Headed to Norman Wednesday afternoon after picking up bait at Randy's catfish lake in Clover. A. Wyatt and I were looking forward to a 36 mile trip rather than our usual 100+ miles to Murray. We were not disappointed........Norman was beautiful with the moon and power plant lights setting the stage for a great night of fishing. Started drifting at the bio fish test marker near the middle between the shoal and the dam. In 20 minutes or so we had our first Arkansas blue catfish on the line. A nice one at about 8lb. We talked it over and decided that we would not keep any catfish this night. It was stripers or nothing........We drifted toward the dam and the time between 7PM and just after 8PM saw the dam area light up with boats.....it was like honey bees to the hive. By the time we drifted in the midst of them; there had to be 12-15 boats scattered here and there but keeping the dam in sight as they moved about with huge sodium lights powered by generators. I told Mr. Wyatt that we had somehow gotten lost and wound up at Murray....except for the nuclear plant the scene was the same as Murray.....we began to power about with the trolling motor keeping the pace at about .50 to .75 mph on the GPS tracker. Picked up our first striper, a nice 22 incher. Kept the bait in the water and trollled with the green hydralight on the side with barely a ripple as the boat glided softly on the flat surface of the lake...the moon made the trip. About three quarters full and misty...the snoopy caught 7 stripers and 7 blue catfish all toll. We ran out of bait at about 3 AM and headed home. The last striper which would have been our liimit was on the line at least four different times but either broke the line or swirled right at the fish net as it said adios to the netter.....Norman did not disappoint however, what a great night to there. I know now that ever trip in the future will be judged against this first night on Norman....... Pete's home lake.....I posted couple photos . The striper catch and the snoopy decal so anyone who wants can slide up to ole snoopy and share the fish stories...........if you see my boat a white neptune look for the snoopy on both sides....I get my SC decal this week which I will stick beside snoopy....oh yeah, the catfish all went back...we checked them and had just over 55 lbs of catfish..the stripers were two 22 inchers, three 21 inchers and two 20's or a bit under. ....iamfishing
Last edited by Iamfishing : 08-14-2008 at 05:17 PM.
good report steve. ive never fished norman, but usually when you get reports they hittin there, wateree is good to, or vise versa. im curious,,, what did bolin charge for the bait?
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If it aint UGLY, it aint worth the price..
good report steve. ive never fished norman, but usually when you get reports they hittin there, wateree is good to, or vise versa. im curious,,, what did bolin charge for the bait?
He charges 8 dollars a dozen. If you buy 5 dozen he gets 7 dollars a dozen. They were really good baits. On the way up Mr. Wyatt asked me about my bait tank. I told him it was the best one I ever had and never had a problem with it. When we got to the landing I was unstrapping the stern and noticed that the bait tank aerator wasn't running. Turns out I bragged to quickly. The aerator pump had burned out on the way up. Randy's bait was so good that we still had live bait at 3 AM with no aeration....few had died but the majority was still kicking till we ran out.
He charges 8 dollars a dozen. If you buy 5 dozen he gets 7 dollars a dozen. They were really good baits. On the way up Mr. Wyatt asked me about my bait tank. I told him it was the best one I ever had and never had a problem with it. When we got to the landing I was unstrapping the stern and noticed that the bait tank aerator wasn't running. Turns out I bragged to quickly. The aerator pump had burned out on the way up. Randy's bait was so good that we still had live bait at 3 AM with no aeration....few had died but the majority was still kicking till we ran out.
What kind of bait tank are you running?? One of the things that I like about the Grayline I've got is that you can change out the pump in about five min. with a phillips screwdriver and a pair of wire cutters. I keep a spare onboard because those little rule pumps don't last too long.
Great Night/ Lake Norman 8/13
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