Fishing Report 08/06/2015
Inshore:
Spanish fishing picked back some up yesterday. During the first of the week, we were dealing with a lot of rain and wind that has the water a bit dirty. The best action was up around the Cape in the cleaner water. Some of the larger boats have been on a pretty good bite just off the beach in deeper water trolling up and down the tide lines from dirty water to the cleaner water. By the weekend, the bite should be back to good as the winds are gong to be North 5-10 on Saturday. But keep in mind it seems the best action has been a little deeper than over the last few weeks. Trolling Clarkspoons, Mackerel Trees or Squid Rigs will all be good choices. Hopefully, by the weekend we can start catching again on small casting jigs like the Jig Fish and Glass Minnow Jigs. Remember keep it small because the Spanish are feeding on very small sized glass minnows.
We haven't seen many King Mackerel this week but again the weather hasn't been all that great for boats to get out and try. Last weekend, we did weigh a few that came out of the Shipping Channel and from the East Side of the Cape at AR285 and 17 Rock. I'd say this weekend, we're going to see some fish caught with the light north winds in both areas. Trolling Live Bait (which has been hard to come by this week) or trolling Dead Cigar Minnows on Dead Bait Rigs, Wedgies and Pirate Plugs all will be good choices of bait.
This week, we've seen some nice Flounder caught from the inside waters weighing some 6lb plus and one over 7lbs just yesterday. Most of the action has been coming off the Port Wall with some action around the Coast Guard Station area. Live Minnows and Berkley Gulp Baits have been the go to lures of choice. The AR reefs should be holding some fish and the next few days anglers will be able to get back out. Spro 2oz Bucktails tipped with 4” Berkley Gulp Shrimp will be hard to beat for keeper fish in the ocean.
Sheepshead fishing seems to have slowed down from the hot bite we were seeing back in July. But just in the last week, we have started to see some big fish come back to the scales. We weighed a few 9lb fish last week and some this week. The Port Wall and both High Rise Bridges fished with Live Sea Urchins and Live Fiddler Crabs is the way to go for bait. We have both in stock ready for Sheepshead action.
It’s official, the Old Drum have moved into the Neuse River in pretty good numbers since last week. The anglers fishing at night have been doing well from the mouth of South River, down river on drops and around oyster reefs. We ran a charter last Friday in the river and had 2 fish caught during the day. Also, anglers have already started catching them on popping corks during the day on DOA Airheads and Z-Man 7” Jerkshad. Fresh Jumping Mullet and Menhaden are going to the best bait while bottom fishing. If everything goes right we should have a pretty good supply of Fresh Mullet on hand ready for action. Also, we have been tying up Old Drum Rigs and we have combos for either bait fishing or popping cork fishing ready to go at the shop.
Spanish fishing has slowed down with the dirty water and they have moved out to the deeper water. But anglers plugging Got-cha Plugs at first light before the heat have been picking up a few along with some small Bluefish. Hopefully, we will see some Spanish move back in with clearing water as the tide changes. I did talk to one customer yesterday that was fishing the Surf and caught some nice Sea Mullets the other day on bait shrimp. Also, I heard of some good catches of Black Drum on bait shrimp. Anglers are still catching a few Red Drum coming through at times if you're in the right spot at the right time. So, some decent action for this time of year as it's usually pretty slow in August. There's been some Flounder in the Surf but no good numbers. Anglers fishing for Flounder using Live Minnows are catching some keeper fish. The best action I've seen has been over at Shackleford Banks.
It's been pretty bumpy this week in the Blue Water but a few of the bigger boats have made it out and are bringing some fish to the docks. There were some Spanish, Kings and Dolphin caught last weekend in the Shipping Channel and some nice sized ones at that. We weighed a Dolphin that was 18lbs caught within sight of land, which isn't bad at all so close in. It looks like Saturday we're going to have a good weather window with 2-4ft Seas, which will be great for the smaller boats to get out to the Blue Water.
Phone: 252-240-FISH (3474)
709 Atlantic Beach Caseway, Atlantic Beach, NC 28512
