, fairness, moral, and ethical business practices and with the less than par bite today I still could have charged the full rate. Not on my watch, I charged enough to cover fuel, and we'll do it again in January.
But I will have to say all in all it was a great day on the water fishing with these guys. We had a wonderful time and I laughed so much today my ribs are sore tonight. It was an absolute pleasure meeting this group and getting to spend a day with them fishing. Already looking forward to our next trip in January!!
Till next time, God Bless you All!!!!
Saturday, 3-11-23
My day started at 3:30 this morning when Barbara and I headed to Jordan Lake to meet up with Jimmy Fincher from Gastonia, and Bill and his son Brandon Costner from Grover, NC. to catch some crappies. We had a delay at the boat ramp as a fellow angler was having trouble getting his boat off the trailer. I wasn't going to just run off without trying to help him out. We finally got his boat free from the trailer and then we started to go fishing. Little did I know the weather report that I looked at didn't say anything about the winds today. They were brutal and howling by this time and was trying to blow the 24' pontoon sideways, but we were already there so we just made the best of it.
I was totally amazed that the 36 volt Minn Kota Ulterra could hold a 24 foot pontoon on the fish in those kind of winds. Haven't ever tried to fish it in those kind of winds, it did an awesome job!!!!
The key to our success today was with the livescope. I would locate a school of fish on a channel drop or hump up from the bottom on forward mode, then switch to down mode and ease the pontoon boat on top of them, hit spot lock, tight line baits down and it didn't take long at all before one or more of the guys were saying "nice fish on" so we could be there with the net. Only had to throw 2 undersized fish back all day today as NEARLY all were between a pound and 2+ pounds.
I wanted to get more pictures today but we just didn't have time to take many pictures. 2 of the guys said I can't do 3 rods anymore, I'll just do with one rod!!! It even wore Bobo out today just watching .Today's fishermen and the cooperation of the fish is what life long memories and new friends are made of!!! Jimmy, Brandon, and Bill it was truly our pleasure and an honor to get you guys 5 limits of 100 crappies today for y'all's upcoming fish frys.
God Bless You All and stay safe on the water!!!
Monday, 11 -21-22
Well, the High Rock Lake draw down for December is definitely making things a little tougher to get bit from a crappie, at least for me anyway. Checking the Cube Hydro statistics this afternoon, the lake has dropped nearly 3 feet in 24 hours. In case you haven't heard, a letter was sent out to all lake property owners stating that the lake would be drawn down at least 8 feet by December the 1st and remain there for at least 15 days so people could do repairs to docks and property, and It looks like they are now getting serious with it and I think the big pressure drop from the water dropping so fast now has the crappies kinda shook up a bit.
But today, we took Otis Green, SR. Otis W. Worthy, Robert "Git "Brown, and Aquil Shamsid-Deen on a trip to find some crappies. Well, we found plenty but could only get 30 to commit to biting a hook good enough to put in the boat. We probably missed that many as well that just didn't make a good commitment to get hooked up. According to everyone I talked to this afternoon, sounds like we actually had a great day of catching after all!!!
Got to go to Winston Salem for my eye surgery tomorrow and hopefully I'll be back fishing by the weekend at least to be able to fish the Ole North State Linesiders Striper Tournament to benefit Davidson County Hospice that Barbara and I help sponsor every year.
And also, please check out the brochure I have included in my pictures with this post. It's about the 2023 Saltwater Fishing School at Oak Island, NC this year that Captain Jerry Dilsaver and I bring to you each year. Hope you can make it this year and just so you'll know, it usually sells out pretty quick every year, so don't wait too long to reserve your seat.
Again, I want to thank everyone that likes us on fb and follows us on fb and also follows our website that according to our Google Analytics reports we are now being followed worldwide, WOW!!!. You all are the reason we do what we do and we couldn't do it without you all. Till next time, God Bless you All!!!!
Sunday, 11-18-22
Went back to High Rock Lake again this morning with Dave Magdalinski from Burlington, NC. Dakota Kolodgie from Hillsborough, NC. Justin Roten and Dan Lambert from Mebane,NC.
As the water temperatures and water levels continue to drop the bite continues to get better each day. I didn't get a lot of pictures today because these guys kept Barbara and I very busy keeping everything running smoothly from all the fish bites we got today.
Its been a long time since I have laughed as much as I did today, it was just another reason why I'm in my 70's and still do what I do. With 57 crappies we kept for a fish fry we headed to the dock to finish the day up so everyone could get home before so late this evening. Guys, Barbara and I want to express our gratitude and appreciation for choosing Yeah Right Charters for your Freshwater Fishing Adventure today. We truly hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!!!!
Heading back out tomorrow morning to search out more crappies. Suppose to be cold again tomorrow but I do believe it will be warmer than it was today. The winds and cloudy skies made it just a bone chilling cold today. But, when the crappies bite like they did today you don't seem to notice it as much!! Thanks for stopping by to read our fishing adventures reports and till next time, God Bless you all!!!!!
Saturday, 11-19-22
Went back to High Rock Lake again this morning with a couple of return customers who were Theadore Gladden from East Spencer, NC and Lloyd G Phillips from Salisbury, NC and with them they had a new fisherman Eddie L. Canady from Mt. Holly, NC.
We started off in structure around 18 feet and never looked back. I didn't take Barbara long to show these guys the way we have developed over the years our method of catching crappies and as they say " the rest is history"!!!! When the day was over we had nearly filled a couple coolers with crappies and a few perch and the final count was around 70 crappies of various sizes and quite a few were nice filleting sized fish.
We will be back at them again tomorrow on High Rock Lake and we hope the bite continues as it did today. The water is getting colder every day, and it won't be much longer now until the fantastic crappie bite that occurs in winter time will be on here, and we cant wait!!!!.
December, January, and February are Barbara and myself's favorite time to crappie fish. If you haven't tried it you need to experience it at least once and we'd love to show you how. Like most, you just won't believe how great it can be when it gets right!!
Thanks to everyone I've met here in this area since I've moved back home that has told me they follow us on fb, it's been really humbling and I appreciate you all that follow us. Every where we go folks are continuously stopping and chatting with us and letting us know they follow us and tell us "Welcome Home", Thank you all so much, it just confirms what I said when I retired from Saltwater fishing and moved back home and said " I'm finally back where I really belong" and all ya'll have just confirmed that for me!!! Please like our fishing reports on fb and above all Thank you again and God Bless everyone!!!!
Thursday, 11 -17-22
It was a bit chilly this morning when we picked up Bobby Hursey from Albemarle, NC Jeffery Morris and Hugh Huggins from Star, NC and Jason King from Biscoe, NC to go see where the crappies were hiding out today. Yeah, I was a little apprehensive after all the rain and winds the last several days but I guess it's like Barbara said, " why are you worried, you've done this for over 60 years and you always find them" Thanks Barbara, I love and appreciate you very much!!!
Started off with a challenge first thing this morning. Trolling motor was frozen solid in the bracket and couldn't get it in the water until I got it thawed out, LOL!!!!! That didn't take long and we just kept on the move until we started picking at the crappies at various depths from 23 feet all the way up to 10 feet. They are definitely scattered right now and seem to be a little confused but with water temperature 55 degrees today it won't be long now before they put it together and school up and head to their deep water wintering grounds.
Today's group was a real good group of guys that were talented crappie catchers and that always helps and if you are not a seasoned crappie fisherman we do our best to teach you how to become one when you go crappie fishing with Yeah Right Freshwater Charters.
We ended the day with 63 nice crappies with mixed sizes from good filleting size, to just good eating size, and even had quite a few " slabs" in the cooler as well.
Tomorrow's Crappie Charter had to cancel this afternoon because one has got the Flu, sure hope they have a Godspeed recovery from that and are feeling better soon. Barbara ask me not to post we had a cancelation so if you don't hear from me again please come and rescue me. I'll be Chained to the maple tree in the back yard LOL!!! but the crappies are biting and we don't have many openings left and very few cancellations so if you want to go catch crappies tomorrow on High Rock Lake just call or text 336-309-5900 before 11 PM tonight and let's go get you some crappies. We can take 1 person and/or up to as many as 4 people. Just call or text 336-309-5900 before the deadline of 11PM tonight 11-17-22!
Thanks to you all that come by to read our fishing reports and I'm continually amazed by how many people tell me that follow me on fb and our website yeahrightcharters.com Thank you all so much ......Till next time, God Bless you all!!!!
Monday, 11-14-22
Picked up John Cranford and his wife Kim from Arcadia, NC this morning at Tamarac Marina at 10AM for a short Crappie trip today. After coming off a few days of warm temperatures it was a little nippy today but it actually felt more like November than it has lately. I was surprised that the water was heavily stained to the point you could actually call it muddy, chocolate milk colored, not red muddy, but muddy enough.
On our first stop today the first line in was immediately hit with a good fish that got us in the brush and broke off. We stayed on the move again today and although we didn't set any records we did catch a couple very nice Crappies and the rest were just good eating sized fish.
OK, got tomorrow off to get some errands caught up and take Barbara to the Dr. Then off Wednesday the 16th if no one calls for that day, then starting back on Thursday the 17th and will run everyday, weather permitting, until the 22nd when I have to go have another eye surgery to correct a previous eye surgery that didn't do good.
If all goes good as expected will be open again for Charters on November 27, 28, 30, of November and Dr. Says possibly can start back up on the 24th. Just give us a call if you want to go fishing in November on one of the few days we have left open. Thanks for taking the time to read our fishing adventures and till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Saturday, 11-12-22
This morning we met Nick D'Alessandro from Morganton, NC at Lake Norman to hopefully find some hybrids that would want to bite after all this stormy weather we have had the last several days. Today was also a tough day with all the windy conditions on the lake.
We marked fish that looked promising but apparently they were on the move pretty fast today as every time we marked a school and hit the anchor on the ulterra they were gone just as fast. So, we decided to pull "A" rigs on lead core to intercept the moving fish, nope, they weren't interested in that either, but we were blessed to have had a good bite on the blue catfish today and Nick even got his PB blue catfish on rod and reel as well today. Not exactly the species we had in mind but sometimes you have to go with the flow in fishing and make the best from the situation at hand and that's just what we did.
Thank you Nick for coming all the way from Morganton today to fish with us. We just hope we possibly met or even exceeded your every expectation!!!! Taking tomorrow off, I hope but will be back after more Crappies bright and early Monday morning in the cold. Till next time, thanks for stopping by and God Bless you All!!!
Thursday, 11-10-22
This morning we picked up Don Adam's from Morganton, NC; Mike Phillipi from Mountain City, TN, and Tony Caulder from Midland, NC to see if we could catch some crappies. The weather yesterday was bad so we cancelled that trip but the forecast last night looked better today so after thr guys drove such a long way to fish with us I didn't want to discourage anyone with negative comments but I'll have to say I was starting to have my doubts.
The winds were already blowing harder when they got here than the predicted 5 to 10 from the NNE. Plus the rains we had a few days ago had the main lake on the Rowan side especially, pretty stained. So, we loaded up on the 24' pontoon, yeah, pontoon in all this wind and I set out to make it happen for the guys!!!
Well, I could go on, but when it was time to call it a day at 3PM, we had put around 30 very nice crappies in the cooler. I had to stay on the move and although I seen lots of fish on the livescope it was pretty tough to find those that would bite but most that did were quality fish around a pound or more and a few were pushing 2 pounds or possibly more.
You guys had many choices for your fishing trip and Barbara and I are Blessed and honored you chose us for your fishing trip. We only hope we met or possibly exceeded your every expectation even in the tough fishing conditions we had to work with today
With the weather conditions we are going to have tomorrow we have cancelled that trip hopefully we will be back out Saturday looking for more crappies. Till next time, God Bless you All!!!!
Wednesday, 11-2-22
Today we were crappie fishing with Steve Turrentine from Clayton, NC and Glenn Harris from Rougemont, NC. Steve has become a regular returning fisherman who has a trip booked every month now and we are very Blessed to be able to fish with such great people on a regular basis as we get to do here at Yeah Right Freshwater Charters!!!
We picked at them this morning at various depths but the majority came from brush on main lake humps and same areas in the swamp. Again today we had a lot of " short bites" threw back several smaller fish and even had a few to get off before we could get them in the net.
We had just a great day picking and joking and conversation as we always do on our trips and when we finally wrapped the trip up we had some nice crappies with some over the one pound mark with a count of 40 crappies if I didn't miss any on the clicker like I usually do, and a good eating size channel catfish. Fun, friends, and fish, just don't get any better than this!!!
You can come join us too, just call or text Barbara at 336-309-5900 and get on board one of our 4 boats. But call soon, Barbara told me today that November is just about booked up.Going to be getting the deep vee striper boat ready tomorrow to head to Buggs Island this weekend to do some striper fishing. We'll be really busy the next few days so we'll post our striper fishing report hopefully Saturday evening.
Thanks to everyone that reads our reports, follows us on fb and just tells us when they see us that they follow us on fb. We appreciate all of you and that's why we always make sure we keep our reputation in tact with 100% truth in reporting. Thanks again and till next time, God Bless You All!!
Tuesday, 11-1-22
Today we went to Tamarac Marina to pick up Glenance Gary and Michael Crawford from Tucson, Arizona and Glen L. Martin from Pageland, SC. Our mission again today was enough Crappies for a fish fry tonight and although the bite was sproatic we kept on the move and after missing bunches of bites, releasing some smaller fish, and even a few that got off at the boat we did put together enough nice fish for the fish fry dinner for the three before heading back to Tucson AZ tomorrow.
We fished minnows and jigs today and the minnows caught all the fish. I even helped out with fishing the jigs and the crappies just didn't want them. They used 1/32 and I used 1/16 and they just weren't interested.....Some days are like that!!!! Like I said earlier the key today was to stay on the move. We fished deep structure 18 to 25 feet, shallower structure 14 to 18 feet and caught very little and had very few bites. There were lots of fish in the brush piles and they were active, swimming all around but would go up to our offerings and just turn away, sorta frustrating and I knew I could keep doing this all day and It wasn't until I switched it up and started fishing my places that are just maybe a limb, small tree branch, etc, that just had 2 or 3 fish on each one. Sure wish I had started that sooner, that's what we caught 90% of the crappies on today.
When we got in I talked to a couple that was saying it was a tough bite for them today as well. Most likely they will be on the bigger brush in the morning because I'm starting my trip tomorrow where I left off this afternoon. But I promise if the bite ain't there it won't take me as long as it did today to give up on them and switch things up again.
Thank you Glenn, Michael, and Glenance for choosing Yeah Right Freshwater Charters for your crappie fishing adventure. We know you had many choices to choose from and we are humbled and Blessed that you chose us for your day on High Rock Lake. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 10-29-22
We met Leea Wilson, Tyler Champion, Timothy Champion from Burlington,NC and Austin Champion from Mebane,NC at the boat ramp on High Rock Lake this morning at 8AM. This was the first day that actually had the feel of winter to it in a long time.
If you crappie fish then you know the roller coaster weather the past couple weeks has the crappies and most crappie fishermen scratching their heads to find good catches of fish every day, but this pretty much happens every year around this time!!! We once again fished areas around 19 feet adjacent to deep water since the water is now in the upper 50's. Most, but not all are making their journey to their winter stomping grounds now and especially with the lake dropping some as well. We marked a lot of fish on the livescope around deep structure but most were buried deep into the structure, brush piles, and semi-dormant. These we hit for a short period to give them a chance to bite and we did pick a couple off some. However, most of our fish came from 19 to 24 feet brush that had crappies near the top of the piles and were moving around, those are the ones we concentrated on the most and it paid off.
These guys had fished with me when I was doing saltwater Offshore Charters and backwater charters out of Southport/Oak Island, NC and we had so much fun on those trips they came to fish with us in Freshwater, and we had a ball and laughed all day long. I don't know the exact number of fish we caught as I didn't count them , but I do know we missed as many or more than we caught, and missing those was 1/2 the fun we had today as no one was exempt from a good ribbing, in other words "WE HAD A GREAT TIME". All ready looking forward to our next trip!!! You guys have lots of choices for charter fishing trips and the fact that you keep coming back to fish with Yeah Right Charters really humbled me and lets me know I have the best fishermen and fisherwomen in the business. I only hope I possibly met your every expectation and might have even exceeded those as well!!
Till next time, God Bless You All.
Thursday 10-27-22
Today we picked up Michael Hendrix from Wallace, SC at High Rock Lake to do some crappie catching. Michael has fished with us several times now for Crappies and knows the importance of the little details we have shown him over the years that can make your day of crappie fishing definitely one to remember. It's those little details that make all the difference from crappie fishing to crappie catching!!!!!
The fish are still pretty picky right now and you have to be willing to move a lot to find fish that will bite hard enough that you can catch them and know when to set the hook. A little too soon and you get nothing and a second too late, and you get nothing. Michael knows how we do it and loads the boat every time he goes because we work hard together and get the job done!!!!! Michael, as always, it was a real pleasure to fish with you again today. You keep it up and you're going to be better at crappie catching than I am.
Like I said earlier we moved a lot today to find fish that were active on the structure, dormant fish with very little activity was a sign to me they just weren't feeding, but I still gave them a very short time to start feeding before we moved on. Finally I put a decent pattern together and found that the fish holding on structure just off the edge of main lake channels in 18 to 24 feet of water were the most active fish. Some were so active they would occasionally come to the surface to check out the trolling motor prop that was turning, these would bite and most would bite hard. Anything else was a waste of time for us today!!!
Michael put nearly 60 nice crappies in the cooler today and plans are already in the making for us to fish again soon. We didn't get a lot of pictures today, we didn't have time when we found the right pattern that was holding biting fish!!! Oh yeah, if this interest you and can go on short notice, we had a rare cancellation for tomorrow this afternoon due to some unfortunate circumstances so we have tomorrow open. But if you are interested, please call Barbara @336-309-5900 by 11PM tonight if you'd like to go tomorrow. If I don't book tomorrow then I'll finish wiring the lights and receptacles and get the plumbing finished in our new fish cleaning building I've been building this year, and hopefully get my truck serviced!!!
