Fishing Report 05/25/2017

Another windy week down at the coast, we had a pretty weekend last week and we saw plenty of fish. What we're seeing right now Memorial Day Weekend is starting to shape up to be a decent one. Which will be nice since we've had wind almost all week making it hard to get out and fish, so hopefully; we can get back at it after today.

Inshore / Nearshore:

We've seen pretty good Cobia fishing this past week, weighed quite a few last weekend with putting some major heavy weights on the scales. We weighed a few over 80lbs, few over 70lbs and one monster that went almost 100lbs. Unfortunately, we haven't weighed many this week but keep in mind it’s been blowing a gale making it very hard to fish. Over the last week it seems that the bottom fishing is producing the most fish but when the weather allows anglers are sight fishing to a few following Sea Turtles.

As we get into the later part of the season, we will start to see fish move inside the inlets. Areas like behind Shackleford and Bogue Sound will start to hold fish, really no magic spot just find a deep hole and put out bait plus chum just like you would do when fishing the inlets. We have plenty of fresh caught shad in-stock for this coming up weekend; still un – decided about bringing in more live eels it's just going to depend on what the weather does. Also, we're still stocked up on Bug Eye, Meat Hogs and Bowed-Up Bucktails along with the Real Eels. We should see fish for at least a couple more weeks before they all move on, usually we weigh fish right on to the middle of June.

I've not seen much Spanish fishing this week, not because the fish aren't here because it's been way too windy to get out along the beaches to them. Last weekend, anglers were catching all they wanted to catch and I'm sure this weekend will be the same. Oceanana Pier back toward Fort Macon, Rough Point and the Shoals at Cape Lookout seem to be the better spots that are holding numbers of fish.

Trolling Spoons behind #1 Planers has been working very well. We have been very impressed with the Local Bowed-Up Spoons so far, they have been fish catching machines. Bird Rigs rigged with Spoons and Daisy Chains have been producing, great choice to put out in the middle of your spread. Also, anglers are seeing good action casting to feeding fish, the new glass minnow jigs in the shop has to be the best we have seen in a long time. Just the right size and weight and the fish can’t stand it. Also, anglers have been seeing good action on the Jig Fish Lures and small Sting-silvers. You will catch plenty of Bluefish in the mix I did see a few Chopper Blues last weekend off in the deeper water but the majority are the smaller ones along the beaches.

I've seen some nice Speckled Trout in the last week; we weighed one fish in that went almost 7lbs caught insight of our front porch on a Live Mud Minnow. Also, anglers have been reporting good numbers of fish on the flats early mornings on Top-water lures, seems the bite dies out once the sun gets up high, then you have to switch over to Gulp, Z-man or Live Minnows to get some action. Plus there's been good numbers of Redfish around this week. Seeing lots of rat reds all over the place, so if these fish stay around we should have a good stock of fish coming our way in the near future. Once you find them they haven't been too hard to catch either, Gulp Baits or Live Minnows have been doing the trick.

A few anglers have been to the AR Reefs jigging for Flounder over the past week and have been bringing back a few fish. I've not seen any real coolers full but seems to be easy to get a limit if you work at it, jigging Spro 2oz Bucktails in White tipped with Gulp 4” White Shrimp is the only way to go. Again, anglers were having a time with the winds making it hard to get to the fish. I can report a few fish have moved into the inside, Live Mud Minnows seem to be working the best in the backwaters along with 4” Gulp baits fished on a Jig Head.

Seeing more and more Sheepshead, Port Wall and Bridges seem to be holding the most fish. The bridges seem to be producing the majority; we did weigh one in this past weekend that went over 6lbs so that's a good sign. The larger fish are making their way to their summer homes. Live Fiddler Crabs and Sea Urchins will be the best bait of choice, we do have Live Crabs in-stock and should have some live Sea Urchins by the weekend as long as the weather allows.

Sharks have started to move along the beach, I know a few our Captains from the shop have been catching some pretty nice ones around the inlets over the last week. Also, there's been a few shrimp boats starting to work along the coast which really attract the schools of Sharks, you can see some crazy action behind those shrimp boats in the summer, makes you really think about jumping back into the ocean.

Also, anglers are starting to catch some Amber Jacks around some of the reefs, the closest reef I've heard about is AR 330, some have been showing up there and plenty of them already over on the East side. So, these are two fish that will stick around all summer and are for sure tackle testers.

Piers / Surf:

Spanish and Bluefish has been the name of the game this week, still seeing good numbers being caught off the end of the piers on Got-cha Plugs. Also, this week we've seen some good catches coming from the Fort Macon area off the beach, those same Glass Minnows Jigs I've been talking about the boat anglers are using also have been working well for the beach casters. These jigs are the right size and heavy enough to cast out to the fish. That’s the biggest mistake I see anglers do throwing too large of a jig from the Surf trying to get the distance to fish. These new jigs will do the trick for you Surf anglers.

I did get a report back from a customer that came by to pick up some Bloodworms reporting he caught some nice Sea Mullets, not any huge numbers but had enough to take home. Also, there's been a few Hogfish, Blowfish, Bluefish and Sharks all along the Surf. I've not seen too many Drum from the beach but the best area will be around the rocks at Fort Macon. I did get a good report of some Drum being caught from the beach at Cape Lookout last weekend.

Offshore:

Fishing has been pretty good in the Blue Water; we are seeing a huge Marlin bite like we haven't seen in years. Going to be exciting over the next few weeks with the tournaments coming up to see what happens, should be heavy weights coming to the scales as long as the fish don’t move north before the time comes.

As far as meat fish – Dolphin fishing has been HOT but too a little hit or miss. If you find the pockets of fish you can load the boat, when I say load the boat we saw some boats with hundreds of pounds of fish. Also, we weighed some nice fish in at the shop over last weekend with the largest being over 50lbs and quite a few in the 30’s.

Now, we have talked to anglers that only caught a few fish, it’s just been mixed up if you're in the right area where the pockets of fish are hanging there's Dolphin to be caught. Most of the action seems to be right on the Big Rock but we have seen a few nice catches coming in as close as the 90ft Drop back to the 14 Buoy. Not many boats have been out this week because of the winds so maybe anglers will be able to get back at it come Saturday right now it's looking like it might be fish-able. This time of the year can be some of the best Dolphin fishing we'll see all year as the larger fish are moving through and like I said if you find them they are bunched up and ready, willing to feed.

Braggin Board