Southport July 26, 2007
Butch, of Yeah Right Charters, reports that the past week’s wind has made for some tough fishing. Shark fishing near Carolina Beach has been sporadic, with some good days and some bad ones.
The inshore king and spanish mackerel bite has been tough, but anglers are finding a few kings, spanish, and some dolphin on the reefs and structure around 10 miles off the beach.
There have also been a few fish biting on the nearshore reefs off Oak Island, but the sea conditions haven’t been fishable enough to target them often.
Before the unsettled winds, king mackerel fishing and bottom bumping for grouper, snapper, and other bottom feeders was excellent around Frying Pan Tower and in the areas east and southwest of the Tower, so hopefully those fish will still be around when anglers can make the run out.
Dave, of Ocean Crest Pier, reports that anglers should be species specific in order to have the best chance at landing some nice fish in the hot summer water.
The pier’s most consistent action continues to be with speckled trout in the mornings. Live shrimp baits are the ticket to trout bites.
There are still good numbers of flounder feeding around the pier, and anglers are hooking up with some nice flatfish (3+ lbs.) on live shrimp, finger mullet, and mud minnows.
Bottom fishermen are landing whiting, black drum, and pompano while baiting up with shrimp and sand fleas.
There are plenty of sheepshead on the feed next to the pier’s pilings, and anglers caught sheepshead up to 7.5 lbs. last week. A few bigger sheepshead are around, but anglers who want to land them must fish very heavy tackle to keep the fish away from the pilings. Barnacles are the most effective sheepshead baits.
The dirty water over the past week has slowed down the king and spanish mackerel fishing, but those species should return when the water gets a bit cleaner.
Jimmy, of Wreck Hunter Guide Service, reports that area fishing is still hot when the wind lays down enough to get out.
Flounder are feeding well both inshore and nearshore. The bite has been very good around Yaupon Reef, with anglers landing nice catches of flatfish (from 2-6 lbs.).
The largest flounder are feeding inshore, and several fish from 9-12 lbs. were weighed in over the past week. The Southport Waterfront has been host to the most consistent inshore flounder fishing over the past week, but anglers are hooking up with flounder all over the internal waters.
A live finger mullet or peanut pogy pinned to a Carolina rig will draw plenty of flounder strikes, and anglers can also hook up with the fish by bouncing bucktails tipped with soft plastic or strip baits off the bottom.
Trout fishing remains good in the bays and around grass islands in the river, and the topwater trout bite is still going strong. Walking baits such as Top Dogs and Zara Spooks are the best topwater lures. Soft plastic baits including curly tail grubs and Trout Killers will also get attention from the trout.
Anglers are hooking up with big red drum (20-40 lbs.) at the drop off near Fort Caswell and on Yaupon Reef. Whole crabs and mullet heads are prime drum baits, and they’ll also strike jigging lures out on the reef.
The Pfizer dock is holding plenty of black drum and sheepshead. The black drum are feeding at the bases of the pilings and bumpers, and they will hit crabs or cut mullet baits.
Anglers can target the sheepshead by dangling sand fleas or fiddler crabs next to the structure.
The spanish mackerel bite has been slow off Southport this week due to the dirty water, but boats are finding some spanish around Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher.
Billie, of Dutchman’s Creek Bait and Tackle, reports that hot, dirty water has slowed fishing down some over the week, but anglers are still finding a few fish.
The Yaupon Reef has been surrendering good numbers of flounder.
Anglers fishing in Davis Creek are hooking up with red drum.
Surf and pier fishermen are picking up a summertime mixed bag of mostly small fish.
