N.C. lake docks play differently

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Flat and featureless, Lake Norman has very little fish holding cover except for boat docks, but docks here fish differently than at other lakes.

Because the lake is so shallow, many dock owners dredged holes in the lake bottom so they can drive boats in and out of their docks. These holes diversify bottom contour and provide fish habitat. They also change the dynamic of dock fishing.

Instead of being under or besides the docks, fish at Lake Norman are in the holes away from the docks. Most of the holes are about the size of swimming pools. Some contain rocks and other items that hold fish. The holes are evident because the water is darker than the surrounding water.

These man-made holes do not exist at other lakes in the Southeast. They factor heavily into any bass fishing strategy at Lake Norman.

Carpet burn

In the last period of Wednesday’s qualifying round for the Redcrest Bass Fishing Championship, Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., raced the clock to reel in his last fish of the day.

Connell landed the fish in time to avoid a penalty, but incurred a different penalty when he allowed his fish to touch the boat’s carpet. In Major League Fishing, a bass is not allowed to touch the boat. Tournament officials assessed Connell a 2-minute penalty at the beginning of the second qualifying round on Thursday. Connell did not say if the penalty affected his performance on Thursday.

Unique format

In most bass tournaments, anglers fish non-stop all day.

In Major League Fishing, anglers fish 7.5 hours a day, which is divided into three periods. There is a 30-minute break between periods during which an angler cannot have a fishing line out of a boat.

When a period ends, an official in each angler’s boat starts a countdown. A bass on the line must be clearly inside the boat, inside the gunnels, before time expires.

Spotted bass woes

Though once a largemouth bass lake, spotted bass have taken over Lake Norman and other lakes in North Carolina, much to the consternation of fisheries biologists.

Corey Oakley, assistant chief of sportfish management for the Inland Fisheries Division of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said that tournament anglers introduced spotted bass from Alabama in the late 1990s in hopes of improving a relatively unproductive bass fishery.

“It’s an invasive species,” Oakley said. “They have pushed largemouth bass to the edges of their habitat. From that point in the late 90s, we’ve seen a spread of Alabama bass throughout North Carolina. Spotted bass occur in only two river basins in North Carolina. They’re overtaking native bass fisheries. In the mountain regions, smallmouth bass will be non-existent in next 25 years.”

Oakley implored anglers not to move fish from one water body to another.

Once bite per day

Because of Major League Fishing’s unique weighing and scoring system, it is possible for an angler to catch and release the same bass multiple times. Weighing a big bass multiple times would give an angler an unfair advantage.

To prevent that dilemma, Major League Fishing rules stipulate than an angler can score the same fish once per round. Anglers created the rule and persuaded Major League Fishing to codify it in the official rules.