Fishing at Jones Lake, Bladen County, North Carolina

• Overview

  Bladen County, North Carolina, is where Jones Lake sits. The surface lies 72 feet up. With some 225 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. Shoreline comes to about 2.1 miles, small enough to learn in a day. By elevation it sits in the lower part of our North Carolina listings. The town to know is Elizabethtown, 4 miles out. It is 30 miles to Fayetteville, the nearest city. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Jones Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across Bladen County, recorded fish include yellow perch, swamp darter, bluegill and redfin pickerel. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. Read Jones Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 80°F; by January the average is down near 43°F. There is no frozen season to plan round. Late winter and spring fish steadiest here. Autumn steadies things again once the heat lets go. Time your trip to Jones Lake by conditions rather than dates. Conditions on the day matter more than the month on the calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is a mapped slipway roughly half a mile away. The closest car park is half a mile away, so pack accordingly. A jetty or pier is mapped about half a mile from here. There is a campsite half a mile from the water. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Salters Lake, 2 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position on Jones Lake before loading the car.