The weather outside is delightful and the seas and winds are lightful. OK, that’s not a word and sounds kind of silly, but it does make sense with this week’s fishing weather report. Sunny skies, temperatures in the middle 70s, light winds and slight seas through the weekend — what more could an angler ask for? Well, some fish would be a good start, but just getting out after the long offseason and inhaling some salt air will do wonders for one’s mental and physical faculties.
Anglers wanting to fish offshore, should they be lucky enough that their schedule allows, will probably have made at least one fishing trip, if not more by the time this report is published, so expect some decent offshore reports for next week’s edition. There will probably even be some inshore reports, although those have already started and while fishing is slow, there are fish out there to catch. Water temperatures are in the middle 50s and should rise a little more later this week. Fishing season has begun and it should only continue to get better from here.
Inshore, there was talk last week about the sea mullet showing up in the lower Cape Fear River. While they haven’t showed in abundance, there have been rumblings during the past week that a few fish are showing here and there. Puffer fish are reportedly making an appearance again, which is a sure sign that the mullet will not be far behind as these fish seem to be found together both early and late in the year. With this week’s warm conditions, that mullet fishery could fire off at just about any time.
The red drum and speckled trout have continued biting here and there for those targeting them the past few weeks, but this week could prove to be a very good week of fishing for these species as conditions will significantly improve. The area docks along the waterway and the creeks should be good locations to target for the drum while fishing the deeper channels and creeks where there’s flowing water will be the better locations for trout.
Offshore, expect to find plenty of hungry wahoo and with the calm conditions, it should allow for the boats to fish multiple locations until they find the fish. There may also be a few blackfin tuna found along with the possibility of an occasional billfish. Closer to the beach, the bottom fishing should be good, with the better fishing for quality and quantity being found around 30 miles out while areas in the 20-mile range will produce some fish, although anglers will more than likely have to fish through the smaller ones.
No matter what, the week should be excellent for an outing on the water. Hopefully there’ll be plenty of reports next week and we can get this fishing season off to a fabulous start.
