Carters Lake Fishing Report – February 2009

Carters: Level: 3.3 feet above full pool. Temp: 46-49 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Zack Foster reports: “Big spots are really turning on right now. It’s not the most fun way to catch them, but the slow methodical approach is really producing quality fish this month. I went a few hours without a bite until I really slowed it down and just concentrated on every rock and every stump I felt. The dark colors are what seemed to work best. I fished a solid black and scuppernong Zoom Trick Worm and a black head and red hooked Shaky Head Jig. The main areas I focused on were 20- to 40-yard cuts in the banks up the river between the island and Ridgeway boat ramp. Almost every fish we caught in these cuts were around 3 pounds, with a few at 4. I didn’t have a lot of luck with the crankbaits or jerkbaits, but the fish I caught were good fish. I would slow-roll a spinnerbait right now over the hard baits.” Danny Hall reports: “Right now they’re catching them anywhere from 20 to 60 feet of water on a finesse worm. The deeper ledges is what they’ll be on (this month) —in a ditch, any kind of ledge. Also, look right off the edge of the main-lake points, of course; they have good drop on them. A lot of times they’ll be right on the bottom.” Danny’s go-to bait in February on Carters is a 1/8- to 3/16-oz. jig-head loaded with a finesse worm. He said green pumpkin or watermelon are both excellent colors on the lake. “You can catch them on jigging spoons on a bright sunny day,” said Danny. “That bright sun pushes the shad down to the bottom and draws the bass closer to the bottom. A jigging spoon usually works well down there in those depths. I like a 1/2-oz. Flex-it spoon in white or chartreuse. I always change the hooks to a featured treble hook. It’s something a little different, and it camouflages the hook, too. On an overcast day, the shad will come up more. They’ll either be suspended or up on top.” Danny chunks a jerkbait when the bass are up in the water column. He prefers a deeper-diving jerkbait, like Lucky Craft’s Bevy Shad.

Linesides: Fair. Robert Eidson reports: “It’s slowed down a bunch. Lake was 14 feet above full pool, and they’re pulling it back down. It’s still 3 feet above full. The courtesy dock walkways are under water. Full trees floating around the lake, lot of trash. Go with patience. Bites are few, but the ones you get are big, big fish. Fish are scattered. Better bite up past Ridgeway in the river, from Striper Island to the No Houseboat sign, which is unusual for them to be there this early. Flatlines and planer boards, and you have to be there at sunup and you have about a 45-minute window; then downrods, sometimes as deep as 45 feet. Use trout and gizzard shad. You can net shad in the back of Worley and the back of Ridgeway. Hybrids are still on main-lake humps down the lake from Worley, Harris Branch and Camp Branch. Pull U-rigs for hybrids on points and humps. Everything should get better in the next couple of weeks once the lake level stabilizes.”