Fishing Report 08/12/2016

This week, we can finally report a good week of weather but “hot”. The weekend forecast is shaping up to be good with Friday: south winds 5-10mph increasing to 10-15mph mid-day.  Saturday and Sunday: southwest 10-15mph 2 to 3’ seas, so some anglers should be able to head offshore. Inshore/Nearshore will have no problem trolling the beaches plus fishing the nearshore reefs.

 

Inshore/Nearshore

The Sheepshead has been great over the last week with anglers having no problem putting some fish in the cooler. We have seen a couple of nice sized ones coming to the scales weighing in at or over 8lbs. The Atlantic Beach Bridge, Beaufort Bridge, new Hi-Rise Beaufort Bridge (under construction) and the Port Wall areas have been producing good numbers. Both Live Sea Urchins and Live Fiddler Crabs are the bait of choice to target these Crunchers.

The Flounder fishing has been pretty good over the last week. Our Charter Captains have been catching the most keeper sized flounder inside. Up at the Cape inside the Hook, on the back side of Shackleford Banks and the ICW have all been good spots. Also, anglers are reporting good numbers from the Port Wall and the Bridges. Using a combination of Live Minnows, Mullet Minnows and Artificial Baits have been the ticket to catching the Flatfish. 

Anglers have been reporting Red Drum action from the Marsh to the Creeks. The Haystacks, Middle Marsh and North River have all had decent reports. They have been using a combination of both Live Bait and Artificial Baits. Using either Live Minnows or Live Shrimp under a Popping Cork will work well; also, using Berkley Gulp under a cork will produce action too. As far as, artificial goes any of the Berkley Gulps, Vudu Shrimp, Redfish Magic Spinnerbait, new Drumbeater Coastal Spinnerbait or Top-water Baits all are great to use.

The Old Drum is about to fire off. We have heard some reports of anglers catching a few. Last year this week was when things really started to heat up. We’re definitely right on the verge of it really getting good! We have fresh mullet in-stock for the weekend action if you want to give it a try plus fresh caught shad and chum for the bottom soakers. Also, we have popping corks and artificial baits to catch them during the day on light tackle.

We’ve seen some nice sized Spanish come to the scales over the past week. Most of the larger fish that we’ve weighed in the 6+ lbs. have come from the East Side of the Cape around AR285 has been a good place. On this side of the Cape anglers have reported decent catches while fishing the Shipping Channel, AR315, the Barge Wreck and Northwest Places. Fishing Live Finger Mullet on a Live Bait Rig has been the key to catching the big ones. Pulling planers and Clarkspoons have been doing well out along the beach and around the Beaufort Inlet fishing in 15-30ft of water.

The King Mackerel bite has been good for this time of the year. Most of the action has been over on the East Side of Cape Lookout area AR285, Atlas Tanker, 30 Minute Rock and 1700 Rock. Anglers fishing more this way have been seeing numbers while fishing the Shipping Channel, North West Places, Barge Wreck and AR315. From what we’ve been hearing the most fish have been caught while fishing Dead Bait Rigs with Cigar Minnows.

 

 

Piers/Surf

It’s been pretty slow but we're now starting to see some bait move along the beach which should fire back up the action. I know the beach down around Bouge Inlet anglers have seen some pretty good Spanish action this week. What we've seen from the boats this week with the Spanish schooling up, the piers will also be able to take good advantage plugging Got-cha Plugs when the schools work nearer to the pier.

In the surf; anglers are still reporting catches of Red Drum from the Surf Zone with a few Summer Flounders in the mix. Also, we’ve heard some reports of good Shark fishing over the past week with anglers having no problem catching 4-6ft Sharks. Fishing with Menhaden has been the bait to use in targeting these Sharks. We have some fresh caught in-stock ready for action if you want to try to catch one.

 

Offshore

The Wahoo fishing has been decent over the past week. From what we heard the bite starts at the 90ft Drop and continues on out to the Big Rock with some anglers also having luck when fishing south down around the Swansboro Hole and the Rise. Medium or Medium/Large Ballyhoo is the bait of choice while pulling 7/0 or 8/0 Wired Ballyhoo Rig. Anglers are also having good luck speed trolling Cowbells and Hoo Da Bombs (purple/black, blue/black and red/black) have been HOT colors.

A few Dolphins have been picked up here and there but not any really good numbers. The Sailfish bite continues on, one of our Charter Captain’s caught one this week at Northwest Places. More numbers have been out toward the Gulf Stream.

 The bottom fishing has been great with numbers in Groupers, Amberjacks, Sea Bass and Triggerfish. The rocks over on the East Side, Big Ten and the Southeast Bottoms have all been good areas. Fishing 65-120 foot of water has been a good depth for most of your bottom anglers.  Our trips have been coming back with a limit of Groupers when fishing these areas while fishing with Fresh Menhaden. We have fresh caught Menhaden in-stock ready for action.

 

 

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