Till next time, thanks for stopping by to read our reports and God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday, 10-26-22
Today we took off from Tamarac Marina in search of crappies on the main part of High Rock Lake. We had Theodore Gladden from East Spencer, NC and Pete Phillips from Salisbury, NC on the pontoon with us. The first couple hours this morning were damp, wet, cloudy and foggy but the fish and Bobo didn't seem to mind. I don't know about the fish but Bobo was on the driver's seat beside me buried deep into his Gore Tex, Goose Down, hunting coat that he confiscated from me and now calls his, and it is!!!
We started out on the drops and ledges along the main river channel edge. The fish were in and around structure and were active moving around as seen on the livescope. But the bite was very sluggish, but we caught fish, lost fish, and missed a lot of fish that just didn't connect with the hook.
We still had a great day of fishing and put around 25 to 30 fish in the cooler all the while having some very good conversations and laughs. It was just a fun day of fishing with some great and fun guys to spend a day fishing with, I just wish the bite would have been stronger for us, but, if you know me then you know I'm never satisfied with the fish you catch, I want you to have more. I've been told many times I put too much emphasis on catching fish, but that's what I want you to do when you go fishing with Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters, CATCH FISH, and when the day comes when I don't want you to catch fish, that will be when I need to get out of the charter business and retire.
Back after more Crappies tomorrow, hopefully they will be more aggressive and hungrier tomorrow. I'll know for sure by this time tomorrow afternoon. Thank you all for stopping by and reading my fishing reports. It takes a lot of time and effort to do all this after every trip, but you all are more than worth it. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday 10-25-22
Today we decided to give the Flat Swamp area of High Rock Lake a try for Crappies since we had the slow day a couple days ago on the main lake area. We were fishing with Demetrius Loizides and his 2 sons George and Marshall who had heard about us and flew all the way from Solvang, California to fish with us.
It was a catch and release day and the guys had a $10.00 bet on the biggest fish and a $5.00 bet on the most fish and the youngest fisherman was Marshall and he not only caught the biggest fish with his big Flathead Catfish but he also got the prize for catching the most fish today.
You can definitely tell the fish are on the move and are in the transition period going from summer to winter and dealing with fluctuations of water levels as well. You definitely have to put in your homework to get a good box of fish now. We didn't set the woods on fire today but we picked at around 30 fish on a shorter than normal trip. Thanks guys for having the trust and confidence in Yeah Right Freshwater Charters to choose us for your trip. There were lots of fish on our spots and most just didn't want our offerings but I kept us on the move and we got some nice fish and enough to keep the kids interested most of the time. Hope to see y'all again sometime soon!!!!
Got a pick up point in the morning on the other side of the lake looking for more Crappies so I'll probably be on the main lake again tomorrow. Water might be down enough to get the 24' pontoon under the bridges but if the water level predictions from Cube Hydro are on the rise I'll not chance getting trapped in Abbott's or the swamp and not be able to get back to my point of launch, that would be quite an ordeal not to mention embarrassing!!! You might ask, with 3 other boats why do we use the pontoon boat nearly all the time, my answer to that is, if you don't want a pontoon then you better not ever go fishing on one, you too will be totally spoiled just like we are, the big 24' is big, fast, roomy, stable, and an awesome fishing platform. We have rigged ours out just for fishing, come try it out with us sometime, we just might catch a fish or two as well. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 10-22-22
The last 4 days have been awesome with good numbers of very nice crappies and lots of them being one pound plus fish and a few approaching the 2 pound mark.................. I knew it was going to happen and today for me at least, it did!!!! I was having high hopes this morning when we picked up Douglas Tyrone Perkins, Philip Mast, Deof 'Eon Perkins from Lenoir, NC and Brian Howell from Newton, NC.
We started out this morning from Tamarac Marina and headed to an area that has been doing well only to find fish on the livescope that would not bite. This scenario went on at every stop and finally Brian put a couple mediocre crappies in the boat. Then it just died......!!
We kept on the move marking structure and fish and the fish were moving in and out of the cover but with no interest in biting. I was also monitoring the lake level at Cube Hydro and was noticing the lake level would be falling then in an hour it would be rising and then later falling again and I'm guessing this fluctuation of water had the fish spooked, it was the only reasonable explanation I could come up with.
We went to our piles we haven't fished in Several weeks and some more we haven't fished since last winter and it was still the same conditions. Fish with no bites. We did pick a few fish throughout the day and even got a few nice crappies but for the most part our 30 fish catch today was on the small to medium size.
Sure hope things improve by Monday when we will be back out trying to put the crappie catching puzzle back together again. Sure hated to make this post today but this is the way it went for us and all I can say is that it just wasn't in God's plan today for us to continue our big fish catching streak we had going on for the past several days. I was humbled and embarrassed at my performance today but God has a way of reminding you who has control over the world, it's creatures, and His people, and that makes me thankful for His grace to let us get those 30 fish today!!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading our reports, we write it like it is, no sugar coating here at Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters. Got Tyrone's picture with the biggest crappie of the day. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
10-21-22
I mentioned I was humbled by yesterday's family that came from SC just to fish with us. well, humbled doesn't come close to how I felt today when we found out this morning that Rich Robinson drove down yesterday from Gilliner, Pennsylvania, just to go crappie fishing with us and says he's coming back again after the day we had today.
We started out really slow, the fish were obviously in the structure as seen on the livescope and at 11AM we actually had a nice crappie in the cooler, but that was 3 hours fishing and only one fish, not good!!!! On our next spot we were still experiencing the same results and I had noticed the water temperature had dropped almost 7 degrees overnight and the lake had risen nearly 1 1/2 feet. I knew they were moving now and I put 2 and 2 together and we made a run downstream and to a place that was a fast drop off to the main river channel.
I was all smiles after this stop, it was the common denominator I was looking for this morning but didn't put it together until nearly noon. Rich ended the day with 37 very nice crappies, we dropped them off at the fish cleaner we have orchestrated for our fishermen on High Rock to have their catch cleaned for a very reasonable cost and he does a great job!!!
Back at it again tomorrow, just hope the pattern I found today holds for tomorrow still, if it doesn't , I'll still find them, and if I don't, your trip will be FREE!!! If you want to catch some fish, crappies, Catfish, Hybrids, Stripers, etc. Just call 336-309-5900 for rates and information and to answer any questions you may have. No obligation to book when you call!!! The crappie bite will just get better as winter approaches as they school tighter this time of year.
Thanks for stopping by to read our reports and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
10-20-22
Today we braved the cold and wind and went back crappie fishing with Danny, Deanna, and James Eddins from Chesterfield, SC. We were really humbled that someone would come all the way from Chesterfield, SC just to fish with us, it must have been to meet Bobo, our fishing pup!!
The bite started off strong this morning and every move we made added a few more Crappies to the cooler. Then, as with another front on the horizon the winds picked up around lunch time and the bite slowed down. We picked one here and a couple there after the winds started and when we called it a day around 3:30 we had around 40 nice crappies with many near a pound, some over a pound and a few around 1 1/2 pounds.
Thanks for stopping by and reading our reports and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
10-17-22
They say all good things must come to an end and we knew it was going to happen but we are still so glad our son Captain Chris Foster got to have a week off work in the nuclear energy field to come spend with us. He has to fly out tomorrow to another job and we don't know when we will be able to see him again or if we'll ever see him again at our age, but with him having to leave early in the morning, we had to make one more fishing trip with him so we called our good friend Tim Jackson from Jackson Farm, Deer Processing in Lexington, NC to join us today on another crappie fishing trip.
We went back to High Rock Lake today and I kept the bow of the 24' pontoon boat over the brush and crappies and Capt Chris, Barbara, and Tim commenced to wreak havoc on the big crappies today. I was overjoyed watching Capt Chris reliving his roots the way he was brought up fishing with us all the time. Barbara and him both are masters of crappie catching and before the day was over Tim was right on their heels holding his own. Looks like we have created another crappie catching monster!
We will be taking tomorrow off to service the pontoon engine and the tow vehicle so we'll be ready to roll again in a couple days. If any of this would interest you just call 336-309-5900, no obligation to book and the information and any questions answered are free as well!! Also, when you do decide to book there is no upfront deposits required and should you have to cancel due to unfortunate situations there is no charge for that either.
We left the crappies biting today and when we called it a day this afternoon we had 75 nice crappies in the cooler. Another great day with family and friends. It just don't get any better than that and Barbara and I both can't wait until we can do it again someday!!!
By the way if you shoot a deer in Davidson county or the surrounding area and you want it professionally processed by one of the best in the business just give Tim a call @ 336-240-2757 at Jackson Farm Deer Processing he offers a lot of different cuts to process your venison!!! Thank you all for stopping by to read our reports, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
October 16, 2022
Today we finally were able to put a trip together to go after crappies with John Cranford " owner of Cranford's Fishing Page" on fb and his wife Kim from Arcadia, NC and also Rhonda Cole from Winston-Salem, NC and her friend Steve Hicks from Thomasville, NC. I'm going to be honest, after hitting several good spots I figured today was going to be one of our famous " no fish-no pay" trips. The fish were lighting up the live scope but they did not seem to be interested in anything we had to offer them. I stayed on the move and with the water rising around 1 1/2 feet in the past few days I decided to try deeper water. The water temperatures were in the mid 60's and most bait I saw was deep so I made a move from around 15 feet to 21 feet and that was the magic puzzle piece for today's situation.
It took a bit for a couple to catch on to the catching techniques but it wasn't long after I found the biting fish we were stacking them up in the cooler. It was a great and very fun filled day with these guys and gals and it's been a long time since I had laughed this much as I did today. It was just fantastic!!!! We ended the trip around 3PM and we unloaded today's catch and John divided them up into 2 coolers and he said the final count today was 53 fish plus a channel catfish that Steve caught and gave to Rhonda for the grill.
Talks are already in the works about more trips with this group and Barbara and I can't wait. I'm looking forward now to introducing them to some big catfish we have in our Yadkin Chain of lakes!!! You guys had several choices to call to book for your fishing trip, and we THANK YOU for your trust and confidence in Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters for your fishing trip. We only hope we met and possibly exceeded your every expectation today. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday, 10-14-22
Today we decided to take our son, Chris Foster, who we hardly get to see anymore because he is flown all over the world now leading a group of guys to repair nuclear power plants. But this week he has the opportunity to spend it with us. Barbara was telling him about our trip last week we took with Bill Ward on Lake Norman for Hybrids and he said he would like to try that sometime.......well, sometime was today.
It was rather obvious when we got there this morning around daybreak that the Hybrids are on the move with the changing weather and seemed to have scattered more than they were just last week. So, we changed up tactics to cover more water and we picked up a couple, lost a couple, and had a very nice one that measured 23 inches.
Now during all this we were also catching blue and channel catfish and decided early that if we caught any hybrids we would release them all, even keepers like the 23 incher.
That's exactly what we did, and ended the day around 2 with plenty of catfish for several fish fry's and some good pictures of the hybrids and also the catfish. The bite was tougher than we made it look, I worked hard today keeping up on fish that would bite. The catfish and Hybrid today were on the ledges in around 60 feet of water along the channel edges where a creek junctioned the main river.
Have had several texts for tomorrow for Crappies and one for catfish but no one has confirmed yet. If no one confirms and I do get tomorrow off I might take Chris crappie fishing if he wants to go, but will definitely be chasing more Crappies on Sunday with a charter trip.
Thanks everyone that stops by to read our reports. Y'all are the best, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Wednesday, 10-12-22
Today was another special day on the 24' pontoon with Chris Major, his wife Tammy from Oak Island,NC and their son Matthew from Raleigh, NC. First of all I was absolutely honored that they got up in the very early morning hours this morning and made the drive to High Rock Lake just to fish with us here at Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters. This family and so many other folks that fish with us is why I'm still doing what I do in my 70's....couldn't imagine quitting and not getting to see so many great people I now call friends I've made over these years in the Charter fishing business. I absolutely have the best fishermen and fisherwomen you can possibly get and we love you all!!!!
Ok, here's the truth about the matter, I reported yesterday that the conditions of the moon, fronts, etc had the bite slowed, well it was slower today. I covered a lot of water today and I posted some pictures of just some of the fish I seen today. It was like this everywhere we went but could only get a couple to bite at each place and a few spots we couldn't get a bite. But the good news is everyday the bite is getting closer to firing back up again!!! We were heading to another place around 1:30 this afternoon and it started to drizzle and the clouds were getting thicker so we called it a day and headed back to the dock. We ended the day with around 25 crappies and some of them were right nice. We had several, according to the scales, over a pound, and several more at least half pound.
Another good day of fishing with some more great people. They have fished with me before and I just couldn't believe they would come all the way from Oak Island, NC just to fish with me again and were already planning future trips. I've been Blessed and I'm humbled as well.
Thank you Chris and Tammy for your kind comments on our "Guestbook" page on our website. Thank You guys so much for such a great and special day!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday 10-10-22
Today we picked up a repeat client, Diana De La Torre from Kannapolis, NC and her good friends Margi, Ben, and Levi Blaker from Charlotte, NC. to see if we could get a few crappies to bite. I was concerned with the obstacles of NE winds, cooling water, full harvest moon, falling water, and a front coming through. And then I found out that 3 of the 4 today had never been fishing for anything, ever........ Well I was the one that got an education today. Forget all the hype from the so called "old wives tales", it reminded me of the old saying that the word "vegetarian" was invented by a bad fisherman!!!
Although we started off a little slow I kept working deeper until I found the fish that would bite. I found plenty on the livescope from 15 to 18 feet but when I worked out to the 21 foot mark was when the bite fired off on the main lake structure on point drop offs and main river drop offs.
Margi, Ben, and Levi had to leave a little early so we dropped them off at the dock and went back out to finish the day with Diana. All in all we finished the day up with somewhere near 70 crappies of all sizes and quite a few were qualified as " slabs"
I have had several calls for tomorrow but so far no one has taken it so hopefully I'll have a day off tomorrow to get the line put on some of the reels and get ready for the rest of the week as we look for more Crappies.
It was a great day today with some great people to share the 24' pontoon boat with while catching a bunch of crappies. If any of this interests you whether it be crappies, Catfish, Stripers, Perch, Hybrids, Bream, etc., Then just call 336-309-5900 for more information and to get answers to any questions you may have. And when you call, you will not be pressured and you will not be even asked if you want to book. You just take the information and then if you decide you would like to go fishing then you can call back later and see what days we have left open, then you decide when you'd like to go. All there is to it, no deposit required and you can cancel the morning of the trip if an emergency comes up. We have the BEST cancellation policy in the charter fishing business, if something happens that causes you to have cancel, then we ain't gonna charge you anything on top of it. That would just be wrong in my opinion!!!
Just give us a call and get to know us, and you will become a treasured client of the Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charters family of fine fishermen and fisherwomen!!! Thanks for stopping by to read our reports and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday 10-7-22
After having a cancellation for today from some guys that thought we were still in Southport, NC, we hit the main lake area with Jerry Smith from Lexington, NC. in search of crappies. The fish are definitely in a confusing time now with muddy water coming down the river, water temperatures dropping, and the lake level dropping as well reducing the pressure on their system. They don't have the knowledge that the lake is dropping they just know that the water is dropping and sometimes it puts them in panic mode and scares the bite right out of them. It's a time that can really test your crappie catching and finding skills.
I marked a lot of fish on the live scope and on the down vu but most were reluctant to bite. I didn't spend much time on each place we fished hoping to find that "sweet spot". Unfortunately, we might have found that sweet spot in the first place we stopped, as the bite was pretty good. But the brush we were fishing captured our baits and when we went to re-rig we discovered we had left the tackle box in the truck. So we had to return to the ramp and get it. When we got back to where we were we couldn't get the bite fired off like we did the first time there.
Looks like we'll be taking the weekend off as no one has booked it. That's ok I could use a couple days of down time. We will be back after more Crappies Monday morning and just about every day this coming week. Hopefully the only day open next week, Friday, someone will book for catfish, they got to be biting really good right now and buy then I'll be ready for a change of scenery!!
We didn't blaze any new trails today with the crappies, we got 24 give or take a couple, all were nice crappies and some were really nice crappies. Tomorrow will be a day of refreshing crappie fishing tackle with new line and going over all 30 rods checking rod guides and replacing any weak or broken eyes, and lubrication and tightening all screws and nuts on all 30+ reels. Plus checking everything on all the boats, that's the life of a charter boat Captain, but it's all I know how to do!!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by to read our reports and for continuing to support us here at Yeah Right Freshwater Fishing Charter we couldn't do it without each one of you. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Wednesday 10-5-22
Bill Ward is known by many that fish lake Norman in NC and I ask him yesterday if he would mind putting me onto the boat ramp close to where the hybrids were biting now since I haven't fished for them since last winter. He told me to leave the boat at home and just come go fishing with him. How can you be more noble than that!!!!
Barbara and I were tickled to go spend the morning fishing with one of Lake Norman's best fishermen. Now Bill is known for his Catfishing Charters he runs on Lake Norman but he's definitely no stranger when it comes to catching Hybrids as we experienced this morning.
Bill and Barbara were keeping me busy taking fish off and keeping lines in the water. At one time we couldn't keep all the rods in the water as the bite was faster than we all could keep up with. WOW, what a fantastic morning of catching fish!!! I don't know how many we caught and hooked and lost it was too fast to even try to count, besides I probably couldn't count this high!!
I had heard about Bill in the past but today was the first time I was able to spend some time fishing with him and I can truly say this is a very fine gentleman with morals and ethics like mine for the sport of fishing and his clients he takes fishing. He will treat you fairly and with respect!!! I'll have his contact information at the end of this post if you want to go fishing with him on Lake Norman. He says he prefers catfishing but has started doing some hybrids as well and I can see why after this morning, you had to be there to believe it!!!!
If you call Yeah Right Charters to go to Norman fishing and we are already booked here's the man you want to call......
Bill Ward, 503-730-8368, muddfolks@aol.com
Facebook.com/LKN Catfish Guide
Catfishing Guide service on Lake Norman and Mountain Island, NC. $300.00 for up to two people, full day, all bait and tackle provided.
