With water temperatures reading into the upper 70s, and the fishing being relatively steady, anglers are looking forward to what June fishing has to offer. Unfortunately, the last week of May didn’t produce as it had for the majority of the month, at least for the inshore and near shore anglers. With that said, the fishing wasn’t exactly terrible either, but it brings up some concerns that local anglers have. Some say the east winds are to blame, reciting an old saying: “When the wind’s from the east, the fishing is least.” Some believe it is the super low tides our area has experienced the past few days while others are blaming how quickly the water temperatures have risen. Whatever the case, there’s sure to be some catching going on and the only way to find out what might be biting is to get out there yourself.
Inshore, the flounder and red drum action was relatively good for the month of May and should only continue getting better into June. With live bait becoming more abundant, most anglers will start switching from artificial baits to Carolina rigged live bait. As far as live bait, there are numerous varieties available for anglers including mud minnows, tiger minnows, peanut menhaden and now some small finger mullet. As water temperatures warm, finding the deeper creeks where water is moving will be a good bet as will fishing around the many docks around the area. Red drum will also be found in the same locations.
From the surf and piers, anglers are finding some Virginia mullet and a few small spots on fresh cut shrimp. Bluefish and Spanish mackerel are being caught on Got-Cha Plugs and as the days continue to heat, fishing early and late in the day will help your cause. Anglers are having some good luck with sheepshead by using crabs and on-armed bandits (fiddler crabs) fished around the pilings. Sheepshead now also have limits on size and possession as of June 1. Fork length must be a minimum of 10 inches and anglers cannot possess more than 10 fish per person. Anglers live bait fishing for larger species off the end of the pier reported some action coming from cobia the past week and a couple of barracuda.
Anglers fishing near shore have reported some sporadic action from Spanish mackerel while trolling and again early or late in the day seems to be the best bet. Most fish are rather small now, as is normally the case during this time of year, so be sure to measure carefully if you are keeping fish. A few cobia have been reported coming from the area of the inlet and also from some of the near shore wrecks. Live baits have also produced some near shore king mackerel the past week.
Offshore, dolphin continue to be the main topic for those heading to the blue water while a few wahoo and blackfin tuna have also been reported. Anglers found some rougher than forecast conditions over the weekend so reports were limited to those that ventured out. One interesting item of news for anglers is the amount of yellowfin tuna showing up to our north, mainly offshore of Oregon Inlet. While this area normally produces much better fishing than we see, over the past few days the fishing has been phenomenal with numerous boats limiting out on yellowfin tuna. Hopefully these fish will venture down to our waters soon.
