Morehead City – August 6, 2015
Matt, of Chasin’ Tails Outdoors, reports that anglers are have seen an improved spanish mackerel bite this week with fish biting trolled spoons and plenty on casting lures like Kastmasters and Spec Rigs. The best bite has been around Cape Lookout, but anglers are hooking plenty along the beachfront at Shackleford and Atlantic Beach, too.
Larger spanish are still feeding in the shipping channel and around nearshore structure like AR-285 and 315. Small live baits are the best bets for the bigger fish.
Anglers are hooking a lot of snake king mackerel in the same areas, with some larger fish on the East Side of Lookout Shoals recently.
Amberjacks are schooled up at AR-285 and 330 and will bite live and dead baits along with topwater poppers at times.
Don Beierwaltes with a 32.5″ king mackerel that bit a porgy fillet while he was bottom fishing off Beaufort Inlet about the headboat “Carolina Princess.”
Some shrimp trawlers have shown up just off the beachfront and large sharks are following them. Anglers can fish a variety of baits and sometimes lures behind the shrimpers to hook up with the bruiser sharks.
Offshore, anglers are connecting with wahoo east of Cape Lookout and north of the Big Rock, and the bite should continue to improve as fall approaches. Most are falling for trolled ballyhoo, but anglers have been picking some up on live baits while king fishing as well.
Good numbers of sailfish have been feeding in the same areas as the wahoo and larger kings and anglers have released quite a few in the past week.
Anglers are encountering dolphin from the nearly the beachfront out to the Big Rock, with the best action around grass lines and groups of flying fish. Medium and small ballyhoo trolled naked or skirted are fooling most of the ‘phins.
Inshore, flounder are still feeding around the port wall and bridges along with inshore channels and docks. Live mud minnows and Gulp baits are attracting attention from the flounder.
Anglers are also still hooking some flatfish on Gulp-tipped bucktail jigs while working the nearshore AR’s.
Sheepshead are looking for meals around the same structure as the flatfish and the bite has gotten better in the past week. Live fiddler crabs and sea urchins fished near the hard structure is the way to connect with the sheeps.
The red drum and speckled trout bite remains hit-or-miss in the local marshes and creeks, but anglers who find the fish have been having some good days. Topwater plugs, soft baits, and live baits will get attention from both fish.
Thurman Vick with a 4 lb., 4 oz. spanish mackerel that attacked a Yo-Zuri Deep Diver while he was fishing near Cape Lookout with Raeford Brown on the “Pirate Attack.”
Steve, of Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that anglers have seen an improving wahoo bite while trolling local blue water hotspots off Beaufort Inlet recently. Most of the ‘hoos are falling for ballyhoo paired with skirted lures.
Amberjacks and barracuda are feeding around wrecks and other high-relief structure between the beachfront and the break. Anglers can fool both with live baits and sometimes fast-moving artificial lures.
The spanish mackerel action along the beachfront has been decent, but not red-hot, over the past week. Anglers are hooking most of the spaniards while trolling flashy lures like Clarkspoons in conjunction with planers and inline sinkers.
Inshore, the flounder bite has been fairly good around deeper structure like the port and bridges and in some of the local marshes. Most of the flatfish are falling for live baits and Gulps.
There’s been a decent speckled trout bite in some of the marshes as well, with live baits, topwater plugs, and soft plastics all effective.
Chris, of Mount Maker Charters, reports that anglers are still connecting with spanish mackerel while working metal casting lures around the inlets, along the beachfront, and near Cape Lookout. Stingsilvers and other jigs worked around bait schools, diving birds, and leaping fish are fooling the spaniards.
Flounder fishing remains good inshore around deeper structure like the port and bridges. The flatfish are falling for live baits like finger mullet.
Faith, of Oceanana Pier, reports that anglers are finding action with some spot, croaker, and sea mullet while bottom fishing with cut shrimp and other small baits. Some black drum are biting the shrimp at night.
Anglers are hooking some bluefish during the morning hours on casting lures and bottom rigs.