Thank everyone for stopping by and be sure to check out the pictures I got of SOME of the fish. We didn't get any keepers today although we got close to the new 20" minimum size limit several times. Even caught a few spotted bass and several nice channel cats and a few perch. All fish were released today to keep spreading joy to other fishermen.
Got several Crappie trips coming up on High Rock Lake in the next few weeks. Could be tough on the backside of the storm that came through this past weekend that muddied the Yadkin River and the lake was over 3 feet low when I checked today, but, we'll make the bite happen and should we not be able to get them to bite you'll get a beautiful day of being out on the boat on the lake, good conversation, a day of fun trying to catch a crappie, and should they prove to be stubborn and not wanting to bite then all the above will be FREE. That's our Guarantee to you, at Yeah Right Charters you will catch fish or your trip is FREE, it's just that simple, and it's in writing on here and our website!!!
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Tuesday, 9-27-22
This morning we went to Tamarac Marina to pick up Steven Turrentine from Clayton, NC to round up around 25 crappies to have a small fish fry. Just like yesterday, the fish were there but were still reluctant to bite and actually slower than they were yesterday.
We stayed on the move and picked up one here and one there again today like yesterday, however, it was taking longer than I liked and at 2PM it looked kinda like we weren't going to get him his crappies for his fish fry since we only had an hour to go and we only had 11 crappies in the cooler. I do plan ahead for situations like this that happen only occasionally but when it does happen I have a plan for these seldom situations. The boating traffic had pretty much left the lake now where we were at and I do have quite a few places I fish that are what I call my desperate "emergency" situation holes and times like this is the only times I fish these known only to me pieces of structure that most wouldn't even to think to look for structure.
We made a run to one of my " emergency" fishing holes and here we started catching some nice crappies pretty regular. Here we even got Steven his PB crappie to date, a 1.5 lb. Fish!! We only had to make a stop on one more of these places that never see any pressure and in the last hour of the trip we called it a day with 33 nice crappies in the cooler. Yes, I've gotten old but that doesn't mean I've gotten dumb like a lot think I have.
Monday, 9-26-22
This morning we picked up Joseph Stephen Dyson, Linda Dyson, and Sam Odum all from Advance NC to go fishing for Crappies. We left Tamarac Marina and while I was cruising in the 24' pontoon boat I noticed the lake had dropped since Saturday and that can sometimes make it a tough bite when the pressure changes that quickly.
After hitting a few stops I was realizing the water drop had definitely made the bite slower than it was a couple days before today. The clear vu and the livescope proved the fish to be there but they just didn't care to bite. We were keeping the baits in their face longer than normal just to draw an occasional bite from each place we stopped on. The bite for me this morning was tough, I'm sure some others found them better than I did but I just did the best I could do at the moment while trying to figure a new game plan in the short amount of time I had to do it in!
Anyway, as I just said we were only picking up a crappie here and there, and around 1:30PM with only 11 crappies in the cooler I made the decision to go shallower where I figured the pressure drop on their bodies would be less than what they were experiencing in the deeper water we were fishing, around 20 feet. So, I moved from deep brush to brush in water around 15 feet, just felt like that was what I needed to do, and even possibly go even shallower, but I had to do something fast since we only had an hour and a half left to fish and 11 crappies wasn't going to satisfy me today enough to call it a successful trip!!!
Well, with this move we made the trip today and when we headed back to Tamarac Marina around 3PM we had around 45 crappies in the cooler and all but 11 came from that decision to change things up and try shallower water. Thank you God for giving me the resources and judgement to make the right calls at the right times. I couldn't ever do it without your Grace and Mercy..... Till next time, I hope God Blesses you all as He has me and Barbara!!!
Thursday, 9-22-22
About a month ago I ran a crappie trip with Bobby Sykes from Salisbury, NC; Ronnie Elwood (Fuzzy) from Kannapolis, NC and Nick Corol from Archdale, NC. However this trip actually turned into a "Crappy" trip instead of a crappie trip. I worked really hard that day and with the conditions we had I was embarrassed to only be able to get the guys around 15 crappies that day. I was so disgusted with my performance I didn't even charge the guys for the trip, but they insisted to pay for the day of fishing. I split it up and just accepted half payment on the day of the trip and told them that if they couldn't get back for a "Redemption trip" then it would just be half price, and if they did get back, I would charge the other half that way their redemption trip was actually free.
This is just the way I have always done business with my fishermen over the years. We don't just say we treat you fairly and with respect, and sometimes even though you do catch fish, if I don't think you catch enough fish, then those trips will be free as well!!!
We started the morning and I could tell it was already better than it was the last time we went after crappies with these guys. The guys only wanted crappies they could fillet so the littler ones I kept some for bait for some up coming Catfish trips and Barbara and I are partial to bone in whole fried crappies. We caught so many crappies today we called the trip off a little early and headed back to the dock. Here we separated the smaller fish from the bigger filleting size crappies. The guys ended up with 74 nice crappies in their cooler for the trip home and Barbara said she cleaned 37 bone in crappies for us and some friends.
Thanks guys for giving me a chance to redeem myself. We had a great time fishing and catching crappies today with y'all. Good times today and great conversation was had by all. I feel great this afternoon knowing I was able to do what was right for you guys and we really had a great and wonderful trip again and the fish we caught were just the " icing on the cake"!!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my reports. Till next time, God Bless Everyone!!!!
Saturday, 9-17-22
After several past boat shows where I was doing fishing seminars and talking with Adam and Wynter Jones from Stanley, NC about going fishing on High Rock Lake for Crappies today we were finally able to bring the plan together. Even though it took a while to make it happen I'll have to say it was an awesome day with awesomer people.....don't know if "awesomer" is an actual word or not but It truly describes Adam and Wynter Jones perfectly!!!
We started out on some of the new structures Barbara and I found yesterday and we only had to fish 3 of the new structures leaving 25 more we haven't touched yet. We were happy to teach Adam and Wynter the in's and out's of how we have fine tuned our crappie catching techniques over the years and pointed out all the little details that make our choice of targeting crappies so successful. I can say they were like a sponge and soaked it up perfectly and all we had to do was get out of the way and they worked the set up like they had done this all their lives.
After we got a cooler full of crappies we then switched up for a short session on " dragging" for catfish. Although this provided a few bites and a small Blue catfish, it wasn't as productive but they learned the Santee rigging for dragging for catfish. With this we decided to call it a day and head to Hills Tackle Shop on Bringle Ferry Road for some of their fantastic home made ice cream.
Like I said, awesome folks to fish with that know how to fish which was made obvious today when we ended the day with a cooler full of crappies. According to the clicker 66 crappies went home with them this afternoon. Wynter loves fish but has never had any crappies. I just bet she is in for a treat that will start a new type of fishing for her and Adam in the very near future. We're already talking about our next trip and Barbara and I are really excited to spend another day sharing the boat with these two catching fish and more fun like we had today, it was a blast and great conversation today!!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by, till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 9-16-22
Sometimes you have a plan and then just when you have it all planned out something from out of no where tells you different. Here's what I mean. On my last post I said I was going to Flat Swamp this morning crappie fishing mainly because I figured the water would be clearer there than anywhere in the lake, yeah, that was the plan!!!
Barbara and I started out this morning and at the last second I made a turn south onto I-85. Barbara said I thought we were going to Flat Swamp, my reply was, I thought we were as well, don't guess we are after all.
I stopped by Hill's Tackle Shop and got a pound of minnows and some ice then moved on to Tamarac Marina and after a quick tenderloin biscuit, we launched the boat at the marina. Idling out of the no wake area I told Barbara what I had planned for the day since the bite was slow for us on Badin 2 days ago I wanted to hit a couple brush piles and then look for some new areas to fish to add to our log book!!
High Rock Lake seldom ever disappoints, and it didn't today!!!!! On our first stop our plan was launched to Mars............. In about 1&1/2 hours we had caught so many crappies I told Barbara when we get 30 in the boat we will stop and go look for more fishing holes to take our clients too. She always keeps up with the clicker and told me to throw 20 out of the cooler back in and we'll have 30. 50 nice crappies in less than 2 hours, yep they are a biting, or at least they did today and with that I was able to accomplish another goal of providing a friend enough crappie fillets to have a fish fry for his elderly mother next month for her birthday, isn't God just wonderful!!!!
Ok, let's look for some new fishing holes now, in the next 2 hours we found 28 new pieces of nice large structures that were loaded with crappies from the mouth of Crow Creek all the way to the last point before the dam.
We will be giving them a workout tomorrow as Barbara and I will be teaming up with Adam Jones and his wife Wynter Nicole on a crappie fishing trip and if the bite is good we possibly will switch it up to some catfishing before we call it a day. You already know where to come to find out what we do, or, don't do, we post it like it happens, and I wish they could all happen like it did today. But, days like today is what keeps us doing what we do.
If any of this interest you, just call Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she will give you all the details you want and need to decide if you might want to go catch some fish with us. When you call you are under no obligation or pressure to book a trip. You can think about it, go to our website and read our customer comments on the Guestbook and call back later and book if you want to!!
Thanks to you all for stopping by and reading all my ramblings, till next time, God Bless You All!!!
September 14, 2022
After being on Watauga lake in Tennessee for over a week Barbara and I got back to Linwood and you would know after being on the house boat for over a week and with Barbara losing her first ever Lake Trout right at the boat she was ready to hit Badin for some crappies.
We got a pretty early start and was putting the boat in at Circle Drive around 10:30 AM. Yeah I know, but when you are our age 10:30 could be an early start, especially for us!!! Oh well, it is what it is!!!
We caught some decent crappies today and had several bonus catfish as well. We lost quite a few fish and I hope they were catfish, if crappies pulled like these did, I don't want to know we lost crappies that big!!! We had to work hard for the crappies today, they were very reluctant to bite and had I not stopped and got some minnows on the way down I don't think we would have caught a crappie. Now the catfish today seemed to not have a problem with the weather conditions we've had lately. The crappies have had over a week of fronts, rains, and low pressure systems beating up on them and it has slowed them way down for me anyway. When we left Badin yesterday afternoon I could already see some of the muddier water up stream starting to change the water color in Badin in the Gladys Fork area.
Thinking I might hit Flat Swamp tomorrow, I haven't fished that area since last winter and I have a desire to give it a try especially since deep water fish there won't be as deep as we had to fish on Badin to get the fish to bite some. We couldn't get a bite above 20 feet, typical low pressure effect on the fishes swim bladder to go deeper to equalize the pressure change.
If we go tomorrow we'll let you know what we find and where we find it. Thanks for stopping by and till next time God Bless You All!!!
Saturday, 9-3-22
Today was one of those days that reminds you that plans are made to be changed and that it can happen very quickly sometimes. We had crappie trip booked for today but due to more important circumstances he had to cancel his trip. So, Barbara and I had planned to take off to Tennessee and spend a few days on the house boat at Watauga Lake and give the weather time to cool off some before we seriously started crappie fishing. You know if you crappie fish, the best crappie fishing of the year is just around the corner in a few more weeks!!!
Well, we had a last minute call from James Carter from York, SC and he wanted to introduce his girlfriend India Mayfield, also from York, SC to crappie fishing. So, we changed our plans and we went crappie fishing.
I stopped at Hills Tackle Shop to get some drinks and ice for today's trip and there I ran into a good friend Tony aka, "Shad N Ator" and he told me he went yesterday and although they caught a mess of fish it for the most part was a slow morning with mixed sizes of fish from small to decent. This coming from one of the best fisherman in this area didn't actually have me running over with excitement !!!
The trick for me today was to stay on the move and we caught a couple on about each stop we made and a few of the stops produced only one fish. They were there, I could see them on the live scope but they were reluctant to bite for whatever reason, it's called fishing and not catching for a reason sometimes.
But, we stayed at it probably staying too long at some areas and not long enough at others, but, when you can see the fish swimming in and out and around the brush piles in around 12 to 18 feet of water, you just kinds hate to leave sometimes. But, whatever the reason we ended the morning with around 20 crappies and a bonus catfish and called it a day a little early as the boating traffic was starting to get intense and interesting to say the least. After all, it is Labor Day weekend.
With the water starting to cool some already it will not be much longer until some of the best fishing of the year starts and last all winter. If you haven't tried crappie fishing in the fall and winter you are definitely missing some of the best fishing mother nature has to offer. If you'd like to give it a try we'd love to take you and teach you how to catch crappies just about every time you go, it's an art that's easily learned and is 99.99999% productive. If this would interest you just call 336-309-5900 and we'll get you set up to go crappie catching.
Thanks to everyone that has made us the "charter boat fishermen prefer" and all our fishermen and fisherwomen have made us # 1 on Google search. We love each and every one of you and look forward to sharing our boats with you all for many more years to come. Till next time, God Bless You All!!
August 27, 2022
Met up with Antoine and Chris Lassiter from Salisbury, NC and Isaiah Moore from Charlotte, NC to do some catfishing this morning. We went behind High Rock dam and the generators weren't operating but they did have a gate cracked to aerate the water some.
We got the IRT 700 and 800 reels with Shakespeare Catfish rods baited up with cut shad and cut Perch and it didn't take long before we had the first catfish hooked up. It was just a good eating size fish but for someone that had never been fishing you couldn't convince them it wasn't a giant. We absolutely love taking people fishing for the first time and teaching them how to do it right the first time. I think I get just as excited as they do with their first fish and I get reminded it doesn't have to be a world record fish to make you happy!!!
As the morning progressed we kept busy catching good sized eating catfish then Antoine's son Chris found himself hooked into the biggest catfish of the morning with a blue cat around 12 pounds. From the moment he picked up the rod it was nothing but pure excitement for this young man and a great way for him to celebrate his 16th birthday and we were honored to be able to hook him up on his biggest fish ever!!
Then the bite slowed and the bite we started getting were "grab the bait and let it go" bites. If you fish any at all you know about those type bites then as it goes in fishing around 11AM the bite shut down completely. The fish were still there on the live scope and there were some BIG fish mixed in with the rest that were swimming through on a regular basis but none of them or the smaller ones wanted our offerings so around Noon we called it a day after having a great and fun morning of catching catfish and experiencing fishing/catching for the first time!!!
Thank you everyone for stopping by to read our reports. You all have made us #1 in Google and with over 92,000 clicks and growing on FB. We want to thank God for Blessing us beyond our wildest imagination. So again, Thank you God and Thank you all that follow us and believe in what we do and the fair, honest, moral, and ethical way we do it. We thank you and love you all and pray your every hope and dreams come true!!!! Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Friday 8-19-22
Today we picked up Paul Gillooly from Jacksonville, NC at a dock at the upper end of Abbott's creek to do some crappie fishing along with another fisherman that wanted to remain anonymous so his request will be honored by us.
First stop we made didn't turn out very well as the Minn Kota Ulterra would not deploy so I dropped anchor and while they fished and Barbara kept everyone baited up I pulled the side panels off and did some adjustments to the deploy/stow magnetic sensors that were out of adjustment due to a cracked ramp causing the problem and that got us going today!!
We caught crappies at every stop we made in Abbott's creek and it was a great, calm, cool day that lets you know fall is not far away now. These guys were a real pleasure to share the boat with and around 12:30 we made the call to call it a day when they told us that we can go in because we have all the crappies we need. I love it when we can make this happen. Talked to another crappie fisherman when we got back to the ramp this afternoon and he told me they caught one crappie today and we had 22 for our efforts on our short trip.
Since the weather is starting to get more comfortable Barbara said more are starting to call now about trips. I know when I was doing saltwater charters as soon as the weather started cooling down we would book up solid in just a few weeks, might do it here as well so don't procrastinate if you want to be sure to get on the books for a trip this fall when the catching and fishing will feel great!! If you want to go fishing for Crappies, Catfish, stripers, hybrids, Perch, etc; just call Barbara for information so you can decide if it's something you might like to do. You do not have to book when you call and information and questions are under no obligation. Call or text Barbara @336-309-5900 it's really just that easy!!! Thanks for coming by and reading our fishing reports and till next time, God Bless You All!!
Monday 8-15-22
This morning around 5:30AM our friend Rusty Orrell came to the house and we went crappie fishing on a lake I haven't been able to fish in nearly 50 years. It's a small lake between Badin and Tillery and of course the weather wasn't the best of conditions.
We started off and it looked like we were going to be okay with the weather then the bottom fell out and started pouring rain. Barbara and I fished here last week with another friend Anthony Scharum from Rowan County and we did good on the crappies fishing some brush and trees. Tony told me to get his numbers off his unit. Although his offer was very tempting, I just don't do things like that, I'll not fish another fisherman's place he has found, not on purpose anyway, unless I find it myself by putting in my own work. We were planning on fishing just a few hours today and enjoying the opportunity to be in the boat with all three of us enjoying a day of fishing!!!
We had been picking a few nice crappies and Perch. Even caught 2 small Blue catfish for the table and another flat head catfish we released. Picked up a very nice Bream and then the day went south!!! What started out as normal good morning of fishing regardless of the weather none of us had even the first thought that today might be our last day we ever get to wake up in the morning to go fishing. I'm still shocked and stunned by such disrespectful, self centered, conceded, stupid acts from people!!!
We were exploring a new piece of structure when I looked up and here comes this red and silver Triton bass boat heading straight towards us. We started yelling and waving our arms because we didn't have enough time to move out of his way. It actually looked like it was being done on purpose. They never slowed down, and turned just enough to miss the back of our boat by mere inches wide open throttle throwing probably 10 gallons of water in our boat drenching Barbara and Rusty, I got a full view as I was on the bow seat and just couldn't believe what I had just witnessed and also know that the only reason they didn't kill both of them and all 3 of us was by a miracle and Grace from God!! I mean this boat was on top plane wide open full throttle!!!!!! They just kept going, never came back to see if everyone was okay, apparently they could have cared less, and when I seen them again it was like nothing had even happened and they just ignored us. As I was leaving to go home I started over to them to have a discussion and with Rusty being a retired federal law enforcement officer we agreed that for all concerned it might be better to just let the Wildlife Officers do the investigation into this incident. After all, these guys are United States Marshals. A few weeks ago another guy I know was harassed by a boat fitting this same description, although nothing like this, it was like this guy had a "death wish" this morning.
