Fishing Report 08/10/2017

Weather's been up and down this week but the fish have been biting, seeing good numbers of Spanish along AB Beach, Inlets and the Cape Lookout area. Trolling Bowed-Up Spoons still producing them pretty good along with Clarkspoons and Mackerel Trees. A Bird Rig with Squid Rigs or Spoons down the middle on top also has been good to have in the spread to pick up fish feeding near the top.  Also, we are seeing good numbers of Bluefish in the mix with small Bullet Tunas. If you aren't into trolling anglers have been picking up some fish around the Fort Macon Shoals on the higher tides casting the Glass Minnow Jigs on light tackle, these jigs are still some of the best we've ever fished for Spanish. As far as the larger Spanish the East Side around AR285 has been holding good numbers and a few have been caught on the West Side around AR315 and AR320. Mostly slow trolling Live Finger Mullet (which we do have in-stock now) and Cigar Minnows on Dead Bait Rigs have been working the best. 

Flounder fishing has really picked up over the last few weeks, now seeing fish coming to the scales over the 5lb mark. We've weighed a few over the last week with the largest being over 7lbs. Seems most of the larger fish are coming off the Port Wall area. It can be slow fishing along the wall but year after year that's where the largest fish come from. Also, seeing some nice keeper fish coming from the marsh areas, fishing the creek mouths with Berkley Gulp Baits and Live Mud Minnows.  There's plenty of fish holding around the AR reefs just off the beaches, fishing the old stand by Spro 2oz Bucktails tipped with Gulp 4” White Shrimp, just hard to beat that combo when it comes to the reefs off the beach. 

King Mackerel fishing has been good, now starting to see some larger fish show up over on the East Beach. We have weighed two fish over 40lbs in the last two weeks which is pretty strong for this time of the year. Still seeing plenty of smaller class fish at most all of our AR reefs, anglers have been fishing live bait and trolling spoons to find action from the Kings. It’s getting that time of the year when we'll start seeing some good fish move into the Shipping Channel so if you see bait there don’t count that spot out on the way out. 

Redfish bite has been hot, seeing lots of fish in the 20-24″ range with a few upper and over slots mixed in. Most anglers are finding action in all the marsh areas: Haystacks, Core Creek, Adams Creek, Bogue Sound and North River area. Top waters fished along the grass edges on higher tides have been producing very well. Live Mud Minnows fished under Popping Corks and fishing cut bait along the Oyster Bars also has been producing good numbers of fish. Last week, there was schools hanging up at the Cape around Shark Island that some anglers got on.  

 

Also, the Old Drum are showing up in the Neuse River, Popping Corks with Air Heads and Z-man Baits fished on the ledges has been producing a few fish. Most have been having the best luck fishing the fresh cut mullet so far which we are trying to keep in stock. 

 

Speckled Trout still remains good; we are still weighing 5lb fish weekly at the shop. We just released a 6lb fish last week in the canal behind the shop that was caught on a Live Mud Minnow in the Core Creek area. Also, the Top-water bite still has been good early in the mornings, with the larger fish. We've already started getting ready for the fall bite that's not that far off, there's been some north winds this past week. I'm really thinking the bite is really going to fire off early in September because of the number of fish we have already been seeing this season.  I will be posting the flyer for the Speckled Trout Challenge in the next few days so sign up early.

 

Sheepshead fishing has been really up and down this summer, just haven't been seeing the big fish like we did last year. By no means am I saying the fishing hasn't been good because it's been pretty steady with good numbers of fish, seeing most in the 3lb range with a few larger ones mixed in. The bridges and port wall areas have been producing the best fishing fishing with Live Sea Urchins and Live Fiddler Crabs in stock now. We still have plenty of time for the big fish bite to turn on, late August and September is when we usually see some of those 10lb fish come to the scales. 

Sharks still plentiful out behind the shrimp boats when they are working, there's been a lot of wind so the boats aren't always there. But when they are it's game on, probably the easiest fishing you can do because there's lots to catch plus great action. They will just about eat anything you put in the water, well I say anything you put in the water they will hit. If you're going to fish behind these boats just keep in mind they are working so keep your distance. 

 

Piers / Surf: 

Since the water has cooled off a bit, we have been seeing some Spanish and Bluefish action plugging Got-Cha plugs, once we get into September the bite will really turn on as the fish will school up and go crazy before they head out mid-October. We’re coming up on some of the best plugging of the year from the piers. Over the last week, we've been seeing some action along the beach with some nice Red Drum being caught on fresh cut mullet. The bottom anglers are catching a few Sea Mullets, which also won't be long when we'll see the fall run of them. 

 

Offshore:

It’s getting about that time; WAHOO Season, just last week some fish showed up in decent numbers and it’s early. September into October is usually the peak of the season with some good fishing all the way into November.  This past week seems most of the fish have been coming from the south, Swansboro Hole back up toward the Big Rock.  We have fresh Medium and Select Ballyhoo on the way from Florida delivery scheduled next week just for the Wahoo bite, looks like it’s going to be a good one.  

Still seeing a few Dolphins in the mix but it’s been a scattered bite.  We do usually see a push of fish coming back down from the north before they head south for the winter.

Bottom fishing still remains good, Grouper, Sea Bass, Trigger Fish and Snappers all coming back to the docks. Most of the best action seems to be over on the East Side of Cape Lookout with some good action coming from around the 14 Buoy out toward the 90ft Drop ledges. 

 

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