Obviously, anytime we get into the month of December, the fishing is not going to be all that spectacular, or at least the fishermen are not expecting it to be. Well, this is when that philosophy is wrong. Although the fishing is not on fire like it was during the month of November and before, there are still ample opportunities for anglers to head out and have a productive day. Water temperatures are hovering right around the 60 degree mark, not that shabby for this late in the season. Although anglers are having to work just a bit harder than they did a few weeks ago, they are finding fish. Finally, with the extended forecast looking somewhat sunny and warmish, the fishing and catching should continue, at least for the foreseeable future.
We’ll start with the offshore fishing, since that seems to be hit or miss, but mainly due to weather and not due to absence of fish. Some boats were able to get offshore over the weekend and found wahoo and tuna in the blue water. Unfortunately, due to the lack of reports from the previous weeks, those fishing these areas were fishing blindly, so to speak. Closer to the beach, boats looking for bottom fish found good bites from hefty black sea bass in the 30 mile range. Areas even shallower were also holding a few fish but anglers had to weed through the smaller ones.
Right off the beach, areas around Johns Creek and the nearshore reefs off Carolina and Wrightsville beaches are still holding plenty of fish. Reports of large black drum, over slot red drum and a few gray trout were all reported coming from these areas. While a lot of fish were caught on Carolina Rigged finger mullet, a fair share came from Stingsilver Jigs.
In the surf and off the piers, fishermen are reporting decent catching, with black drum and blowfish being the main bait stealers. Speckled trout have started showing up in the surf and while a lot of these fish are small, there are some keepers in the mix. Bluefish are also being reported in good numbers, although a large portion of them are on the small side.
Inshore, the speckled trout fishing has remained steady, but not quite as good as a few weeks ago. Soft artificial baits are still working well and live shrimp is catching its share. A lot of small fish have started showing up, which is typical for this time of year. A few red drum are still being found in the creeks and reports of good numbers of black drum are being reported.
As always, make sure to check the current regulations in regards to size and possession limits. Most of the inshore fish mentioned here (red drum, black drum and speckled trout) have both of these in play. The majority of the offshore fish do as well, and these limits can change from one day to the next.
