Fishing Report 05/21/2015

 

 We were blessed last weekend with perfect weather allowing anglers to enjoy some good fishing. It looks like the Memorial Day Weekend coming up is going to be just as nice, so the fishing should be just as good. 

 

 

Inshore / Nearshore: 

Well, it’s happened over the last week the COBIA has shown up in full force. As you know, if you follow our Facebook page it all started last Thursday and we've been weighing fish ever since. We've weighed fish both from bottom and sight fishing all week long. 

 

For anglers who want to bottom fish for them, the two hot spots are Barden's Inlet at the Cape and Beaufort Inlet. We have weighed plenty of fish from both spots. The best baits are  “Dead Fresh Caught Menhaden and Live Eels” and we have plenty of both In-Stock ready to go along with the right rigs you need to catch these brown fish.

 

 Anglers that have weighed fish here at the shop are telling us that “CHUM” has been a big key in getting more bites from Cobia. Yes, when you bottom fish for the big brown fish you're going to catch sharks and skates but it's worth the wait when you hook into a huge Cobia then bringing it to the scales not to mention it's some very good eating.

 

 As far as sight fishing goes it's been all about the bait balls over the last few days. This is pretty simple fishing, you just need to ride around looking until you see some Cobia swimming around the bait ball crushing through it.  Bucktails, Artificial Eels and 8” Curly Tails all have been working great as far as artificial lures.  If you're going to go out and look for Cobia it's always a good choice to take some Live Eels along with you. I have a feeling over the next few days these fish that are here now will begin to shy off the artificial lures with more and more boats showing up. Yes, there'll still be some caught on artificial but a Live Eel just might trigger them to bite. There's something about an Eel either a Cobia doesn't like or really likes because they won't turn one down. We're getting another shipment in today so, we should be in good shape to go through the weekend on Live Eels. 

 

 

Cobia Braggin Board:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anglers have been catching some very large Red Drum in the bait balls along the beach this week. Really, we've never seen the numbers we're seeing this year along the beach. Just about every Cobia I weighed yesterday anglers saw Red Drum or caught them on the same lures used for Cobia. So, if you're out fishing this weekend don’t be surprised to hook into a very large Red Drum. 

Spanish fishing is picking up everyday and yesterday boats caught their limits of fish. Most of the action is along the beach and around the inlet trolling Clarkspoons, Squid Rigs, Mackerel Trees and Bird Rigs. Over the next few days being the weather is going to stay pretty good we should really see good numbers move in. Also, there's plenty of Bluefish in the mix when fishing for Spanish and there's even some Bonito still around. I talked with a customer the other day that got into a huge school of Bonito while Cobia fishing around a bait ball. Last weekend, there was good numbers caught at AR315 trolling Yo-Zuri DD in the pink color. 

Some customers fished for Sheepshead last weekend and did pretty good with good numbers of fish caught. Not really any huge fish but some good action fishing around the bridges and Port Wall. You will have the best luck fishing Live Fiddler Crabs, which we now have In-Stock for the summer until the Sheepshead fishing slows down. 

Flounder fishing been pretty good for the ones heading out fishing the reefs to tell you the truth not many anglers have been fishing for Flounder because most have Cobia on the brain. But last weekend I did see some limits come off AR315 and AR320. Spro Bucktails tipped with Berkley Gulp 4″ White Shrimp has been working the best. Also, there's been some good action on some of the reefs on the eastside of the Cape. I talked to a few divers who have been seeing good numbers starting to show up on the reefs, let's just hope they stay around for the summer. 

 

Piers / Surf: 

The water has been clearing up this week and the piers are now starting to see the Spanish move back in. This weekend should be good for them off the pier because I know the last two days has been good for the boats just outside the range of the pier. Bluefish for sure hasn't been a problem to catch off the pier over the last week. Plugging Got-Cha Plugs are  working the best for the Spanish and Bluefish.

 

The surf fishing was on the slow side last weekend due to the flat sea. But as the Surf started to get rough on Sunday and Monday we started seeing some Red Drum at the Fort Macon Park. As far as bottom fishing, anglers are catching a few Sea Mullets, Pompano, Spots, Bluefish and Black Drum. Bait Shrimp, Mullet, Bloodworms and Squid all are the best baits of choice. We did see a few Flounder caught but not many numbers yet. They have been few and far between in the Surf Zone. Hopefully, the southwest winds we had this week will make the beach fishing better this coming up holiday weekend. 

 

Offshore: 

The Blue Water has been pretty good over the last week. Last weekend, good weather allowed plenty of boats to get out. Anglers caught numbers of Dolphin with some really nice Wahoo along with a few Tunas. The Dolphin fishing has remained good throughout this week. We're finding action from the 14 Buoy out to the 90t Drop down to the Rise and Swansboro Hole. Over the next few weeks, we'll see some of the best Dolphin fishing we'll see all year so take advantage of it when the weather looks good. We still have plenty of Ballyhoo ready for action.

 

The Blue Marlin bite has been great over the last week in the deep, so this weekend's tournament should be exciting and then we go right into the Big Rock. If the bite stays like we're seeing right now this could be some great tournament action coming up with lots of Marlins being caught.

 

The bottom fishing still remains pretty solid. Captain Chris had a good day last weekend on Grouper fishing the ledges around the 14 Buoys. Also, we have weighed in some huge Trigger Fish and plenty of Snappers along with Sea Bass. 

 

 

 

Braggin Board: