TASS membership meeting scheduled for February 12

Tight Lines

February 4, 2013

TASS membership meeting scheduled for February 12

Tight Lines Rick Goines The Daily Southerner Mon Feb 04, 2013, 01:50 PM EST

ROCKY MOUNT — Tuesday, February 12th is the annual TASS (Tarboro Association of Saltwater Sportsman) general membership meeting being held this year at 6:30 p.m. at the Leggett Ruritan Club on NC Highway 33. Dinner will be catered by The Filling Station, and TASS members can purchase plates for $5.

This meeting would be a great time for you to join TASS. If you and your family like to fish, this might be the best $25 you’ve spent lately. I call it the best entertainment bargain in Edgecombe County. Current members should come prepared to pay your annual dues, and if you so desire, you can sign-up that night for the 2013 shad tournament.

Being a devout “Shadster,” the Annual Hickory Shad Tournament is a special time of year for me. This is the 12th year, and major sponsor is Marrow-Pitt Ace Home Center. Tournament dates are Saturday, March 16th to Saturday, March 23rd. That will be prime shad fishing time, and tournament Chairman, John Dupree, always does a top-notch job organizing and coordinating this exciting event.

Young Jim Dupree brought the winning hickory shad to the scales last year, and Junius House knocked down biggest white shad honors. It’s a fun tournament everybody can fish and enjoy. No boat needed. A ton of shad are caught by bank fisherman every year. Yours truly won the tournament back in 2009, and never placed my ample hindquarters in a boat. Notice how deftly and diplomatically I slipped that in there? Ego and vanity is a strange thing sometimes.

It never ceases to amaze me how kind, caring, and considerate my fellow fisherpersons are. I don’t have the physical tools to stand and cast for long periods of time. That’s why you can usually find me on the riverbank in my blue fat-boy chair. Last year, Jerry Dixon took his trusty shovel, and dug out a perfect space for my chair at the “Shad Hole” on River Road. No more rocking, rolling, slipping and sliding. Eureka!

Recently, I was apprehensive about placing my chair in its usual secure position because the current rain and mud made the area slippery and unsafe. Without me asking, Johnnie Creech grabbed a shovel out of his truck, removed the mud, and put fresh dry dirt down in my chair area so I was able to fish safely and comfortably. I hate that my physical condition dictates that I need the help, but on the other hand, I’m grateful and glad to get it. It makes my fishing experience so much more pleasant and productive. So, thank you, Jerry Dixon and Johnnie Creech, for your kindness, and shovel duty.

Rick’s Soapbox: This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. Great! It’s the ultimate game for football-loving fans. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend a Super Bowl in Miami in the mid-70s. However, given my druthers, I will be out super-shad fishing all day Sunday, sunup to sundown. I would rather catch a fish or two any day than watch something on the tube. Yes, even the Super Bowl! I’ll probably watch the 2nd half though. Hey! That’s the half that counts.

I’m proud to report-in that I caught my first shad of the season Wednesday morning at the “Shad Hole” on River Road in Tarboro. It was an American Shad, what we call locally a white shad. I was throwing my green on green on green Custom Jimmy D Shad Rig. I was so excited to catch a fish that I’m not sure whether I caught it on the spoon or the jig. Bobby Mason netted it for me, and the fish threw the hook in the net, so he wasn’t sure either which hook it jumped on. I caught it, and I guess that’s what counts. My 2013 shad season has officially begun, and I’m happy as a hog in slop. I am preparing this week’s article Wednesday evening, and we do not have a winner yet in our 2013 Tar River First Hickory Shad Contest. So, have at it, my rig-slinging friends.

Care to share? Tight Lines welcomes your fish snaps, tall tales, and outrageous lies at CarolinaAngler@Gmail.com.

See you on the water, my friend!

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Banner Day at Battle Park
Sunday was Mother’s Day. I am not a mother, but I played one in a school play years ago, so I figured that entitled me to go fishing on Mother’s Day. Need an excuse or rationalization to go fishing? Check with me, I’ve got plenty!
After suffering through 2-3 days of a rain induced swollen, unfishable Tar River at Battle Park in Rocky Mount, it was jackpot time on Sunday. Without a doubt, I had my best white shad fishing day ever, fishing from sunrise to early evening. Action was good all day, with a little lull for about 2-hours in the heat of the afternoon.
I am proud to report to you that I enjoyed a 50-fish day. I caught a personal best 46 white shad, 3 hickory shad, and foul-hooked a very angry, upset 3-foot gar. I thought I had two large white shad, or maybe a big rockfish, so I was a little surprised to see Mr. Gar. It was like reeling in an uncooperative 2x4 piece of lumber.

