Fishing Report 04/12/2018

 

Hopefully; Spring has finally sprung, by looking at the 10-day forecast we’re going to be in the 60’s and 70’s. Last week, we saw some warm weather and the water temps rose up to the low 60’s in the Beaufort Inlet and Turning Basin area. It dropped a bit over the last few days with the cold front we just had, but today we’ll be back in the 60’s so the water should be back on the warming trend. What we’re seeing right now this weekend looks great for a change for at least Friday and Saturday, maybe some wind back for Sunday and the first of the week. So, get out on the water over the next few days and catch some fish!

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Last week, we started to see a good Sea Mullet bite, best we’ve seen so far. On Friday, Nick from the shop caught a cooler full around the 25 Buoy. Also, another customer caught a nice mess of fish drifting from the Port Wall back to the Coast Guard Station area. Not many anglers have been back on the water since last Saturday when the weather turned bad, but today it’s beautiful and people are back out. Hopefully, we’ll hear some good reports coming in on the mullets again today. The ones we saw last week were very nice sized fish. What to use has been pretty simple, “Sam’s Gitters” Rigs tipped with bait shrimp has been getting the job done. I’m thinking with the warm up on the way, we’re getting ready to have the bite bust loose from the signs we saw last week.

Albacores really starting to get schooled up around the Cape Lookout Shoals, we’ve been seeing them anywhere from right off the beaches up to 8 miles out. Some days, they seem to be closer in and other days they are feeding more offshore. The Glass Minnow Jigs we have in the shop have been working the best. It’s taking something very small to get these fish to bite and that jig fits the bill along with being heavy enough to cast to them.

We’re now starting to see some Bluefish move in closer to the beach, last week a few were caught inside the inlet area and around the Cape Lookout area. We even have seen some Chopper Bluefish in that 8-10lb range caught this week at Fort Macon and around Cape Lookout.  So, from what we’re seeing it’s going to be any day when the Bluefish are going to be everywhere to catch. It could be very soon since the weather is really going to be nice the next couple of days. We have the bigger top water chuggers stocked up in the shop, last year anglers had great luck using these lures with the larger fish. Nothing like seeing an 8lb Bluefish crush a top water lure and jump out of the water like a tarpon.

Redfish action still remains good out around Cape Lookout in the Shark Island area, anglers fishing has been catching them on Gulp Baits and Live Minnows. Also, they have been picking up a few in the backwater areas like Core Creek and the Haystacks. The next few days should be good fishing at the Cape, winds are going to be light enough to get where the fish are. Also, we’ve been seeing some of the Old Drum schools working the East Side and along the Shoals.

There’s some great Sea Bass action just off the beaches, once you hit the 70’ water range there’s been plenty of fish on the hard bottom areas. Along with the Sea Bass we’ve been catching Porgies and Grunts in the mix with plenty of Bluefish. Most of this bottom action has been on Squid and Live Minnows fished right off the bottom, also there’s been some luck on the larger Sea Bass jigging Spro 2oz White Bucktails tipped with 4” Berkley Gulp Shrimp, that will also open the door to catch a Flounder.

Still seeing a mix of Black Drum, Sheepshead, Flounder and Red Drum from the anglers just bottom fishing around the High-Rise Bridges and Port Wall area. Most have been having the best luck on Bait Shrimp and Live Minnows, fishing along the bridge pilings.

 

Piers / Surf:

 We’re now starting to see the first run of nice Sea Mullets start to come down the beaches, both piers have been catching some over the last week. Also, some Blowfish, small Spot and a few Croakers are being caught off the bottom. For the bottom feeders best action has been on Bait Shrimp fished on the bottom with a bottom rig. We did hear of a few Chopper Bluefish caught this week, I know Oceanana Pier had a few along with Fort Macon State Park has seen a few. So hopefully; we are getting ready to see the run of these big fish like we saw last year. The best way to catch these huge fish from the piers and surf has to be the Mullet Float Rigs, rigged with Finger Mullet and Cut Mullet, we have both in-stock at the shop and can show you how to rig up of the Chopper Bluefish. Along with a few big Blues showing up we are now starting to see some smaller fish also move in, I’ve a feeling with the warm up coming we will see more and more caught each day long the beaches now.

 

Offshore:

Again, this week has been hard to get out, today been the best day all week and boats are out. Tomorrow and Saturday looks fishable also so we should see some good reports coming in over the next few days along with putting some fish on our scales. If you’re going to try you might want to call the shop before you head out we do have some boats out today and should have an idea where the fish are being caught. Most of the action is going to be around the Swansboro Hole and the Rise area. I did hear of few boats that were going to try out around the Big Rock today.

As far as fish, we’ve been seeing some Yellow Fin Tuna, Black Fin Tuna, Dolphin and Wahoo, so kind of a mixed bag of fish out there right now. It’s been a while since we’ve seen any Yellow Fin in the Spring around here so hopefully; they hang around for a few more weeks.

Come see us if you are heading out over the next few days, we have plenty of fresh Ballyhoo in-stock ready for action. We only sell the best Baitmaster and Bionic so, we know you won’t have bad bait when you get out to the fishing grounds.

 

 

 

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