BigBendFishing.Net

Hi,
My name is Ricky. I live in Western North Carolina and am new to this site.
We are going to be coming the week of June 18th and will be staying around the north side of the Ochlockonee.
I have picked up some info from this site and it appears Bald Point is the place to go. Looking at Google maps
and depth charts there seems to be a lot of docks and some deep water close to where we will be staying.
I am wondering if anyone ever fishes those docks for flounder or redfish and if so how do you fish it?
We usually do pretty well on the ICW on the coast of North Carolina and fishing docks.
Also, has anyone ever caught sheephead under the bridge going over the bay? How did you fish that area?
Leonard's Landing looks like it has pretty clear water and grass flats....anyone fish there? What do you use?
I know there are quite a few questions but I appreciate any help/ideas you may have. Thanks again!

Ricky Reid

Fish mud minnows around the docks for flounder. Fish cut bait under the bridge for large black drum. I've never fished for sheephead there. The water can be really swift on a falling tide.

Don't know how long you're staying NCSalty , if your plans have any flexibility, or if scalloping holds any interest... but scalloping season opens one week from your arrival. If you've never done it (and if storms don't mess up the waters too much before your arrival) it's something worth experiencing once and something you can do mid-day when temps get so brutal that it's tough to bear while fishing.

I don't think I've ever fished at Bald Point without catching something. There's a fishing dock in the state park. If you've got a boat or a kayak the oyster bars at the mouth of the river hold reds, flounder, trout, Spanish mackerel, lady fish. I was out there this week and saw some massive black drum tailing around the bars. They are hunting for crab. Live shrimp on a jig head will catch most anything. Gulp shrimp under a poppin cork in pennywise or pearl do the same. I caught a few reds on an aqua dream gold or pink spoon. I've caught sheepshead at Alligator Point - you can try the rocks on the side of the road - there always seems to be a crowd out there. If you want to catch a shark just throw out some cut bait and it won't take long.

Thanks for the tips, I hope to have some reports back later.

The first day down the only thing I caught was a couple of catfish on the north side of the bay. I tried bald point, the tide was going out but I'm afraid it was already to low. I tried white gulp shrimp on a jig, both on the bottom and also under a popping cork. Tried a bone spook and a hair jig with a root beer with chartreuse tail swim bait. But I didn't catch anything nothing there, also didn't see anyone else catch anything either. Maybe better reports later.

This time of year early and late are the times to fish.

NC Salty
fish the couple of hours on both sides of the high and low tide around the bars at the mouth of the bay. The water moves so fast it is hard to fish mid tides. Also try the flats between the two channels. There should be trout and Spanish macs there. The flats between Piney island and long bar out of Panacea should be decent now, try to fish the ditches that are 4-8 ft deep. Google earth will help find the deep areas.

Went out this morning in the kayaks at Leonard's Landing without any luck. So decided to just try Mashes Sands pier on the falling tide that evening. I caught 2 hard head catfish, 1 gaff topsail cat, 1 key west poggy, 1 small ray. But to top it all off I caught a 36 inch red on that outgoing tide. Wow what I fight, I battled that beast for around 20 minutes. Finally got him to the beach and released him and I'm glad to say he swam off fine. I was a little worried after such a long fight.

The docks around ochlocknee bay are very hard to fish. The current in the river is pretty fast and its hard to get positioned and fish them effectively. If you do figure out a good way and catch fish please post your outcome.