North Myrtle – October 9, 2014
Benny Nye, of Lake Waccamaw, NC, with a 45″ red drum that bit a live menhaden just off Ocean Isle Beach.
Patrick, of Capt. Smiley’s Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are seeing some solid action both inshore and offshore around Little River at present. Speckled trout are feeding near Little River Inlet, and anglers can target them with live shrimp drifted along grass banks and rocky areas beneath floats. The shrimp can be tough to find, and anglers can cast a variety of soft plastic baits with success when they can’t get live baits. Topwater plugs can even be effective on the specks in the early morning hours.
Red drum are feeding in the marshy shallows off Bonaparte Creek and Dunn Sound (some slot fish, some over). Anglers can hook the reds on live shrimp and finger mullet pinned to jigheads or soft baits like Gulps. Sight-casting is a possibility when the fish are truly feeding shallow, and targeting grass banks, oyster beds, and deeper depressions is the way to go when anglers can’t spot the fish.
Anglers are catching more (and larger) reds in Little River Inlet while soaking menhaden and mullet on the bottom on Carolina rigs.
More big reds are chasing menhaden schools just off the beachfront and have a tough time resisting a hooked menhaden that sinks below the bait pod.
Spanish mackerel and bluefish are feeding on the abundant mullet flooding out the inlet with each falling tide, and both have been happily biting topwater plugs recently.
Travis Elliott, of Statesville, NC, with a 5 lb. spanish mackerel that struck a topwater plug in Little River Inlet while he was fishing with Capt. Patrick Kelly of Capt. Smiley’s Fishing Charters.
Mark, of Shallow Minded Inshore Fishing Charters, reports that there’s been some incredible fishing just off the beachfront around Little River recently. Schools of menhaden are making their way along the beachfront, and king mackerel, bull red drum, and cobia are feasting on the mobile buffet.
After cruising the beach until they spot a school of bait, then catching some in a cast net, anglers can target all three of the big predators using live menhaden on modified king mackerel rigs. Replacing the nose hook of a standard king rig with a circle hook and shortening the wire to 18” will offer anglers shots at all three fish without risking biteoffs from the sharp-toothed kings. A section of 40 lb. fluorocarbon above the wire offers anglers added protection from the line being sliced by the tail or body of one of the big fish.
Matt, of Cherry Grove Pier, reports that anglers are hooking big numbers of spanish mackerel and bluefish from the pier while working Gotcha plugs and mackerel tree rigs.
Bottom fishermen are connecting with some sea mullet and spot while soaking shrimp and bloodworms on double drop rigs.
Some large red drum are falling for cut baits fished off the end of the pier.
Anglers are connecting with black drum in the surf zone on shrimp.
The water is 75 degrees.
