[Matth2083]

Me and my borthers have been bank fishing at falls for the past year or so around the south end closer to the damn. We've had mixed luck. Catching a few 5-7 blues here and there. Caught quite a few channels, but we're kinda gunning for the bigguns. Without the luxury of a boat we're confined to the banks. It would be greatly appreciated if anyone knows of any good accessible bank spots around the south end or anywhere else at falls we've missed. Thanks.

 

[Kittyhunter]

A boat would be a good start. I don't know anything about Falls Lake but you have to be able to get to the spots where the big fish are. You can find a used jon boat pretty reasonable. You may be able to do some fishing without a gas motor, just a trolling motor. Something like a 10 ft jon with a 35-45 lb thrust would move pretty good. Gas is definately the way to go to cover ground though. I have a 14 ft with a 15hp outfitted with lights, 2 batteries, power outlets, rod holders, storage, etc. and only paid $1,000 for it. If you plan to do much fishing for big cats, I don't think you will be very successful stuck on the bank. Good luck though.

 

[greggofish]

Falls is a tough lake to fish from the bank...especially on the dam side. The best place to catch decent fish from the bank on Falls is probably around the Ledgerock ramp. Don't fish right at the ramp.......go to the left from the parking lot till you get to a good clear area. I fished there a few years ago and caught several 7-9 lb. Channels on shad. Falls doesn't have alot of big cats (15 lbs. up) to begin with, so that makes it more difficult.

I'm pretty much gettin away from Jordan, Harris or Falls for cattin' anymore....

I don't eat catfish so don't care a thing for eating sized cats. If Channel cats didn't fight so darn hard, i'd have given up on em a long time ago.

Good luck...I spent alot of years bank fishing Falls and Jordan with my brother and did OK. Alot better at Jordan overall though.

 

[Matth2083]

Yeah, A boat would def. help our situation. I've been looking online trying to find some good deals on a jon boat. I've found several but none too close to raleigh for pickup. If you guys have any reccomendations as far as where to start looking for a reasonably priced boat, it would be greatly apprectiated. Unfortunately being in school limits my budget quite a bit. But Im not gonna be too picky for a first boat. I need the experience mostly. Thanks for the tips on the Falls bank spots too. Im probably gonna give the banks a few more tries before I move to new lake or head up to the cape.

 

[Kittyhunter]

Hey I just looked at one today!! It's a 16 foot (maybe 18, it's long and didn't have a tape measure) aluminum boat with a galvanized trailer and a 15 Evinrude. The motor has not been run in 2 years but has compression. It ran fine when it was parked. You may need to clean the carb and put some plugs in it or it may run fine with new gas. It belongs to a fire department. They bought it to use as a rescue boat and have never used it. One of the firemen had it and said it ran great before he sold it to them. $600 is the least they will take for it which is a good deal. It is a V-hull in the front though, not a regular jon boat, but would work great in the river or lake. I am taking somebody to look at it tomorrow but if he is not interested, I can let you know. It's about a 30-45 minute drive from Raleigh. Oh yeah, if this guy buys the boat, he has one that is smaller he will probably sell.

 

[Kittyhunter]

OK, he decided not to go look at it so it's still for sale. It belongs to the Micro Fire Department. Let me know if anybody is interested.

 

[Rickb6959]

Matt, I fished falls on the bank years ago. I have seed some big cats come out of there. I will tell you my secret bank spot. Go to falls via six forks road. Go through Bayleafe. And where falls and possum track road splits take a left on six forks. Go to first bridge. Park on rt side of bridge and fish on the left side of bridge. Fish in of the middle of the wide part of lake. The Nice river runs through there. You can fish on the rip rap. But beware there are SNAKES, I never Had a problem with them but you never know. If the water is low you can cross over the bridge and go to the end of the guard rail. And fish the point of the lake where it funnels down. That was my preferred spot.