Morehead/Atlantic Beach – December 2024
Frank, of Chasin’ Tails, reports that surf anglers are having success catching sea mullet, spot, a bunch of bluefish, and a few late season pompano.
Off the beach, the bluefish are all over the place, and false albacore are still out around Cape Lookout.
A few schools of larger red drum are also hanging around off the beach.
Inshore anglers are starting to see a lot of the larger speckled trout. Live shrimp continues to be the best option, though paddle tails and jerk baits will have more success as the bait thins out.
Gray trout are being caught in many of the deeper inshore and nearshore structured areas.
Anglers getting a chance to run offshore are mostly catching blackfin tuna, and bluefins are already being spotted out in 10-mile range.
Joe, of Carolina Traditions Guide Co., reports that nearshore anglers are finding a bunch of king mackerel off the beaches. Mixed in this live bait bite is an occasional blackfin tuna.
False albacore are still around but are spread out quite a bit.
Some schools of slot and just over-slot red drum are running in the surf zone and staging up around the Cape Lookout jetty. Also around the jetty are black drum, speckled trout, and gray trout.
Inshore trips are seeing good speckled trout fishing. Anglers can find these fish in their typical winter areas, such as around oyster rocks in the backs of creeks.
Inshore red drum are moving into their winter patterns. For now, most of the reds are in the surf, but in the winter, they will push back inside and stage up on grass flats and in muddy bays.
Some good-sized sea mullet (plenty of citations) are in deeper areas near the inlet.
Silas Santarelli, of Raleigh, brought in this speckled trout near Beaufort Inlet using a Red Line Rigs Hooligan. He was fishing with Capt. Tanner Lynk of Noah’s Ark Charters.
Daniel, of On Deck Fishing Charters, reports that nearshore anglers are still finding good numbers of false albacore around Cape Lookout, and bluefish are all over the place outside the inlets.
Occasionally, anglers have run across schools of the big citation class red drum off the beach.
Gray trout action has been getting good for anglers targeting nearshore structures (such as AR-315) and deep water areas just inside the inlet. Blue Water Candy Thingama Jigs (2-3 oz.) have done well in producing strikes.
Out around the Cape Lookout jetty, expect catches of sheepshead, black drum, speckled trout, and a bunch of flounder.
The speckled trout are staged up around creek mouths and in the major marsh channels. The best bite has been during the beginning two hours of each tide, whether that’s incoming or outgoing. Soft plastics with light-weight jig heads have been producing well, with the favorite color pattern being something with pink in it.
Chris, of Mount Maker Charters, reports that inshore anglers have been using live shrimp to produce mixed bags of speckled trout, gray trout, red drum, sheepshead, and black drum.
Nearshore trips continue to have solid false albacore action, and the bite should last for a little while longer.
Plenty of bluefish of all sizes are around the inlets, jetties, and off the shoals.
Decent numbers of speckled trout and red drum are moving out around the inlets and rock jetties. Both of these species are mostly being caught on artificials.
The king mackerel action has continued to be good in the 60-80’ range. Most of these fish are falling for live shad, live bluefish, or Drone spoons.
Some anglers are finding citation-class drum in the ocean. Most of this action is coming from bucktails.
Matt and Jon Booker, of Raleigh, caught this 35 lb. king mackerel offshore of Atlantic Beach in 70′ of water on a live shad. They were fishing with Capt. Chris Kimrey of Mount Maker Charters.
Byron, of Going Bogue Outdoors, reports that the blackfin tuna and wahoo bite has either been excellent or sporadically terrible depending on the day you catch a weather window to get offshore.
On some days, late season mahi are still mixed in the action.
As water temperatures drop, the tuna and wahoo bite should start to stabilize.
King mackerel fishing for the live bait crowd has been excellent around the nearshore bottom areas.
Triggerfish and vermilion snapper continue to bite well anywhere from 80-250’.
Colder water temperatures will bring in some excellent black sea bass fishing, as the larger fish will move in shallow.
Jason, of Ali-Kat Sportfishing, reports that the bottom fishing action has been phenomenal, with larger black sea bass moving into the 8-9 fathom area. Some triggerfish are also around, with the larger ones out on the edge of the break.
The trolling action has been a little hit or miss, but anglers could see catches of blackfin tuna, wahoo, and the occasional sailfish.
The king mackerel bite (out in the 10-20 mile range) is just lights out. Both live and dead bait setups are getting it done, with live baits also landing some big wahoo and sailfish.
Out along the beach, anglers are targeting some of the rock jetties for sheepshead and black drum.
When conditions keep anglers inside, there are plenty of speckled trout and red drum in the area, and both species are fired up now that water temperatures have dropped.
Bluefin tuna have already been spotted in the 8-10 mile range.
Cody, of Reel Time Charters, reports that blackfin tuna fishing is back in full swing out on the break. Anglers are finding fish that are mostly in the 10-20 lb. range, and the blackfins are hitting both Green Machines and cedar plugs.
Mixed in the action are a few wahoo, as well as the occasional sailfish.
Both the blackfin tuna and wahoo should stick around through the winter and into spring.
Arnold, of Oceanana Pier, reports that anglers have been catching sea mullet, but the bite has almost exclusively been after dark.
During the day, the pier is seeing mixed bags that include bluefish, some pufferfish, and a few black drum.
