1 I - Pee Dee Fishing Adventures

II
ar Heel basketball fans may envision paradise in shades of
blue, but catfishermen have their own blue heaven on earth
near Wadesboro.
This watery paradise, teeming with blue catfish weighing as
much as 70 pounds and the average catfish weighing 30 pounds,
consists of a 25-mile stretch of the Pee Dee River between the
U.S. Highway 74 bridge near Wadesboro and the North CarolinaSouth Carolina border.
Along this rippling water that divides Anson and Richmond
counties, anglers rarely see other fishing
encounter high-powered recreational
On rare occasions, they may spy a lone xavaxer
In fact, few anglers are privy to this
segment of the Pee Dee River mean
where only a handful of fishermen
One such fortunate per on is Ro
Service, the one and only guide
'at
. pan of me Pee
transformed into
":,,,,~fu;lJternJaIl'
dream through
never transpired.
1940s. Progre s
ght 10,000 acres on
of me river with the
C:::~<::OD of on tructing anethe:' Burr aid.
me reason, the lake
er built, and Progress
turned the land over as
~;:!ITl.ated .c. Wildlife
r..;;:~l\,;e Commission) Game
which was open to the
-E 'entually; the riverside
property was removed as Game
and tracts were sold to
':=:'~;\:luals and to hunting
a result, the 25-mile
h of river now runs along
vate property with no public
e . The closest public
is at the Highway 74
. ~e. but getting from there' to
by boat is almost impossie because of the rocky shoals
The isolated
25-mile
but it's well known
stretch
of the Pee Dee River has many rocks and shoals that prevent
by guide Robbie
and shallow water. The next
public access is across the line
in South Carolina."
Burr has access to the river
through his affiliation with a
most
Burr.
local club and literally holds
the key to paradise. To reach
the river, he has to unlock a
gate and drive down a dirt road
to a small ramp of his own
making.
. "I had to spend rn,"" n:::.money and build m.•.• _~
in order to fish the Burr, who lives n
ic
_
alls dam.
However, getting to pardise is one thing; motoring
bout in it is another.
Burr had to modify a 20foot-long G-3 boat to navigate the river. He removed
the front and rear consoles
to evenly distribute the
weight of the boat so it
would lie flat to avoid having a deeper portion that
could strike a rock.
"My boat sits 5-inches
deep in the water, plus I
have a jet motor with a
hydraulic jack plate to help
me maneuver around the
rocks," said Burr, who tore
up several conventional
boats and motors before adapt-.
ing his mode of transportation
to the treacherous whims of this
stretch of water.
The catfishing at this river
paradise is worth all the aggravation Burr experienced just to
fish it.
Burr said flatheads once
Photo by TONY GARITIA
The lower Pee Dee has plenty of
quality
plays.
were more prevalent in the river
than blue cats, but in the '70s
blues were introduced, and they
gradually became the dominant
species.
"People don't realize how
many big blues are in this
river," said Burr, whose two
biggest blues weighed n and
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74 pounds.
. "There are lots of 50- and
60-pound catfish in here," he
said. "On a good day, a fisherman should be able to catch 15
cats that weigh between 500
and 600 pounds."
A former bass tournament
angler, Burr became so mes-
blue catfish,
as Burr dis-
merized about catching big
blues, he gave up tournament
fishing and sold the 85 bass
fishing rods he'd collected.
"I started catching big
blues about 5 years ago and
decided to devote all of my
free time fishing for them,"
said Burr, whose job as a
forestry consultant gives him
flexible working hours.
Burr said September and
October are the worst months
for catching blues at the river.
The winter months and early
spring are excellent times for
blues while the flatheads bite
better in the summer.
But summer fishing is difficult at the river because when
the water isn't being pulled,
continued
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North Carolina Sportsman. June 2008 - 51
ate keeper to Paradise
••••
II
Photo by TONY GARITIA
American shad that make their
way Into the river from tha ocean
are coveted by big blue catfish
and are favored baits.
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moss grows on the surface of
the river, making bait presentations almost impossible.
The big blues get ready to
spawn by the first of May and
move upstream, but the shallow
water and numerous rocky
shoals block their movement.
These catfish have little choice
but to house up in deep pools
~
below the rocky shoals, moving
from pool to pool whenever the
release of water from Blewett
Falls dam causes the water to
rise to about 5 feet.
With high water, the cats
become harder to locate
because they have access to
more of the river. Conversely,
when the water level drops, the
cats bunch up at the few deep
pools available, and they
become easier to catch.
"You can almost walk across
the river when the water drops,
" Burr said. "There are only
trickles of water and some
sloughs and some choice deep
pools."
Burr located many of the
deep pools where the cats congregate by looking around during low-water conditions.
"Since the water is so shallow, a depth-finder is of little
use in fmding these places,
though a depth-finder helps for
navigating the river when the
water rises," he said.
Mer the spawn, the cats
seek out the deepest available
holes.
During a trip late in May
2007, Burr was joined by his
13-year-old nephew, Aaron
Hill, who was playing hooky
from school 'to fish. The youngster turned somewhat pale
when I told him he was in the
company of a retired English
teacher, but I said I wouldn't
report him if he let me catch the
fish.
To Burr's disappointment,
•...
Gatekeeper
to Paradise ••••
we encountered strong current
and rising water that scattered
the catfish.
Our first stop that morning
took place within sight of .
Burr's makeshift ramp.
He anchored near a rocky
pool to bottom fish. At the back
of the boat, he set out four
medium-action 6 II2-foot
Shakespeare Ugly Stik rods
equipped with Ambassadeur
7000 reels spooled with 100pound-test Spectra Power Pro
braided line The main line was
tied via a swivel to a I2-inch,
6O-pound-test monofilament
leader with No. 8/0 Gamakatsu
octopus circle hooks at the
business end.
Burr favors circle hooks
because they are less likely to
harm catfish.
"Most of the time that big
hook will get the catfish in the
comer of the mouth," he said.
"Not only will the hook do little damage to the fish, but it's
also unlikely to come free."
Burr's rod holders
his boat.
II
are mounted
by home-made
Photo by TONY GARITIA
aluminum bases welded to
Because of the strong current, Burr completed the rigs
with 2-ounce bell sinkers
attached with barrel swivels
coming off the main line.
"I don't use any kind of inline sinker because it forces the
line to rub against the rocks,"
Burr said.
With no current, Burr would
have anchored sideways, set out
five or six rods and fished his
rigs without any weights to
make them less likely"to hang
and to make the baits appear
more natural.
"Most of the time, one or
two rods will do most of the
catching," he said, a statement
that held true during our trip.
Burr set the rods in holders
mounted in custom-built
l-Inch square' aluminum bases
welded to the boat.
Burr's bait is rather unique
yet commonplace for that section of the Pee Dee River. He
uses cut American shad, an
.continued
Gatekeeper
to Paradise •.•••
ocean fish that makes its way
into the river to spawn each
spring, then dies.
American shad aren't the
only ocean fish that make their
way into the river. Burr said
he's also caught small oceanrun stripers in the Pee Dee.
- The big cats know the shads'
routine and gorge themselves
on the forage when these baitfish begin dying.
"I've seen several cats pull
on one big-shad at once," Burr
said.
American shad must be
caught with rod and reel before
being used for bait and can be
taken with shad darts or grubs.
Burr uses 15- to I8-inch
American shad and cuts them
into three large chunks.
"No chunk is too big," he
said. "You need big baits for
big cats."
The tail pieces are discarded.
"With bait, it's all about the
blood," he said. "If the bait
chunk doesn't have any blood
I
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in it, it' _ not as good for drawing cats. The best bait is fresh
and bloody."
If American shad aren't
available, Burr uses the biggest
gizzard shad he can catch and
uses a throw net he had to special order to ensure he gets big
shad only.
'The net has a I 1I4-inch
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mesh size so small baitfish can
escape," he said. "I only want
big baitfish in my net."
Shad remain the preferred
baitfish until the water temperature reaches 80 degrees. At that
water temperature, the Asian
mussels in the river open up
and die, and the meaty part
breaks free.
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"The surface of the water
will become white with mussels, and the catfish will feed
on them much more than shad,"
Burr said. "Then it's time to
change baits."
