This time of year the temperature is dropping and so are the fish. However, with the right equipment a big catch is not too far away.
“Once the water gets cold the fish are going to go to the bottom,” said Richard Gerard, owner of the East Side Bait & Tackle shop located on 1218 John Small Ave. in Washington. “If we have a mild winter you can catch trout through January, they just get more finicky.
“From September, October, November and the early parts of December, once that water gets down in the low 40s you’re going to be fishing at the bottom because they get really slow. The cold water slows them down.”
Austin Parker, a Washington High School graduate who is in his second year working at East Side Bait & Tackle, said that the preferred equipment for this time of year is sinking bait and recommended Mirrolure bait.
“Depending on how deep the water is, is how you set it,” Parker said. “And you just give it a twitch and it will rise up and suspend down real slow. Or, you can put different actions into it, it just depends on the depth of the water.”
Parker said this time of year he prefers to hunt, but that when he hits the water he looks for rock fish or trout and said that fishing by the Pungo creeks has reportedly been good.
“(Fishermen) have done pretty decent there,” Parker said. “We do catch some rock back up here in town.”
Though the seasons are changing, Parker said that doesn’t necessarily mean that fishermen have to change their rods and reels.
“You can use your same (equipment),” Parker said. “Most trout fishermen like a 7-foot medium rod.”