Neuse at Smithfield....?

Greg, you can either put in behind the lumber yard or at the Town Commons behind the Little Brown Jug. The ramp at the lumber yard is a better place but you have to pay $3.00. There is a pole by the sign as you drive towards the ramp. Put the mony in an envelope and write a description of your truck. The guy that collects the money sometimes comes at night and that way he will know for sure you paid. If you put in there, go back upstream. There are some shallow spots when the river is down so be careful. About halfway between the there and the other ramp is Swift Creek on your left. It is maybe a 10 minute ride at speed so it may take 15-30 minutes with the river low. I like to go upriver in case of a breakdown or in case you get stuck. There have been some nice fish caught near the mouth and along the bank on the left just down stream from the mouth. I hung one last year and got him to the boat (about 50lbs or so) but I was by myself and lost him trying to get him in the boat. There have been 3-4 over 40lbs caught there in the last year. There is a log across the mouth but you can usually get over it to the left if the river is up. There have been some nice ones caught inside the creek as well. Before you get to the creek from the lumber yard, the river curves to the right. Just before that curve is a small log jamb on the left. Fish from the jamb downstream along the bank. I caught a 35 there earlier this year and have caught a couple of smaller ones there too. Use live bream 4-5 inches long, large goldfish, jumbo minnows work too. I actually caught the 35 on a large bream head. That's the first flathead I've ever caught on cut bait. If you go downriver a ways, Black Creek will be on your right. I haven't fished there much, but there have been some nice fish caught near there too. Good luck.

We went last night and shallow is right on for the Neuse right now. Can't imagine it gets much shallower. My boat is 17 feet with a 50hp and the first mile or so downstream of the lumber yard ramp was averaging 1.5 to 2 feet deep. Not so bad going down but terrible leaving at 1:00 AM. I made sure I smoothed out every sand bar for the next person and fed all the mosquitos..lol.

Anyway, saw several good holes and fished one of the deepest. Wound up with a 25 pound Blue on cut shad and a 5 1/2 pound Flathead on live bream.

Does the river usually stay this low? I have a 14 foot john I'm gonna have to get ready if we go again anytime soon. Besides the water being so shallow, that road to the ramp at the lumber yard is pretty rough. Not sure I can get the john boat trailer over those wicked ruts. That dude oughta take that 3 bucks a pop and fix those huge washouts.

Had a great time and will be back soon one way or another.....

Sorry, I forgot to mention the path to the ramp. I have pulled my 14ft Jon boat with a S-10 down there, you can go with about anything if you stradle the ruts. The river is not as low as it gets. I went about 2 months ago and couldn't even go upriver. Just around the corner from the ramp we ran aground all the way across the river. We wound up going downriver to fish. You said you did ok going down but not so good back up. That's why I like to go upriver first, the boat always sits lower in the water going against the river, so if you make it upriver, you know you will be ok coming back. If you drag bad going down, you may not make it back to the ramp. If you go down towards Goldsboro, there is usually more water down that way. We put in on Ferry Bridge Road sometimes, or at Whitetail Landing off 117. Beware of the Smithfield ramps when the river has been up and dropped back down. It usually leaves a lot of mud on the ramp and without 4wd, you may not get up the ramp. Oh yeah, nice blue you caught. That boat looks kind of big to put in around Smithfield unless the river is up. We have been in a center console Polar before when it is up.

To get to Whitetail Landing, you have to take 70 east to Goldsboro. As you come into Goldsboro, there is a Honda dealer on the left, a Nissan dealer on the right. You will come to an overhead bridge, if you go under and loop around to the right, it takes you down 70 through Goldsboro. You will need to take the ramp to the right before the bridge which is 117 towards Mount Olive. I'm guessing you go about 2 miles maybe 3, and the road kinda splits (the median gets wider) there will be a stoplight and a produce stand on the right. Just up from that there is a store/bait shop on the right. As the road comes back together past the bait shop, there is a driveway on your right. That is the drive for Whitetail Landing. There is a club/bar there and the ramp is right beside it. It is a pretty nice ramp, really clean and we have never had to worry about anything. There are some nice spots downriver, never fished upriver from there. If the river is up good, you can make it down to where the Little River dumps into the Neuse. We have caught some there too. It is a pretty good ride downriver. Don't try it with the water low. Now Ferry Bridge road: 70 business into downtown Smithfield on main street, you will pass the courthouse. Go down until you see Soundstation and Security on the left. That is hwy 301. Turn right on 301 and go down until you get to a stoplight with D&D Body shop on the right. Turn left, that is Old Smithfield Hwy/Brogden Rd. Take that road 10-15 miles or so. You will see signs for a place called Buckleberry where people ride 4 wheelers and stuff. Go past that, you will see Lassiter Rd. to the right. You can turn there, it dead ends at Ferry Bridge road and turn right on F.B.rd, or you can go further down until you see Ferry Bridge road. Either way, turn right on Ferry Bridge rd. When you get to the river, you will cross the bridge and the ramp is on your right. Hope this helps you, happy fishing.

hello greggofish, i also live in cary......grew up on the haw...still have 2 tracts of land on the haw......anyway.....you have got some good info from these guys but heres 1 more....if you put in at ferry bridge use your smaller boat.....shallow spots there too.......ifyou go upstream you will come to an island.....there are some deep(relatively speaking) spots around the island but at low flows you will not get even some jon boats past the top of the island.........i fish there often and at a flow of 700 cubic feet a second or less it is too shallow there....the upsteam tip and channels are also blocked with several trees........i fish out of 3 canoes...been there several timesthis year but 1 time the flow was only 400cfs......i had to get out of my canoe and drag it past the island and through stickups.... this canoe will float in inches of water!.....i could walk from 1 bank to the other and not get the top of my ankles wet...look at usgs.gov ...its tricky gettting used to it but look for info on water....then info by state......then look for streamflow......look at the goldsboro gauge monitered by the us geological survey.........the flow i like in wayne and johnston cos is around 1200 cfs......the flow i like in craven co is anywhere from 2-4000 cfs.....hope this helps...........mack

hello, i have fished that part of the haw a lot but only once this year.. i agree that it is good...good for stripers too....i put in also at 42(if i use my big square stern canoe with gas motot or a freinds boat but sometimes i take my 15 ft canoe and carry it down the rrocks at the dam and fish from the end of the rocks to us 1.......if no fish are biting i usualy can p/u (no lie) anywhere from 30 -100 nice corks that have washed up against the laydowns that the perchjerkers at the dam have lost and then floated down........i aslo think that for catfish that the neuse is the best....i know guys like the cape fear but i like the neuse better....its smaller and easier to read the water.........and some places wher i fish the neuse (except for springtime shad and striper runs) i rarely see another boat.....stop by and see me if you can....i am the asst mgr at the ace hardware at highhouse and 55.....thanks mack