High Rock boat ramp @ #8

To answer your questions

1: Boat ramp usable? Yes, High Rock is almost full pond. Hwy 8 ramp is good even when H-R is down 15'. A better question might be: Can I get everywhere I want to go given the current water level?

The tressle at Hwy 8 is pretty low to the water, if you have a high console, tee-top, pontoon, ect you may not be able to get under. It shouldn't be a problem though.

2: Safe? Yes, it is a very nice faciility, with lots of activity. Usually the ones you have to worry about are the ramps that get very little use (fewer eyes).

3: 24 Hrs? As far as I know it is. They used to lock the parking lots (seperate from ramp) but I have not seen them locked in a long time.

4: Bait? Use your depth finder and look from the ramp all the way back to the bridge. Usually there will be a few large schools there. Sometimes they are so thick near the bridge, they will "black out" the depth finder.

5: Fish? As for where to fish, I cant really help you on evening fishing this time of year. From that location I would probably head up Abbots Creek. FHS has a decent topo map of the lake. Look for areas that have creek channel close to shallow flats. There is one such area just upstream of the Holloways Church Rd Bridge (about 3-4 miles up Abbots Creek from the Hwy 8 bridge). Also, I have seen lots of flatheads caught drifting the large flat/channel downstream of Holloways Ch Rd. The crappie fishermen tend to catch them trolling jigs (go figure??)

6: Other ramps? From Winston the easiest/quickest ramp may be the ramp at York Hill, which is right at the I-85 crossing of the Yadkin River. Take the Hwy 29 Spencer exit, turn Right just before the bridge, drive to ramp is just ahead on left.

With the current water level, anything shy of a big center console should be ok to launch. Bait could be found right at the boat ramp near the inlet to the bay, just above the boat ramp (you'll see what I mean), or if you go during the week, bait can be caught at the hot water outlet of the Buck Steam Plant, which is about a mile down river. Go slow as the channel meanders. Theres not much danger right now. Most obstacles are sand/mud bars, which tend to be somewhat marked by the large woody debris that washes up on them. Now is actually a good time to go up there. If your boat doesn't draft much (ie, jon boat) you can ride around and get a feel for the lay of the land. If you have a GPS, now is a good time to make waypoints in the middle of the channel.

Any of the flats, points or holes are good places to look. Also, there is a good deep hole at the powerline crossing just below the steam plant.

The main drawback to this area may be in reference to question #2. The ramp isnt used by a whole lot of folks, and many are just there to fish from the bank. I dont know of any problems there, but you never know these days. If it makes you feel better, I would still use this area as long as I could launch my boat.

I personally would rather fish on the upper end of the lake right now. But for just getting out on the lake without having to be worried about parking safety, catching bait, sand bars, ect, your best bet would be Hwy 8. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Mike

 

I use the ramp at Tamarac and the wildlife ramp across the road. I mainly crappie fish High Rock, but will hit the flatheads when it warms up. A buddy of mine caught a bunch of crappie today. PM me if you want info. on the crappie. Right now, you'll mainly just catch channel cats at High Rock. That's just not my style so I stick with Badin and Tillery. Channels are fun, but they just don't get as big as blues. good luck!

 

Here is a link to a previous post I made about the York Hill landing that was mentioned in an earlier post. I can't remember exactly what I said in the post but as far as safety I have never had a problem with anyone messing with me or my vehicle. This is the primary area I fish starting about april on up into late fall, (I try to stay away from the lake during those periods due to all the boat traffic and jetskis). As long as there is water in the lake there will be water in the river and the steamplant previously mentioned is a great place to fish as well as the deep hole at the powerlines is also.

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61432

 

yeah if ya use the one at the wildlife,its usually patroled by the sheriffs dept.i dont worry bout my truck and trailor there..

 

i think there may be a ramp in linwood that is closer to the upper end of the rock but not to surei either use york hill or dutch creek access

 

The ramp you might be thinking about is the old Scotts Tackle Shop Ramp on Linwood Southmont Road. The store is gone, but the ramp is still there. You have to buy a key to the gate (I think its $50/year) from Scott's widow. The ramp is at the upper end of Swearing Creek.