Cable, a veteran guide, was one of the first fishermen to really show what the lake could produce, winning one team bass tournament with a 10-fish limit that pushed 60 pounds. A year or two later, Cable's former fishing partner, Dennis Reedy, won another team tournament, with a 10-fish limit that pushed 72 pounds.
That put Harris on the map in a big way, perhaps too big. Cable believes that intense fishing pressure has hurt the bass population in the little reservoir, because of the number of big fish caught and taken to taxidermists, plus the overall amount of boat traffic the lake has experienced.
But the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, realizing that it had the opportunity to protect Harris as a true, "trophy" lake, changed the daily creel limit from the statewide 14-inch size minimum to a 16- to 20-inch slot limit. Fishermen can still creel five fish per day, but they can't keep any between 16 and 20 inches long.
"Its helped a lot," Cable said. "I love the less pressure on the lake, less total pressure. I think it has cut out a lot of the little tournaments, because the 16- to 20-inch fish you can't keep, those are the 2 1/2- to 6-pound fish you really want to catch in a tournament. If you reduce the number of weekend tournaments, then you'll also reduce the number of guys who are out during the week, practicing."
Depending on the weather, Cable works two main patterns for most of his Lake Harris fish. If the hydrilla beds - aquatic grass - haven't died back because of cold weather, Cable fishes relatively shallow, around those grass beds. If they've died back, he moves deep and mines long points with a jigging spoon.
"The grass probably won't have died back by the first of December. To kill it, the water has got to get down around 45 degrees; I think that will take the hydrilla out, and in December, it's usually not that cold yet," said Cable.
"The pattern I like to carry on from November into December is fishing a spinnerbait along the grass line or flipping a jig. I look for steep banks with short drops. The grass lines don't come out too far but drop right into deep water. They come out, maybe at the most, five yards off the bank, then drop into 10 or 15 feet of water. Those are the places the bass will hold, because they can move up real quick to feed, then drop right back into deep water."
"At Harris, you can catch fish in 20 feet of water. You can look for submerged railroad beds, along the very ends of points, especially the end of a big, flat point that runs way out. Mainly, you're looking for balls of shad, and you drop the spoon into them," he said. "I do a lot of riding and looking for balls of bait on my depthfinder before I fish. If I'm riding and see a lot of bait near the bottom, I'll stop and fish it."
Harris: Winter Wonderland for Bass
When you get to the first page of your calendar, it's not time to put your fishing tackle in hibernation for the winter - at least not if you're a bass fisherman in North Carolina.
Technically, winter begin's end of Dec., and often, the weather is more like autumn than February. That amounts to a lot of extra opportunities for fishermen who are savvy enough to realize that as long as the surface water temperature hasn't crashed downward through the 50-degree mark, there are bass to be caught all around the state.
Shearon Harris is one major reservoir where good fall fishing can extend well into or past December, depending on exactly how quickly the weather cools off once the north wind starts blowing.
Shearon Harris is a 4,100-acre impoundment on Buckhorn Creek just upstream from that creek's junction with the Cape Fear River. For the past 10 years, it has ranked as one of North Carolina's top reservoirs in terms of producing numbers of largemouth bass - and quality fish.
Cable uses a Hawg Caller spinnerbait that was "dedicated" to him after he used it to catch at 14.6-pound largemouth that is still the lake record at Jordan Lake. The "Cable Special" has a 5/8-ounce, gold-plated head, a No. 5 nickel Colorado blade and a No. 6 gold willow-leaf blade. He tips it with a white, twin-tail grub.
"I like to throw big baits, because I'm there for a big bite," Cable said. "I'm using that big spinnerbait, or a 1/2- to 5/8-ounce jig, around the edges of those grassbeds."
If the water has cooled down enough to kill the grass beds back, Cable moves out to deep water and starts to jig a Hopkins 150 Shorty spoon. It's one of his favorite late-fall, early-winter weapons.
Another veteran tournament angler and guide on Harris is Jeffrey Thomas. He also targets the vegetation during winter.
"I don't really think the grass dies, it just goes dormant", said Thomas. "the key here is finding grass that is clean". Grass without slime or mush. "I really think the grass holds heat, thats what attracts the bass".
Thomas likes to use reaction type baits to search for grass and bass. His favorite search tool is a Custom Lures Unlimited lippless crankbait called a Vortex. "I can cover water and whats more surprising is how aggressive the fish can get. I don't mean enough that you can burn the CLU Vortex back, but that they swallow the bait." The key here is maintaining the bait just fast enough to "tick" the grass. The grass needs to be near deep water access, usually around main lake flats. "I don't know why, but the colder the water gets, the better a lippless crankbait gets. And the color seems to make a difference. I like red and chartruese colors, which I think looks more like winter crawfish that live in the grass. Sometimes you have to beat off the jackfish, but on a cold day, you just want to be catching fish, so it helps keep you warm," said Thomas with a smile.
"Don't overlook the pad and water witch stems (a vine like grass that grows on the shoreline), both will give off heat and ambush points." said Thomas. "I've had some great days just targeting that. Let the sun warm up the shallows, and it can be on. I not talking about with numbers, but with some really big fish, winter doesn't always mean numbers, but it does mean quality."
The key to winter fishing can be timing. A couple hours of sun that warms up the water temps a couple degrees can send that dinner bell a ringing. A couple days of unseasonal type weather will make for an all day bite too.
"I like winter time fishing, I call it 'bankers hours' because you don't have to be out there at sunup and you don't have to stand in line to fish a spot. Yea, it can be cold, but most fisherman already have the cold weather gear from deer or duck hunts. But you can also cash in on some really big fish." said Thomas.
Exerpts taken from original story written by Dan Kibler
