Denver
Instant Confirmation
Trips from
US $350
Captain
Bill Ward
Denver, United States
Angler's choice
10+ reviews
Operating a 22' Sea Hunt Dual console, Capt. Bill ensures a comfortable fishing experience in the waters of Denver, North Carolina. The crew has you covered if you wish to try spinning, trolling, drifting, jigging, or other techniques. The only way to learn is to join them on the water.
Charter
Rating
5.0
11 reviews
5.0
Boat & Equipment
5.0
Captain & Crew
5.0
Fishing Experience
Anglers' gallery (31)
All reviews (11)
Showing 1 – 5 of 11 reviews
Austin Burnier5.0VerifiedMust Do Fishing Trip On Norman
Full Day Trip • 2 adultsCaptain Bill is a wealth of knowledge. He didn't just put us on the fish, he actually took the time to teach us about the lake, the patterns, and the techniques he uses. He’s incredibly fun to talk to, and has great stories. Most importantly we caught some big fish! If you’re looking for a top tier guide who is knowledgeable, professional, and great company, Captain Bill is your guy. We will absolutely be booking with him again.
Reported catch:
Travis SmithRepeat angler5.0VerifiedNEWfun informative and a beautiful day on the lake
Full Day Trip • 2 adultsalways learn a lot about the lake when out with this gentleman. caught hybrid, crappie, a channel, and white perch.
Reported catch:
Response from CaptainThanks for hanging in there Travis! It is no fun fishing in 15+ mph winds, but we made it work. That 13.5 inch crappie is probably the boat record!
Rafael Osuna5.0VerifiedAwesome Birthday Fishing Trip!
Full Day Trip • 2 adults • 1 childMy 9-year-old son wanted to catch a bass for his birthday, and we ended up catching about 30 or 40 of them! Bill was great and knows every single corner of Lake Norman. I highly recommend booking with Bill!
Reported catch:Response from CaptainHe caught on to everything really quickly. He can come be my shiner scooper anytime. Great having you two on board. That was a really fun day!
Brandi Decker5.0VerifiedGreat time
Full Day Trip • 2 adultsIf you want some good laughs and lots of interesting information, Captain Bill is your guy! He was very friendly and we learned a lot from him! Highly recommend for anyone wanting to get in a boat and catch some fish!
Reported catch:Response from CaptainThanks, Brandi! When the bite started, we got so distracted we forgot to take some pictures of the fish! Great having you two on the boat today.
Myron Horsey5.0VerifiedGood time with Bill
Full Day Trip • 3 adultsBill was very knowledgeable and cool to everyone onboard. we would have liked to catch a little more fish but understood they just weren’t biting that day. Family friendly trip.
Reported catch:Response from CaptainSometimes the fish just don't want to play as much as we'd like. I would have loved to send you home with a couple more bags of filets, but hopefully you were able to make a nice fish fry out of the ones that did bite!
Real catches shared by our community
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
- Lake Norman Catfish Guide ServiceDenver, NC
What's biting with Lake Norman Catfish Guide Service in Denver
Top catches for October
Fishing reports
From Germany, with fish!
Sep 25, 2026 • Denver
Had Toni on the boat Friday with his parents Hans and Marlies who were visiting from Germany, along with Toni's FiL Jaime. Huge cold front on Wednesday and Thursday made me worry we might not catch a fish, but it turned into a fine day on the water.
Hans and Marlies like to hold a rod when they fish, so instead of trolling, we spotlocked on a couple points known for producing eater fish and downlined baits all morning. Caught a mess of eater channel cats and 10-15 hybrids, a lot of fun on ultra-light tackle. Mom and Dad are a little short on conversational English, but they certainly knew how to point to a rod going down and yell "FISH!"
Quite surprised to see how adept Marlies was at untangling lines. When hybrids are zooming all around the boat on the way to the net, they can create a Gordian Knot in no time. She always jumped right in and started work at pulling the knots apart. I may have to hire her as first mate next time they visit.
I gave them a couple of suggestions on preparing the fish for dinner that night, and word is they really enjoyed the Lake Norman bounty!
Hans also boated one of the biggest bull stickfish ever to come in the boat after a long battle. We did not keep it for dinner. ;)
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Bravery, Thy Name is Natalie
Sep 7, 2026 • Denver
I had Joshua and Natalie out hybrid hunting today on Mighty LKN. We started at first light to try and get a jump on the Labor Day boat traffic. Bite started off slowly, but at our second location, I pitched a spoon towards a rocky point and had an immediate hook up on a decent fish. Handed the rod the to Natalie, and that's when I learned--
Natalie is terrified of fish.
No particular trauma--she was never chased down the street as a child by a blue marlin, or anything...but the idea of reeling in the fish and being in the boat with it flopping around kind of freaked her out.
