Fishing Report 09/14/2017


It’s great to see some beautiful weather, over the last week we've been dealing with a lot of wind and swells from some storms. This weekend's looking like one of the prettiest we've seen in a while. Now offshore might be a little sport since we have another storm going to be offshore of us but Nearshore and Inshore the forecast is looking very nice. I know, we aren't quite into fall, but with some of the north blows we've already had so far I think it's safe to say the falling fishing is starting around the Crystal Coast. 

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

The Redfish bite has been on fire over the last week, we've been seeing some great action in the backwater areas. The shrimp has been thick in the marsh and the fish have been taking full advantage of the “easy” meal. Top Water Lures, Z-Man Lures and Gulp all has been working very well, this past weekend with the wind blowing anglers were having good luck on Live Shrimp and Mud Minnows fished along the windy grass banks.
 
If you like fishing for the Old Drum, they're still around the Neuse River area. Some of our sales team fished that area last week with good success; catching good numbers of fish in just a few hours of fishing. We should see these huge fish hang around for the next two weeks or so before they move back to the ocean waters. Blabber Mouth Popping Corks with DOA Airheads and 7” Z-Man Jerk Shads have been doing the trick. If you aren't into the artificial fishing for them, the cut bait anglers also are still seeing good results all throughout the river. 
We are seeing a few Speckled Trout in the area, no huge numbers of fish yet but I have a feeling it’s getting ready to bust loose. Just this past week some fish were caught at some of the jetties, along with a few in the Haystack area, so as the water temps keep dropping more and more fish will start to show.  I've been hearing of some decent reports from some of the river areas and north of us so things are setting up for a good fall bite in our area. 
We are seeing some good Spanish action along the beaches; it’s just been tricky with the swells that were rolling in last weekend. But last week, when the mullets were running down the beach the Spanish and Bluefish were going crazy. Looks like we're going to see some more north winds this coming up weekend so we should see the same kind of action.  Also, we've been seeing good action trolling along the beaches. I'd say over the next 3 weeks it should be some of the best Spanish action we will see all year, as they'll feeding up before they head out mid-October. As far as the larger fish 6lbs or more you need to be looking at fishing at the nearshore reefs, trolling live bait like finger mullet which we should have plenty in-stock for the weekend. 
Still some Sheepshead around to catch, seen a few nice catches this past weekend. Same areas are producing fish, Port area, all the bridges and docks in the area. Been getting a few calls about live bait we still have Fiddler Crabs and Sea Urchins, we should have them for the next few weeks until we have to start making more room for Live Shrimp as we get ready for Speckled Trout Season. 
I've been getting a lot of calls about King Mackerel fishing as the tournament season is getting ready to kick into high gear. Most of the fish we have heard of with any size has been caught on the East Side of the Cape. It’s getting about that time where we should start to see some nice fish move into the Shipping Channel. When the mullets start to pour out the inlets, the Kings will do just what the Spanish do move up toward the beaches and take advantage of the free meals. I talked to a customer yesterday that said he'd seen some nice Kings just off the beach a few days ago. We haven't seen any large numbers of fish yet but the North West Places have been holding a few fish, we are getting very close to that time of the year when the Kings will stack up in that area in large numbers. Trolling Live Bait on Live Bait Rigs or Dead Cigar Minnows on Dead Bait Rigs will get the job done. 
Also, been getting lots of calls about the Spots, there has been a few caught over in the Beaufort area in Gallant's Channel but we haven't seen a strong run yet. Now keep in mind when these fish show up it happens very quick, one day there's none the next anglers are filling their coolers full. It’s usually now until mid-October when we'll see our largest run of Spots. So fill free to call the shop for daily reports so you don’t miss the fall run when it happens. We will have plenty of Bloodworms along with Fish Bite Bloodworms in-stock all fall. 
 
Along with the Spots another tasty fish that will make a fall run is the Sea Mullets; again, we haven't seen a strong push of them yet. Sam, that makes our custom Sam's Gitter's Spec-Rigs fished a few days last week and only caught a few, and he knows better than anyone when it comes to a Sea Mullet. But talking to him he is thinking any day now we will see our first good run of them being the water is starting to cool on down. 

Piers / Surf: 
We have been seeing some pretty good drum fishing along the beach with the Black and Red Drum. The majority has been caught from the Oceanana Pier back up toward Fort Macon Rock Jetty area. Last week, we saw some good action late in the day feeding on mullet that was running down the beach. You should see some of the same action this weekend as we're going to have more north winds; not as strong but a north wind is usually good along our beaches.
 
The anglers fishing the piers have also been catching some Spanish and Bluefish plugging Gotcha-plugs. Still seeing a few Sea Mullets being caught late in the day and night, as that bite will only get better as we get more into fall. Still waiting on some Spots to show, should be anytime now we will start to see some move along the beach. We've been seeing a few keeper Flounder also coming from the Surf Zone. So, the slow fishing we saw in August is pretty much over as we are now moving into the best Surf fishing of the year. 
 
Offshore: 
We have been just waiting go back out to the Wahoo grounds, Labor Day, Monday was really the last good day we have had and most boats had coolers full of fish. Looks like we might have a window Friday for anglers to get back out, then we might possibly have some swell back from a storm that's suppose to be moving offshore of us Sunday. Most of the action has been from the Swansboro Hole back up toward the Big Rock area, we have weighed good fish from both areas. Even a few Dolphin were caught but that has been very hit or miss, kind of a bonus fish while you're Wahoo fishing. 
 
Seeing kind of same thing from the bottom fishing areas, with the swell we had last week it’s got the water all messed up. We haven't ran any bottom fishing trips in the last week so, really not heard much on that side of things. I talked with one of our Grouper guys this morning and he said by mid to the end of next week things should be getting back to normal and Grouper fishing should be on fire.
 
 
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