Fishing Report 05/17/2019

 

Inshore / Nearshore:  

 

Well, we’ve been getting a lot of calls and messages about the Cobia. I have to say this year has been a unique one so far; for sure, 3 weeks ago first fish we put on the scales was pushing 70lbs. So, after that we thought; Ok, things are getting ready to bust loose, well since then it’s been kind of on the slow side of things. But this week it's  been a little different for us, each day we have seen fish come to the scales. Yesterday, was very promising with good numbers of fish caught, one of our charter boats had a limit of 4 and both of the other boats fishing for us caught fish also. We had a few fish weighed in for our Cobia Shootout. So, we are hoping this is the start of the season the Crystal Coast is known for. 

 

Usually, our season goes strong until the middle of June. So, there’s still plenty of time to put some Cobia in the freezer. The bite has been about 50/50 for us, some caught sight fishing and some caught bottom fishing. The larger fish we have weighed this week have been caught on the bottom, from anglers fishing dead fresh menhaden from the shop in the chum slicks they’ve been putting out behind their boats. If you’re looking to go, we have Live Eels, fresh caught Menhaden, all the Bucktails you need, Cobia Rigs and plenty of Chum in-stock ready for action. 

 

Spanish Mackerel have gotten thick over the last week, AR Reefs, Inlets and along the beach all are holding fish. It does seem like the larger fish are holding around the Reefs, but this week we've seen some good size ones up around the point at Cape Lookout area. Anglers are trolling Clarkspoons, Bowed-Up Spoons, Mackerel Trees and Squid Chains. We’ve been having the best luck trolling these on #1 Planers and trolling weights. You can also catch Spanish by casting jigs around the Inlet areas and at the AR reefs. The best luck has been on Spanish Candies, Jig-fish Lures and Thingama Jigs. They haven’t been hard to find, usually they’re schooled up off the Fort Macon Point in the shallower waters early in the mornings. They will also do the same thing at the Point at the Cape Lookout area. Rule of thumb is: if you’re going out looking for Spanish this time of the year, always have some Spanish Candies rigged up ready to go because you just don’t know when they’ll pop up feeding.  

 

Bonito fishing has been great over the last few weeks. I can’t remember a year like we are having. Most of the action we are seeing has been at the AR 315, 320, 330 plus good numbers off the Rock Jetty area at Cape Lookout. Trolling Yo-Zuir DD’S has been the best way to catch them, it’s just hard to beat.  We have found some action on the Bowed-Up Spoons we have in the shop working in the brighter colors. These fish seem to like Pinks, Greens and Silvers when pulling for them. We also have been catching them casting Spanish Candies at times, but it usually does not last long so we do see better results trolling for them. I’m thinking, we have another week of these fish being in the area before they move on, so this weekend you still should be able to catch them well and we just got more DD’s in stock.  

 

King Mackerel are also showing up in good numbers already, seems early but the smaller fish are all over the reefs and North West Places. Not sure if these fish are going to hang around or just here for a short time. I remember last year once they showed up like this, they stayed around all summer and got bigger and bigger. We were weighing 40+ fish in July last year so that’s what we are hoping for again, it was pretty crazy. So far, we have been catching them on Drone Spoons 3-1/2 size, Yo-Zuir DD’s and Cigar Minnows on Dead Bait Rigs. 

 

If you like Blue Fish, we got all you want to catch, Cape Lookout area has been loaded up all Spring, the old salts of the area have been telling that they never have seen this many Blues ever. They’re so thick at times you can almost walk across them. You also can find plenty to catch around the Inlet areas and along the beaches, they are pretty much all over the place. The same lures as we are using for the Spanish will get the job done. Still haven’t seen any Chopper Blues yet, so not sure if they are going to show or not. I did see the other day they are catching them way up north now so that’s not a good sign for us. But on a couple of the charters this week we did saw a few come up off the wrecks and attack our Spanish cutting them in half so just maybe we still have a shot of seeing some.  

 

Gray Trout fishing still going strong in the area, kind of like the Bonito fishing best we’ve seen in a few years. We weighed one the other day that went over 7lbs, I’ve not seen one that big in a few years in our area and lots in the 2 to 3lb range. Most of the fish are being caught at the Coast Guard Station area and at the AR Reefs. Anglers are having the best luck jigging the ‘NEW” Thingama Jig we have in the shop size 1-1/2oz. We have caught a lot trout on it over the last few weeks, also doing pretty good on the 2oz Spanish Candies.  

 

Speckled Trout and Redfish bite been pretty good this week, we have seen some beautiful fish come by the shop and some have been live released behind the shop. Most of the trout action has been on the flats early in the morning, they have been crushing Top-water plugs. One of our guides last week caught some really nice fish on the “NEW” High-Water Plastics we have in the shop now, a little something I ran across down in the Bayou and they’ve been working great.  

 

We get asked a lot what’s the flats, really anywhere you have sandy areas with good healthy grass growing off the bottom. These areas are where the bait is holding and that’s where the fish are going to be. If you don’t see any bait or any kind of wildlife then we call that “dead areas”, it’s time to move and look for a healthy area as we would call it.  

 

As far as the Redfish they have been holding in the same kinds of areas, as the trout both fishes seem to be in the shallows right now. The Reds, we are catching have been on Gold Spoons, Z-Man’s, Gulp and Top-waters.  

 

Sheepshead fishing’s been pretty good around the High-Rise Bridges and the Docks along the waterways. We have been selling quite a few Fiddler Crabs to anglers and they have been giving us some good reports back. We just got this “NEW” Crab Jig in the shop last week that's going to be a knockout on the Sheepshead when Fiddler Crab fishing. The crab is held on by a rubber band so there’s no hook inside to kill him. The rubber band just holds it in place allowing the crab to still be able to move around that’s going to drive the fish crazy. It’s the only thing we have ever seen like this.  The jig has a double hook on it so there’s no way it’s not going to work. So, come check this new jig out, if you fish with crabs it’s going to be a must to have in the box.  

 

 

Piers / Surf:  

 

Not much has changed over the last few weeks, pier and surf anglers still seeing some good action. Usually, we see decent fishing from the beaches and piers until the summer heat sets in on us.  

 

The Spanish Mackerel is still showing for the pier anglers and surf anglers.  Mackerel on the Got-Cha Plugs has been the best way to go. Colors have been all over the place but you can’t go wrong with the Red/White and White/White, just hard to beat.  

  

As for the bottom fish: we are still seeing Sea Mullets, Puffer Fish, Hog Fish and Black Drum. Most are using Bait Shrimp, Squid, Mullet fished on bottom rigs and drum rigs.   

  

Over the last week, we have started seeing some Flounder coming from the Surf and some keepers at that. Live Mud Minnows fished on Flounder Rigs will be the way to go and also Berkley Gulp 4” Shrimp works well. The anglers that are catching a few have been looking for the deeper holes where the Flounder are laying in along the beaches.  

 

  

Offshore:  

 

Dolphin Season is getting into full swing for us, over the last two weeks the docks have been pretty full with Gaffers. Best action has been out around the Big Rock and I’ve even heard of some already being caught as close in as the 90ft Drop. Last weekend, we even saw some as close in as the Sea Buoy, but the Gaffers and most of the fish are going to be on further Offshore.  

 

.fusion-content-tb-1{font-size:18px;font-family:"Playfair Display";font-weight:400;color:#333333;}