With plenty of wind being felt in the area, it’s no wonder that many boats are staying in port. A few have attempted to venture offshore though, only to find extremely warm water temperatures and limited amounts of fish willing to bite. In all actuality, the good fishing seems to be coming from the beach, the piers and inshore, where the water temperatures remain high, but the fish are eager to bite. The only down side to fishing these places is the extreme heat being felt from the land, and if you’re not in a spot where the wind is blowing at least a little bit, you’re probably not fishing.
Considering how hot the air and water temperatures have been, the surf is almost the last place you’d expect to find fish, let alone a fishermen. However, those anglers that have done their homework, fished early or late in the day and stayed away from the huge numbers of surfers and swimmers, have found some surprising results in the past week. Good numbers of red drum are cruising the sloughs chasing finger mullet. Carolina rigged cut bait of the fresh variety is working as are whole finger mullet and also assorted spoons cast into the deeper water. Plenty of the fish are over the slot, so make sure if you keep one, it’s between the legal size of 18-27 inches, with a possession limit of one fish per person.
And if you happen to throw some shrimp into that deeper water, don’t be surprised at some nice-sized black drum taking an interest in your offering. Some fish up to 6 pounds have been landed lately.
Johnnie Mercer’s Pier reports some sporadic action from tarpon the past few days. Although none were landed, a decent amount of them were either seen or hooked around dusk on Sunday evening. Live baits, of which there are plenty available, are the main baits of choice. A couple of decent-sized king mackerel were also hooked the past week, but unfortunately, they were lost during the fight.
As mentioned, there are plenty of live baits available, including cigar minnows, shad and bluefish. Some Spanish mackerel have been caught on Gotcha Plugs mainly early and late in the day. Anglers fishing for flounder have landed several keepers in the 1-2 pound class. Live mud minnows or finger mullet on Carolina Rigs are the top baits. Some over the slot red drum have also been hooked but not landed recently.
Inshore, anglers are finding good numbers of red drum around the docks and creek mouths, with live baits being first choice followed closely by Gulps. Flounder fishing around the inlets and deeper channels are producing some fish up to 5 pounds. Speckled trout are being found in the lower Cape Fear River and can be caught on live shrimp fished under floats.