The first stop failed to produce any bites so w; ¢oved to
another deep hole anI dropped
anchor and set the rigs out.
After a few minutes, one of the
inside rods went down. Burr
grabbed the rod and handed it
to the hooky player on board.
Hill, an experienced catfisherman despite his age, kept
steady pressure on a sizable cat
since no hook set is necessary
with circle hooks. Eventually
he maneuvered a blue catfish
weighing more than 20 pounds
into the net.
"If it's a huge blue, and if
you're bringing the fish in
continued
Gatekeeper to Paradise ••••
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HOW TO GET THERE:
Since this segment of the
Pee Dee River runs along
private property, there are
no public access areas to
this part of the river.
Anglers should meet
guide Robbie Burr at
Scott's Bait & Tackle
Shop, located east of
Wadesboro off U.S.
Highway 74 East at 159
1st Street in Lilesville or
make other arrangements.
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WHEN TO GO: Blue catfishing is best during the
winter months and into
the early spring.
Flatheads bite during the
summer. September and
October are the worst
months for catfishing at
this segment of river.
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against the current, you can't
move the fish into the net on
your own," Burr said. "You
have to hold on until the big cat
swims towards you and into the
net."
Burr and one of his clients, a .
preacher from Albemarle,
learned that lesson the hard
way.
"The preacher hung a monster blue close to 80 pounds,"
Burr said. "As he brought the
cat near the net, I reached out
for it, got the fish hung halfway
in the net, and the fish rolled
and broke free.
"The preacher never cussed
about his misfortune, but let's
say I had a disgruntled client
for a few minutes."
As Burr continued to hopscotch across the river from one
hole to another, more blues
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58 - North Carolina Sportsman, June 2008
include cut American
shad, gizzard shad, and
mussels. American shad
must be caught with hook
and line before being
used for bait.
GUIDE: Robbie Burr,
704-695-2587 or e-mail
at rbforestry @ alltel. net.
CONTACT: Scott's Bain
& Tackle, 159 1st Street,
Lilesville, 704-848-8764.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
Motels and hotels are
available at Wadesboro
or Rockingham.
MAPS: No contour or
recreational maps exist of
the river. Delorme's
North Carolina Atlas &
Gazette shows the location of the river (Grid 71).
The publication is available at bookstores and
tackle shops or visit
www.delorme.com.
were caught, several of which
topped 30 pounds..
At one hole, Burr hung a
channel cat.
"It's time to move," he said.
"Big blues and channel cats
rarely share the same places. If
I catch a channel cat, I won't
fish that hole for long."
What Burr said he was really
looking for was a big black catfish.
"Trophy blues over 50
pounds usually turn almost jet
black," he said.
"I don't know if the color
change is because of age or the
depth of the water or what, but
they're definitely much darker
than the average-sized blue, and
they run like crazy."
Before long, I witnessed the
difference in coloration.
continued
Gatekeeper
to Paradise - - - - •
Photo by TONY GARITIA
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EEKE I
60 - North Carolina Sportsman, June 2008
L
Aaron Hill is all smiles as he uses two hands to hold this big blue catfish.
The average blue catfish caught at this stretch of the Pee Dee River
weighs
30 pounds.
A big blue of more than 40
pounds came on board, and it
sported a much darker blue
color than the other catfish
we'd caught.
Burr said low-water conditions and low-light conditions
resulted in the best catfishing.
We had neither of those two
conditions during our outing, so
once the hot sun began broiling
us, we called it quits before
noon.
Before we left the river, Burr
pointed out some other places
of interest.
"Over there," he said, pointing in the direction of the
Highway 74 bridge, "is what's
known as 50-Acre Island.
"People used to dig near
there for Indian artifacts, such
as pottery and arrowheads. It's
illegal to do that now, There are
also some old fish traps the
Indians built out of rocks.
"There's also the old CSX
railroad crossing running midway to the island."
After departing and locking
the gate to paradise, Burr
escorted me back to Scott's
Bait & Tackle at Lilesville, our
departure point earlier that day
and the place out of which Burr
runs his year-round guide business.
If you want to experience a
blue catfish heaven on earth, let
BUrr unlock the gate to paradise
by calling him at 704-6952587.