Morehead City/Atlantic Beach – July 18, 2019
Matt, of Chasin’ Tails, reports that king mackerel fishing has been good, with larger kings (up to 50 lbs.) being caught while slow-trolling live baits and Mac-A-Hoos with cigar minnows. There have been fish as close as AR-315, but many of the larger fish have been pulled from the east side of the Cape.
Citation-sized spanish mackerel are mixed in with the kings, with live baits being more productive.
Flounder are staged up around structure in the 5 mile range and hitting Spro bucktails tipped with 4” Gulp shrimp.
Offshore anglers are finding scattered fishing as the water heats up, but they are still catching wahoo and tuna when pulling Sea Witch-skirted baits and plugs in the 90’ drop area.
Mahi are working a bit inshore, though most action is out around the 14 buoy, and they’re hitting ballyhoo and MonkAlurs.
Bottom fishing has been producing legal-sized black sea bass, grouper, and snapper around wrecks, rock piles, and ledges holding schools of bait.
Inshore anglers are finding decent red drum action while fishing marsh areas and flats with topwater plugs. Anglers targeting docks have had more success with Carolina-rigged live shrimp and minnows.
Speckled trout are in the same areas as the drum. They’re hitting Z-Man and Gulp soft plastics along grass banks from the inlet back into Core Sound creeks.
Sheepshead (up to 8 lbs.) are being caught around oyster beds, bridges, and the Port Wall on live fiddler crabs and sea urchins.
Chandler Gass and her father Johnny Gass with a 27” red drum caught on a Bomber Drumbeater spinner bait in the Morehead City area.
Cody, of Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that offshore anglers have been finding good numbers of gaffer and bailer-sized dolphin while pulling skirted ballyhoo out around the temperature break.
Smaller blackfin tuna and the occasional white marlin are coming into the spreads and hitting the same baits, and large wahoo (up to 70 lbs.) have been caught off baits fished deep on the planer rod.
A few swordfish have been caught by anglers making the long run to target them.
Bottom fishing with large live and cut baits has produced some big grouper.
Nearshore anglers have been trolling cigar minnows on dead bait rigs with success at the wrecks and ledges in the 15 mile range. Large king mackerel and scattered dolphin are both being landed from these areas.
Large spanish mackerel (up to 5 lbs.) are being caught on slow trolled baits and dead bait rigs from 3 miles and out. These big spanish are mixed in with schoolie-sized kings.
Citation-sized flounder are chewing at nearshore ARs on bucktails. The flounder have been holding tight to structure, so anglers can be prepared to lose a few rigs while targeting them.
Anglers are seeing tarpon scattered along the beachfront.
Inshore anglers have been finding big numbers of red drum from holes just inside the inlet, into the marshes, along oyster points, and around ICW docks.
Speckled trout are being caught with topwater plugs early in the day near shelly bottoms and grass banks.
Flounder are in the ICW around drop-offs and docks. They’re feeding on live shad and mullet.
Anglers fishing fiddler crabs, live shrimp, and sea urchins tight to pilings and bridges are catching black drum and sheepshead.
Surf anglers have been catching sea mullet, croakers, pompano, and black drum while fishing with shrimp on bottom rigs. Carolina-rigged live baits and soft plastics are producing slot-sized red drum and legal-sized flounder from the beach.
Spanish mackerel and bluefish are schooled up just outside the breakers, and they can be reached with small, heavy glass minnow jigs.
Chris, of Mount Maker Charters, reports that fishing in the 1-3 mile range has been producing limits of spanish mackerel for anglers trolling spoons and casting jigs to feeding schools.
Bluefish are mixed in around the spanish, with most fish being caught closer into the beach.
The nearshore rocks and wrecks in the 15 mile range have been producing legal-sized black sea bass, porgies, grunts, amberjacks, and almaco jacks while bottom fishing with cut baits.
King mackerel are being caught with dead bait rigs trolled around ARs in the 10 mile range.
Mahi have been working their way inshore, though the bite seems a bit more consistent around the 20 mile range.
Dave, at Cape Lookout Charters, reports that red drum fishing been very good in the marshes inside the inlet. Carolina-rigged baits and soft plastics have been successful in finding these smaller groups of slot to over-slot fish.
Fishing the deeper channels from the inlet back into the marshes has been producing large numbers of bluefish.
Trolling nearshore areas from the beach out to 3 miles has anglers catching large numbers of spanish mackerel and bluefish. A few smaller kings are around the nearshore ARs, but the bite has begun to scatter with hot water pushing in.
Justin, at Breakday Charters, reports that large spanish mackerel and king mackerel are hitting slow trolled live baits and dead bait rigs worked around nearshore ARs.
Bottom fishing tight to the structure in these areas has been producing really good numbers of flounder (up to 4 lbs.) on bucktails and Carolina-rigged live baits. Anglers have preferred the jigs as they have kept the numbers of bait-stealers down.
Black sea bass and porgies are feeding on live and cut baits fished around structure.
Trolling cigar minnows on dead bait rigs in the 10+ mile range has been producing false albacore, cobia, and a few mahi.
Tom, of Dancin’ Outlaw, reports that double-digit numbers of mahi are being caught with skirted baits out in the Gulf Stream. The fish have begun to move inshore, but the inshore schools are small and scattered compared to the offshore bite.
Smaller blackfin tuna are hitting the same trolled ballyhoo.
Beeliners and triggerfish are feeding on cut baits around offshore wrecks and ledges, and large amberjacks and barracuda are being caught with vertical jigs in the mid-water column around these structured areas.
Larry, of Oceanana Pier, reports that sea mullet and spot are being caught on shrimp and Fishbites strips.
A few pompano are mixed in the counts, but they are coming from areas closer to the breakers.
Smaller flounder are hitting soft plastics fished in holes close to the beach, and a couple of red drum have been caught on Carolina-rigged cut mullet.
