Swansboro March 11, 2010
Michael Phillips, of Swansboro, with a 7.75 lb. speckled trout he hooked on a live shrimp in the backwaters near Swansboro.
Rob, of Sandbar Safari Charters, reports that the red drum in the area are on the feed. Anglers are finding the reds schooled up on the shoals at Cape Lookout and Bear and Brown’s Inlets. Rising water temperatures this month will have many of the reds moving from the surf zone into the inlets and feeding in the bays and marshes with soft mud bottoms. Gulp baits on light jigheads are deadly on the reds.
Trout, flounder, and more reds are working their way out of the creek and river bottlenecks due to the warming waters, and anglers can find all three in Queen’s Creek and the White Oak River. The trout will be holding in the deeper holes. Suspending shrimp imitations, MirrOlures, and live mud minnows will fool the fish in the rivers.
Gulps fished on spinnerbaits are another good option, as the flash and vibration they generate help fish home in on the bait in the dirty water.
Jeff, of FishN4Life Charters, reports that the spring weather will be awakening fish from their winter slumber in the upper rivers and creeks. Anglers can expect to find red drum, speckled trout, striped bass, and southern flounder on the move and feeding in the bottlenecks of the rivers and creeks through the end of March, and a variety of artificial lures will tempt them to bite.
Suspending jerkbaits and twitchbaits are top choices for everything except the flounder. Corky Lures, MirrOlure MR 17’s and 27’s, and Rapala X-Raps are all excellent choices for water under 10’ deep. Soft plastic shrimp imitations are also proven winners.
Robbie Brown and Chris Ulmer with four of 36 sea bass they kept while fishing live bottom areas 5-10 miles off Bogue Inlet with Capts. Jeff Cronk and Mike Taylor while filming for an upcoming episode of Carolina Fishing TV. Stingsilvers and bucktails produced most of the keepers.
It’s important to use as little weight as possible at this time of year in order to give them some suspend time for the best odds at hooking the stripers and trout.
Red drum are still schooled up in the surf zone and around the inlet shoals, and live mud minnows on float and Carolina rigs or soft baits on jigheads will draw them to bite. A gold spinnerbait is a deadly weapon for the reds when the water’s dirty.
Off the beaches, March generally kicks off the spring false albacore run. The fish are very hungry after a long migration north and inshore, and anglers can find them around the inlet tide lines, the nearshore live bottoms, and further from the beach. Trolling dead baits or diving lures or casting metal jigs will produce action with the albacore, and anglers can also hook up while casting 3-5” topwater plugs. Anglers looking for the fish should keep an eye out for small gulls and terns hovering just above the water’s surface, as they often follow the feeding albacore schools.
Sea bass are feeding on the live bottoms 5-20 miles off Bogue Inlet, and anglers can hook big numbers on bottom rigs baited with squid. Jigging near the structure with bucktails or Stingsilvers will usually attract bites from the larger bass.
Sarah Cozart Moss, of Emerald Isle, NC, with the new women's 4 lb. test world record spanish mackerel. She hooked the 7 lb., 4 oz. spaniard on a live pogy east of Cape Lookout shoals and landed it after a 43 minute battle.
Stan, of Capt. Stanman’s Charters, reports that the bottom bite is on off Bogue Inlet for the few species that anglers are still allowed to keep. Bottom structure in 55-58 degree water this time of year should produce some action with good numbers of black sea bass and triggerfish, along with various grouper and snapper species that must be thrown back. Squid and cut pogies fished on bottom rigs will attract attention from all the bottom feeders.
Dale, of The Reel Outdoors, reports that as long as the weather stays mild, the surf fishing should turn on over the next few weeks. Red drum are already schooled up in the breakers off the barrier islands, and they’ll be joined by whiting and pufferfish by the end of the month. Shrimp on bottom rigs will fool the whiting and puffers, and anglers can hook the reds on a variety of baits and lures.
Bluefish shouldn’t be far behind the smaller surf bottom feeders.
Patty, of Bogue Inlet Pier, reports that anglers should see some action with whiting, pufferfish, and some blues as the water temperature climbs over the coming month.
