58.4 F
Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hook, line and sinker

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Just when the fishing conditions were starting to get really good, Mother Nature once again showed who rules when it comes to weather. Luckily it wasn’t in the form of a hurricane, but the deluge of more than 12 inches of rain just on our local area is sure to have an impact on the fishing. Many anglers wonder when the fishing they were seeing before the storm will return. Unfortunately there are no answers and it’s just going to have to be a wait-and-see game.

Extremely high tides also had an enormous effect on the local waters. Water temperatures are reading in the mid 70s and will probably dip just a bit lower as some cooler temperatures are in store this week. But the good news is the rain appears to be over for the foreseeable future and some sunny skies will be a welcome sight to both the anglers and the fish.

Prior to the storm and even during the onset of it, area piers were reporting some of the best action from bull red drum that many have seen in quite some time. Reports of more than 15 fish landed and released in a day were not uncommon and that continued right before conditions deteriorated to the point that anglers quit fishing. Now that things have subsided some, you can bet the anglers will be out there looking but it’s unknown if the fish will be there still waiting. Bottom fishermen were also starting to see some very good runs of spots, with reports of coolers full of fish being fairly common from those using fresh shrimp or bloodworms on bottom rigs. Some pompano and Virginia mullet were also reported.

Inshore, the flounder fishing had been good and if any fish can recuperate fairly quickly from the amount of fresh water dumped in the local sounds, it would be the flatfish. Although finding areas to fish may be a bit difficult as the high tides will be continuing for a few more days at least.

Offshore fishing has been pretty nonexistent but as of press time, the weekend looks like there might be a couple of opportunities. This past weekend’s U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament held out of Southport was rescheduled due to the weather and will now be held the last weekend of October. With the water conditions obviously being much different than they are now, it’ll be interesting to see what strategy anglers use and what size fish will be brought to the scales.

Until next week’s report, enjoy the sunshine. It’s obviously been a while since many of us have seen it and it’s sure to instill some positive energy in all of us! And be thankful, because it could be just a tad worse. What if all this freshwater changed the salinity of the local waters and we all had to become freshwater fishermen?

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