Fishing Report 08/26/2016

 

The North winds have been blowing this week and it has felt great down along the coast, I think it’s safe to say FALL is knocking on the door.  Looks like a great weather forecast is on board for the weekend: Light Winds and Sunny Skies.  Also, we should see some good fishing, being the North winds have turned on the bite over the last few days.

 

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

The Spanish bite has really turned on over the last few days with the wind shift. It’s truly amazing how quick things can change with just a few days of the wind blowing North. We've seen schools of fish starting to stack up around the Beaufort Inlet waiting on the mullet runs, so that has made catching them by casting light tackle pretty easy.  There's been lots of 5lb plus fish caught at AR315 this week, anglers have been bringing lots of fish by the shop and most of them said they had no stop action. 

Live Finger Mullet seems to be the key to success to getting the larger fish to bite. We've been keeping Live Mullet in-stock ready for action, we do sell out at times but most days we've been having enough to go around if you're looking for the larger fish.  Also, if you don’t have a live well to keep the Mullet alive, we have been seeing some action off Cigar Minnows fished on Live Bait or Dead Bait Rigs around the same areas. If you like trolling Clarkspoons we've been seeing plenty of action up around the Cape Lookout area and along the beaches. Usually, a #1 Planer or trolling weight will get you down deep enough, Bird Squid Rigs also have been working well since the fish seem to be feeding more on top now.

Along with the Spanish, anglers are catching good numbers of Kings in the mix, AR 315 has been loaded down with the smaller Kings this week. Anglers are just about seeing 1 King to every few Spanish you catch. We haven't seen any huge fish this week, but last weekend we did see some action over on the East Side of Cape Lookout area. 

It won't be long, fish should really start to stack up at the North West Places, last fall we saw some of the best action you could ask for in that area. Probably will be a few weeks before it gets good there but it's right around the corner. Plus, it’s about that time when we'll see Kings start using the Shipping Channel area, when we have North winds and bait starts to come out the inlet.

Old Drum fishing has been up and down so far this season, but it’s early. We don’t see the peak of action until we get into mid-September. But I'll say the North winds this week has picked up the bite. I know of a few anglers that have been catching 7 or so a trip this week. As far as what areas, anglers are seeing action on the Cedar Island side and we're seeing fish around the South River area. What I'm hearing a lot of the fish so far has been male fish so the female breeding fish are just starting to make their way into the river. 

We've been keeping plenty of fresh Mullet in-stock along with fresh caught Menhaden for those bottom fishing. As far as the artificial, we have everything you need to be successful, even the Bomber Super Pogy that's been so hot this season so far.

The smaller Red Drum fishing has been great this week, Joshua, from the shop went out with Capt. Stewart yesterday and caught 30 or so in just a few hours. Seems like the best bite has been up toward the river area this week, get on a windy bank put out some Live Shrimp, Fresh Mullet or Live Minnows under a Popping Cork and start working the banks and you should find some action. Also, seeing some action in the bays off Core Creek and around the Haystacks area. Topwaters,Gulp and Redfish Magic plus along with the new Bomber Drumbeater Spinner bait will definitely get you on some fish.

We've been seeing a few nice Flounder in the area this week, most of the action has been around the Port Wall. We weighed some 4lb fish from there so far this week. Also, there's been a few caught along the docks on the ICW Waterway. Live Minnows are seeing the best action, along with Berkley Gulp baits fished on Flounder rigs.  The nearshore reefs have been seeing the most fish, Spro 2oz Bucktails tipped with 4” Berkley Gulp is hard to beat when fishing the ocean.

Sheepshead bite has really gotten better this week, I had one customer catch 40 in one day with some over the 6lb range. Best areas have been the Port Wall, Docks, Bridges; I get asked a lot what area is the best – if you can find a piling there could be Sheepshead there. I'd say the Bridges and Port Wall can be the most productive as it has the most area to fish. Live Fiddler Crabs and Live Sea Urchins still are the bait of choice and we do have both in-stock ready for action.

 

Piers / Surf:

We've started seeing some “Yellow Butterflies” coming into the area, ask any old timer that fishes this area and you'll get told the same thing. When you start to see them flying around the Spot are on the way and usually it's not too long when we start seeing the fish show up. 

Probably, the best action we've seen this week has been the Spanish and Bluefish off the beach. Fort Macon beach near the inlet has been seeing good numbers of fish coming in to feed late in the afternoon. It's not that often when you can catch Spanish like this from the Surf but now’s the time. Some that has been caught have been over 4lbs, casting small jigs like Jig Fish Lures and Glass Minnow Jigs have been working the best.

Also, the piers have been seeing some Spanish been caught off the end along with some Bluefish. Still seeing some Red Drum caught along the beaches, we do have fresh mullet in-stock for the Drum fishing, it’s hard to beat that for bait when fishing from the Surf Zone. I can’t wait for the Speckled Trout to start showing up, don’t get too excited because we are still a month or so away from that but it will be here before we know it.

 

Offshore:

Wahoo fishing has been the name of the game; this weekend is shaping up to be nice to get out to the Bluewater. Of what, we've seen so far this should be a great Wahoo Season. Already it's been great and we haven't even got into the prime time which we are a month away from. Most of the action has been from the 90ft Drop out and down toward the Swansboro Hole. Also, you're going to see a few Dolphin in the mix with a few Tuna, that will get better as we get close to fall.

Bottom fishing's still doing well, most of the action has been coming from the East Side of Cape Lookout in 100ft of water or more. The anglers that have been going haven't had any problem bringing back fish and this weekend's weather looks perfect for it.

 

 

Braggin Board