FISHING REPORT 06/03/2016

 

6th Annual Cobia Challenge

 

Current Leader Board: 

 

1st Place – Chris Phelps 73lbs

 

2nd Place – Alex Chandler 64lbs 

 

3rd Place – Jeff Radford 63-1/2lbs 

 

4th Place – Skip Conklin 53lbs 

 

5th Place – Scott Edwards 53lbs 

 

6th Place – Mike Leseara 53lbs 

 

7th Place – Barry McClure 53lbs 

 

8th Place – Sandy Conklin 52lbs

 

9th Place – Drake Marquart 48lbs 

 

10th Place – Chris Chadwick 47lbs 

 

 

 

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Seems like we’ve had another wave of Cobia show up, over the last week we have seen some very nice fish come to the scales. We weighed our 2nd largest fish of the year last weekend that topped the scales at 80lbs and weighed quite a few more over 50lbs. We’re still seeing good sight fishing and bottom fishing action around both inlets. We’ve even weighed a few fish that were caught behind Shackleford Banks this week. So really anywhere from the Beaufort inlet up toward the Cape you have a good chance of running across some fish. I talked with a customer yesterday that was fishing on the Oceanana Pier and saw a good school of fish swim by. Bottom fishing with dead caught Menhaden and putting out a Chum bag has been the best for the bottom fishing. Sight fishing with Live Eels, Bucktails, Savage Eels and Emu Bucktails all still are working great. Of what we’re seeing I really feel like we’ll see fish for at least the next two weeks in good numbers. My contacts south of us are still seeing and catching fish every day, so those fish have to come by us to make it up north.

Spanish fishing has been great with the water temps staying cooler than normal, it’s keeping the fish bunched up in tight schools and feeding like crazy when you find them. Cape Lookout has been the “Hot Spot” this week with all you want to catch trolling Clarkspoons on #Planers and also anglers casting small jigs have been doing very well. As far as around the Beaufort Inlet area, anglers are seeing good luck in front of Fort Macon and down the beach toward the Double Tree Resort. Good thing is the anglers are seeing good size fish, there’s been no shortage of 3 to 4lb fish.

Along with all the good Spanish fishing, anglers are catching plenty of Bluefish in the mix too. Use the same methods of fishing for Spanish and you’ll have no problem catching some Bluefish. Keep in mind if trolling for Spanish and all you are catching is Bluefish speed your troll up and usually that will help you more bites from the Spanish.

Flounder fishing has mainly been out at the reefs this week. Some anglers coming in the shop have been reporting nice fish from 315 320 and also 330. Our charter captains have been putting a few fish in the cooler this week too, fishing the same areas. The best bet out at the reefs is to use a 2oz Spro Bucktail or a Sea Striker Bucktail with 4” Berkley Gulp Shrimp. The next best thing would be some live mud minnows fished on a Carolina Rig. There’s been reports of some fish starting to be caught inside the inlet and also around the port area. Using live mud minnows would be a good choice when fishing the port area and also drifting the inlet.

Sheepshead bite has fired off with a bang this week! We have weighed a couple of big 9 pounders over the past week. We have also heard good reports of some nice catches of Sheepshead being caught. Most of what we’ve heard anglers have been catching them good around the AB Bridge along with some good numbers also coming from the Beaufort Bridge too. Anglers have been using Live Fiddler Crabs to catch them around the bridges or any other kind of structure. Now, that the water has warmed up just a little bit, they have really started biting pretty well. We have Live Fiddler Crabs In-Stock if you want to test the waters.

The port area has also been holding numbers of Sea Mullets, Croakers, Hog Fish, nice Gray Trout and plenty of Bluefish. Bottom fishing around any of the Turning Basin area or the inlet with bottom rigs or spec rigs have been getting good results. When using either one; tipping them with small pieces of Bait Shrimp or Fish bites should get good action for you.

A lot of anglers have been on the search for some upper slot Redfish this week as we are having the first event of the “Carolina Redfish Series” Saturday at the shop. Some nice fish have been caught around the Neuse River, in Core Creek and also the Newport River all have been producing fish.

The next report, we have heard has come from down in the Swansboro area. We weighed a real nice size Speckled Trout this past week that an angler pulled out of “Hush Mouth Creek.” Also, anglers have caught a couple of nice specks out of Bouge Sound!

 

Piers / Surf

Pier fishing has been doing pretty good here recently with anglers having good catches of Spanish and Bluefish! Plugging Got-cha Plugs has been the secret to success in getting the Spanish to hit. Anglers have had the most luck plugging off the end of the pier. A couple of people gave us reports of seeing some Cobia swimming around the pier with a few being able to hook one or two but haven’t been able to land one yet.

Down in the Surf along the beaches we’ve been hearing that anglers are catching Bluefish, Puffers. Croakers, Black Drum, Pompano and Sharks along with a few Red Drum and Flounder in the mix of things. When fishing in the Surf using a bottom rig with some Bait Shrimp, Squid or Bloodworms always work well. Using a Mullet Rig with either some Finger Mullet or Cut Mullet will also get the job done.

 

Offshore

The Offshore Anglers have been reporting good catches when they have had a chance to make it out to the Bluewater over the past week. The Dolphin bite is still going on strong with plenty of fish being weighed in. They seem to be moving closer in with anglers not having too much trouble finding them out around the 14 Buoy and the 90 ft. Drop. Also, boats have been having good luck finding some Wahoo out around the Big Rock.

With the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament coming up in the next couple of weeks boats will very soon be switching over looking for the “Big Blue Marlins”. The tournament is held on the waterfront in Morehead City at the new weigh station dock. It’s always a good time to go over and watch the weigh- in every day. Anglers fishing the Big Rock are focused on bringing in the largest marlin as a wad of money is on the line. In the past years, the first place purse has been over a million dollars.

 

 

Braggin Board: