Carolina Beach – August 2023
Lewis, of Island Tackle and Hardware, reports that beach anglers have been catching a mixed bag of croakers, bluefish, sharks, and the occasional pompano.
Inshore, anglers have been finding a ton of flounder around while targeting other species. Any live bait fished on the bottom will get the attention of a flatfish.
Red drum are around in decent numbers, though their typical summer pattern has fish scattered everywhere.
The occasional speckled trout is being caught, but the trout are almost exclusively feeding right at first light.
Black drum and sheepshead can be caught with crabs or shrimp around bridges, docks, and channel markers.
Nearshore anglers are having a bunch of success trolling spoons for spanish mackerel and bluefish.
Further out, the king mackerel, cobia, and amberjacks are staged over structure in the 10-mile range.
Christian, of Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters, reports that the area has finally started to see a push of decent-sized finger mullet, and this has helped some of the catching action, especially for red drum. The bite is still a bit hit or miss with water temperatures so hot, but the good days are really good. Most of the reds are in the 22” range, with mid-slots to upper-slots mixed in. Rigging the finger mullet on either jig heads or Carolina rigs has brought success.
Flounder are mixed around in pretty good numbers. The live finger mullet fished on the bottom with the same rigs are attracting plenty of flatfish strikes.
Speckled trout are still sprinkled in the action here or there. Anglers are pleased to find the ones they catch to at least be of really nice sizes.
Larry, from Connecticut, with a warsaw grouper that was caught (and released) using cut squid on a bottom rig. He was fishing a half day trip out of Carolina Beach Inlet on the head boat Vonda Kay.
Luke, of Spot On Charters, reports that summertime anglers have found the hot water and weather conditions to be the biggest hurdle this month. Red drum action remains strong despite the fish being scattered in their summertime pattern. Getting on the water early really helps your chance of success, as that small difference in temperature change is when the reds are feeding best. As the day moves on, look to target deeper areas around channels versus the shallow shoreline areas that have the highest water temperatures.
Flounder fishing remains phenomenal in the Cape Fear River. Fishing a bottom-rigged live bait in any of these same redfish target areas is getting strikes. All year, the area has seen a really great class of flatfish in addition to the big numbers. This should bode well for when keeper season opens up in September.
Tommy, of Mungo Fishing Charters, reports that anglers have regularly been able to catch a few reds, as red drum are easily the most consistent inshore bite. With the water temperatures up and fish spread throughout the area, a variety of tactics will attract strikes. Anglers fishing on the shallow flats and in the backs of creeks are having success with Z-Man or Gulp soft plastics and topwater plugs. When targeting oyster bars and grass lines, bottom-rigged live or dead baits can be more productive.
Anglers have also been able to find some summertime speckled trout action with topwater baits and soft plastics. Having the right conditions (with topwater plugs especially) is key for being able to present the baits correctly.
Tons of flounder are around, and they are being hooked as by-catch while targeting the other inshore species with soft plastics and live bait.
A few black drum round out the inshore mixed bag, with these fish being caught on live shrimp or fiddler crabs fished around hard structures.
Greg Brissette, of Raleigh, NC, caught (and released) this flounder using a Z-Man scented shad on a jig head. He was fishing in the Kure Beach area.
Mason, of Grand Slam Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are seeing plenty of bait in the river. Finger mullet are starting to show up in the good size to use when targeting red drum. Most of the reds have been in the 16-22” class with over-slot fish mixed in. During higher tides, focus efforts up on grass banks and the edges of grass flats with the live finger mullet. As the tide falls out, the redfish do as well, so look for holes with 6-10’ of water off the bank to cast the bottom-rigged baits into.
These tactics will also entice strikes from some of the plentiful flounder around.
Black drum (to 22”) fishing has been really good in the river. These fish mostly hold deeper during these hot midsummer stretches.
The occasional speckled trout is around, though they are mostly being caught by anglers targeting them right at daybreak.
Jeremiah, of Kure Beach Pier, reports that bottom fishing has been producing whiting, croakers, and some nice sheepshead.
Despite the heat, anglers casting plugs are still doing well catching spanish mackerel and bluefish.
