Wrightsville Beach – July 17, 2014
Pamela Culp with a 24″ red drum that bit a MirrOlure soft plastic in a marsh behind Figure Eight Island while she was kayak fishing with her husband.
Arlen, of Tex’s Tackle, reports that there’s still a good amount of life in the Gulf Stream right now, and anglers saw some solid catches of dolphin and wahoo while trolling the blue water last week. Some billfish are also around, and all the pelagics are taking an interest in ballyhoo paired with skirted trolling lures.
Anglers are also running into dolphin inshore to the 15-20 mile range while live and dead bait trolling. The king mackerel bite has been decent in that range over the past week, too, with some fish scattered closer and along the beachfront. Live baits are the best bets for the larger kings.
Cobia are still feeding off the area and surprising anglers bottom fishing and looking for mackerel action.
African pompano have moved inshore from the break and are feeding around Frying Pan Tower now. Live baits like menhaden are tough for the pompano to turn down.
Spanish mackerel action has been up-and-down on the beachfront, but anglers who find some clean water stand decent odds of finding some feeding spaniards.
Bottom fishermen are reporting some action with gag grouper 15+ miles out, but the best grouper bite has been 30-50 miles off, where reds and scamps are mixed in with the gags. Live, dead, and cut baits or vertical jigs will get attention from the grouper. Plenty of smaller bottom dwellers like black sea bass are mixed in, and they will bite smaller cut baits or squid.
Inshore, there’s been a surprisingly good summertime speckled trout bite in the creeks between Wrightsville and Carolina beaches. Topwater plugs, soft plastics, and suspending hard lures are fooling the specks.
Steve Spear and Todd Byrd with a 9.4 lb. flounder that Spear landed after it bit a live finger mullet on a bucktail jig near a Wrightsville Beach dock.
Red drum are feeding on the flats, and weightless 6” Gulp Jerkshads have been the hot ticket to hookups with the reds recently.
Anglers are still catching some small flounder inshore, but the keeper ratio is up significantly and some larger fish are mixed in. Gulp and live baits fished around structure and the inlets are the ways to connect with the flatfish.
Jim, of Plan 9 Charters, reports that there’s still been some solid spanish mackerel action off Wrightsville Beach recently, but the fish seem to be feeding here one day and there the next, so it may take anglers some searching to find productive water. They’ve also been feeding on very small bait, so the smallest trolling spoons and casting jigs that anglers can find are the best bets.
Large sharks are looking for meals in the same areas and will bite cut and dead baits readily.
Flounder are feeding around nearshore structure off Wrightsville and biting bucktail jigs.
King mackerel are feeding in the 10-15 mile range, where they’ll strike live or dead baits.
Some dolphin have been feeding alongside the kings, and more are looking for meals from the 20 mile areas on offshore.
Fabbie Darting, of Brazil, with an amberjack she hooked while deep-jigging in 200′ of water off Wrightsville Beach with Capt. Mike Jackson of Live Line Charters.
Jamie, of Seagate Charters, reports that anglers are connecting with spanish mackerel while casting jigs to fish breaking water around the inlets and within a few miles of the beaches.
Inshore, the red drum and speckled trout action around ICW docks and in the marshes has been solid recently. Anglers are hooking some of both on topwater plugs worked along grasslines and near the docks. Live and cut mullet are tempting plenty of bites from the reds under the docks.
Flounder fishing remains solid inshore as well, and anglers have been finding some larger flatfish in the creeks around Wrightsville in recent days. Most of the flounder are taking an interest in live finger mullet fished near structure and drop-offs.
Lynn, of Shearwater Charters, reports that anglers trolling ballyhoo around offshore spots in the 20 mile range are connecting with some dolphin, king mackerel, amberjacks, and false albacore.
Bottom fishing in the same areas with cigar minnows and cut baits is tempting plenty of bites from gag grouper, black sea bass, grunts, porgies, and more.
Steve, of Johnnie Mercers Pier, reports that anglers hooked cobia, sharks, and a tarpon last week while live-baiting from the end of the pier.
Anglers working casting lures from the pier are hooking some spanish mackerel and bluefish.
Bottom fishermen are hooking some sea mullet at night on shrimp and flounder on live baits during the daytime hours.
The water is 83 degrees.