Anyway, when on the water always be alert and aware of your surroundings and try to be prepared to react at a moments notice. But know in a situation like this one today, you don't have time to react so just ask God to protect you if it's His will, and do it fast, or better yet, ask Him every morning when your feet hit the floor, like Barbara and I do every morning, today we reaped God's mercy and Grace!! Till next time, if there is a next time, God Bless you all!!!
Saturday, 8-13-22
This past spring I was able to get my neighbor and good friend Rusty Orrell away from crappie fishing long enough to take him catfishing. We had talked about going again sometime and today we finally got the stars and planets lined up and around 5:30 this morning we were headed to the high rock dam to see if we could improve his PB catfish of around 10 pounds.
With the water low and the limited areas we could go in a 24' pontoon with low water we had to take a 2nd row seat this morning with a boat already close to where I wanted to fish so we anchored up electronically and as we caught a few smaller fish we had enough for supper and now to see if we could get a bigger fish in the boat. With a little action this got the attention of other fishermen and the area started to get a little crowded so I made the decision to leave this area and move back downstream for a while.
As we were fishing below where we started the boat that was close enough to where I wanted to anchor but I wouldn't anchor out of professional courtesy and he was there first, was coming down stream and was leaving. Another boat I thought was moving into his place was actually leaving as well. This gave us the opportunity to move back up to the dam and get positioned properly on the edge of the swift water and deep hole between there and dam wall. We got the pontoon positioned just right and I hit the anchor mode on the 36volt Ulterra and as I was setting bait the first rod doubled over with a very strong fish that I thought had broken the line but it just came unhooked. I'm quite confident this fish was even bigger than the biggest one we got today. It was no joke and plenty of muscle!!!
Soon after this, we had a nice flat head on the IRT 800 series spinning reel with a Shakespeare Catfish rod and we got a photo and reset the lines. It wasn't long after this the rod doubled over over again and Rusty was hooked up with a catfish on the IRT 700 series spinning reel/Shakespeare rod combo that let him know very quickly he wasn't crappie fishing today. He worked it like a pro and finally got the 17 pound blue cat to the net. We got this one on the scales with the help from the Betts Tackle Hi Viz Fish Gripper to verify a new PB and another photo and release was in the books today.
As we were discussing that now we had a new PB we had to hunt down and beat that one now. It was starting to warm up and was around 11AM and the alarm sounded that they were going to start the generators/aerators so we decided since we needed to move until we seen exactly where we needed to go that we would just call it a day and come back again after this full moon is over.
Haven't figured out yet just who was hooked the most this morning, Rusty or his big catfish, but if I had to make a bet I'd have to say from the smile on his face, he want admit it, but he's getting "cat fever" he just doesn't realize it yet !!
Another good morning of fishing with a great friend. Rusty's more like family to Barbara and I and we love anytime he has time to go fishing with us. Okay Rusty, do some gym workouts and eat an extra bowl of wheaties one morning and when you get ready we'll see if we can get that big catfish that pulled the hooks this morning back on the hook again!!! Till next time , God Bless You All!!
Saturday, 8-6-22
With the hot water slowing the crappie bite down for us we have been rescheduling our crappie trips until cooler weather and cooler water coming up in a few weeks from now. Now don't get me wrong there are crappies to be caught in High Rock lake still in the hot weather and hot water, but when I take my clients after crappies I want them to have at least a cooler full of filleting size crappies. Just like when I was doing offshore Charters at the coast, my clients there will tell you that you were guaranteed 300 pounds minimum of bottom fish or your trip was totally Free. And if you don't catch fish with us now in freshwater, your trip is free here as well, sometimes if you do catch fish and I don't think it's enough that trip will be free as well!! Just like the last trip I made... we caught 20 fairly nice crappies, this is not what I call a successful crappie fishing trip with 4 experienced fishermen on board, in fact I was so disappointed I wouldn't even charge for the trip. Find that kind of customer service anywhere else. We strive to be the best in the fishing charter business. Guess that's why we are hated so much by our competition, but being hated by your peers is the denominator you use in any business to know you are at a different level than your competition and I have been hated a loooong time and love it!! You know what they say haters gonna hate because of jealousy. And if you don't hear any derogatory remarks about you in a week or so then you need to work harder.
Anyway,, the catfish seem to like the warmer water conditions so we are taking advantage of this while it's hot weather outside.
Just ask Jon and LaJoyce Ingraham from High Springs Florida. We were scheduled to meet up early this morning to fish behind the High Rock lake dam but some unexpected delays got us on the water instead around 8:30 this morning. While we were waiting on Jon and LaJoyce we took advantage of the schooling white bass that were busting on top everywhere. No legal size keepers but still a load of fun to catch and release.
I figured there would be a plus side to the late start and that would be we wouldn't have to wait long for them to start up the turbines and make the fishing even better. We made our way up stream and got set up on the edge of the drop just off the area where a gate was cracked open for most likely a little aeration for the area waters since hot water will not hold much oxygen.
First line in and Jon said show me how it's done Captain. Never got the 2nd line in before Jon was hooked up with today's 1st catfish, a respectable blue cat. After this experience I was having trouble figuring out who was hooked the best, that blue cat or Jon. I do think Jon won that credit!!!
We kept waiting for the generators to turn on but we weren't too concerned because the catfish bite was generally steady all morning. Around noon the clouds had started building and with some thunder in the background we decided since we had the 150 qt. cooler full of enough catfish for several good social fish fry's we would call it a day. Just as we hit the dock we heard the alarm go off at the dam indicating that the generators and/or aerators we're going to turned on. Fortunately, we had all the catfish we needed and it was a great pleasure and honor to be able to take Jon and LaJoyce Ingraham catfishing today to help them have have a great and fun filled experience to help celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. You guys were awesome and we look forward to our next trip.
If a trip like this interest you just give Barbara a call @ 336-309-5900 for all information on these trips and any questions you may have of just visit our website @ yeahrightcharters.com
Tuesday, 8-2-22
I had high hopes when I picked up Nick Corol from Archdale, NC., Ronnie (Fuzzy) Elwood from Kannapolis, NC. ,Mike Cazothers from Kannapolis, NC., and Bobby Sykes from Salisbury, NC. at Tamarac Marina to look for crappies today. We have been doing really well on the crappies filling up coolers this year so far but the last 2 trips have definitely made a statement that the "Dog days of summer" are here. Hot water doesn't hold oxygen very well and the 87+ degree water has started making the crappies lethargic in High Rock lake at least for me.
I fractured my brain trying to get the fish to bite, I was so stressed out I even used livescope, and yes, just as I figured they would be, the fish were there, but they didn't want to bite a minnow or a jig placed right in front of their face . Just to show you how unpredictable fish can be, 87 degree water in a part of the lake, Crane Creek, where the water was dingy from all the rains, we caught most of our fish on "a stick" in 10 feet of water
I know in fishing as real estate it's location, location, location, but today from past mid lake locations towards the dam, in all depth of water, to Abbotts Creek mouth, Dutch 2nd Creek to Crane Creek only one spot in 10 feet of water produced more than 1 fish. Now that's unpredictable fish!!
I know I can't always load the boat with fish, and we found the fish today, and the guys were extremely well seasoned crappie fishermen, so if we didn't load the boat it was because I didn't find fish that would bite. And they wouldn't bite jig or minnow!!
I was so embarrassed with my performance today I chose not to charge the guys anything for today's trip even though 18 decent crappies would make most happy but it didn't make me happy. They told me to charge full price for the trip. They had decided already to come back fishing with us again so I did what I thought was the moral and ethical thing for me to do. I only charged them half price for today and when they came back I'd only charge them have price for the next trip. That way if they can't make it back then they only paid half price and if they do make it back and another half price then they got one of the trips free.
I really care about my fishermen and making sure everyone has a safe, fair, ethical, and honest trip with them is my utmost priority. No, I can't always make the fish bite, but I can always give it 150% and if I can't make it happen then I can always conduct my business the way I want to, I have full control of that and also post true reports. I can only hope people respect me for being honest about the way things really are and for not "sugar coating" my reports because if it's a good or a not so good trip, you always get it the way it actually happens no matter how much I'm embarrassed with the results!!
Thanks for stopping by to get honest fishing reports, till next time, God Bless you all!!
Thursday, 7-28-22
Today we went to High Rock lake in search of some crappies. We picked up Diana De La Torre from Kannapolis, NC around 7:30 this morning at the Southmont boat ramp off Hwy 8. The weather and the recent rains had thrown in a few challenges to make my job a little tougher with hot weather temperatures, fairly windy conditions, dingy water, and water in the high 80's today, but we took those lemons and made a little lemonade with it.
We fished structure in 15 to 20+ feet of water today and I was surprised when most of our fish came today from the shallower 15 to 16 foot range. I was really expecting them to be deeper but you have to be versatile when times are tough. We had a great day of fishing with Diana, lots of laughs and just good conversations. And, even though we only put 16 crappies in the boat today, they were mostly some nice filleting sized fish. We knew the fish were sluggish today because we had lots of short strikes and actually missed and lost more crappies than we caught from not biting aggressively at all.
We talked today about our next trip coming up and we look forward to fishing with this great lady again soon. People like this are what keeps me doing what I do. We called tomorrow's Crappie Charter and told them about he bite we had today so they could decided if they really wanted to go give it a try after it was slow. Tomorrow could be a 100% different day but I wanted to be as honest and straight up on how things were today as I can be. I was glad when they decided to put their trip off until this fall when the weather will be more comfortable and the Crappies will be biting better almost guaranteed, plus, I had 4 fishing tomorrow and if we only caught 16 crappies again that would only be 4 fish per person and I wouldn't even charge my fishermen for that trip!!! Fall and winter is one of the best times to crappie fish on High Rock lake. Right now, it's just HOT and HUMID and none of God's creatures and people can be comfortable in this, except for Bobo, he has his own personal fan and ice bed to lay on under the console, and he and I both love it for him!!!
Don't know if we going this weekend yet, we are supposed to and if we do we'll post what we do right here. Some don't mind hot weather and if they want to go after I let them know about the bite we have experienced, then we will go!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my posts. Please know I'm not being negative about the bite, just honest, and I tried to catch fish at the best of my ability and experience, and I know I'm probably going to be bombarded with post that I don't know what I'm doing or I would have caught crappies, and yes, I HAVE LIVESCOPE. Only God can make the fish bite and I'm just a guide, not God!!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Wednesday 7-20-22
Since no one wanted to go fishing today Barbara and I got up with the chickens this morning to try to get to High Rock lake at the break of day to Beat the heat. Well, let me mention that idea briefly. We headed down the road going to Buddle Creek Boat access on Abbotts Creek. We haven't fish that area since back in the winter and wanted to give it a shot thinking we might hit it on some of our crappie fishing charters we have coming up.
We stopped and got ice around 5:30 this morning and then stopped at Mimi's bait and tackle for drinks, snacks, and some minnows. Ran into a good friend there who was going to Tuckertown Catfishing, said the bite had been good there lately!! Ok, we will probably get to the ramp around 6AM.
As we approached Holloways Church Road they had road closed signs up, don't worry I said, Rusty and I came through here yesterday, it's not closed, I was right, the road wasn't closed, but the bridge was!!! Well now I've got to get turned around on this narrow road with a boat behind me, that didn't take too long, but after the detour, we got to the boat ramp at a little after 7AM. This was just another reason why I don't try to make plans because plans are just something that goes astray quite often!! We got up at 4AM and the normal time to make this trip is approximately 45 minutes, not 3 hours,!!
Now, about the fishing!! The crappies have been being pretty deep for me but the rains had cooled the water down a little and the crappies I was finding at 18+ feet had moved back up to around 15 feet. Took me about 30 minutes to realize something wasn't like normal for the heat we have had but wasn't thinking they would have moved up, but they had, but the heat we have coming will most likely push them back down by the weekend.
I left the deeper structure and moved along the edge of the Creek channel in some wood structure at 15 feet and it was here we found the crappies. Barbara had them on 3 at a time at one point while I just watched her masterfully land each one of the nice crappies, she's one of the best crappie fishing lady I've ever seen!!! Like the "Virginia slims" commercial used to say, "You've come a long way baby"!!!
After the bite slowed we moved to another brush and it didn't take long until we were on them again. At one point here, I had a double on nice Flathead Catfish and gave her one of the rods. She broke hers off, but we netted mine and got his picture and released him to grow bigger.
Even though we had obstacles that caused us to be 2 hours later than we had planned, we still got plenty of nice crappies for us and some friends before it got really hot and we were having lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken on Hwy 8 before 11:30. I could get used to summer time fishing like this!!! Thanks to you all for stopping by. Be sure to like us on fb, and feel free to comment on our posts. Just give Barbara a call or text @ 336-309-5900 for any questions or information about our trips and our new lower rates!!!, Please check out our new website @ yeahrightcharters.com and have a Blessed day!! Till next time, Thank You and God Bless You All!!!
Friday 7-15-22
When I got the boats all fixed up and maintenance done on them all today I actually had some free time of about 30 minutes before bed time on my hands. So, with a little time to sit down and think about things I told Barbara that I think we need to try the best we possibly can to get our rates where folks can better afford to do a freshwater fishing trip and I want to lower our prices to be more compatible with the cost of everything sky rocketing these days. Now, to those of you that are already on the books at the higher rates you will automatically be getting our lowest rate when you come to fish with us.
Barbara and I did a lot of figuring and thinking last night and we have actually got a few of our rates back at the $100.00 per person as we were earlier on the local lakes. We were able to do this with the 3 and 4 people on board, with the 1 and 2 people we figure around 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing!!!
And as always, once you are on the books and if we have to increase, your price will stay the same it was when you booked, but, on the other hand, if you are on the books when we lower our prices, you automatically get the lower rate. We are hoping we will not have to increase again and also hoping to be able to eventually move our rates even less if the economy can possibly ever recover!!
After starting to fish at 5 years old in Freshwater and Saltwater, and being in Saltwater fishing and Saltwater Charters for 30 years from Ocracoke all the way down the NC coast to Southport/Oak Island, NC, I was ready to return to my hometown of Lexington, NC and finish up my fishing career in my 1st love of Freshwater Fishing!!!! Freshwater Charters has been a learning curve for me as far as to the cost of operating and I thought it would be less expensive to run in freshwater, and it is a little, but boats and equipment have to be maintained and use gas, but the travel time is shorter and freshwater doesn't eat everything in the boat up like Saltwater does, but who would have ever guessed that with non ethanol gas for the boat and diesel for the tow truck we would be paying around 12 to 18 bucks a gallon for fuel, depending on where we are at, it's absolutely ridiculous!!
But, always remember, with Yeah Right Charters, if you don't catch fish then you don't pay a dime, "NO FISH-NO PAY Guarantee is available only on local lakes of High Rock lake, Tuckertown Lake, and Badin lake", so, thanks for the great reception we've had so far in our newest adventure in Freshwater and I hope our new prices can be more appealing to more people to be able to go fishing.
Our prices are for Catfish, Crappie, Stripers, Bream, Perch, etc. Trips are from 8AM to 3PM or 6AM to 1PM in Summer, your choice!!, Winter time trips well be 8AM to 3PM, with a maximum of 4 people on all trips!! We also do trips out of our area for a little more to cover the extra travel distance and expenses!!
I do think we are very competitive now with our rates and all trips are full day trips to be able to maximize your fish catching experience on one of our 4 boats available to you! I will decide which boat to use depending upon areas fished and number of people going. I've had 66 years of fishing experience this year and have fished everything from the Gulfstream, to the rivers and lakes in the piedmont, and several mountain lakes, even fished a while around Whidbey Island in the pacific North West.
Also, we use only the finest equipment and I don't fish with "junk" and neither will you. In Fact one example is our Catfish/Striper Spinning reels. These are IRT 400, 700, and 800 series reels. These reels are some of our "showcase" equipment, and we are very proud to put this kind of equipment in you hands to fish with. Ever fished with reels that carry a price tag of nearly $1,000.00 each, you will on our boats, like I said, we strive to use only the best equipment. Check out the 400, 700 and 800 series spinning reels from IRT Reels like we have on our boats @ irtreels.com you're going to love fishing with this kind of quality just as we do!!!! I hope to be able to pair these reels up with Mad Katz rods in the future for the optimum fishing experience!!!
All you will need is any personal items, rain gear in case a cloud comes up, dress for the weather and the season, sunglasses, sun screen, your food and drink, fishing license, and a big cooler left in your vehicle to take your catch home. EVERYTHING else we provide for you.
Give Barbara a call or text @ 336-309-5900 or you can email @ k1retired2004@yahoo.com to get all the information you need and want. You do not have to book a trip when you call, we are here for you to make everything painless and smooth as silk so you can decide in your own time under no pressure whatsoever if you want to book a fishing trip with us. Please check out our website @ yeahrightcharters.com to see our new rates and lots of information. And use your desk top computer to read our " GUESTBOOK " comments on our website from our past fishermen, these say it all. (For some reason we can't get our GUESTBOOK mobile friendly on our website, but we are still working on it and it could be operational any time, but will work fine on your laptop or desk top computer! Hope to see you soon and let go CATCHING!!!!Till next time, God Bless you all!!
July 11, 2022
Well, late again with posting but we had a special guest at our house this weekend. It was one of the best friends Barbara and I have ever had....Dr. Keith Morley DDS came to see us from Elizabethton, TN and we had the honor to show him around the Lexington, NC and Salisbury, NC area and even introduced him to one of our favorite restaurants in Spencer, NC "Hendrix BBQ" to enjoy their fabulous Friday night fried Flounder plate then went back Saturday for some of the best BBQ Chicken you'll find anywhere. After we left Hendrix BBQ, we went for dessert. I wanted to see the expression on his face when we went to the BBQ Center on North Main Street in Lexington and we ordered him one of their famous Banana splits. If you've never had one, then you can't even imagine it, they are HUGE!!! I took some pictures of it but those went to cyber space along with a few of our fishing pictures.
Then we had the honor to show him around the Yadkin River and High Rock lake to see if we could catch some catfish and crappies. The catfish bite was slower than normal for us and only caught a few channel cats and a blue, all just good eating size.
Then we switched it up and went for crappies. Had high hopes they would do better than the catfish but the passing cold front and all the rains had taken its toll here as well. We found a few decent crappies and another channel catfish and then it happened!!!
I mean we had "white out rain" move in. We were fishing a brush about 50 yards from shore and you couldn't see the trees on the shoreline. Everyone was ready to head in when this came but we couldn't see good enough to leave. Then we got a break in the downpours good enough to see and not have to worry about running into anyone, so we made a B-line to Tamarac Marina before it got worse again.
What a great time and a pleasure to have Dr. Keith come see us and spend some time here in Linwood/Lexington, NC with us. He even left his NC fishing license here at the house so he wouldn't forget them when he comes back again. Sure hope the weather and the fish are more cooperative next time. Still we had a great time, plenty of laughs, lots of memories relived, and just good times with a great friend and even caught a few fish as well. Looking forward to the next time he can get away and come visit us. Got plenty more I want to show him about the great Lexington/Linwood, NC area we are so fortunate to be able to call Home!!
Till next time, God Bless you all!!
Saturday, 7-1-22
Sorry I'm late with yesterday's fishing report but I worked and stressed so hard yesterday in the heat to get on a decent catfish bite that when I got home Saturday afternoon I just collapsed on the couch and I just woke up now at 5AM Sunday morning.
We met up with Mark Helms from Kernersville, NC to see if we could get some catfish to bite today behind High Rock lake dam. On our 1st stop we almost immediately put 2 good eating sized blues in the boat. We all thought this is going to be a good bite right here............well......for this stop, that was it.
I won't bore you with a long drug out report, we made many moves today and just could not get another bite. FINALLY, around noon we put another eating size channel in the boat and with enough now for a good meal I decided the best thing to do at this point was to give Mark a big price drop on today's trip and try again another day.
Now, when I got home I was looking at the catfish that were caught today in the same area we were fishing and at other areas and it was very obvious to me then that I was at the right place, but we got there just way to late to get on the bite. We try not to start too early so folks that are driving a long way to fish won't have to get up so early to make the drive, well, it's obvious that this time of year with the heat if you are wanting catfish, we are going to have to start being on the water right at day break. This way we will be able to at least catch the last part of the night time bite before they go dormant after the sun gets high in the sky. I knew this already but after 30 years of strictly Saltwater Charters I had forgotten a few things about catching catfish. But they got me back on track this morning as I watched and didn't see anyone catching catfish just as we were doing only to have them in their boats already before we ever got there. It will not happen again, I have to work too hard when they don't bite to not be able to charge for the trip enough to at least pay for fuel in these times we are in.
I know we say "no fish- no pay" on our website and even though we caught a few fish to qualify for a full price trip, I have to do the things I think are ethical and morally right with the people that fish with us. This way my conscience are clear, I have done the best I could do to be fair and honest with my fishermen, and we'll try again sometime under different circumstances after they realize that it truly is not just their money we are after.
Some people ridicule me and say they would be embarrassed to post a report like this, well yes, I'm embarrassed as well, but it is the truth, so what else could I post, you say well, not this, that wouldn't be right, no report is a lie as well!!! If you fish then you know the truth when you see it!!! When you fish with us you become family to us, and we want to keep you in our family, HAPPY!!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by, and hopefully next time I'll have more fish to show you, but you know with us, you get the truth, and nothing more!!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Tuesday 6-28-22
This morning at 8AM I picked up Tony Harris, Chad Harris and his son Liam , and Karson Crouse from Thurmond, NC and Brent Harris from Chickamauga, GA. at the Southmont, NC boat access to go and see if we could find a few crappies.
The sky's were overcast most all of our trip making for some very comfortable fishing conditions and the breezy conditions made it that much more comfortable today. Only "fly in the ointment" today was the wind and me having to work extra hard to keep a 24' pontoon boat on top of the fish so the guys could catch them in the winds. Just about every place we hit we picked up a few fish and a couple spots did better than others. I was searching main channel drops mostly today and found some very impressive tree tops and lay downs and showed them to the guys on the Garmin 93 SV UHD Clear VU and I think I sold a couple units for Garmin today. All in all I marked around a dozen new good crappie structures for mid summer and mid winter conditions. Some fish on them now but by July and August they should be loaded as they are on the bottom of the channel drop in deep water.
Thanks guys for fishing with us today, you had lots of Charters to choose from and the fact you chose Yeah Right Charters humbled us and made us try hard to meet and hopefully exceed your every expectation!! We ended the trip with 44 nice fish in the cooler and some tired fishermen.
Tomorrow's Crappie Charter called and cancelled their trip ,so if no one calls 336-309-5900 and books a trip between now and 5AM Wednesday morning Barbara and I just might go fishing for some catfish upriver tomorrow or just might do nothing tomorrow, just not sure yet what we hope tomorrow brings. Might even just work on fishing tackle.
Thank you to all that come by to read our fishing reports and follow us on fb and like us on fb. If you don't follow Yeah Right Charters on fb or like us on fb you are cordially invited to do so and join our fb family!!! We really do thank you all for keeping us on top of the search engines. We couldn't do it without all of you and we really do appreciate you all!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Saturday, 6-25-22
Let me start with today's fishermen, they were Troy and Brandon Chandler from Fayetteville, NC. Orville Cox, JR from Wade, NC, and Michael Bohannon from Linden, NC. These guys wanted to see how we get up river from the main lake on High Rock lake so I showed them the way I go up that way but after watching the depth screen on the Garmin 93SV , they promptly told me this was not an area they wanted to mess around in. It can be intimidating the first time!!!
Now let me start my day. We were to meet them at 8AM at Tamarac Marina so we put the pontoon in at 6AM to be sure to load the bait tank with plenty of live gizzard shad, in which we did!! We pulled out of Tamarac at 8AM and we made our first stop at a place where we catch a lot of catfish of all sizes and kinds. It wasn't long until we had a nice Channel Catfish in the boat. We proceeded to have a few more bites that couldn't get the circle hook to hook up and stay hooked up and I kept thinking about several "holes" up river where we had been hooking up with some big flatheads and releasing them. I couldn't take it any longer, I had live gizzard shad and live perch, it had to be just what they wanted, it just had to be!!!. After checking out several deep holes with no takers on the live baits and the bites and hard runs we had on cut shad just wouldn't stay hooked up. I was starting to get frustrated and embarrassed with my performance today to put fish in the boat. One more place I had to try, and same deal, no takers on the live bait and the hard runs on the cut baits even pulled drag on the 800 IRT Reels and still they came unhooked before we could get them to the boat. By now I remembered why I keep my hair cut real short, so I won't pull it out!!! I told the guys I'm going to swallow my pride and go back to where we first started this morning. I admitted I should have never left fish to look for other fish but I wanted them to hook up with some big catfish like we had been catching. Try as you might, you will be reminded sometimes the "grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence" but I had to go try. So after this disaster, we took off and We finished up the day at the place we started this morning. Although they weren't on fire here, they did bite better, we still lost several that just came unhooked before we could get them to the boat, but we also put a couple more in the boat at this place. I'll always believe if I had followed my first instincts and not left this place we might not have filled the fish box to the top, but we would have had more for the day that actually stayed hooked up and more opportunities to have more fish than the places we went looking for bigger fish.....Not real sure what was wrong today with the bite, but I did notice the river level had dropped several feet in the last few days and the water had muddied up some as well. That surely didn't help things I know!!!
If you know me and have fished with me then you know I do my best to be very ethical and fair to my fishermen, so I'm thinking another fishing trip for these guys in the near future at a half off rate would be just what I need to feel like I did all I could do for them. Now as for the way the fish bit today, I'm hoping next time they will feel bad also and make up for that as well!!
I know, it's called fishing, but I don't like fishing, I like catching!!! And the day I don't want my fishermen to catch plenty of fish will be the day I will need to get out of the Fishing Charter Business!!
Please like us on fb and like our fishing reports, it helps our ratings.... and check out our Customer comments on our " GUESTBOOK " on your lap top or desk top computer. For some reason, we can't get the "Guestbook" to be mobile compatible!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Thursday, 6-23-22
Today I had a request to help show Tommy Cheek from Walnut Cove, NC how to catch crappies on Badin Lake. He told me he had been on the lake all week and still couldn't get a crappie to bite his hook. I got there a little early before time to pick him up so I did a little scouting with the clear vu on the Garmin 93SV and quickly found a piece of structure that looked really good.
I picked Tommy up at Scallywags at Forest lake Marina at 8AM and I told him about my newest discovery right there just outside the no wake area at the marina so we went over and got set up. First line in and before we could get the 2nd line set we were hooked up!!
We preceded to repeat this scenario at each place we went to and fished all day. After catching crappies quite steady today I happened to realize I was not going to have a cooler full of fish to take a photo of at the end of the day because today's trip was a catch and release trip, and I had only taken a few pictures all morning because we were fairly busy catching and keeping everything involved in fishing and catching going smoothly. So, I got maybe photos of about a third of what we had already caught today if that many. I don't mind being old, but, sometimes I really hate how things don't come to mind like they did 50 years ago. anyway we got some more pictures and Tommy promised to send me some pictures from his trip tomorrow when he goes back crappie fishing using the tips and techniques we showed him how to do today. He was really amazed at how easy it was and said he had never even thought of crappie fishing like we do, it's easy, and it works all year long!!!
Got some errands to get done tomorrow, then I'll be fishing the Yadkin River Saturday for catfish. Hope I have time to go catch some live shad tomorrow for Saturday's trip, if not I'll catch them Saturday morning and not deduct the time from the guys fishing trip. Our fishing trips start at lines in and ends on the fishing spot with lines in, we don't end our trips at the marina. It's just the way we do things. You book a 7 hour fishing trip, you get 7 hours of fishing!!! Yes, We set the bar high because we want to be the best in the freshwater charter fishing business we can be!!
One more thing, I have discovered that the customer comments on our "GUEST BOOK" on our website is NOT mobile friendly. I would really appreciate it if you would use your lap top or desk top computer to access these. We love for you to see what other fishermen and fisherwomen have to say about the service and great time we provide at Yeah Right Charters, we are very proud of the reputation we have earned in the last 30 years and please know we work harder every day to maintain that level of trust and honesty to all!!!
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Friday, 6-17-22
Back at Southmont, NC boat ramp this morning at 6AM to go crappie fishing with some good friends we have made though fishing who were Ryan and Anissa Huneycutt from Richfield, NC and Ryan's dad, Oron Huneycutt from Albemarle, NC.
The areas we have been catching the crappies at didn't seem to be a favorite place for them this morning. I figured they had moved a little deeper than the 15 to 28 feet i had been catching them in so after a couple hours of just picking up a couple here and there I told everyone I need to make a move to deeper water so we reeled in and took off to another part of High Rock lake.
It was tough for me to get the 24' pontoon boat positioned the way I wanted to in the stiff south winds so I could fish some structure I located in 20 to 22 feet of water. After several attempts I got it all set up and we started having much better luck on the crappies than we had done the first one third of the day!! Here, not only was the bite better and more consistent, but the fish were bigger as well with several crappies weighing over a pound and the biggest we weighed at 1lb. 11oz.. We still didn't see any white bass schooling today except for one school that popped up and just as quick were gone, but the roughed up water from the winds would have made that hard to see unless they came up pretty close to the boat like those did.
Another great day on the water with Ryan and his family. Good fishing and Great people/friends make for a wonderful day on the water spending time together and making more memories to remember forever. Thanks Ryan, Anissa, and Oron for once again choosing Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip, we appreciate you guys very much!!!
If any of this interests you, it's very simple to get on one of our 4 boats for a day's fishing for your favorite kind of fish. Just call Barbara at 336-309-5900, that's it, she'll take care of the rest and make it a real easy process and you'll be on the way to being featured in one of our fishing reports!!! You can also check out our website at yeahrightcharters.com
Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Thursday, 6-16-22
Since the weather has heated up, we are starting our trips earlier if you want to beat some of the heat wave we are having now. We still offer the 8AM pick up for non morning folks, and a 6AM for the early birds!!
This morning we met David Jones from Lexington, NC and his son Eric Jones and his son Tyler from Allison Park, PA. at 6AM at the Southmont Boat ramp off Hwy 8 to chase some more crappies in the 85 degree water on High Rock lake.
The crappies keep easing into deeper water as it heats up and today the best bite for us came around 18 to 20 feet deep but we still picked a few off of brush around 15 feet deep that was VERY close to deeper water. Other 15 foot brush that was not real close to deeper water didn't produce very much for us today. The white bass have been schooling on top this week pretty well, but today we didn't see any schooling near us. The winds had the water rough enough to make it hard to see any schools unless you were fairly close to them. The bite was fast and furious at times and at other times it was like, well, where did they go?, but just like our trip with David a few weeks ago we still had a great day of fishing, fun, conversation, lots of laughs, and of course Crappies in the cooler for several fish fries.
We'll be after crappies again tomorrow. Sure hope all these storms we are having right now doesn't interfere with the bite, if we get some cooler water from the rain it just might help the bite. If you'd like to go fishing with us for just about anything that swims in the lakes and rivers here in NC just give Barbara a call at 336-309-5900 for information on our trips and you can also check our website @ yeahrightcharters.com. NO Obligation to call, and we would definitely love to add you to our family of fishing friends. Till next time, God Bless you all!!
Tuesday, 6-14-22
Today we picked up Fred, Silvia, and Nate Pope from Newton, NC and Scott Pope from Nashville, TN / Petal, MS at the Southmont boat ramp and went looking for some Crappies this morning. We were all dreading the high heat forecast from the weather reports this morning but were actually Blessed with cloudy and cool conditions on the lake and all thunderstorms went around us as well!!
We started off on a brush in about 15 feet of water and first line in was immediately attacked by a very nice crappie. With this the bite continued for a bit until it slowed down and we made a move to another area and started the catching process all over again!!
This kept up until a storm passed to the west of us and the low pressure seemed to shut the bite off!! We hit several more places and marked plenty of fish in brush but they wouldn't bite anything, they had just quit biting!!!!!!!! I was thinking about a new attack plan and had everyone to reel in and I made a major move across the lake. It took me a bit to get dialed into the new area and before long the rods once again started doubling over with multiple fish on at once several times. We ended the morning with 39 Crappies in the cooler and 1 channel catfish. I don't know how many Crappies got off today but most likely about as many as we caught!! Another awesome day of sharing the boat with a great group that loves doing what we love doing, Crappie fish!!!!
When crappie fishing on the lake right now be sure to have a lite tackle rod rigged up with a small spoon, Panther Martin spinner, etc. because the White Bass are schooling on top and this can be a blast casting into them when they come on top chasing bait fish everywhere!!
Got to take Barbara to the Dr. tomorrow in Thomasville, NC. But will be back on the water the rest of the week after tomorrow looking for Crappies or catfish on Thursday and definitely Crappies on Friday.
Come on and go fishing with us, we have a good time and catch fish. Read our fishermen's comments about their trips on our "GUESTBOOK " page on our website @ yeahrightcharters.com these say it all!! And should we not catch fish your trip is FREE, and we still have fun. But I wouldn't expect to get a free trip, can't ever remember having to give a free trip for not catching fish!!! Just call Barbara at 336-309-5900 and she will make it easy to get you set up to go fishing.
Saturday, 6-11-22
Sorry I'm late getting today's post on here but had to get some repairs done on the boats so I'll be ready to go again next week. Barbara said have 2 days open next week at this time if you want to go catch some fish and if you don't catch fish the trip will be FREE!!! Just call Barbara @ 336-309-5900 if your interested!!
OK, today I picked up Morgan and Sean Profitt, Greensboro, NC at Tamarac Marina and we headed up river to do some catfishing. Just like it has been lately we started off on a slow bite. We started getting a few bites and put several catfish in the boat and we took pictures and started releasing all the fish we were catching.
We were fishing another area and I was listening to the conversation and this is when I heard her say, this is my birthday fishing trip and I was hoping for a BIG Catfish. Ok, I didn't know this and just kept quiet while I immediately went to work catching some live perch and putting them in the bait tank. After I got a few I then asked, since we are releasing everything and it's your birthday would you like a chance at less fish but bigger fish. This was the question that made Morgan's eyes light up, so, we reeled in and I went to a place I remembered from many years ago.
1st line in and the Shakespeare MH Catfish Rod doubled over and Morgan was hooked up with her dream fish only to have it run into structure and break off. Well that was a bummer! I looked at the situation and repositioned the boat and hit the structure from a different angle to give us the advantage this time. We got set back up and it wasn't long at all until Morgan and Sean were hooked up with a double. Sean had a catfish around 12 pounds but Morgan's catfish weighed 18lb 4oz. It was a personal best fish for her and I was thrilled I was able to make her Birthday Dream fish come true for her today. Can't wait until we go after some crappies before long and hopefully we can get back up river sometime to see if we can increase the weight of her PB catfish.
Thanks Morgan and Sean for fishing with us today. Sure glad I overheard that conversation and knew what I had to try then. Love it when a plan comes together, Glory be to God for providing the right bait where I was at and for sharpening my memory to help me recognize an area I haven't seen in over 35 years!! And thank you all for stopping by and till next time, God Bless you all!
Thursday, 6-10-22
Today we were fishing with Lee Danhauer and his three sons Evan, Ryan, and Grayson. The plan was to go see if we could put some catfish in the boat so I made the decision to try behind Tuckertown dam this morning instead of High Rock dam. I knew here if the bite was off like it has been lately for me, that we had much more options than we would have behind High Rock dam.
Trying as hard as I could, I could not get a catfish to touch anything I presented to it today while I was on anchor, and I stayed on the move and tried from shallow behind the dam to actually getting anchored on fish on the Clear vu but they wouldn't bite. I told the guys that I really think if we are going to get a catfish to bite today we are going to have to take it to them instead of waiting for one to come to us. I switched everything over to Santee rigs and slow trolled .5 mph or less along the river channel edge and some high spots and by doing this we managed to put a few fish in the boat.
The guys stuck it out even though it was really slow. If you know me and especially if you have fished with me then you know I want you to catch fish probably more than you do, and with just 3 catfish for the day I was so embarrassed and ashamed of my performance to produce fish today I gave them a much lower rate for today's trip and asked them to give me a chance to redeem myself and they assured me they had a great time anyway and would be back. Like I said before, I have the best fishermen in the world come fish with us here at Yeah Right Charters, the least I can do is treat you right and with respect.. Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Thursday, 6-9-22
I want to thank Michael Hendrix and Noah Holden for coming all the way up to High Rock lake from Wallace, SC to crappie fish with Yeah Right Charters today. I picked them up at the Southmont boat landing this morning at 8AM and we headed out in the light winds that were forecast this morning. My only comment I have for that forecast is "YEAH RIGHT"!!!
Had I known the winds were going to blow like they did I would have brought the deep vee and left that 24' Pontoon boat in the shed this morning. A pontoon boat that size in winds like we had today on High Rock lake will definitely test your fishing skills but we still made it happen!!!
Found the crappies today in brush and structure around 15 to 18 feet deep and the lake has dropped approximately another foot from yesterday and the water temps are still around the 80 degree mark. We tight lined minnows today and by the time we started fishing this morning the water was too rough for us to see the fish schooling today like we did yesterday. I'm sure they were but we were fishing in "white caps" making it nearly impossible to see schooling activity.
We had another great day of fishing, fun, and laughs. We ended the day with around 40 crappies and we lost several really nice fish close to the boat and missed a lot of hard bites as well. Had we hooked and boated all we had the opportunity to catch we would most likely would have had between 50 to 60 fish today, and we didn't count all the white perch and white bass we boated today and threw back all the white bass and kept the perch for catfish bait for tomorrow's catfish trip.
Thank you Michael and Noah for having the faith and confidence to choose us at Yeah Right Freshwater Charters for your trip to catch Crappies today at High Rock lake. We're already looking forward to our next trip chasing those Yadkin River Catfish!!
If any of this interests you just call Barbara at 336-309-5900 for any information or questions you may have. You don't have to book a trip to call and get information, you can even call to ask where the fish are biting with no obligations!!!
Thank everyone for coming by to check up on us and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Wednesday, 6-8-22
Today Morgan Crosbie drove from Denver, NC and Nathan Collins drove from Clemmons, NC. to High Rock lake to go crappie fishing with us. We started off on some brush that was in 18 feet because that's where they were on Monday. After fishing here and not getting any takers I figured they might have come back up some since it was a bit cooler and overcast this morning, so we made a move to an area where the structure was around 15 feet but real close to substantially deeper water. Well, all I'll say is that we were very busy catching crappies at this place.
I just repeated this several more times until we called it a day with around 50 nice crappies for our efforts today. Water today was at 80.45 degrees and the main lake is looking good and cleaning up quite nicely. Largemouth bass, white bass, and some perch are schooling all over the lake now chasing bait to the surface and in some cases look like a school of piranhas throwing bait and churning water into a white froth. Throwing small crank baits, spinners, Spoons, and lip less baits can get you something pulling on your line right now casting into all this top water feeding activity!!
Also caught several catfish today so that is also promising that they are starting to feed again after a slower than normal time lately getting those to bite. As the water heats up more the fish will continue into their summer time habitats. We know where they go and have the knowledge and experience to get them on a hook for you when times get tough. And if we can't, you're trip is FREE!!!
Just give Barbara a call at the number below and let's go catching!!! Will be back out in the morning looking for more crappies and might even have to visit a few schools of feeding fish on top tomorrow. I'll have a 10 year old young man on the boat and if casting into schooling fish don't get him "hooked" then there's no hope for him.
I want to thank everyone that has made my transition from saltwater Charters to Freshwater Charters the success it is. It humbles me all the people that have fished with me in saltwater over the last 30 years and those that have found out about us since we made the transition, that have called to go fishing with us at Yeah Right Charters Freshwater. Thank you all and God Bless!!!!
Monday, 6-6-22
Today we were doing a Crappie trip with a couple of guys that were both a real pleasure to spend a day fishing with. They were Ryan Rauschenberger from Mogadore,Ohio and Edgar Miller from Winston Salem, NC.
We started off where I had been catching them 2 weeks ago only to find what I had already expected. They have moved a little closer to their summer time deep holes to avoid most of the hot water that will be in shallower water. Last week they were holding around 25 feet deep but today we found them along main lake drops in 18 to 22 feet deep.
The guys caught on real fast to the way we have developed to catch crappies regularly all year long. It didn't take them long until they were pulling some nice slabs over the side of the boat. We ended the day with somewhere around 35 crappies for their fish fry. Talks already in the making about a future trip, can't wait to fish with these guys again, they were lots of fun and knew how to get the job done!!!!
Taking tomorrow off to get some errands run and will be back after more crappies on Wednesday and booked the rest of the week. Got a couple days open next week if you want to go catch a crappie or some catfish, Perch, stripers, etc, just call Barbara at the number below, it's just that simple!!
Till next time, thanks for coming by and God Bless you all!!!
June 2, 2022
This morning I met Brett Hughes and his son Davis from Denton, NC at the Brinkle Ferry Boat Ramp to do some catfishing behind High Rock Lake dam. We made our way upstream in the 10,954 CFS flow and stopped just short of the "boil" created by the generators with 2 gates to the left open partially. It was running pretty hard and I baited the first IRT 800 series reel with a 6 ounce weight and cast into the strong current. As I reached for the next reel the first one I just placed in the rod holder doubled over. Looks like they are hungry this morning I heard come from behind me.
We got the rest of the rods baited and put out and we were just sorta looking at each other like, what the heck, that's when I asked, have you ever heard of the fishing "kiss of death", if not, you just experienced it. First cast and fish on is a bad thing in fishing. It wasn't the 1st time it has happened to me on a charter either!!! So after about 20 minutes we got another bite and we were able to put another good eating size channel catfish in the ice box. In about 10 minutes another good eating size catfish joined the others that were going to be the main attraction at a future fish fry. After another 30 minutes of pecks and nibbles I decided to make a move.
Long story short, we got Brett and Davis all they wanted for their fish fry and caught a few more that were bigger than the smaller ones we kept to eat and we released all of those.
We headed to the dock with enough catfish to fill their cooler to overflowing and as I was getting ready to leave I looked at the water and noticed it wasn't running as hard. I pulled up the discharge flow rate for High Rock lake dam and it had dropped from 10,954 CFS that I had fished all day to 6,367 CFS. Almost made me want to relaunch the 24' pontoon and fish till dark, but I came on home anyway!!
May 30, 2022
Sorry I'm a little late with yesterday's fishing report. The heat and the stress of not being able to completely fill the 180 quart fish box with catfish for my clients took its toll on me yesterday and when I got home and sat down on the couch in the air-conditioning my lights went out.
We were fishing with Brad Johnson and Darren Nations' from East Bend, NC and Jack Ballard from Winston Salem, NC. We made the pick up at Badin Lake and headed up the lake behind the Tuckertown Lake dam. One gate was cracked open and the generators were "free wheeling" until later that evening before they started generating some.
The bite was very sporadic and fish seemed to be in every depth of water from very shallow to 30 feet but just weren't really interested in feeding. We had just about anything a catfish would like to have or at least I thought I did. I tried it all but fresh cut shad was the only thing I could catch a fish on today!!!!
These guys were a real help to me today being very experienced fishermen they would help with the duties of moving from spot to spot and breaking the hang ups loose. Barbara is also a great asset and extremely helpful in all the swift currents keeping the anchor line slack so I could pull anchor and keeping the 24' pontoon under power enough to maintain control of the vessel while I prepped to take over the helm. It takes an experienced crew to provide you a safe and comfortable fishing trip in these conditions and we have the boats, 4 in all, and Barbara has gained the experience to help me make this happen very safely. She has become a great asset to me and the Yeah Right Charters crew!!! We caught channel catfish and Blue catfish today, no really big catfish, but just good eating size fish.
The guys assured me they were very pleased with their catch but if you fish with me then you know it doesn't matter how many fish you catch I want you to have at least one more. Always have, and when I don't want you to have at least one more fish, then it will be time for me to hang up taking others fishing!!!!
Tomorrow's striper trip has been cancelled due to unexpected circumstances so Tomorrow's open if you would like to go catch some fish just call Barbara at 336-309-5900. We will be after catfish again Thursday, so check back soon and see if the bite has improved, or the same, or possibly worse. You have come to expect only the truth in reporting from Yeah Right Charters, and we will continue to deliver only the way it was for us, great, good, or bad bite!!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!
Saturday, 5-28-22
Today we went to Tuckertown to catfish behind the High Rock Lake dam with Joe Pearce from Elon, NC and Kelly Howard from Cary, NC.
When we got there the flow was at 8,500 CFS with 2 gates cracked open and 2 generators operating. The bite started off slower than normal in these conditions but we were picking at a few channels and blues, nothing huge, but a really good fight in the current. We stayed on the move and each new stop would provide bites and a few more catfish. Then the alarms went off at the dam and shortly after this the flow went to 13,958 CFS. We went downstream when the flow got to this stage finished the day catching some more blues and channels before we called it a day.
I had perch, chicken, mussels, Bream, and shad for bait today and shad was the only thing I could get a bite on. Be careful throwing your cast net in the strong currents behind the dam with the water flow we have now from all the rain but shad are thick there now. Tie it off to your boat, not to your wrist in these conditions, safety first, always!!!
Every catfish today was released to fight another day as this was a CPR trip. C= Catch P=Photo, R=release!!! Talks were we are going to do another trip with Joe's dad soon. Looking forward to this trip!!! If you go fishing behind the dams take no chances, respect the power the water can have in this area, and just think......no fish is worth your life!!! When I got home, I checked Cube Hydro and the output flow at 7PM was 24, 873, that's more than I want to fish in myself.
Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless you all!!!!
Friday, 5-27-22
Today my good friend, Rusty Orrell who lives just down the road from me here in Linwood, NC had the day off work so I called him and we went on a bait and catfish mission for tomorrow's catfish charter. Our plan was to go behind High Rock dam on Tuckertown Lake and give this area a try.
They were generating power and had 2 gates open and the water was muddy but usually this is a good scenario. I'm wondering if the catfish are still spawning or are they finished and moving back to deeper water since the water is heating up for the summer. Been a crazy year so far so that's why I have questions now about the catfish after the run around the crappies gave everyone all spring. Bait was plentiful behind the dam and maybe the catfish were full, the few we caught had bellies that looked stuffed.
Will be trying a different area on tomorrow's catfish charter since we only hooked up with 3 fish today and lost one and caught a couple in the net getting bait. The fish seemed to be there, just not cooperating very well.
Tomorrow's another day with a different set of circumstances to figure out. We will figure it out or go down trying. And just like all our charter trips, tomorrow's clients will catch fish and if not, their trip will be Free of charge. It's just the way we do business!!!!
All fish today were released unharmed to fight another day. Stop by tomorrow evening and see if we find the biting catfish and till next time, God Bless you all!!!!
Friday, 5-20-22
The crappie bite goes on!!! Today I met up with Dave and Esther Jones from Lexington, NC. and Carl and Serina Jones from Parkersburg, WV. Today's plan was to go for whatever was or has been biting lately and since the crappie bite had been good we decided to go see if we could find more crappies today.
We made a short run to an area that I figured would produce for us and we actually spent most of the morning with a fairly steady bite of different size crappies from pan size to over a pound fileters. Although everyone caught lots of nice crappies today Serina would pull the biggest crappie of the day from a brush pile around 15 feet deep in Dutch Second Creek.
Taking most of next week off to go help a friend in Tennessee with a few projects that are needing some attention before summer sets in full time. Barbara tells me we are booking freshwater trips very regular right now. Most that fish with us are having so much fun and catching so many fish they just go ahead and book their next trip at the end of the days trip as lots did when I ran Saltwater trips in Southport/Oak Island, NC. I am humbled by this and Thank you all so much.
IF YOU ARE ALREADY BOOKED YOU WILL STILL GET THE LOWER PRICE YOU BOOKED AT. WE NEVER GO BACK ON OUR WORD WITH THE BAIT AND SWITCH SCENERIO. AND, EVERYONE WILL STILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR OUR " NO FISH, NO PAY" GUARANTEE, DONT THINK MANY, IF ANY CHARTERS WILL GUARANTEE YOU WILL CATCH FISH OR IT'S FREE,BUT, WE DO HERE AT YEAH RIGHT CHARTERS!!!!
Please check out our website @ yeahrightcharters.com and be sure to call Barbara @ 336-309-5900 if you have ANY QUESTIONS!!! We look forward to fishing with you sometime and please like us on fb!!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!
Thursday 5-18-22
Had a special treat today on the Yeah Right Freshwater Charter pontoon. My son Captain Chris came to see us and he went with me today to help Greg and Clark McKinney from Salisbury, NC find enough crappies to fillet and have a fish fry.
I made my decision on where I thought we needed to go and we took off and when we got there I explained how to fish the way we do and it was very soon the crappies started coming in the 24' pontoon. It was a fantastic day of great people, fun, laughs, and "ribbing" each other about their fish catching ability. But, in my opinion nobody's ability to catch fish today was lacking anything. We ended the trip at 3PM with more crappies than the guys said they had ever dreamed about catching. We had 64 on the clicker but at times we were catching so fast I know we missed some so I estimated around 70 today. To say they had a cooler full was an understatement for today's catch.
Got another crappie trip in the morning, sure hope we can do a repeat of today's trip. Whatever happens you can be assured we will have a good time and if by some chance we don't catch any crappies, their trip will be Free. We don't charge for boat rides!!!
Thanks for stopping by and till next time God Bless you all!!!
Tuesday, 5-17-22
Today we were crappie fishing with Danny and Ruby Stevens from Kernersville, NC.
The fish were still holding around 15 feet in brush that was adjacent to deeper water. The bite was mainly on minnows today, I just couldn't get them to commit to a jig for some reason!!
Got a reminder today of what's in store real soon as it got pretty hot today on the water but Danny and Ruby stuck with it and we ended the day with several throw back fish and 30 nice filleting sized crappies. Had one today just 2 ounces shy of 2 pounds, according to my scales anyway. They had such a great time fishing with us today that they booked a striper trip for June before they ever got done fishing today. And we had such a great time fishing with them today that we are looking forward to spending another day fishing with them.
This is one of the reasons I can't completely stop doing fishing charters. It's all about the people we get to meet and fish with, the fish we catch are just an added bonus to our trips, but the fish are important too because with Yeah Right Charters, if you don't catch any fish your fishing trip is FREE!!
Till next time, God Bless you all!!
Tuesday 5-9-22
When your friend and neighbor Rusty Orrell wants to take his son in law TJ Morrison from Winston Salem, NC crappie fishing for his birthday and you have had storms and rain for 2 days prior, then it turns winter again with a cold front that moves through, then on the morning of the trip you get told by the weather channel the winds are going to blow 20 mph, well I think they missed the wind forecast, it was more like 25+, what do you do knowing mother nature has thrown everything at you she has well the only thing I knew to do was to take TJ crappie fishing!!!!
I knew I had better be able to really think "like a fish (crappie) today. We started out and the first couple stops had me scratching my head as we didn't get a bite. So, I put my brain in gear and told Rusty we needed to go north into the wind, yep, it was a north wind on top of everything else, and find a drop off that went immediately from a flat into deep, 20 feet + water with bait and some kind of structure to hold everything together.
So, we took off and I knew some areas I had in mind and sure enough, even though they were biting slow, we ended the day with 28 very nice High Rock lake crappies and we even caught a bag of perch for catfish bait for my Saturday catfish charter. Another plan that God Blessed us with today!!!
Thanks Rusty for thinking of us and Yeah Right Charters for y 'all's trip today. I had my doubts with today's weather, but you both worked the rods like the seasoned fishermen you both are and that really makes it a lot easier to help with getting the fish in the boat!!
We are booking daily now, just call Barbara at 336-309-5900 to book your fishing trip on various lakes and rivers in NC. Our rates and cancellation policy is what we feel is the most reasonable in the fishing business, you can check everything out at yeahrightcharters.com or just call Barbara and she will answer any questions you may have. Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Saturday, 5-6-22
With rain and storms threatening for the afternoon we decided to give it a try on High Rock lake again today for some more crappies thinking we would be done before the bad weather got here. I love it when a plan comes together!!! We met up with Scotty Pate from Eagle Springs, NC, Mark Atkins from West End, NC, Billy Chavis from Aberdeen, NC, and Benjamin Vazquez from Pine Bluff, NC at Tamarac Marina this morning and took off to find some crappies!!.
We got to our first stop and here the pick was slower than normal with the passing cold front and all the rain and storms last night didn't help either, but, we were getting some just enough to keep us there and some of the crappies were some really nice fish. We caught a bunch of white bass that we released and also several white perch!!
As always, fishing with these guys is always a lot of fun, conversation, and just knowing you are fishing with good people always makes for a great day on the water!!! Scotty said today that we would be doing a catfish trip soon. Can't wait to get these guys on some of the great catfishing we have here in the High Rock Lake area.
At this moment I have Monday open but will be back after more crappies Tuesday morning on High Rock lake and then I think Barbara said I had a catfish trip Wednesday, yeeeessss!!!! I've had several ask about our Freshwater fishing trips lately. Our trips are from 8AM till 3PM, we only do full days as this gives you the best trip for the money. And our rates are some of the best you'll find by a charter business that is fully insured and is operated by a Captain that is a USCG Licensed Merchant Marine Officer. We offer our trips for a maximum of 4 and as few as 1. The cost is $100.00 per person for local lakes and rivers. And $150.00 per person for lakes that are out of the local area, minimum of 2. Don't know how long these rates will last, the economy is making it hard for me to hold these prices but I will as long as I can. Just call Barbara at 336-309-5900 to get all the information, book a trip, or just chat with her about what we have available and the trips we offer. You DO NOT have to book a trip if you call and all information is free and gladly given. Oh yeah, did I mention, we also have a " NO FISH, NO PAY" policy!!! When you book a fishing trip with Yeah Right Charters you pay only for a fishing trip, you don't pay for boat rides if the fish just don't want to bite that day, you Don't pay!!! Give us a call and let's go fishing!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All
Tuesday, 5-4-22
Today we were back at High Rock lake in search of more crappies. We picked up Bob and Deb Collins from Lexington,NC at the lake house on High Rock in Swearing Creek this morning and started our hunt for biting crappies today.
