Fishing Report 03/29/2019

Spring fishing is kicking off at Atlantic Beach. The inshore and offshore action heated up this week. Weather has played a big roll this week in anglers being able to get out and fish. First of the week we had some good weather and anglers caught everything from Sea mullets and trout to Wahoo and Swordfish. The forecast for the upcoming weekend is looking great with temps in the 70’s and 5-10 winds. With that forecast and the reports we’ve heard expect a great weekend of fish catching action.

 

Inshore/Nearshore

Anglers are still reporting a good Sea Mullet bite while from the turning basin out to the Beaufort inlet. The 18 and 19 buoys are still holding good numbers of fish. These fish seem to always be in between the turning basin area out to the inlet. Fishing in 50-60ft of water in the channel just drifting with the current is the best way to locate them. The local handmade “Sam’s Gitter” rigs is the thing to use. Anglers have been using them tipped with some of our fresh bait shrimp from the shop and have been putting them in the boat.

The Puffer fish invasion that we had last week is still hot.  Anglers have had good luck fishing areas like the Beaufort water front, Radio Island and up at the Cape while fishing inside the hook. Anglers fishing from shore have had good luck catching them while fishing from the Pier and from the beach at Radio Island. Bottom fishing with traditional bottom rigs and the “Sam’s Gitter” rig with shrimp has been the deadly combo for targeting these fish.

Tim The Troutman from the shop got out in the ocean this week found the Albacore and an awesome time. Anglers have reported seeing schools anywhere from AR315, AR320, AR330 and also a few up at Cape Lookout. The small glass Minnow Jigs we have in the shop have been deadly when finding these fish schooled up. The way they are made they’re just the right size and weight to be able to sling them a mile.

The Speckled Trout bite is still HOT back in the creeks. This has been the best spring trout bite we’ve had in a few years. Some anglers have reported catches of 50-100 fish when they locate them. Seems like when anglers have found them its been non-stop action. There are some bigger fish in the mix of them we’ve seen some fish that have been in that 3-5lb range. Our custom Mirrolures that we have in stock in both MR17’s and MR14’s have been working great for some customers. Anglers have also had good luck fishing soft plastics on a jig head. Different Z-man baits like the MinnowZ and the JerkshadZ have been the go to for some anglers. We’ve recently stocked a new Plastic the “Down South Lures” angler have had great things to say about them. Don’t forget to get a few Mud Minnows too. When they’re aren’t hitting on the artificial they won’t turn down a Mud Minnow. A few anglers have started fishing some top water baits with some success. Fishing Spook’s and Top Dog Jr have been the lure of choice for most.

We are just waiting for the Flounder to show up good on the Nearshore reefs. Anglers have reported a few here and there so a few have moved in. With the weather warming up it should be any day thing will get kicked off out there. The deadly combo while fishing for them Is the Spro Buclktails and Berkley 4” Gulp shrimp is the go to combo to use while jigging those wrecks.

Anglers picked up some gray trout while jigging Stingslivers out at the wrecks. Some Have been caught while Fishing the “Sam’s Gitter” rigs in the Inlet. It won’t be long and these fish will move inside and they’ll be found at the bridges in that deeper water.

We’ve seen a few Redfish this week from the surf. Along a few back in the creeks. Surf Anglers have been using different Sea Striker metal jigs and also Cut mullet if you wanted to bait fish for them. Back in the marshes and creeks The reds have been hitting Z-man and Gulp plastics while fished on a jig head. It won’t be long and the water will be warmed up and these fish will be more aggressive and will start hitting spoons, top waters and plastics fished under a popping cork.

 

Surf & Piers

The Oceanna and the bougue pier have opened up and have been seeing some action. Anglers have report nice catches of Sea mullets and Puffer fish from the Oceanana. With the bouge Pier on the other end of the island we haven’t heard too much from down there but the same thing should be going on. As mentioned earlier anglers have had some luck while fishing the beach access over at Radio Island. Last week anglers had GREAT luck fishing the beaufort waterfront catching coolers full of puffer fish.

 

Offshore

The Highlight around the shop this week was the 400Lb Swordfish that we weighed in Sunday. It really was a sight to see. It took a crew of about 10 to get it out of the boat and rig it up to weigh. We had a crowd of about 20 gathered in the parking watching the weighing of that beast. With that beautiful weather we had last weekend Anglers were able to get out to the Bluewater.

We saw several WAHOO. Seems like most of the action was down south. Some reports we got Anglers started at the Big Rock and worked their way south. The Rise and the Swansboro hole were hot spots last weekend too. Some boats ran even further south with good luck. Our Fresh Spring shipment of Baitmasters Ballyhoo has been making a difference for our customers. Trolling the standard Ballyhoo and Sea Witches has been the been the go to for anglers. Some of the lures we have in the shop have been working too. We are stocked up on our offshore wall with all types of different lures and baits. We also just got a fresh shipment of the infamous High speed cowbell. Fathom has a few new Stainless high speed lures as well that we have in-stock.

We saw another one of those HUGE 110 amberjacks this week that was caught while trolling ballyhoo for wahoo. Anglers have also reported some catches of Yellow Fin, Black Fin and a few Dolphin have actually been caught.  Things offshore are heating up. Anglers are also reporting good catches while bottom fishing. Triggerfish, B-liners, Sea Bass were chewing this week. We’ve got plenty of Squid wings, whole squid , cigar minnows and Spanish sardines In-stock.  Don’t forget we’ve got a great selection of jigging lures.

If you’re just getting into offshore fishing or looking to upgrade your current setup be sure to come by the shop and check out our rigged and ready combos. We taken the time to pair up some really nice combos with Shimano Reels and Star Rods. We’ve got the entry level Shimano TLD 2 speed combos, Mid level Shimano Tyrnos Combos, and of course the iconic Shimano Tiagra. We got both 30’s and 50’s spooled up ready to go on Star Rods. We’ve also got planer rod set ups spooled and ready to fish. Come by the shop and let our professional staff help you get geared up for the season and let’s get out on the water and go fishing….