Fishing Report 09/27/2018

 

Well, Hurricane Florence has came and gone. One thing for sure she left behind a mess in Eastern North Carolina. It’s been a long two weeks, feels like our lives have been turned up-side down, but I'm happy to report we're trying to get things back to normal around our small beach town.

I've been getting call after call about the fishing, lots of people have been concerned that the fishing was going to be terrible since we had so much rain. Yes, dirty water is pouring out of our inlets, looks like a mess if you look at an aerial view. But between the inlets we are seeing some great water clarity, Cape Lookout area has been clear as it gets since the storm, the other day you could see at least 8' down. Also, along Shackleford Banks and behind the banks is pretty good-looking water. 
 
Last night, was a really good sign of life after the storm.  It was the first night out for our Shrimper, not knowing what to expect with all the rain we had and never shrimping before after such a large storm that did so much destruction. We are happy to report when we got to the shop this morning the tanks were full of healthy perfect size shrimp, so that's probably the best sign we've seen since the storm than any. Shrimp can only handle so much run off before they will leave, but that shows us right there we still have plenty of salt content in the water since the shrimping was good. Also, we got a batch of Live Finger Mullet yesterday, from our mullet man his question was; how many do you need I'm having no issues catching them. So, things are looking good so far for the fall fishing in our area since the storm.

 
Inshore / Nearshore: 
 
Flounder fishing has been surprisingly pretty darn good since Flo blew through. Yesterday, Trout Man hit the water to see what was going on, he found some action at AR 315 and the Port Wall ended the day with 9 keepers and one fish that went over 6lbs. We also have been hearing from some customers that's had  good luck this week on the flat fish at the reefs. Best luck has been with Live Mullet which we do have back in-stock and Spro 2oz Bucktails tipped with Berkley Gulp 4” Shrimp. 
 
A few days after the storm, the Albacore fishing was just about good as it gets, acres of fish around to catch. The bite has slowed a bit this week when the winds switched around to the East but there were too many fish around for them to be gone. So, looks like as far as Albacore we're going to have a great fall bite, once we get a cold front or two the fishing should be 'crazy good”. 
 
Also, we found good numbers of Spanish and nice sized Bluefish around the Cape Lookout area since the storm. Casting Spanish Candies and Heavy Glass Minnow Jigs is what we've been having the best luck on. Also, a few anglers caught some trolling on Bowed-Up Lures and Clarkspoons. Just had a report this morning of some nice schools of fish working right off Fort Macon Point. 
 
We weighed in a nice King Mackerel this week too, not heard of any great numbers yet but not that many anglers has been out King Fishing. The one we put on the scales was a nice one that weighed in at 45lbs, so time will tell how the bite will be. Once we get into October, I think there's a King Tournament every weekend in our area all the way until the 2nd weekend in November. Don’t forget you still have time to register for the 2nd Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament, you can sign up here at the shop. It was a great event last year, so don’t miss out, this event benefits Atlantic Beach Fire and Rescue to save lives, so why not fish. 
 
 
 
Been seeing some Red Drum action in the last few days also, I had customers come by yesterday with some nice pictures of fish they caught within a mile of the shop. Looked to have caught 10 or so over the 30″ range. Then Nick, from the shop ran a charter trio and got a 3-man limit, so the Redfish seem not to be harmed from the storm and are biting. We've been getting some good reports from the Surf Zone, Nick was out the other day running the beaches and ran across a few pretty good size schools. 
 
The phone is ringing with some calls about Spot, all I can tell you as of now I know for a fact there's been quite a few caught this week by some commercial fisherman. So, with that said there has to be some around to catch, just haven't talked to anyone that has tried yet in the normal fall spots for Spot. We have fresh live bloodworms, fresh shirmp and artificial bloodworms for you to give it a try this weekend.
 
I know this is on a lot of anglers minds, how’s the Speckled Trout fishing going to be this fall. Well, I do know since the storm, we have already started to see some fish show up in our area. Just had a customer stop in that caught quite a few this morning in a short time. Last time, when we saw flooding like this inland when Hurricane Matthew came through was one of the best Speckled Trout seasons we'd seen. What we think happens is once all the fresh water starts pushing out of the river systems it pushes the trout right to us and just a week later we are seeing trout in areas there was none before the storm. Also, in the past when we have a lot of inland flooding our Surf Zone along our beaches will start to hold fish and can be very good fishing. 
 

We have seen plenty of Gray Trout in the last few days, Trout Man reported good numbers at the AR 315 in the 2 to 3lb range. Also, he caught a few at the Rail Road Tracks jigging while flounder fishing.

 
Piers / Surf: 
 
Well, what we have been hearing from the anglers fishing from the surf has been all positive, almost everyone I talked to is saying the same thing. We are catching more fish now than we were before the storm. The Red Drum fishing has been great this week, I've been hearing some good reports of action up around Fort Macon, actually from what I've been told Fort Macon has changed for the better. The storm took out some of the filled in shallow water it had and made it easier to access the deeper water which will make the fishing better. 
 

Also, we have been seeing some Spanish and nice Bluefish along the Surf Zone this week, just had a customer stop in with some pictures of some nice Spanish he caught this morning casting jigs from the beach at Fort Macon. Said when he rolled up, he thought they were Albacore the fish were busting so much, but to find out it was Mackerel. 

 
Let's touch base on the piers: the Oceanana Pier suffered some damage but they are in the process of repairing it so it can re-open for the fall fishing season soon.  The Bogue Pier also suffered some damage but it's our understanding they have opened a portion back up.
 

Offshore: 
 

The Post Hurricane Florence report, the anglers are seeing a good Wahoo bite. Last weekend, we saw some good catches of fish come by the shop. The largest weighing in at 67lbs, every boat that we talked to said the same thing they saw lots of action with the HOOS. Boats also reporting plenty catches on Black Fin Tuna in the mix, along with a few Dolphin. We have plenty of fresh Baitmaster Ballyhoo in-stock ready to finish off this fall with hopefully, lots of fish on our scales.
 

 

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