The first couple stops we made the fish were there and they would bite but you could tell they were just "slapping" at the bait and they really weren't interested in actually eating our offerings. With this information I regrouped, made some tackle adjustments, made a run to another area. We got set up here and it didn't take long until everyone was slinging nice crappies over the side of the 20' deep vee boat. It was a hot day and we all got a little sun burn but it was worth it as the quality of the crappies on High Rock lake seems to get better each time I go lately.
Another great day of catching fish with some fantastic people. Enjoyed the day, the conversations, the fun and laughs we had all the time while catching somewhere between 40 to 50 nice crappies today. If you would like to go do this or go catfishing, Bream/ Shell Cracker fishing, Striper fishing, etc; just call Barbara @ 336-309-5900 and she'll get you set up for a trip if we have any openings left!!!
Tuesday 5-3-22
I finally got the 23' Riddick Bay Runner switched over to fish freshwater and we took it on this mornings trip to Badin lake with Alex Snowberger from Burlington, NC., his dad Lonnie Snowberger from Wabash, Indiana., and Jordan Hickle from Reynoldsberg, OH.
We found lots of fish today but after just coming off the spawn had them tired and sluggish but we wouldn't take "no" for an answer so we picked at them here and there until they just stopped biting when the winds picked up. When this happened I told the guys we had to make a major adjustment to our presentation and location. After we ran several miles looking for fish to no avail I made another run to another creek and here I found some fish that looked like they might want to bite by the way they were holding on the structure. I got the bay boat situated on top of them and we dropped the lines in and it was game on!!! For a spell we could hardly keep the lines in the water. We were running into everything in the boat, including each other, trying to get to rods with fish on them.
We had to work hard to find fish that weren't just too tired to bite our offerings and through patience and persistence we ended the day with a good mix of Crappie and Perch for our efforts. Looking forward to taking Alex soon to get him hooked up on some of those big catfish behind the dams. I know he will absolutely love this kind of catching, that is until his arms get too sore to crank another one in!!!
Thanks everyone for your great support for our Freshwater fishing charters. I didn't want to retire from Saltwater Charters but until you do that you can't possibly know the demands that Saltwater fishing puts on a captain when he finally reaches his 70's. Freshwater can be tough but it's much easier than Saltwater, and I was ready for something a little easier!! Just click on our link below to check out our website and call Barbara at the number below to book your trip!!!
Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Thursday 4-28-22
Well folks, I guess you could say today was the official start to Yeah Right Charters Freshwater Adventures. We have done a few in the past getting things organized and sorted out but today was actually our "Official Start" to our newest Charter Fishing business since I decided to retire from saltwater Charters all together!!!
And I don't think I could have asked for a better opener for what we been working hard to put together this year!!! We met up with Floyd Kyle from Salisbury, NC and Steve Yates front China Grove, NC to pursue some crappies on today's trip on High Rock lake. Again the winds picked up on us and I had to make adjustments to our presentation strategy to entice the fish to bite and bite they did. In fact we caught so many nice Crappies we cut the trip 2 hours short because the guys said they had more crappies than they knew what to do with, so at 1PM we called it a day with 50+ nice crappies and a couple of channel cats to go with them. Floyd had the "magic touch" today and he put a hurting on the really big crappies but Steve held his own pretty good as well and the guys and us had a great time on the water this morning with great conversation and a lot of good laughs.
Just a heads up, the catfishing behind the dams will keep getting better and better as the water warms. If you want to experience some of Freshwater's most exciting and hardest fighting fish then call Barbara at 336-309-5900 and book a trip for catfishing behind the dams. We limit these trips to smaller groups for safety reasons so get a couple buddies and for $100.00 each you can get in on this action (locally). And hey, if they don't bite, your trip is FREE!!!
Thank you to everyone that has welcomed us back home, it has meant a lot to us, and we're glad to be back home with all our friends and sharing fishing trips and knowledge with more folks in our new adventures. Till next time,
God Bless you all!!
Wednesday, 4-6-22
Went to Southport/Oak Island, NC a few days and got back last night and I just knew the crappies would be holding a square dance in the backs of the coves today. We have one particular cove that has conditions and sun shine on it just right to generally be one of our first to have crappies on the banks, well, at least that was what I thought until after this morning.
We spent the whole morning in this cove and finally around 1pm I had to tell myself that they weren't there yet !!! After all the rain we have had lately about this time I was thinking "I knew I should have gone catfishing up the river this morning"!!! Especially since in this same cove I hooked a catfish that I fought for at least 20 minutes that slimed my 6 lb. test line about 3 feet and all I could do was let him take line and I would gain a few inches of line until finally the hook just pulled free. Barbara did catch a channel catfish that she got in the boat but not before it broke her micro lite rod!!
We made a move and found some crappies, full of eggs, blown up like a balloon, in 20+ feet of water, well you have to fish for them where they are when you find them. I do know some are shallow as I know some good fishermen that are catching some in the shallows, just not me, but I don't mind catching them deep at all!!!
We stayed with them and got our 30 qt. cooler FULL with 45 very nice crappies.
With more rain coming in tonight I've definitely got to make a catfishing trip real soon. The flats up river should be loaded with hungry catfish. You never had a fight on your hands like you can get from a big catfish that gets hooked up in shallow water. All he wants to do is get out of there and get to deep water and all you want to do is get him to the boat, most of the time you will win the fight but I've seen the times when you didn't have a chance!!!
If the weather holds half way stable I don't see how most of the crappies can help fill up the shallows in full spawn by the weeks end, but then, they are calling for another freeze Saturday night, so we will just have to go fishing and see what they want to do when we go. It's totally up to them where they will be at any given time and we just have to think like a fish to find them!!!
Thanks for stopping by, remember to call Barbara and book your fishing trip. 336 309-5900
Tuesday, 3-29-22
As I drove by the Southmont boat ramp this morning around 7:30AM on High Rock Lake I noticed there was not one boat trailer in the parking lot. Upon arriving at the Flat Swamp boat ramp on High Rock here too there was not a boat trailer in the parking lot. I then realized that the crappie bite must be tough right now on High Rock lake.
I knew I was in for a tough time today as I was loading the pontoon to take Scotty Pate and his 2 son's Ethan and Nathan from Eagle Springs, NC after crappies today. I told them I always like to "under promise and over deliver" but today was going to be quite the challenge with the weather conditions we have had this past week.
We started out and finding fish wasn't the problem I marked a lot of fish on the Garmin CV, but finding fish that wanted to bite was the hard part. We did get a small one to bite soon after we started that pulled the hook right at the surface. I thought that was encouraging and a little later one of the boys got hooked up with a big crappie that also came unhooked at the surface and just out of net range, it was a slab, most likely pushing 3 pounds or more, we'll never know for sure!!! All this was very encouraging, but, that encouraging feeling faded fast as we were snake bit a good bit after a quick beginning.!!!!
After this the bite went south as we marked lots of fish that kept me in this area longer than I normally hang out if fish aren't biting. Okay, enough is enough, let's move to an area where if I was a crappie I would be right now while waiting for the weather and temperatures to stabilize and warm so I could move shallow. We cranked in the rods and made about a 1 mile run.
Here, the bite was not fast and furious, In fact I had to pick through the perch to get the crappies, but still, the crappies were here and this was the best bite we had found today. We didn't "set the woods on fire" be we found enough to have a great day of fishing and catching. Scotty and his sons had fished the backwaters with me in Southport and we caught our limits of Red Drum and the boys had gotten citations from Yeah Right Charters for their Flounder releases last year. Scotty told me today that when he seen I was retiring from saltwater Charters and was going to do freshwater Charters it was a "no brainer", he had to call and go with me again, and just like when we went after the Red Drum in the backwater last June, it was another great day filled with much laughter, fun, and even fish thrown in for good measure. It was a blast guys, can't wait until we go after catfish behind the dam or upriver!!!!
Tomorrow's trip had to cancel as an unexpected circumstance had come up. I need to work on installing a new onboard charger on the pontoon anyway and if I get done in time Barbara and I just might head up river after some catfish especially since the lake and river is high and muddy, that's perfect catfishing conditions!!! Till next time, God Bless you all!!!!
Friday, 3-4-22
Today we were catfishing with Ryan Huneycutt from Richfield, NC, Ed Huneycutt and Oron Huneycutt from Albemarle, NC. We left out of Tamarac Marina on High Rock lake in search of enough good eating sized Channel and Blue catfish to have fish fry.
We made a couple stops before heading up river to catch fresh shad that we were going to use for bait today. Again this morning the winds were blowing hard enough to make anchoring and catfishing from a 24' pontoon a rather hard to nearly impossible thing to do. I was however, eager and excited to try the new anchoring system I had made to hold the pontoon boat still and could position it in any direction and fish in any wind and current with no side to side or front to back movement of any kind. To say my anchor system that did not use anchor and rope or trolling motors was a raving success is an understatement since I was able to anchor it in the current with the transom into the current so we could fish out the front and not have to deal with trying to get fish in the boat over the engine was a plus and the fact that the winds were hitting us hard from the right side we still stayed anchored with no movement even from a vessel of this size in conditions that normally would make it be impossible to use. To say we/I were pleased is another understatement!!
Another innovative invention only from Captain Butch and Yeah Right Charters because I never stop trying to make your fishing trips the best you can experience!!!!!!
We ended the day giving the 700 and 800 IRT Reels another workout with 33 channel catfish and 1 nice blue catfish that will feed quite a few at the fish fry. And we probably missed and lost that many more as well. I was on a fishing trip today with some great guys that made you feel like you have known them your whole life and they treated me like they had known me their whole life. Just great fishing and great fun with some great guys and I can't wait until we can do it again, I know I had a great time today!!!!
The weather forecast is calling for rain next week so I might take a few days to head to Watauga Lake in Tennessee to spend a few days on the houseboat before I have to do a few more Charters before heading back to Southport/Oak Island, NC to start the Saltwater Charter season May 1st. If you want to catch some catfish, crappies, etc. call Barbara at 336-309-5900 and see what she has left open between now and March 31st when we will be closing down the freshwater Charters for this season and heading to the Saltwater in Southport/Oak Island, NC!!
Thank you all for stopping by and reading my reports. Till next time, Fish on and God Bless you all!!!!
Thursday 3-3-22
Don't know where to really begin today's report. But I can tell you this, I'm whooped!!! We made plans about a week ago for our son Master Captain Chris Foster to come by the house here in Linwood, NC and go with us to start off our transition from Crappie fishing Charters to catfishing charters!!
Today was a day we will never forget as from the 1st anchor until we pulled anchor this afternoon it was almost non stop action. We caught a lot of catfish today giving the IRT 700 and 800 series reels a workout. We kept 30 or so smaller Channel Cats to give some friends and neighbor fresh fillets that don't have a way to go fishing or are not able to go fishing. We do this every year for those less fortunate than we are and it's just the right thing to do and we are so Blessed to be able to do this for others!!! We released all the bigger catfish today over 10 pounds and released several smaller channel catfish as well!!
Barbara was talking to tomorrow's crappie charter and was telling them about today's trip and we are now going catfishing again tomorrow instead of crappie fishing. Barbara better hope they bite good tomorrow or it will definitely be her fault!!
It was such a Blessing to see our son Chris again. We don't get to see him much anymore as he travels all over the world now leading a crew in the world of Nuclear Energy Engineering. We are so proud of him, just wish we could see him more but that's the way life is sometimes.
Soooo, if you been waiting to book a trip with us to go catfishing, it is that time!!! They are biting good everywhere right now. If you don't like going behind the dams to fish, as they can be rather scary to the unexperienced, no problem, I have places where it's calm and very peaceful I've been Catfishing at my whole fishing life, and that's been a long time now, and we fished one of those calm serene places today!!!! But don't wait to call, when March is over I have to leave to go back to Southport/Oak Island, NC to get ready for the Saltwater fishing charter season!!!
Thank you to everyone that takes the time to read my posts and we hope that you can get on the water soon to do a little fishing and relaxing. Well, maybe fishing, today wasn't very relaxing. Days like today are work...........and we love it.....and we love you too Son, today was what your mom and I live for now!!!
Till next time, and like I heard my son say many times today, FISH ON, and God Bless you all!!!
Tuesday 3-1-22
I had a Crappie fishing charter tomorrow on Wednesday the 2nd on High Rock lake and after all the rain we have had lately Barbara and I decided to go and see if we could locate some biting fish for tomorrow's trip since I knew that inclement weather in winter time can wreck a good crappie bite and make a good bite hard to find.
We started off up river in Dr. Cove, then to Crow Creek, over to Crane creek, so far everything pretty muddy. Came back down to Dutch 2nd creek, then to the Hwy 8 bridge in Flat Swamp, Flat Swamp had the cleanest water I found today but still not much of a bite. Came back out of Flat Swamp and headed to the Hwy 8 Bridge, did see a Crappie caught under the Hwy 8 bridge as I was going under it. I got under but only had maybe 3 inches between the top of my windshield to the bottom of the trestle. Went on up Abbotts Creek to the Holloway's bridge and then back to the Southmont boat ramp!!!
I ran more miles today and burned more fuel than I usually do fishing here all winter. After all this we only caught 8 crappies and a small blue catfish we kept for dinner tomorrow night. We had 2 nice Flathead Catfish we CPR'd and lost another nice catfish. We aren't fond of catfish but will keep a small one for ourselves once in a while to remind us why we aren't fond of catfish, crappies have us spoiled!!!
It was a tough day and I didn't want to take a fisherman out on a charter knowing that the bite is slow if I already know it is without making them aware of this. I talked to a couple buddy's fishing Jordan today and although the reports there were tougher than normal as well it sounded like the bite was a bit better than the bite at High Rock at this moment. So, I gave them the option to go to Jordan but they wanted to fish High Rock so we rescheduled tomorrow's trip for March 17th. Hoping the crappies will be on the banks by then!!!!!
The few we got today were decent fish, not slabs, but still decent, I think!!! And the Flatheads on the Shakespeare Micro lite combos had the rods bent like a horse shoe and was a blast to get to the net. Hopefully the weather will behave some now and give the lake water a chance settle and warm some to make the crappies get the urge to head to the shallows. Until it does get better for Crappie fishing it's about perfect for catfishing, and that's what we are going to concentrate on some at this time until the crappie bite improves again.
Sorry this report has been so long but we fished hard today and were in fish all day but just couldn't get the attention of only a few!!! That's fishing and it will get better and it will get worse and then better again and the cycle goes on and on and we fishermen keep going back, and that's just one of the things that makes the world go round!!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings!! Till next time, we love you all and pray God Blesses you as He has Barbara and I!!
Tuesday 2-22-22
Today's charter was afraid it was going to rain since it was cloudy so they cancelled. Clouds usually mean rain but not today. So, Barbara and I decided it would be a good day to get some things done we been needing to get done.
Then we decided we'll it's not raining and they are calling for rain tomorrow and tomorrow's charter might cancel also and we can get this stuff done then. What are you trying to say, I asked!!!
We hooked up to the deep vee and by 10:30AM we were launching at High Rock Lake . Had to use the 93sv in CV mode for a bit to find the crappies again as they had moved a little from yesterday as the lake was rising this morning.
Wasn't long until we were on them once again. We did have plans to attend a surprise party for my nephew Rev. Huey Turner and his new adopted daughter, Alaina, who is my niece, Ashley's daughter, in Thomasville, NC so I told Barbara we were leaving at 2PM regardless. Well, by 1PM we had 40 decent crappies and decided to call it a day.
We have moved tomorrow's crappie charter to next Wednesday and right now, Friday's and Saturdays trips are still scheduled. If you want to go crappie fishing with us before we have to go back to Southport/Oak Island, NC for the summer backwater Saltwater Charters you better call 336-309-5900 real quick. Only a couple more weeks of crappie fishing then we will be switching up to Catfishing Charters to finish out March then it's time to go get everything ready for the Saltwater season at the coast and that season opens May 1st. If you're thinking about one of the Saltwater trips don't wait too long there either as Barbara has been booking those trips ever since December. Only so many fishing days in a season and they book up faster every year!!!
Thank you all for stopping by to read our reports, liking us on fb, and commenting on our posts. I try to answer each and everyone but with our audience growing to where it has sometimes it gets hard to acknowledge over 20,000 weekly but we love each and everyone that takes the time from your busy day to acknowledge Barbara and I at Yeah Right Charters and on my personal fb page @ Butch Foster. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!
Monday, 2-21-22
Today we had a Crappie fishing trip with Jerry Smith from the Tyro, NC area. Since I have been catching crappies in Abbotts Creek lately I was going to meet him at the Buddle Creek Boat Ramp in Southmont.
We headed out to the area where we had been doing really well lately and upon arriving everything looked really good on the Garmin 93sv like it should be. I know the fish were still there, I could see them on the CV, but they wouldn't bite. I kept searching until we picked up a decent eating size Flathead Catfish but still no crappies.
I called my buddy Rusty Orrell who had sent me a message and told me he was on High Rock Lake this morning and I told him about what I had found. He told me to come where he was at, he had a good bite going on so we headed his way. He had gotten their early this morning and we had waited for it to warm up some this morning and got to the lake around 10:30 and as I was pulling up he said I have all I want and getting ready to leave so just set up right here, so we took him up on his gracious offer and it proved to be the right thing to do.
Soon after we started fishing Jerry hooked into another very nice Flathead Catfish that he was very lucky, or very good, or both, to bring it to the net on the Micro lite spinning outfit on 4 lb. test line, but he got him. Then it became obvious I had him on the Crappies as he started putting them in the cooler.
He had brought a cooler to put his fish in but I thought it was his lunch cooler. Well, we filled it up with crappies pretty fast and then he almost filled the boats 120 qt. Cooler full with Crappies and catfish as well as we kept around 70 very nice crappies for his freezor.
It was another great fish catching trip mainly from the kindness of my buddy Rusty sharing his hot spot with me today.
