Fishing Report 05/03/2019

 

Well, we finally got a full week of good weather and the fishing has been “crazy good” over the last few days. Some of the action has stayed the same as last week so in this report that will look the same as last week but as far as the Spanish Mackerel, Bonito and Bluefish we have seen a major change over the last week.  

 

 

Inshore:  

 

Spanish made their showing this week, first of the week we were catching a few but today we saw all you wanted. Schools were busting bait balls all over the place, along with seeing some fish up to 3lbs today. The water’s been crystal clear and you can actually see the schools of fish swimming through the bait; it’s been pretty crazy the last two days on the Mackerel. We are catching them casting Spanish Candies, trolling Clarkspoons and Bowed-Up Lures Spoons. Plain and simple, the Spanish bite has been on and will only get better and better over the next week or so.  

 

Bluefish are here just about thick as they have ever been. I talked to a customer this morning that’s lived here all his life. He was telling us that yesterday in all of his years of fishing Cape Lookout he’s never seen as many Bluefish as he did yesterday. There was so many around the Cape Shoals that he thought you could actually walk across them and they were all ranging from 2 to 4lbs. Anglers are having the best luck on casting Spanish Candies, “NEW” Thingamajig’s we have at the shop, Sea Striker Jig Fish, Stingsilvers and Kastmasters. Also, we’ve been having a great time casting the Top-water’s this week, pretty awesome seeing 100’s of fish chasing down a Top-water plugs.  

 

Gray Trout fishing’s been just about as good as it gets in our area. We have a great class of fish in our area right now, it’s been awhile since we’ve seen plenty of 2lb to 4lb fish. We’ve been finding them in two areas, hanging out in front of the Coast Guard Station, Inlet area and the Rail Road Tracks back to the Turning Basin area. Also, we’ve been seeing some big ones at the AR Reefs like 315 and 320 and other Nearshore reefs. Jigging has been the name of the game to catch these fish, we’re having the best luck on Stingsilvers, Jig Fish Lures, a “NEW” Bluewater Candy Jig we have, has been working really well and something we caught on to this week has been a Gulp 4” Shrimp on a heavy Jig Head. We have some “NEW” High-Water Jig Heads in the shop that have been working great for that.  Also, this week part of Charter Fleet has been catching them at the nearshore reefs and some big ones. Yesterday, it was all you wanted to catch up to the 5lb range, crazy the size of class of fish we have right now.  

 

This week, we have seen more Bonito than we’ve seen in years, not often we see anglers catching 20 or more a trip. But it’s been happening like that over the last few days. Anglers have been catching them at AR 315, AR330 plus seeing good numbers at the Cape Lookout area, which we don’t see very often. Trolling Yo-Zuri DD’s, Clarkspoons, local made Bowed-Up Lures Spoons in the bright colors and casting Spanish Candies, Stingsilvers and Heavy Glass Minnows Jigs, we have in the shop. So, if you are looking for Bonito now’s the time to get out and catch them. These fish won’t stay around long before they move on, could be another week or so then disappear.  

 

We’re still seeing some good Speckled Trout fishing in the backwater creeks, lots of small fish are in the area but for the guys really fishing for them are catching some really nice keeper fish. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s really been one of the best springs on the Speck’s in a few years. As the water keeps warming up, they will get harder to catch because of spreading out from the schools. We have already been catching them on Top-waters like the Spook Jr’s, Mirrolure 17MR’s, High Water Plastics, Z-Man Plastics all have been working good for us. Anglers also are catching them on Live Mud Minnows from the shop floating corks in the creeks and around oyster bars.  

 

Red Drum are starting to move in the backwaters good now, we had some customers stop by yesterday afternoon with some nice ones and reported they caught at least 30 or so in just a few hours of fishing. Areas that we have been seeing them has been around Docks, Bridges and some hanging on the Port Wall. I’m sure some are up in the Marsh areas but just not that many anglers have been up in the skinny looking for them. Cut Bait and Live Mud Minnows is what we have been having the best luck on, but I’m sure if you searched the Marsh areas you could find some Top-water action, Spinner Baits, Gold Spoons, Berkley Gulp and Z-Man Plastics.  

 

Not many anglers been Sea Mullet fishing this week but we did have a good report from some customers the other day. They were fishing around 18 and 19 Buoy area and caught 20 or more. Last week, at this time we weren’t seeing many fish inside, but I think we were looking in the wrong areas. What we saw this week with the water temps warming up the Mullets have moved shallower, so instead of in the channel they are more up toward the shore. If you’re going to fish for them use Sam’s Gitters tipped with bait shrimp- you can’t go wrong with the combo, if they are around you will catch them on this local made rig.  

 

Sheepsheads are really starting to move in the area for us, the guys working on the AB Bridge have been getting some Fiddler Crabs from us and having great luck. They are reporting seeing them swim all around the pilings and we’re starting to hear the same report around the Beaufort High Rise Bridge. We do have Live Fiddler Crabs in-stock now and have the Fiddler Crab Jigs that’s been working well.  

  

 
Piers / Surf:  

 

The local Oceanana and Bogue Piers have been seeing some great action again this week, if you like to Surf and Pier fish now’s the time to get out there. The Spanish Mackerel have shown up over the last few days in good numbers. Last two days, anglers have been catching the Mackerel on Got-Cha Plugs. Also, the other day they had a run of Bonito off the piers which is very rarely to see from the pier.  

 

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.  

 

As far as the Surf, anglers fishing the Fort Macon State Park area and along the beaches are seeing the same kind of action as the Pier anglers. But we did see a catch of Spanish Mackerel that came off the beach yesterday afternoon by anglers walking the beach casting Kastmaster Spoons.  Like I said before, now’s the time to get out if you like the Surf Zone, some of the best fishing of the year going on right now as it will slow down a bit after the Spring runs of fish slow down when it gets hot.  

  

 

Offshore:  

 

Well last week, it was wind we were dealing with but this week we have seen light winds and the Bluewater fishing has been just about as good as it gets. Bite was a little slow yesterday but Sunday – Tuesday most boats had limits of Wahoo, few Dolphin, Sailfish and Blackfin Tunas. The bite has been all over the place, we had reports from south of the Swansboro Hole all the way north of the Big Rock. Best thing to do is keep a look at the temperatures chart, look for those water temps breaks and the fish have been there, also keeping a lookout for bait that’s also a big key.  

  

Like I mentioned in the last fishing report, most of the Wahoo have been caught on the Planer Rod, when it comes to Hoo fishing that’s a tool you must have. We have them in the shop set up ready to fish, 80W / Star Rod Combo and 50W / Star Combo set ups.  

  

Also, we have a fresh shipment of Ballyhoo from Baitmaster and Bionic. When it comes to lures for Offshore, we have you covered there to; from local made Full Box Sea Witches, local made Monk-A-Lure one of the best lures ever, Cowbells, Custom Dinner Bells from Big Nic, Fathom Offshore Torpedo Lanterns, and the Nomad DTX Minnows that the Wahoo have been crushing this Spring so far, also now we are seeing some Yellow Fin being caught on these lures. The DTX Minnows are so simple to use, just put them behind the boat and they do the rest of the work.  These are just a few to mention; we have a lot more to choose from.  This past winter, wee worked hard to get the Offshore section larger, we also have anything you need from hooks to rigging.

 

Grouper Season is now open and they are there to catch, we had one boat out today at the grounds and they brought back a limit of monsters.  Some of the largest Grouper we've seen in a while.  They also had a really nice catch of Black Sea Bass in the mix with the Groupers, best action of the Groupers going to be on the East Side.