Fishing Report 06/07/2018

 

Well, we wrapped up the Star Rods Carolina Redfish Elite Tournament last weekend over at the Big Rock Landing in Morehead City. We saw lots of nice fish come to the scales by the anglers both days of the event. I think it’s safe to say there’s some Redfish around in the area to catch, anglers found fish anywhere from the Haystacks, Core Creek Marshes and as far as the Surf City area. What seemed to be working best for these anglers were top-water lures, gold spoons and popping corks, was the choice for most teams in the event. To find these fish you need to be working the marsh / creek areas looking for grass beds, oyster bars, and bait. 

To read about the full event you can go to this link https://www.pointclickfish.com/tournaments/saltwater-tournaments/redfish-tournaments/the-redfish-guys-top-star-rods-carolina-redfish-elite-tournament/.

We would like to thank all the teams that fished and everyone that came down to the weigh-in. The event was a great success!

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Spanish fishing again this week has been great, our charter boats aren’t having any issues putting limits of fish in the boat. One boat on Monday caught over a 100 or so on a ½ day trip, of course they didn’t keep all of them; the anglers only wanted enough for dinner. The best action’s been around Cape Lookout, but we also are seeing good action in front of Fort Macon down toward the Oceanana Pier area. What’s been so surprising is the amount of larger fish that’s already in our area, I can’t remember when we’ve seen so many large fish this early. We been weighing lots of 5 to 8lb fish over the last week and some of them are even being caught trolling and casting. Trolling Bowed-Up Spoons, Clarkspoons, Mackerel Trees, Spanish Busters all have been working great when dragging. As far as casting the Glass Minnows Jigs and Spanish Candy Jigs have been working well that we have in the shop.

Along with the Spanish you will find plenty of Bluefish in the mix to catch, it hasn’t been too bad on them getting in the way of the Mackerel. Crazy thing is we are still seeing the big Chopper Bluefish, they usually are gone by now but Nick from the shop got into a school of a 1000 or more this week at Cape Lookout, crushing the Top-water Poppers we have in the shop just about on every cast. Don’t think there’s a harder pulling fish you can catch insight of our beaches than these Choppers.

Also, we’ve been seeing a push of early King Mackerel, if what we’re seeing is a sign of fish we’re going to have later this fall lookout fishing is going to be off the “Hook”. There’s been lots of Snake Kings around all the AR reefs and some along the beach mixed in with the Spanish. Also, seems some larger fish are starting to move in the area, we weighed a King the other day that went over 30lbs or more so that’s a nice one for this time of the year. Also, I’ve heard of a few nice Kings being caught down around Bouge Pier.

I’ve been getting a lot of calls about Cobia, if they are still in the area; to answer that it would be a YES. We weighed Cobia last weekend and just weighed a nice one yesterday. Seems like the traffic of boats that were fishing for them has went down but there’s still some fish around to catch. What we’ve been seeing in the last week, the fish we have been weighing seems to be on the inside, I know the one caught yesterday was caught just outside of the NO Wake Zone in the port area. Also, there’s been a few caught behind Shackleford Banks in the last week. Bottom fishing with dead menhaden seems to be the best way to catch them now, but don’t count out seeing some on top because yesterday the angler was on his way to set up for bottom fishing and spotted a few on top and old Mr. Bucktail got the job done.

Sheepshead fishing still up and down, I did see a few nice catches from this past weekend but what most anglers were telling me they had to work for them to get bites, seems the fish are just a few weeks behind than years past. We did put a huge one on the scales that went over 11lbs this week so that’s a good sign there are some big ones around. Most of what we have been seeing has been in the 3 to 5lb range. Live Fiddler Crabs and Sea Urchins has been the bait of choice and we do have both in-stock ready for action. Same places as year after year has been producing so far, any of the docks, bridges and port wall all good places to try.

Some of the Shrimp boats have started working along the beaches now, so you know what that means… Sharks and more Sharks. I talked to one customer this morning that said the other day there was Sharks everywhere behind the boat, they got a double hook up in just a matter of 30 seconds. When these fish are feeding behind the shrimp boats, they will eat just about anything you put out, doesn’t really matter they are eating everything. Just keep in mind if you are going to fish behind these boats, they are working you don’t have to get right behind them to catch these fish. The sharks follow these boasts all around so you can catch them a few hundred yards of their trail. No need to get right up behind the boats remember these guys are trying to work so be respectable and don’t get in their way, please keep this in mind if you’re going to try this kind of fishing.

Flounder fishing’s getting better and better at the AR reefs, best action seems to be over on the East reefs but we have seen some good limits of Flounder being caught at the AR315 too. Same ole, same ole on lures; Spro 2oz in White and Glow tipped with a 4” Berkley Gulp Shrimp just can’t be beat when reef fishing. Also, remember to put a Live Mud Minnow down on the bottom on a Carolina Rig, just gives you another chance to catch more fish.  We now have started to see some Flounder being caught on the inside water drifting with Sam’s Gitters and Carolina Rigs behind Shack, mostly in the channel and around the sand bar drops have been working the best.

 

Piers / Surf:

The piers this week have been seeing some good action from the Spanish and Bluefish, most have been plugging with Got-Cha Plugs and casting the Spanish Candy Jigs. Some mornings have been better than others but they are for sure now close enough to get some good action off the piers. A few anglers even caught a few Snake Kings in the mix and I heard of a few larger fish being hung at Bogue Pier. Also, a customer came in yesterday that caught a Cobia off the pier when he spotted a few coming through with a Stingray, so be on the lookout for these fish in the brown suit.

As for the bottom anglers: they are catching a mix bag from Red Drum, Pompano, Spot, Black Drum, Sea Mullets, Croakers, Hog Fish, Flounder and Sharks. Most fishermen are fishing with Bait Shrimp, Live Mud Minnows, Squid, Bloodworms, Mullet and Sand Fleas.

 

Offshore:

We are now starting to see Dolphin as close in as the North West Places and Big 10 / Little 10, talked to a few customers that have had some good catches over the last week. Heck, one angler bought some huge Spanish by the other day and had a 20lb Dolphin caught at one of the nearshore AR Reefs. As far as the big boys, you’ll have to travel on offshore for the larger Bulls. The best action seems to be around the Big Rock area, most have been starting at the 90ft Drop and heading out. I heard a few boats on the waterfront yesterday got into some nice Dolphin, so we are still seeing some waves of the larger fish come through our area. Plus, you’ll also see a few Tuna and Wahoo mixed in along with some Sailfish in the area. As far as lures, the Monkalures we have in the shop have been working GREAT, hard to beat this time of the year when the fish spread out and start short striking the Ballyhoo, we just got another shipment in for the weekend since we were completely sold out. Also, Sea Witches rigged with Medium and Small Ballyhoo is getting the job done on the meat fish.

The bottom fishing has been excellent over the last week, we have been weighing in some huge Grouper some of the largest we have ever seen, we have weighed two in that’s being reviewed for state records. Also bottom boats are catching plenty of Trigger Fish, Snappers and AJ’s in the mix, there’s been a good bite over on the East Side then also on out to the ledges pass the 14 Buoy.