Which was kind of funny, given that we were on a "fishing" trip, but that made the day a more interesting challenge. That first fish ended up being a 7 pound blue cat, which was a big wiggly fish start to her day. The next few were all hybrid stripers, and as the day wore on, Natalie began to rally. I told her it was like allergy shots. Each fish made the next one a little easier. By the end of the day we had 25-30 hybrids in the boat and Natalie was beginning to not only reel in her own fish, she was going to the rod holder, picking up the rod and giving the fish as good a battle as it was giving her.
I couldn't have been happier for her sticking with it and getting just a little braver with each fish. We still couldn't get her to hold up her fish for the photo,and sticking her thumb in its mouth and lipping it was right out!
Baby steps. Next time, we'll work on using the fish grip pliers, and then unhooking the fish herself. Well...maybe not, but you gotta have a dream, right?
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Birthday Boy Catches Fish
Aug 22, 2026 • Denver
Saturday we had Sebastian and his dad Rafael on the boat. Sebastian just turned 9, and for his birthday, he wanted to catch a bass.
So we went fishing. And he caught a spotted bass. And then a hybrid striped bass. And then another and another. We put 30 or more fish in the boat before the weekend boat traffic got too crazy.
For someone with limited fishing experience, Sebastian was a fish catching machine. He got the rods out of the holders with fish pulling drag, reeled in the fish even while they were dragging him all over the boat, scooped bait out of the tank, and even netted a fish he let his dad catch.
There is nothing like watching a youngster have that much fun catching fish. But best of all, first thing he said as he stepped off the boat: "When can we go again?"
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It ain't over 'til it's over!
Jul 29, 2026 • Denver
Every now and then, you have one of those days where you bounce baits right on the fishes' heads all day long, and they just won't bite. But even then, sometimes the fish story has a happy ending. This is one of them...
Meet my little buddy Liam. He came fishing today with his grandfather and Carson, his older cousin. Carson put an eater cat in the boat right off the bat and it looked like we might have a good day.
And then we fished. And fished. And fished.
Not even a bite.
Liam never gave up. He helped reel in rods when we moved, took off bait and kept an eye on the planers, hour after hour. He never complained, but as the day went on, it was clear he was getting discouraged.
About 1 pm, we called an audible and set up to make one last drift across a mussel bed. I asked Liam what we should put on the hook as we baited the final rods. He suggested the piece of cut bait I had in my hand and then ALSO adding a cut gizzard shad head on the same hook. We called it the "Liam Special" bait
.
And we pitched it out and drug it for a half hour. No joy. We finally called it a disappointing day. The rod with the Liam Special bait was the last to come in, and as his grandfather David started to reel it it, he said "I think there's a fish on here!"
Liam was off like a shot to grab the rod and started cranking it in like a pro, big grin on his face. He was beside himself when the fish hit the net and came over the side of the boat.
Sometimes it's not always about putting 20 fish in the boat. On this day, a single blue cat in the low teens at the last possible moment made all the difference to a fisherkid who was small enough he had to have help to hoist it up for a picture.
And now I have a new bait and a great story about Liam, the kid who refused to give up on fishing, even on an insanely slow day..
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Catfish are more fun than bass.
Jul 11, 2026 • Denver
There, I said it. ;)
Had the pleasure of taking out Austin and his dad Ron today. They've been dabbling at getting back into fishing, mostly for bass, but wanted to try catfishing.
First hookup was a 19 pound bruiser and it kept going until we got run off the lake by a late morning thunderstorm. Close to 10 nice sized cats, and we lost a monster right at the boat which was a real bummer!
Can't wait to take them out again as the fishing gets even better over the next few weeks.
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Hybrid Striperpalooza!
Jun 27, 2026 • Denver
While the cats are taking their sweet time coming off the spawn, had a chance to take out Ronald, Iris and Melissa for a meat hunt fishing trip. We were targeting channel cats and spotted bass for a fish fry, but instead it turned into a non stop hybrid striperpalooza.
Well over 50 hybrids for the day, plus a cooler full of channel cats, spots and jumbo white perch. Melissa got so determined to catch a keeper hybrid (20+ inches) that we left biting fish for another area that has been holding some slightly bigger hybrids (and more channel cats), and the first bait drop produced a 22 inch bruiser.
I had been telling her all morning how hard the bigger fish fought, and she nearly had a heart attack when the big boy bent the rod tip down into into the water.. She added a second 22 incher, and then 11 year old Iris latched onto a 23 inch drag screamer that she handled like a pro.
Big hybrids on ultralight tackle are unbelievably fun to catch! Took me an hour to filet out all the fish for them, got a hook in my thumb and all sorts of cuts and scrapes from the gills and tooth pads, but wouldn't trade an outing like this for anything.
What a great day of fishing.
We're probably about three weeks from the height of the suspended cat season, which is by far the most fun time of the year to down line for good sized catfish. Holler if you want to go!
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