65.8 F
Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hook, line and sinker

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It’s been a month of rain and hot temperatures, but fortunately for anglers, that is soon a thing of the past. The not-so-fortunate thing is that when cooler temperatures arrive this time of year, it normally means some brisk northeast winds, and that’s exactly what’s forecast for the weekend. What that means is the offshore or near shore fishing is probably also a thing of the past, at least for the foreseeable future. Water temperatures have dipped to around 80 degrees.

I’ll be brief on the reports for the offshore and near shore fishing because it looks like it’ll be close to a week before conditions start improving for those excursions. Gulf Stream anglers are having a field day with the wahoo, most of which are in the 40-pound range. Dolphin are also reported in good numbers and a lot of fish are also coming from areas inshore, around 30 miles out. The amount of bill seen and caught also increased last week with reports of both sailfish and white marlin.

Near shore the Spanish fishing has been sporadic but anglers are still encountering schools of fish. Most fish were caught on small planers and Clark Spoons. Lots of popeye and finger  mullet have been cruising the beach, a true sign that fall is here. The amount of baitfish has also brought the predators in close to the beach and boaters trolling live baits have found some success with king mackerel at the near-shore reefs.

Surf and pier anglers are seeing an increase in the amount of hooked red drum and earlier last week there were several large schools of drum seen and a lot of fish caught. Most of these fish were over the slot limit of 18-27 inches, so if you’re keeping one for the dinner table, measure carefully. Virginia mullet have also started increasing in both size and numbers and are being caught on fresh shrimp and sand fleas soaked in the slough. King mackerel fishermen on Johnnie Mercer’s Pier managed to deck a few kings last week as well.

Inshore, the flounder fishing is going strong with a lot of fish up to 3 pounds reported and some larger fish up to 8 pounds have also been caught. While most of the larger fish have been coming from around Carolina Beach and the Cape Fear River, there have been more reports of big fish found in Wrightsville Beach waters. A Carolina rigged finger mullet is hard to beat, especially this time of year, but anglers are also having some luck using larger artificial soft baits. Red drum are also encountered frequently in the creeks and around the docks. Speckled trout have started showing up around the beach as well, but the better fishing is also occurring in the Cape Fear River. Both artificial soft baits and live bait is working.

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