By Skylar Walters
The month of November has been fantastic for inshore fishing and has even managed to provide some opportunities for offshore fishing, something that’s not that common this late in the season. Water temperatures are still hanging around in the mid-60 degree range and don’t look to be going anywhere anytime fast. What this all means is that we could see a good fishing season continuing well into the month of December. Of course we need to get through this month first, and as you know, the weather can turn south rather quickly, but until it does, enjoy the fishing!
Offshore anglers were given a small chance to see what might be biting in the blue water over the weekend and they made the most of it. Wahoo, both blackfin and yellowfin tuna, and a few small dolphin were reported by most of those who headed out. A couple of anglers were also lucky enough to land and release a sailfish. The fishing wasn’t on fire, but anytime you can head out 60 miles during the month of November and bring back fish, it’s a good day.
Closer to the beach, anglers are reporting a few king mackerel in the 10 mile range with the better fishing for them being around 15 miles. Bottom fishing starting around 20 miles has been good but areas around 30 miles are producing more variety such as triggerfish and grouper.
Along the surf and off the pier, fishermen are catching good-sized Virginia mullet off of fresh shrimp with the larger fish, up to a pound and a half, mainly coming from sand fleas. That’s not to say you won’t catch a big one with shrimp, but they have a real hard time passing up a flea. Unfortunately, there aren’t many sand fleas along our surf line so most anglers wanting to use them are having to hunt them down around Carolina Beach. Some decent pompano and a few red drum have also been caught the past week with some pompano weighing more than 3 pounds.
Inshore, the trout fishing has been on fire with the fish averaging 2-3 pounds with an occasional 5-6 pound fish being reported. Normally those larger fish are loners, so if you’re looking for that trophy you’ll need to leave the smaller fish alone. Soft artificial baits worked slowly along the bottom are a good choice while some anglers prefer to use live shrimp. Just about all of the creeks and area waters around Wrightsville Beach are now trout. It’s just a matter of finding them and finding when they eat. One area may be good during the rising tide while another location just down the creek may only produce during the falling tide. This is why it is a good practice to make sure you cover the water and give it some time. A lot of anglers will fish a spot for just a few minutes and then leave if they don’t catch anything, when if they had stayed another five or 10 minutes, they would have caught fish. There are still some keeper flounder being found along with some red drum as well.
