Still On The Specs

Songdoghunter

Twelve Pointer
It is a suspending bait but will make it to the bottom in 25 feet or less. These fish are moving up and down with thermocline. I caught some on the bottom and some nearly on top near the boat. They only feed for about an hour or so after sunrise. Little to nothing in their guts. They are basically just hibernating in these holes to survive the winter.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
It is a suspending bait but will make it to the bottom in 25 feet or less. These fish are moving up and down with thermocline. I caught some on the bottom and some nearly on top near the boat. They only feed for about an hour or so after sunrise. Little to nothing in their guts. They are basically just hibernating in these holes to survive the winter.

tell us about them "moving up and down with the thermocline."

how does that work in a creek?
 

Longrifle

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Yeah, got me wondering too. We've been catching them in Bay River off the ends of shallow points. I don't know of a creek around here that has a 25' hole...
 

Songdoghunter

Twelve Pointer
tell us about them "moving up and down with the thermocline."

how does that work in a creek?


Nothing to tell really as it's pretty simple. I was fishing a creek which is a tributary of the New River in Jacksonville. There are several holes in this creek that range from 15-30 feet in depth. The water is tidal with about 3 feet of tide. Therefore, there is constant mixing of ocean water with the fresh water making it brackish. The warmer the surface air temp, the more active and shallow the fish are biting. While the surface water had ice on it several mornings last month, the temp in these holes is in the upper 40's near the bottom. Trout have been caught this year between Richlands and Jacksonville in nearly fresh water. There are holes in the river itself over 40 feet in depth. For those that do not know, the New River starts and ends in Onslow County. It starts in western Onslow as a ditch you can step across, is spring fed and fresh water, and ends at New River Inlet at North Topsail and is nearly 2 miles wide between Camp Lejeune and Sneads Ferry. Incidentally, I was 8 years old when the river was dredged in the late 60's and remember guys dipping trapped stripers in excess of 25lbs with herring dip nets. I've caught black crappie and smaller stripers 200 yards from the old Fisherman's Wharf in Jacksonville. Longrifle, there are several such holes in Brices Creek in your neck of the woods where trout are also caught every year in late fall and early winter.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i am sure the trout are seeking optimum water temps but i dont think a thermocline is in play or at least what i thought was a thermocline.

to me a thermocline is a layer of water so dense (with large temp differences) it shows on your depth finder and below which there is no oxygen.

that's just splitting hairs though. Good that you have them figured out.
 

Songdoghunter

Twelve Pointer
i am sure the trout are seeking optimum water temps but i dont think a thermocline is in play or at least what i thought was a thermocline.

to me a thermocline is a layer of water so dense (with large temp differences) it shows on your depth finder and below which there is no oxygen.

that's just splitting hairs though. Good that you have them figured out.

Perhaps I just ignorantly used the word thermocline. I guess what I should have said was that the fish stay in the warmest water they can find and that is deep when surface temp is sub freezing and more shallow when air temp is warm. You can mark it though on the depth finder. Because there isn't a full tidal exchange, the water never really runs on the bottom like it does in the sound. I guess because of that, the deeper water stays a more constant temperature than the water affected by current and contrasts between the two is shown on depth finder. Jacksonville by water is only about 6 miles from 100% salt water at Courthouse Bay.
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
It could be a thermocline, but I'd say that it is probably stratification in the water column due to salinity differences between the fresh water and saltwater.
 

Longrifle

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Thanks SDH. Most of my fishing is done in the Vandemere/Oriental area. I know of several good holes that hold trout at times, in Trent Creek for example, but none with that kind of depth. I've yet to spot any holes over 12'-14' in Bay River or Vandemere Creek...
 

23mako

Ten Pointer
Prob not. Seems like the cold stuns happen after several days of very cold temps mixed in with cold run off from melting freezing precipitation.
 

Songdoghunter

Twelve Pointer
Prob not. Seems like the cold stuns happen after several days of very cold temps mixed in with cold run off from melting freezing precipitation.
what he said! That's the reason these fish stay in deep holes. It typically won't get cold enough to kill them there. I asked a fisheries biologist why the trout don't stay in deep holes around the inlets and he explained that it takes too much energy to swim the current and not enough bait in the winter. Also, these fish will spawn in the creeks before going back to the ocean this spring.
 

23mako

Ten Pointer
Well it sounds like there have been a few isolated kills and cold stuns. Not sure what the DMF might do.
 

bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
Yeah have seen videos of lots of trout stunned in carteret county


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GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
If you see a bunch of stunned fish call DMF. They can send out people to help minimize the losses. A falling tide and stunned fish equal trouble.
 

hawkman

Eight Pointer
Yup....they all dead!! Lol...you could walk across the boats today. About as good as you get right now!!

If you saw my chain pickerel thread, you saw a mirrolure hanging from his mouth. I had my mind on some trout, too, that day. I'd love to go get some, but no boat yet.


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