I have Charters the rest of this week but it's going to be determined by the weather and rains from this point forward. Fishing in the rain in winter is no fun and it's cold and miserable!!! So, we'll have to see how it plays out day by day this week!!!
It's quite obvious the relaxed creel and size limit put on crappies in some piedmont lakes is starting to work very well. Most fish today were very nice sized and less and less small crappies are starting to show up in the daily catches now. This year's spawn will produce the next batch of small fish and this should be, in my opinion, because I'm not a marine biologist, but I'm thinking things are getting more of a balance now from the quality of crappies I'm seeing more and more!
Another great day of friends, catching fish, having fun, and just enjoying each other's company, conversations, and all made possible by the Grace and Blessings of our all mighty God!!!! Thanks for stopping by and till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
Friday, 2-18-22
If you fished on High Rock lake today please don't tell me. Let me just think you are a little more sound of mind than I am. It's too late for one fisherman/Guide, I seen him so I know there's no help for him either, you know who you are!!! !!!!
After last night's strong cold front that passed through, the rains from last night dirtying up the water, the lake dropping the last few days and still dropping today, along with the winds continuously howling from the NNW made for conditions and challenges about as tough as you can get with the cold 44 degree water!! I only seen 2 very small crappies caught today from other boats where I was, and that was all!!!!
Barry Kirkman from Charlotte, NC and Larry and Gordon Kirkman from Kannapolis, NC drove up this morning to learn how we catch crappies in really tough conditions like we had today. I even had doubts myself about today but told them I'd do my best!!!!
The bite was slow as expected but we kept adjusting our rigs as needed for the changing conditions and depths and we consistently picked at the crappies all morning. Most all were filleting size and a few were really nice fish. Gordon even picked up a 17" White Bass, and a 10-12 lb. Flathead Catfish which he fought like a seasoned pro on the Shakespeare Micro Lite tackle with 4 pound line.
It was a challenging day at the least. Been a very long time since I have run the batteries down on the Ulterra to the point it just shut off, but right before we were going to call it a day it just stopped, batteries dead as a hammer. Thankfully Minn Kota has built in a safety reserve in these units that will shut the motor off leaving enough power left to stow the motor so you don't have to do it manually, good thinking Minn Kota!!!
Was going to fish a catfish tournament in the morning but today wore me out physically and mentally and the 28 degree morning temperature doesn't exactly have me chomping at the bit to be on the water before daylight either. Unless I change my mind between now and 4AM, I'm going to let the younger guys fish this one without me and Barbara.
Crappies are still biting, fish slow, REAL SLOW, present your baits properly and precisely and be patient. This is not the time of year to be in a hurry if you want to catch fish. Had a guy tell me last week that we make it look easy. It is, you just have to hone your skills, and after 65+ years of fishing for just about everything, I've finally got mine honed, I believe!!!
For those that are wondering, no, I did not use live scope today, really don't care for it, didn't even have it on the boat today. I just used my Garmin 93sv in DV and CV and separated the fish from the bait and concentrated on that. Also, it is not UHD either, just an older echo map!!
Got a couple days open first of next week if you want to go crappie fishing before we switch over to catfishing before I have to head back to Southport/Oak Island, NC around the end of March to do a fishing school on Oak Island, NC in early April and get the bay boat ready for our May 1st opening day of Saltwater Fishing Charters!!
Thanks to everyone that continues to support us and read our post. You all are the best. Till next time, God Bless you all!!!!
February 16, 2022
At the last weather forecast we had last night today looked like the only decent day until Saturday to go fishing sooooo, we went!!! Little did I know it would be quite an eventful day before we would get back inside the house tonight, Yeah, I said tonight!!!
We got to the boat ramp on High Rock Lake and something didn't look right but I couldn't place my finger on it so I just figured it was me. We launched and took off to where we had been fishing and when we got there we couldn't believe the water had dropped a good 5 to 7 feet, well that will make things a little difficult at best!!!.
We found the fish to be hiding quiet well, in fact, they were hiding so good that in about an hour we only had 2 fish in the boat. My good friend Rusty was there as well and he was experiencing the same results. He had heard that the fish were biting really good at the Hwy 8 bridge and why not, it's been hot all the way back to December, why wouldn't it be now, but, the crowds have been unbelievable every day. Rusty was the first to head that way and out of pure stubbornness I stayed where I was. But, it wasn't long until I followed him and the fish were biting there as reported!!
We stayed away from the crowd in respect of the " first one there gets the spot", I've never been able to let myself stop and fish real close to another fisherman, and only will occasionally in the right circumstances. Rusty invited us to join him where he was catching some crappies but there was so little room left and I would have been to close for my liking to others that were there first, that's just the way I've always been, and always will be!! Shucks, there's been times I've gone into a small cove and would leave because someone else was already there!!!
So, Barbara and I were on the hunt again. We made a couple stops to find the bite still non existent. Started to deploy the live scope although I have never used it to find and locate fish but was thinking today might be the day to use it. I'm still asking myself why I ever bought it. Guess I had a weak moment when I was at the wrong place.
I was easing along a drop off that I expected the fish would use as a quick access to deeper water, since the water had dropped so much.
Well, lookie here I told Barbara, what looked like a decent smallish brush on the traditional sonar as actually revealed on the Clear- Vu as a small piece of structure with a school of crappies around it. We got set up and in about an hour we were headed to the boat ramp with 50 nice crappies in the cooler and we left them biting!!!
I have rigged my live scope as portable with a 12V 10AMP lithium Ion battery to power the Garmin 74CV and a 12V 30AMP Lithium Ion battery to power the livescope box. This way I can use it on all my boats. It's all in a box and the transducer pole and box are all compact and very portable. I had big plans for it, but really, after 65+ years of perfecting the way I have learned to find and catch fish, I find I don't trust any other method. I might sell it, but I haven't made a decision on that just yet. If I decide to I'll take pictures of the cool way I have it set up and add my asking price in my fishing post. So, please, don't ask how much yet, because right now I'm just in the " thinking about it" mode!!
We finally made it to the house and thought we were going to be able to have a little normalcy now, naw, not yet, I backed the boat in the shed as I've done 10,900 times but this was the first time I did it and took the window out that's in our pantry. The way the day had gone since it started this morning I should feel good that it wasn't parked in the den instead of the pantry!!! Think after I post this report I'm going to bed and pull the covers over my head and just go into hiding for the rest of the night!!!
Thank you all that take time from your busy day to read my reports. If you all didn't read them there wouldn't be any use for me to post them, so for that reason I owe you all a BIG THANK YOU!!! The rest of the week and our Charter Friday will be governed by the weather's decision on what it's going to do. If we get to go fishing I'll post it here so that hopefully will help you find more fish when you go. Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!
February 12, 2022
Today I was fishing with Captain Kevin Couick and his friend Jamey Helms from Monroe, NC. Kevin and I had talked in the past about getting together in the winter time and doing some crappie fishing and today that trip finally materialized.
Heading to our place to fish this morning and the area looked like a shopping center parking lot on a black Friday morning sale so I made way to a different area where we pretty much had to ourselves except for another friend that joined us there. We were greeted with trashy, dirty and heavily stained, almost muddy water, and the water was cold as well, low 40's. Not an ideal situation to catch crappies in when you have all these ingredients all at the same time.
I was honored to be able to show Captain Kevin and Jamie how Barbara and I have honed our cold water techniques to catch crappies in this type of scenario that involves an utmost attention to the little details. These guys picked up on it and learned fast, real fast!!!!
The bite started off slow but this time of year you have to be very patient and give them time and the right presentation. I think I'm one of the few crappie fishermen that doesn't use live scope today but after 65+ years of fine tuning my crappie techniques I just don't seem to need it. Yes, I have it, but it's not even on my boat, I just don't like the idea of staring at a screen while fishing. Not saying anything wrong with that and if you like it that's perfectly fine, it's just not for me!! Barbara tells me that I know what a Crappie is going to do and where it's going to be at any given time before the crappie knows itself, now I don't know about all that, but we do OK sometimes!!
At 1:15PM we called it a day, Barbara was the official clicker operator today and she said she had 90 on the clicker for the morning but she also said I'm expecting over a 100 as at times they were biting so fast I probably missed enough to put us over a 100. Well, we did have a 120 quart cooler nearly full of nice crappies to show for the mornings effort.
Thanks Captain Kevin and Jamie for coming up and fishing with us today. Now that you know just how we do it, I'm looking forward to some winter time pictures of limits of crappies.
I want to take a moment and let everyone know that Barbara and I appreciate all the support from You that continue to support us with our fishing Charters and fishing adventures. YOU, are the reason we put so much time and effort into all we do. Without you all, there would not be any need for what we do and we love you all and Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Till next time, God Bless you all and good fishing to you all as well!!!
February 9, 2022
Sorry this post is a day late and also sorry it's so long but as you read you'll hopefully understand, but when I got home last night I sat down on the couch and that was "lights out" for me.
When I was much younger I had 2 very good friends I worked with at Miller TV in High Point, NC. As we all do we went our separate ways and sometimes you have to get older to start realizing just how important "old Friends" are and that the years have left an empty hole in your heart for them. Some can't or don't have the opportunity or just won't take the time to do something to close that "hole", well, I did and it was one of the best decisions I've made in my life!!!
After finding Gary on FB a few years ago and then learning later that Rob also lived in the Trinity area with Gary we stayed in touch and we went fishing in the backwaters out of Southport/Oak Island last summer and they booked under a fictional name and I was absolutely speechless when I picked them up that morning.
Barbara, Bobo, and I invited Robert "Rob" and Gary Turner to come fishing with us today on Jordan Lake. It was a day of old memories, laughs, fun, tangles, lost fish, and there was a glow around our boat with a true and heart felt feeling of love for each other even after all the years past as we have been busy just making a living in different parts of NC. I truly do think we will have many more awesome trips in the near future and I truly hope so because yesterday I felt a feeling that had been absent from me for way to many years, I felt like I was finally back home again!!!
Don't know about anyone else, but I about froze, (that's what happens when you are 70 and loose a 100 pounds) and the bite was a little slow for Jordan standards where we were, but I did see a few find a "honey hole" but we never got on a real "hot spot" today, but we caught plenty and the company was absolutely great. I also had another treat yesterday, finally got to meet Mark Carmary, he is one of the good guys that helps keep fishermen in the know about crappie bites!!! Mark is a great guy, seen him move out of the way more than once when people would just crowd him out and never said a word. We need more fishermen like him and a few less like the ones that just ignored him and came in on top of him. I also got close to him once, not on top of him, but I was invited to come and fish where he was fishing, or else I would not have gotten as close as I did once!!!!
We caught 25 really nice crappies, threw back a bunch of crappies under 10 inches, Barbara caught a nice Channel Catfish on the micro lite outfits and we threw back a bucket full of perch. As we were leaving the game warden was checking boats and we were in the parking lot unloading the boat and turned around and I guess he thought we were running from him.
We checked out just fine, he was a young warden, very nice, professional, courteous, and polite and wish I had gotten his name so I could praise him for doing a great job. I was impressed when he came to the ramp to check me!!! If we had more in the field like him folks would be a little less likely to break our game and fish laws that we have for a reason to protect us and the future of our game and fish.
Got another trip tomorrow on High Rock lake. Haven't fished High Rock in over a month so not really sure just yet where I'll go at this time. But, hopefully I'll make the right choice!! Hope you get to go fishing soon with some friends you haven't seen in many years gone by, it's such a blessing for the soul.
Rob and Gary, love you 2 like you are my brothers. My prayer for you both and your family is good health, love, and for y'all to be Blessed as Barbara and I have been Blessed!!!
Till next time, God Bless Everyone and your families that read this as well!!!!
Wednesday, 12-29-21
Today we were fishing with Mark Pasino and his wife T.J. (Julie) from Holly Springs, NC. The fish seemed to be more scattered today, at least for me, and I did find out, today that a 24' Pontoon boat, which is a great platform to fish from, makes for a special kind of challenge when crappie fishing in winds over 10 mph.
But we still picked at them all day, plus a ton of largemouth bass we also caught and released them all. We had some nice crappies today but the smaller, under 8-9" seemed to be more prevalent for us
.
It was a great day of catching fish, great conversations, and great friends sharing the day and boat doing what we love to do together. There was talk today about a catfishing trip before much longer. Can't wait to get Mark and T.J. on some nice Blues, Flatheads, and Channel cats. I think a big catfish with T.J. trying to get him to the boat and the catfish trying to take T.J. home with him will push her over the top and she'll be completely "hooked" on fishing or should I say "catching"!!!
Thanks again Mark and TJ for going crappie fishing with us today. Conditions were not the best but we still made it happen!!! But, like you said, at least it wasn't 46 degrees and it was a plus it didn't rain as cloudy as it was!!
Monday, 12-27-21
Today we went back to High Rock Lake in search of more crappies. With us today were Steve Griggs from Concord, NC., Terry Fisher from Stanley, NC., Willie Russell from Charlotte, NC., and Jerry Flanagan from Huntersville, NC.
The bite was slower than it had been lately but we slowly and steadily picked at them all morning. Then the bite went to a few here and then later a few more there until they just shut down on us. We made a move that didn't work out so we regrouped and made another move that would afford us to end the trip with 55 on the clicker. That's just an estimate of what we had today and I know that several didn't get on the clicker today because I was in charge of keeping count and I know for certain some were missed, just how many, I don't have a clue, but several!!!
Thanks guys for choosing Yeah Right Charters for your fishing trip today. I only hope I met and possibly exceeded your every expectation!!! Tomorrow's trip had a unexpected mishap so they had to cancel their trip. If the weather holds and everything else goes as planned we will be back on High Rock lake again Wednesday looking for some more crappies. Thanks to all that have stopped by to read our blog about our fishing trips. God Bless you all!!!
Wednesday, 12-22-21
Today Barbara and I spent our 49th wedding anniversary crappie fishing on High Rock Lake with Dennis Pless and Chris Payne from Concord, NC. The water has cooled considerably from what it was last week and coming off a full moon has been a game changer. You have to search a little more but when you find a school of feeding fish it's "show time" again. Minnows or jigs, they want to play when you find them.
The main goal today was not to necessarily catch fish but to show the guys just how we do it. They said they learned a lot that they had ever thought about doing, and the fact that we also caught some very nice fish made for a very successful day!!
One more day tomorrow chasing crappies and we'll be shutting down for Christmas and be cranking back up on Monday after Christmas going after more crappies. Those that didn't go today, and I almost didn't, because the weather man was predicting 10 to 15 mph winds gusting to 25 mph, well, that's just what it was, a prediction, and once again weather was beautiful.
I want to personally thank everyone that has helped to make our Freshwater Fishing Adventures get off to an unbelievable start. I appreciate you all and I can only hope I'm meeting and exceeding your every expectation.
Don't forget to call Barbara and discuss your desires for your fishing trip for Crappies, Stripers, Catfish, or anything might be possible, just call 336-309-5900 to get all the details about your trip. Thank you again, God Bless!!!
Thursday, 12-16-21
Today I was fishing on High Rock lake and once again we were in pursuit of Crappies. With me today was Howard Grindstaff and Chad Perry from Old Fort, NC. and Jeff Nicholson from Nebo, NC.
The bite started off slow this morning and picked up better after a little warm up. I kept trying different tactics until I found what I determined was the presentation they wanted today at that moment in time. It was a little tougher today than it has been, or at least it was for me, but I didn't give up and stayed on the move hitting spot after spot and adjusting presentation tactics until we got another good catch of some very nice crappies.
Another great day on the lake doing the only thing I know how to do and was Blessed to be able to share how do it today with some more fine folks that love to go fishing/catching almost as much as I do!!!
Wednesday 12-15-2021
Today I was honored and humbled at the same time to have Keith and Kathie Green from Southport, NC to drive all the way to Lexington, NC so they could go crappie fishing with us. They wanted to catch enough crappies to have a big fish fry and to give family and friends some fish as well.
I met them this morning at the boat ramp on High Rock lake and after a short run to the fishing hole where I wanted to fish today, we got set up and in short order the reply came from Kathie, "FISH ON", after that we stayed steady at it the rest of the day. We didn't count how many we had today but we had a 48 quart cooler on the plus side of being over half full, nearly 3/4 full of nice filleting sized Crappies. Kathie later texted they had 70 crappies.
Keith and I have conversed many times on fb and today we finally got to meet in person and I'm proud to say that Keith and Kathie are going to be some very good friends from this point on, we have a lot in common and the most in common is the fact, "what you see is what you get" I like that in folks!!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Plans were to take a couple local boys crappie fishing today. I knew that coming off a 3 day warming trend and a strong cold front going through yesterday with barometric pressure and temperatures dropping like a rock kicked off a cliff and windy conditions, and it wasn't supposed to be windy, would present a little more challenge than normal. But the decision to go was still made!!!
So, Barbara, Bobo, and I met Jerry Smith and Randy Swicegood at the Flat Swamp boat ramp this morning at 9AM. There were still some crappies shallow from the warm spell but I found the one's that had retreated to some deeper water were a better class of crappies than what we were getting shallow.
For the deeper, 15 feet or so, and bigger crappies we had to slow our presentation way down and tight line minnows about 10 inches off the bottom and I was catching them on Red and Chartreuse jigs from Crankin Crazy Custom Jigs on minimal size structures. The bigger structures just didn't produce much for us today, so when I hit a "butter bean" size mark with a few fish marks on it, this is what produced for us. Sometimes we would have fish on 4 at a time.
Around 2PM Jerry and Randy both said they were good, they had plenty of fish in their coolers so we wrapped it up and I'll have to say it was a strange feeling to leave the lake, stop and eat supper, and get home and back the pontoon in the shed and do it all while it's still daylight, I think I could get used to this!!!
Looks like inclement weather the next couple days but we'll be back on the water as soon as the rains and winds get out of here. Might have to get our 1st Catfish trip in then!! Thanks for stopping by and thank you Jerry and Randy for fishing with us today. Conditions were not the best but you guys got the job done and in short order. Till next time, God Bless you all!!!
Photos that go with Archived Fishing Reports are available upon request. Or check out the CATCH PHOTOS page for an overall grouping.