Fishing Report 03/07/2019

 

Well, I think it’s safe to say Spring’s coming on strong around Atlantic Beach. Last week, with the mild weather we saw the water temps coming up which really turned some fish on. Have to say I was kind of surprised just how good of action we did see.

I’ve been getting a lot of calls the last few days about if the cold blast we had is going to slow things back down. I really feel like it won’t affect things that much, just didn’t stay cold long enough to really push the fish back out. It’s already warming back up today and by tomorrow we’re going to be back in the 60’s and close to the 70’s by Sunday. Friday and Saturday our weather’s looking pretty good for some fishing, light winds on the forecast, so we should see some fish caught.

It’s great to see the season changing and starting to see some customers get back on the water. I know we’re super excited about the up-coming season. We have been working hard on the shop over the last month stocking like crazy with new products that’s been arriving daily. We are close to being maxed out. This year, we’re going to be stocked more than ever since we’ve been in business. We have really stepped our Offshore section up this year with more product and more “Big Game” reels. Along with many new items plus anything you need for Inshore/Nearshore/Piers/Surf if we don’t have it you probably don’t need to catch fish in this area.

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Name of the game has been Sea Mullets, they showed up in the Beaufort Inlet area last week in pretty good numbers. We ran a few charters last week and all trips came back with plenty of fish. Best action seems to be around the 18 and 19 Buoy area in the inlet. Now, a few were caught back toward the Turning Basin also. Really, the schools of fish can be anywhere from just outside the inlet all the way back into the Turning Basin.

You can see these fish on your electronics, some of the guys that caught the most will look for the fish before even starting to fish so keep that in mind. I hear a lot of anglers saying they didn’t catch any, but the more guys I talk to only fished one area. These fish aren’t that big so between the Turning Basin and the Beaufort Inlet that’s a lot of water they can be hiding in. Also, a rule of thumb to keep in mind is if you catch a few more than likely there’s more down there. These fish stay in pretty tight schools, we like to mark the spot as soon as we catch a fish so we can make sure we’re staying in that area. That can make a huge difference in catching a few fish or catching a cooler full of fish.

Now, let’s talked about what to use, that’s easy. Come by the shop and pick up some Sam’s Gitters, they are local made Spec Rigs we have. Yep, you can catch them on a plain ole bottom rig but trust me using these rigs make a difference most of the time.  A little color goes a long way in catching these fish a lot of the time. We have the best luck tipping these with Bait Shrimp, also what kind of bait shrimp will make a huge difference. We make sure we keep the best shrimp we can get our hands on and we have some beautiful shrimp that’s been working great. Local caught shrimp can make a huge difference in catching fish. Also, we use Shrimp Fish Bites that works good at times, but never go out without the Bait Shrimp because the artificial just doesn’t work all the time. Sometime these fish can be picky like any other fish in the ocean on what they want to eat.  I did see a customer last weekend with a catch of mullets with a few Spots in the mix, it’s a little early for that run to start but maybe that’s a good sign we could actually have a Spot run this spring seeing them this early in the season.

Last week, we saw a huge turn around on the Speckled Trout bite, things were kind of slow up until the water temps started back on the rise and it really turned the bite back on. We had a few customers come by the shop last week with limits of trout. Tim “Trout Man”, from the shop caught 30 or more last week and kept a really nice limit of fish in the 18” range. Crazy enough most of the guys trout fishing also have been catching a few keeper Flounder. The Trout still seem to be back in the creeks along the water way, even had one angler stop in with some nice fish he caught fishing the canals system in the area. Most anglers are having the best luck on our custom 14MR, 17MR and 18MR Mirrolures, Z-Man plastics and been having a good run on the old school Bass Assassin Paddle Tails. I expect with spring coming on strong the trout bite will only get better as the water heats up. Won’t be long, we’ll start seeing some Topwater action on the ole yellow mouths.

Been a few schools of Redfish hanging around the point at Cape Lookout, they always get there this time of the year before making their way back into the backwater areas. Also, been a few working up and down Shackleford Banks. Most that have been catching the fish at the Cape have been putting their waders on and fishing from the beach, the fish seem to be hanging right in the breakers. Casting Kastmasters, Sea Striker Jigs and Clarkspoon Jigs have been working great. You can also find some schools of fish in the backwater, just a matter getting out and looking for them.

It’s that time of the year, we’re starting to see the Gray Trout stack up at the AR Reefs just off the beach before they make their way into the inlet area. Keeping it simple jigging Sea Striker Jig Fish lures and Stingsilvers will the get the job done when fishing the reef. Also, if you hit the reefs make sure you take some Squid and some bottom rigs because we have been catching a few nice keeper size Sea Bass.

Not seen any Blue Fish yet, but I have a feeling once we get into the next warm up, we’ll start seeing the first schools show up off Cape Lookout Shoals and start making their way to the beaches. Usually, we begin to see the first signs of them the last week of March. Then not far behind them will be the Chopper size fish which we have a blast with. Nothing like seeing them crush a Topwater plug and we got the big Topwater’s all stocked up waiting on them to show.

 

Offshore

Not too many people have been heading Offshore in the last few weeks. We did have a few customers head to the Bluewater last week to fish for some Wahoo and they did come back with some nice fish. Best Wahoo catch we had was 2 fish that were around 50lbs and they also had 3 more in the smaller class. Crazy enough I was expecting them to be fishing south, but they caught these fish around the Big Rock. So, we are starting to get our push of Hoo’s show up.

 I have to say we are fully ready at the shop for the spring Wahoo Season. We have more lures than we have ever had along with Planer Combos and 50W Combos rigged, lined and ready for action.

 We also just got our fresh shipment of Ballyhoo from Bait masters so, we know our customers are getting the freshest bait possible to fish with.

The commercial bottom boats have been filling the boxes with fish, Trigger Fish, Snappers and Sea Bass have been the main fish being caught. Lots of Grouper in the area but remember they must go back since the season is closed. So, if it’s bottom fish you are after now’s the time the fish are stacked up and feeding good. Best action has been 30-40 miles out on good bottoms and ledges.  We have plenty of Squid Wings, Mackerel and Sardines in-stock ready to go.

It’s that time of the year when we’ll also see some good Sword Fishing. New this year, we have a Sword Fish Captain that will be running trips for us to the grounds if you are interested in that bucket list fish, give us a call and we can set you up. Capt. Jared has caught some of the largest that’s ever been caught in this area so for sure he knows what he’s doing when it comes to the Swords. He also helps us out at the shop with supplying us with what we need to have in-stock for swordfish fisherman so we should have you covered if you’re looking to get into catching these fish. We also just got some beautiful jumbo squids just for this type of fishing.