It is hard to believe we have almost made it through the month of March. One more weekend to go and then the anglers will really start getting into the thick of things. Unfortunately, the upcoming weekend forecast, although sunny, is not that great, with cool temperatures and plenty of wind. But as is normally the case in our area, with every bad day there comes some good, and the past couple of weeks have proved to be beneficial for the fishing.
Water temperatures have rebounded fairly well with the warm temperatures and are now reading in the mid-to-upper 50s. Johnnie Mercer’s Pier even reported a reading of almost 60 degrees one day last week during the “heat wave.”
April is normally a month that gets anglers excited, as it is the first month they can actually start planning a strategy for the upcoming days. Depending on the weather, Spanish mackerel should start making a showing nearshore some time toward the middle or latter part of the month, a sure sign that fishing season is officially underway. These fish normally show very well to our south, around the area of Sheepshead Rock off of Fort Fisher; if you have ever fished this location you know these fish can be very large, up to 6 and even 7 pounds. Making that run and then finding out the fish aren’t there yet can be somewhat of a letdown, but when they are there, get ready for some intense action. As is the case with almost any type of fishing, they can be invisible today and on fire tomorrow, so put the time in and you are sure to be rewarded.
Another April visitor is the Atlantic bonito, a member of the mackerel family. These fish are sought after for their tasty table fare as well as their lightning runs when hooked. These fish normally start showing in areas to our north, namely off of Topsail Island, and once they are sighted in this area it is just a matter of days before they arrive off our beaches. The duration of their stay depends on many things, but you can usually count on them to hang around for about three to four weeks before starting to disperse. While trolling will elicit a strike or two, most anglers elect to find the schools of feeding fish and sight cast into them. As we draw closer to their arrival, we’ll be sure to cover some basic tricks and tips to help you hook into one of these extremely fun spring fish.
Now as far as the fishing the past week is concerned, ocean conditions allowed some offshore boats to head to the bluewater where wahoo were reported coming from around the Swansboro Hole. Closer to the beach, water depths of around 100 feet produced some large black bass, snapper and grunts.
Inshore, anglers are starting to find more red drum around the docks and creeks, while there are still large schools being found in the surf. More reports of speckled trout have started filtering in as well, coming from the creeks and inlets.
