Fishing Report 08/04/2016

 

Sure’s been nice to feel some north winds over the last few days, cooling the temperatures down just a bit. I like to look at August as the turning point going toward fall fishing and by what we’ve been seeing so far this summer, action should be pretty good.

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Spanish fishing has been decent this week, not heard of any great catches mostly because we have been dealing with a hard SW wind coming out of the weekend and the first of the week.  Just yesterday, the winds made a switch to the north allowing boats to get back out in the ocean to find a few feeding fish.  Today and tomorrow’s action should be pretty good, rule of thumb when we get north winds this time of the year the fish usually get pretty active in feeding. The best action last week was around the inlet area trolling in 12 to 15ft of water off Fort Macon Point.  The larger fish are still hanging around at the AR reefs. I talked to a few of the King Mackerel guys and was told that AR285 is just loaded up with big Spanish.

King Mackerel fishing has been very good for this time of the year.  Last year at this time, anglers were happy if they bought a 20lb fish to the scales. This year so far has been totally different, last two king events it’s taken over a 30lb fish just to get in the Top 5. Last week’s event that was in town it took a King over 50lbs to take the top honors which is unheard of this time of the year.  We don’t see fish like that in the area until September – November.  So, if the big fish keep moving in we could see one of the best King Seasons we’ve seen in the last few years.  Most of the action has been over on the East Side of Cape Lookout area like AR285, Atlas Tanker, 30 Minute Rock and 1700 Rock. Over on the West Side: Shipping Channel, North West Places, Barge Wreck and AR315 all have been seeing a few fish.

Some nice Sheepshead caught this week, we have weighed a few in over the  9lb mark. Most of the action has been coming from the usual spots, all the bridges, port wall and dock along the waterway. Live Sea Urchins and Live Fiddler Crabs has been the best option for bait and we have both in-stock. 

Flounder fishing has been well this week, most of the action has been on the inside waters. Just about every Flounder trip we’ve ran over the last week, the boats have been coming back to the docks with fish. Drift fishing seems to be working the best up inside the hook at Cape Lookout, behind Shackleford Banks and along the ICW. Most anglers have been seeing the best action using Live Minnows and Berkley Gulp baits on Carolina Rigs. Also, don’t pass up docks in the area because that’s always a good place to find hiding flatfish waiting to ambush bait.

Red Drum and Speckled Trout still in the marsh areas from the Haystacks back up toward the Neuse River also, the Middle Marsh area back up toward the North River.  It’s good to see fish in some areas that we haven’t seen in the past few years. With some of the high tides we’ve had over the last week some anglers have been reporting tailing fish up in the grass. That’s usually a pretty good sign there’s a few fish in the area when you can find them up in the grass flats.

Just kind of waiting for the Old Drum bite to fire off, with the river being as salty as it is I really can’t believe fishing hasn’t picked up. It’s for sure on the verge of busting loose because last year the coming up week was when the bite really fired off over in the Neuse. I’ve seen reports of a few being caught so, it’s just anytime when we’ll see some good action. As soon as, the bite turns on we’ll start having fresh mullet in-stock, just kind of waiting to bring it in. It’s possible we might have some this weekend but for sure by next weekend. Also, we have all the artificial lures you need to have some success catching them during the day with; light tackle Bull Drum action is pretty exciting fishing.

 

Piers / Surf:

Things have been pretty slow this week beside of some nice schools of Red Drum that showed up in some of the slues along the beach.  Sunday, a few anglers got into some nice fish as they were working along the beach.  We have some really nice spots that have made up around the Oceanana Pier back toward Fort Macon area. Just the other day, I was talking about the last time we saw some really good slues that formed was the year the fall Speckled Trout fishing was so good. Some may ask what I’m talking about when I say slues; it’s when we see a sand bar close to the beach then deeper water then another sand bar out from that. What that does is makes a deeper trough for the fish in get in and feed. As far as the Spanish fishing, it’s been first thing in the morning and late in the evening for the best action. Shark fishing has been pretty good up around Fort Macon area, anglers are having no problem finding 4 to 6ft Sharks to play with.

 

Offshore:

Wahoo fishing still pretty good out around the Southeast bottoms toward the Swansboro Hole, just like the King Mackerel fishing these fish seemed to have shown up early this year as the best of the Wahoo fishing is September – November.  Anglers aren’t complaining since usually offshore fishing is kind of slow this time of the year but that hasn’t been the case over the last two weeks. The main thing has been catching the winds right to get out to the fish.  Still a few Dolphin in the mix too, along with some good Sailfish action it you like to target them.  

Bottom fishing still good this week, there’s been no shortage of Grouper in the area that’s for sure. The Rocks over East of the Cape has been holding limits of fish for us just about every trip. Also, seeing plenty of Amberjacks, Snappers and few Triggers in the mix. 

 

Braggin Board: