Fishing Report 11/21/2019

 

Inshore / Nearshore:

Still seeing some of the best Speckled Trout fishing we have ever saw, the consistent size of the fish has been crazy. Just praying we don’t have a cold snap this winter, because if we don’t 2020 could be even better. Most everything we’ve been seeing has been from 2 to 3lb class size fish with good numbers of 4lb fish mixed in. Since, the water has gotten crystal clear in the last week or so and dropped in temp, seems the fish are getting into a new pattern and moving around on us. The large amounts of fish we were seeing back in the rivers have moved on us more toward the ocean. The rock jetties have really picked up this week for us. But I did have some customers come by the shop yesterday with a nice catch of fish from the Haystacks area. Last couple of afternoons the Cape Lookout Jetty has been really good, seems like the falling tide has been the best. The Core Creek area, all the way up though Adams Creek also still has plenty of fish to catch, along with North River, Middle Marsh and Shackleford Banks. The crazy thing is the bite is like this all around us in the Outer Banks area and all the way down in the Wilmington area, along with fish all out in the Neuse River. It’s just unbelievable the amount of fish NC has right now. As far as, lures nothing has really changed since the last report the Mirrolure bite has been good in the creeks and along the beaches. As far as plastics, the Z-Man MinnowZ, JerkshadZ, Berkley Gulp, Bass Assassin Tails and DOA Lures is your best choice. Also, been seeing good luck on the Vudu Shrimps, always a good choice to put under a popping cork, in our eyes there’s no more life-like shrimp on the market. Live Shrimp also is still playing a lot in catching these fish in the clear water or fish that have been pressured a lot. We do have Live Shrimp coming our way for the weekend so that’s great news as they have been very hard for us to get them this fall. Also, we have plenty of Live Mud Minnow in-stock.

Gray Trout still in good numbers, around the Turning Basin and Morehead High Rise Bridge has been holding great numbers. It hasn’t been too hard to get them to bite by:  Jigging Spanish Candies, Jig Fish and Stingsilvers all are working great. We’ve been catching them on Sam’s Gitters Rigs tipped with shrimp while Sea Mullet fishing.

Not seen any Spanish or Bluefish this week seems they have moved south on us, but did hear or reports of the Albacore feeding up around the Cape Lookout area this week. They’ve been tricky to catch with the water being clear and they have been keying in on small glass minnows. Angler are fishing with the 1/2oz size lures to get them to bite in the Spanish Candies or Glass Minnow Jigs we have in the shop.  

There’s been quite a few looking for Sea Mullets this week, I have heard of some really good catches and then some not catching any. Sam stopped in yesterday to drop off more rigs and he caught some nice ones this week around the 18 and 19 Buoys. He was telling us there’s some fish out there to catch, you have to move around to find them. One customer caught a good mess of them earlier this week on out the Inlet in the Shipping Channel. If you’re wanting to catch them, the Sam’s Gitter Rigs tipped with fresh shrimp from the shop is the way to go. Not heard that much about Spots since the Nor’easter moved through last weekend, but a customer said today they caught some yesterday.  

The Red Drum bite really fired off for us this week, best action we’ve seen in a few weeks. Seems there’s some really good schools of fish working along Shackleford Banks right now. One of our boats was out this morning and caught them one after another until they were tried of catching just off the point of Shack. Also, there’s Drum starting to stack up at the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty since quite a few were caught there this week. As far as lures they haven’t been too picky, we were catching them on the High Water Get Em Shads and Z Man Jerkshads from the shop. It’s good to finally see some get schooled up along the beaches.

Still getting a few calls if the King Mackerel are still out at the North West Places, well that’s a good question since we haven’t had anyone go out there since the cold snap. I’d say they have moved on from there being the water temps have dropped but I could be wrong. We do still have Cigar Minnows and Mac a Hoos if anyone is wanting to try on the next weather window.

 

Piers / Surf:

Last week, we saw an epic Speckled Trout bite from the beach before the Nor’easter got us last weekend. This week its’ been a little slower, but now the water is getting back clear and the bite was good over the last couple of days. I’d say not as thick as what we saw last week but still plenty of trout working the Surf to catch. Best areas have been from the Oceanana Pier up toward the Fort Macon Park’s first access or if you run across a stop net. Mirrolures in 18MR, 52M and TTs have been the lures of choice, some have been using plastics but the Mirrolures have been out fishing the plastics from the Surf Zone.

The Puffer Fish have shown up in huge numbers this week. Customers have been catching 100 or more when fishing for them.  Not everyone likes to catch Puffers since they are small but it’s some of the best eating fish you can catch out of the ocean. Bottom rigs tipped with fresh bait shrimp and Fishbites from the shop has been the best way to catch them. Usually once the fish show up, they will be here for a while along our beaches to catch.

Along with the Puffers you’ll catch some Sea Mullets, Hogfish, Black Drum and Red Drum. For the bottom anglers we do have fresh mullet and shrimp ready to go. So, if it’s surf fishing you like to do the action is still pretty good along our beaches and should remain good into the Thanksgiving Holidays weekend.

 

Offshore:

It’s that time of the year, front after front is keeping most Offshore boats tied to the dock. The key to this time of the year is looking at the water temp charts, with the cold water inshore the break of warm water shows up very well on the charts and that’s where you want to be in that warm break. Sometimes, this time of the year areas don’t really matter it’s all about finding that good water and the bite can be on fire.

It’s getting about that time “Bluefin Tuna Season opens December 1st” and if the weather is right it should be a good bite. We have been seeing plenty of fish over the last few weeks from the King Mackerel boats. Question will be if the fish pushed off with last weekend’s Nor’easter, time will tell because the local fleet will be out in full force very soon. We just got in plenty of Blue Water Candy Jags in all the local favorite colors, Fluorocarbon, hooks, sleeves and swivels and some beautiful Horse Ballyhoo in-stock ready to fish.

 

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