Morehead City/Atlantic Beach – June 20, 2019
Matt, of Chasin’ Tails, reports that bottom fishing is productive, with croakers and sea mullet feeding on shrimp and sand fleas.
Red drum are biting Carolina-rigged cut baits.
Bluefish are within casting distance of shore, and throwing glass minnow jigs to the surface feeding schools has been productive. When the blues aren’t on the surface, they are hitting cut baits.
Nearshore fishing has been great, and anglers have been very pleased with the numbers of king mackerel being found at reefs in the 3-5 mile range. Cigar minnows on Blue Water Candy and Big Nic Mac-A-Hoo dead bait rigs are catching limits of schoolie-sized fish.
Spanish mackerel are loaded around the local ARs, and they’re primarily hitting Spanish Candy lures thrown to feeding fish.
Legal-sized flounder are staged around the ARs, and anglers are catching them while jigging Spro bucktails with 4” Gulp shrimp trailers.
Gray trout are hitting Stingsilvers and Spanish Candy lures jigged around structure.
A few large cobia (up to 55 lbs.) are being caught by anglers bottom fishing around the inlets with large cut baits.
Bluefish are being caught by anglers trolling Clarkspoons outside the breakers.
Offshore anglers have been seeing great numbers of gaffer-sized mahi while trolling naked and skirted ballyhoo.
Huge blue marlin (up to 500+ lbs.) are being caught by anglers fishing the Big Rock area.
Inside the inlets, anglers are finding good numbers of speckled trout in the creeks off the ICW. The best baits have been live shrimp and mud minnows.
Red drum are in the marshes feeding on Carolina-rigged live minnows and soft plastics.
Bluefish are in the deep channels inside the inlet, and they’re hitting glass minnow jigs and soft plastics.
Flounder are showing up in better numbers along ledges inside the inlet for anglers casting jerk shad soft plastics on heavier 1/4-1/2 oz. jig heads.
Black drum are being caught with shrimp around bridges and docks.
Large sheepshead (up to 10.6 lbs.) are feeding on Carolina-rigged fiddler crabs around bridge pilings and the port wall.
Jordan and Matt Hause, of Burlington, NC, with a day’s worth of mahi caught while fishing with Diamond Girl Charters out of Atlantic Beach, NC.
Cody, of Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that bluefish are being caught in good numbers on Carolina-rigged cut mullet in the surf. A few slot red drum have hit the same cut baits.
Flounder are pushing into the beaches, and anglers have caught a few while casting soft plastics into the deeper sloughs along the surf.
Gray trout (up to 5 lbs.) are striking Stingsilvers and pearl-colored Gulp shrimp at the nearshore ARs.
Trolling Clarkspoons from the beach out to three miles is producing spanish mackerel.
Offshore boats have been landing mahi while trolling skirted ballyhoo along weed lines.
Anglers bottom fishing around live bottom and structure in 100’ of water are catching triggerfish, beeliners, and nice-sized grouper.
Legal-sized flounder (up to 22”) are pushing inshore and feeding on Carolina-rigged live baits fished along the port wall.
Large sheepshead (up to 8 lbs.) are chewing on live fiddler crabs around bridge pilings.
Chris, of Mount Maker Charters, reports that anglers are finding a few cobia around the inlet and on the nearshore reefs.
Large spanish mackerel have pushed in around the ARs, and they are being caught on trolling spoons, deep diver plugs, and live baits. When the fish are feeding on the surface, casting glass minnow jigs along the edges of the school has been getting some nice strikes.
Gray trout are falling for jigs around nearshore structure.
Legal-sized flounder are being caught around this same structure, and they’re hitting bucktails and Carolina-rigged live baits. Anglers have found that fishing artificial baits has kept the numbers of untargeted species down.
Great numbers of king mackerel (up to 30”) are staged up around structure in the 3-5 mile range.
Nicholas (age 7) and Matt Smith, of Jeffersonton, VA, with a 26″ red drum that fell for a live finger mullet on a Carolina rig. They were fishing the sound near Swansboro, NC, with Capt. Johnathan Garrett of On Point Charters.
Dave, at Cape Lookout Charters, reports that spanish mackerel fishing has been great from the beach out to three miles. Trolling Clarkspoons has been catching double-digits of 1-2 lb. fish. Larger spanish (up to 5 lbs.) are beginning to be more common, especially around the ARs.
Bluefish have been holding closer to the breakers and around the mouth of the inlets.
Justin, at Breakday Charters, reports that nearshore fishing has been great, with large spanish mackerel (up to 6 lbs.) stacking up at the reefs.
Bluefish are in large schools close to the beach, and trolling spoons or casting jigs has gotten regular hits.
A few false albacore are feeding on smaller baits and jigs.
King mackerel fishing has been very good, with fish being caught by both trolling dead bait rigs and casting Breakday “Cast or Jig” lures.
Legal-sized flounder are feeding at the ARs, with bucktails matched with a soft plastic trailer as the top method.
Tom, of Dancin’ Outlaw, reports that trolling skirted and naked ballyhoo has been producing really good numbers of gaffer-sized mahi, with a few bulls (up to 35 lbs.) mixed in.
A few scattered blackfin are hitting the same baits, with most coming in areas away from the scattered grass.
Blue and white marlin are around for anglers fishing large lures and baits in deeper water outside the weed lines.
Larry, of Oceanana Pier, reports that anglers fishing bottom rigs with shrimp and Fishbites strips are landing croakers and sea mullet.
Bluefish are hitting cut baits and Gotcha plugs when the blues are feeding on the surface.
A few over-slot red drum (up to 32”) are being caught on Carolina-rigged fresh cut mullet.