May 17, 2013
NCWRC enforcement officers doing a great job
North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission has two enforcement officers assigned to each county. That’s 200 dedicated, educated, and highly trained individuals protecting our North Carolina environment and natural resources. To become an enforcement officer applicant, one must participate in a highly competitive selection process. A typical candidate is required to pass extensive background and psychological screening. Also included is a vigorous 19-week training academy that is patterned after a military boot camp, with an emphasis on physical fitness.

May 10, 2013
Tight Lines declares Ginger Perry of Nashville the shad queen
One of my favorite places to bank fish is the boat ramp at Battle Park in Rocky Mount. I have met a lot of interesting people there. Three or four times this season, I have watched this amazing lady, Ginger Perry, fishing with her friend, Big Kelly, for white shad. Simply put, she is one good angler! She casts and retrieves like a pro, and always catches her fair share of fish. Maybe a few more than her fair share! This lady can flat-out fish!

April 19, 2013
Time for the John Cherry Rockfish Rodeo on the Tar river
Tarboro Association of Saltwater Sportsman (TASS) presents the annual John Cherry Rockfish Rodeo on the Tar on Saturday, April 27th. Entry fee is $100 per boat.
Registration and information is available daily at Roberson & Dupree Shoe Store, Main Street, Tarboro. The absolute registration deadline is Friday, April 26, by 8 p.m., at the boat landing on River Road, or when the maximum limit 40 boats have been signed-up. Attendance at the Captain’s meeting Friday night, 7 p.m. at the boat landing on River Road, is highly recommended. Rules will be read, questions answered, and you will receive your Captain’s Bag, tournament t-shirt, and other goodies. Each boat is allowed to weigh-in 2 of their largest rockfish, as chosen by the Captain.

April 12, 2013
Sign-up this Saturday for John Cherry Rockfish Rodeo
One of the TASS premier events that local anglers always enjoy is the annual John Cherry Rockfish Rodeo. Registration is limited to the first 40 boats. Full grown men, me included, will be standing in line like giddy teeny-boppers looking concert tickets early Saturday morning waiting for Roberson & Dupree Shoe Store to open at 9 am to plunk down that registration fee.

April 5, 2013
Bottoms Up! Greg Bottoms Wins TASS Shad Tournament
To my knowledge, Greg Bottoms does not smoke or drink, but he does have another habit, and an enviable one at that. Greg wins fishing tournaments. He won the Fall Speckled Trout Tournament, and last week claimed top honors in the shad tournament. Obviously, the man knows his way around a rod & reel. Greg is a skilled angler, and a nice guy, deserving of that success.

March 29, 2013
Shad Tournament participants weighing-in some good fish
All indications are that this will be a banner year for the 12th Annual TASS Hickory
Shad Tournament. The timing is perfect because the shad “bite” has turned on
considerably everywhere. At the halfway point through the week-long tournament, the leader board is already showing some impressive fish weights. Charles Strickland leads the top tier adult category with a healthy 2.56 Hickory Shad. That will be a hard “Hick” to beat!

March 22, 2013
Time to sign-up for the 12th Annual Hickory Shad Tournament
The TASS Twelfth Annual Hickory Shad Tournament week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. This year’s tournament dates are Saturday, March 16th through Noon, Saturday, March 23.
Entry fee is only $10, but you must sign-up before 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, if you wish to be involved. You do not need to be a member of TASS to participate, but you must be a member of TASS to receive TASS bonus-money. Registration is at Roberson & Dupree Shoe Store, 418 Main Street, in downtown historic Tarboro.

March 8, 2013
Anglers kindness and generosity never fail to amaze me
The “Shad Hole” on River Road in Tarboro functions not only as a great place to fish, but also a good place to meet and greet like-minded fishing enthusiasts. An informal group usually congregates at the “Shad Hole” nightly during shad season to wet a hook, or simply to exchange pleasantries. These “Shad Hole” friends come in different ages, and walks of life. These are salt-of-the-earth type guys. If it ever comes down to “Us” versus ‘Them,’ I want these guys in my foxhole watching my back.

March 1, 2013
Martin Marietta Materials plans to dump into Blounts Creek
Martin Marietta Materials has applied for a discharge permit to dump groundwater and stormwater directly into Blounts Creek. One person close to the situation tells me we are talking about 12 million gallons of discharge a day. I don’t profess to be an expert on the matter, but that doesn’t sound really healthy, or harmless, for the environment, and specifically Blounts Creek. (Filed documents say the average discharge would be about 9 million gallons a day, but could increase to 11 million on some days.)

February 22, 2013
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