Morehead City July 14, 2005
George, at Carolina Bait and Tackle, reports that the Big 10/Little 10 has been full of dolphin. Plenty of kings in the 20 to 30 lb. range came in this week from around the sea buoy.
Inshore, there’s been lots of flounder caught. They heard of a 10 lb. fish caught this week, and they weighed in several in the 5 to 6 lb. range.
Spots are biting well in the surf. The pompano are also there, but the bite is slow.
The Haystacks have both speckled and gray trout. The speckled trout are small, but they are here early and that’s a good sign for the fall.
Joe, at Joe’s Pro Bait and Tackle, reports that the king mackerel bite is hot in the shipping channel out to the Sea Buoy and at the Dredge Buoy. Many anglers are catching over 40 kings per day, and the sizes range from 3-12 lbs. The artificial reefs and Cape Lookout shoal are also producing fish.
There are still a lot of very large spanish mixed in with the kings. Live bait is producing larger kings, but the sharks are a big problem with live bait.
Look for more dolphin and sailfish in close in the coming weeks. Dolphin season is in full swing. The 14 Buoy out to the Big Rock and north to the 900 line off Ocracoke are producing well. There are still a lot of gaffer dolphin around, but there are more and more peanut dolphin coming in daily.
The flounder fishing has definitely improved with several catching limits in just a few hours. The key is finding what stage of the tide that they are biting on. Lots of 3-5 lb fish have been caught, and this should only get better in the coming weeks. Remember, fish inside the sound in deeper water around the manmade structures, including the port wall. The artificial and natural reefs are improving as well.
Sheepshead are biting, and the sizes are increasing. Many have been caught weighing over 8 lbs. The speckled trout fishing has slowed somewhat, but red drum fishing is still good in the marshes and creeks with many over the slot limit.
Marty, at Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that kings have been doing well lately. Guys have been finding them at AR-315 and around the Cape, with fish weighing up to the high 30’s. You can also expect some barracuda mixed in.
Offshore, the dolphin continue to be the main bite. They were getting gaffer-sized dolphin just 4 to 5 miles off the beach, but the recent blow slowed that down. The strong weedline that was off the beach was blown into shore with the south winds, so once the weedline reforms off the beach the dolphin bite should be back.
Flounder fishing is slowly improving, with many 18 to 20 inch fish reported this week. The ratio is still about 50% regarding keepers and non-keepers. One area to try is drifting the channel behind Shackleford.
The sheepshead bite has been strong, with quite a few over 10 lbs. weighed in and one going as high as 13 lbs. Hit the bridge pilings with fiddler crabs.
And lots of spanish are still being caught by guys trolling the beach.
Elizabeth, at Triple “S” Pier, reports that lots of blues and some spanish have been caught recently, both in the mornings and the early evenings. The pier also had a 40 lb. tarpon caught on a king rig. On Saturday, they saw a strong spot run. Many anglers were filling coolers, and the biggest spots were weighing about 12 oz. The week also saw a 7 lb. 5 oz. puppy drum landed.
Jaz, at Sportsman’s Pier, reports that blues and spanish continue to bite in the early mornings and evenings. Earlier in the week a new spanish was put on the leader board. Berry Jacobs caught a 6 lb. 5.5 oz. spanish just before the weekend. The weekend fishing was slow, but earlier in the week they were catching everything-sea mullet, spots, blues, spanish, and sheepshead.
