Carolina Beach – May 7, 2015
Wes, of Island Tackle and Hardware, reports that surf fishermen have been hooking some sea mullet, pompano, and a few bluefish from the sand at Pleasure Island. Shrimp and cut baits are the best bets.
Out in the five mile range, anglers are finding action with king and spanish mackerel along with Atlantic bonito. Trolling spoons and plugs and casting metal jigs have been fooling all three.
Frank Hoke, of Wilmington, with a red drum that struck a slab of bluefish while he was fishing the ICW near Wrightsville Beach with Capt. Jamie Rushing of Seagate Charters.
Bottom fishing a bit further off the beach is producing action with black sea bass and gag grouper.
Jamie, of Seagate Charters, reports that anglers are finding plenty of action with spanish mackerel and Atlantic bonito around the nearshore wrecks and live bottoms in the area. The fish are feeding on the surface, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon hours, and anglers can cast diamond jigs or other flashy metal lures around the activity to tempt them to bite.
Dwayne Gray and John Cranford, of Winston-Salem, NC, with Atlantic bonito, false albacore, and spanish mackerel they hooked just off Carolina Beach while fishing with Capt. Rod Bierstedt of OnMyWay Charters.
Gray trout and some flounder are feeding on the bottom in the same areas and biting bucktail jigs and live baits.
Bluefish are looking for meals in the same areas and inshore, and they will pounce on just about anything they can fit in their mouths.
There have been plenty of menhaden “bait balls” working their way along the beachfront, and if the bait sticks around for a while, cobia should soon be showing up just off the beach as well.
Inshore, anglers are finding red and black drum feeding in area creeks and around ICW docks. Falling Tide spinnerbaits have been producing plenty of action from the reds. Cut baits have also been productive recently. The black drum are falling for fresh shrimp on the bottom.
Robert, of Carolina Explorer, reports that anglers are connecting with red and black drum in the bays off the lower Cape Fear River. Live baits and Gulps are fooling the reds, with shrimp a top choice for the black drum. Some sheepshead are also starting to show up, and they’re biting the shrimp as well.
Flounder are looking for meals in the bays, too, and anglers are hooking decent numbers on soft plastics and live baits.
Out in the ocean, bluefish, Atlantic bonito and spanish mackerel are looking for meals at nearshore structure within a few miles of the beachfront. Anglers can fool all three on trolled spoons and plugs or by casting metal lures like Stingsilvers around fish feeding on the surface. A few king mackerel are in the same areas and will take an interest in live baits.
Good numbers of menhaden are working along the beachfront. The water temperatures are just getting prime for cobia, so it likely won’t be long until the big brown fish make a showing.
Jeff, of Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters, reports that there’s been some excellent black drum action in the lower Cape Fear River over the past week. Most of the fish are feeding around docks, rockpiles, and in deeper holes in the creeks during low tides. Fresh shrimp on Carolina rigs are producing most of the action with the black drum.
Some red drum are mixed in with their cousins and biting shrimp, and a few more are feeding on the flats. Topwater plugs and Gulp baits are fooling the fish on the flats. Sheepshead are beginning to show up around much of the same structure as the black drum, and live fiddler crabs dangled close to the pilings or rocks are the best bet to fool the sheeps.
Rod, of OnMyWay Charters, reports that there’s been some excellent Gulf Stream action over the past week, with big numbers of gaffer dolphin and some blackfin tuna finding their way into the fish boxes. Both are falling for ballyhoo and skirted trolling lures.
Bottom fishing a bit closer to the beach is producing fast action with black sea bass and some gag grouper (whose season opened May 1). The bass will bite nearly anything, so anglers looking to weed through them to the grouper should consider using larger live baits.
King mackerel are feeding in the 10-15 mile range off Carolina Beach. Anglers are hooking them on trolled cigar minnows and spoons while working their way along ledges and live bottom areas in that range.
Brenda, of Carolina Beach Pier, reports that plug casters are hooking good numbers of bluefish and spanish mackerel while working Gotchas.
Joel, of Carolina Beach Pier, reports that anglers working Gotcha plugs and other casting lures from the end of the pier are hooking bluefish and a few spanish mackerel.
Bottom fishermen are primarily connecting with smaller sea mullet on shrimp.
