Lake Michael - Mebane Nc

[Bassun]

Hey I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this little lake in NC.  My wife, and sister in laws, have me driving down to the tanger outlets this October - so I figured why not rent either a jon or paddle boat and float around all day.  Beats the heck out of spending a day shopping!

 

From what I have read, the 59 acre lake supports Bass, Crappie and bream (but who knows what they are classifying as bream) I assume bluegills, etc.  I was hoping to get an idea of how the little lake fishes, and what type of cover / structor there is.  I will obviously be taking a lite assortment of gear and I was hoping to have a better idea of what to take.  If it is really just a bluegill factory, that's fine -- I will just focus on 'gill gear, but if it does support a good number of bass, then I obviously would rather target them.

 

Any incite or experiences would be appreciated.  Thanks y'all!

[Bassun]

Ok, so I made it down to Lake Michael yesterday, and thought maybe I would share my findings so if someone else happens by they can have an idea of what to expect.

 

So first off, it is a very natural looking lake, and there are some nice open walking trails etc.  If you want to fish, you do need check in at the info station and pay a two dollar fee, and a valid NC Freshwater license is needed (18 dollars for 10 day out of state fee + $2 processing fee, all can be done online).  There are 3 fishing piers, and 1 dock as well as a big deck at the info store you can fish from, certainly very pretty area.  There is also a few hundred yards of bank you can easily access and fish.  Unfortunately, it appears a lot of people do just that, and the bank fishing in those areas seems to be less than ideal.  You will see in the info center plenty of pictures of fish caught, so there's no doubt they are in there.  An electro-fishing study apparently found great populations of fish, and topped a bass over 10lbs. 

 

Paddle-boats and john boats are for rent, but you cannot fish from the paddle boats and the john boats are not row boats...actually they are nice fish-able johns.  If you have a bolt on trolling motor or small gas motor, then they would be a great choice and would probably open up some good fishing.  While I was there I saw 1 john boat on the water, so I think its a fairly lowly utilized option.  On a positive note if you are local, you can launch up to 17' gas powered boats.  There is NO HP restriction, according to the guy at the info center, but it is a fishing only lake.  No swimming or water-sports.

 

There is plenty of forage fish for bass, and other predators.  I saw hundreds and hundreds of fish under three inches hanging on the bank, I think a mix of bream and bluegills as well as a healthy dose of yearling bass.  Unfortunately I only saw a few bass cruising the shallows where you are allowed to bank fish, and only managed to pull one from any structure.  If these conditions persist across the lake, but lack the heavy bank pressure, I think there could be some great fishing in the other areas.  Having said that...

 

What I did find interesting was two floating fish feeders, timed to release food on the hour every hour.  They spin off some food, and instantly tons of fish are busting the surface eating.  I tried to fish one of these for bass thinking the circle of life should have them there, but never even got a single hit.  Maybe I fished it wrong, maybe I just got unlucky, idk.   I cannot imagine bass not to utilize them as a food source.  BUT I can confirm a good population of catfish do.   A real good population.

 

After spending a few hours along the bank, and watching a family pull a few catfish off floats near a feeder I decided why not give it a whirl considering my bank beating was not being very successful for bluegill or bass, lol.  So, I put my gear back in the car and ran up the road a mile or so and bought a dozen worms.  Come back, and the lower feeder was still unfished so I went there.  Then I realized that since I only brought some of my gear I didn't have floats.  I did finally find one stuck in my raincoat pocket.  So, I tied on a 2/0 circle hook, loaded it with a nightcrawler and slipped on the ole round bobber and cast near the feeder.

 

A few mins later, and the bobber was gone.  Reeled down and raised the tip, quickly gave up some line to drag and was confirmed fish on.  A short fight later, I had what I originally called a nice little channel cat on.  After looking at pictures, I think it was actually a very nice white catfish!  Nice as in citation range.  None the less, I continued fishing under the float and continued catching cats near the feeder.  THEN I hit the metal pontoon and busted my float.

 

That was the only bobber I had, so I figured why not try fishing the bottom near the feeder.  So I retied with a bullet weight and cast out letting it drop ... err try to drop to the bottom.  Boom, another fish.  The area near those feeders must be just chock full of catfish waiting for free food.  I did notice that the fishing on the bottom, were younger smaller fish, but fish are fish and fun to catch.  If you wanted to catch gills, you could just use a smaller hook and catch them non stop all day near the feeders as they were constantly trying to steal my worms, and the livers off the couple who set up beside me to fish the cats.

 

So, if you happen to have a wife or significant other who wants to go to Tanger Outlets in Mebane (just a few miles away), and you want to fish --- I suggest bringing a chair, then set up for gills and cats and you will have a full day of action.  Just go to one of the two feeders.  The lower is where I was at, the upper has more angels you can fish it from if the lower is busy.  There is a limit of 6 catfish, if you want to keep them, and you can easily hit your limit.  I did so on a single dozen worms, and actually gave up 2 1/2 worms to the feeder as I managed to somehow hook it.  If you are semi local and want to introduce a kid or someone else to fishing - I would go here and fish the feeders.  It just doesn't get much easier.

 

Now, if you are in a position to fish the 59 acre lake for bass via a boat, I would try it.  The pressure outside of the regulated bank fishing areas, seems to be extremely low and the feeder fish are plentiful.  There is a concrete ramp, and it appeared to run fairly deep and looked nice.  Not much docking options so a two person launch would be suggested if your in fiberglass.  The lake may be overstocked and stunted, I'm not sure.  My biggest gill was only about 5" and the best bass was barely over a foot.  There is a slot limit for bass, 2 of any size and 3 over 14 I think it was...I was looking to CPR so it didn't matter.  But, ultimately, I ended up going back to school with worms and having a blast on a bunch of smaller catfish off the bank and utilizing the feeders.  If I go back, I'll set up just like that, and maybe try a few bigger cut gills and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

[Bassun]

Oh, I nearly forgot.  There is a place called "GOOD TIMES CAFE", that we ate at after everyone was done shopping.  Great food, and very cheap.  We ordered everything from burgers to sirloins and everyone was impressed.  The only complaint was the fried pickles were a little greasy.  But, hey, we're talking fried pickles... One even mentioned their salad had the best tasting lettuce they've ever had.  None the less, it was all good and cheap.  Great place to refill before heading back home.