Morehead City July 20, 2006
Matt, at Chasin Tails Charters, reports that the red drum bite has been up and down, with one day really good and the next day nothing going on. The Newport and North River marshes are your best bet. Try around oyster bars on an incoming tide. Live bait will get the bigger fish, but if you can’t find any then the “go to” bait is still Gulp.
Flounder has been better out in the ocean than the back waters. A lot of small fish are being caught. Try larger live baits to get the bigger fish. If you can find the right flounder hole in the marshes, then you can rack up really quick. However, you got to put some time in to find the holes.
The trout are still eating in the Newport and North River marshes. Most are small fish, with the bigger fish well up the river.
The sheepshead bite is really good. Get some sea urchins or fiddler crabs and hit the high rise bridges. The port wall has also started to turn on with some bigger fish.
Spanish are still biting good, but they are here one day and then nothing the next day. Try early in the morning and late in the day.
Joe, at Joe’s Pro Bait and Tackle, reports that the inside flounder fishing is picking up, with many more keepers this week. A 7.5 lb. flounder was caught at the Coast Guard station. The best bet right now is drifting mud minnows.
The spanish up and down the beach are getting picky because they are feeding on tiny glass minnows recently hatched. Using 000 Drone spoons and 00 Clark spoons is the key to catching them when they are finicky.
Live baiting with live mullet or peanut shad is producing spanish mackerel (up to 7 pounds) around the sea buoy, dredge buoy, barge wreck, and Cape Lookout shoal. Use a trace of wire with a treble hook for these larger spanish.
Sheepshead fishing remains strong around the high rise bridges.
Red drum are still strong in all the marshes.
Teenage kings along with a lot of small ones are showing up at the sea buoy and at the barge wreck. There have also been fairly good catches of kings at NW Places and Big Ten, along with a few dolphin mixed in.
The dolphin bite is hot, but the size of the fish is getting smaller. There are tons of smaller dolphin from the 14 buoy out to the Big Rock.
Some gaffer dolphin are being caught, but they are mostly at and north of the Big Rock. Good numbers of white marlin and blue marlin have been caught around the Big Rock and to the north. Good numbers of sailfish have been caught from the 14 buoy out to the Big Rock. Some wahoo were caught, but not in great numbers.
Helen, at Sportsman’s Pier, reports small black drum, croaker, spot, and whiting biting bottom rigs baited with cut shrimp.
Flounder around 16-17″ are being caught on live shrimp and mud minnows.
Pluggers are catching bluefish.
No kings were caught this week.
Shane, at Second to None Charters, reports plenty of wind making it impossible to get out to the gulf stream this week.
However, king mackerel have been plentiful from the beach out to the 6-7 mile spots. The 315 wreck, NW Places, and Hutton and Jerry’s Reef have all held large numbers of fish over the week.
A few dolphin have been caught at the same spots. Trolling ballyhoo and cigar minnows on Hank Brown rigs is the ticket for both species.
There are plenty of spanish feeding on the beach, and trolling Clark spoons is the way to fill a cooler with them.
George, at Carolina Bait and Tackle, reports plenty of king mackerel and dolphins. They’re anywhere from the Beaufort sea buoy out to the reefs, such as NW Places and Big 10. Cigar minnows (both live or dead) have been the most productive.
Flounder fishing has been very good in the turning basin on live finger mullet. Small live pogies should work as well.
The turning basin has also been good for spots and croakers using fresh cut shrimp.
The surf has been productive for pompano and small spots on cut shrimp.
Marty, at Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that the speckled trout are biting well in the early morning and late evening in the marshes. The Haystack and Middle Marsh are some of the best areas. Live shrimp, Mirrolures, and Gulp baits are the prime choices for the trout. Score with puppy drum by casting a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon in the same marsh areas.
The flounder bite has been strong in the turning basin and around the Atlantic Beach Bridge. Carolina-rigged mud minnows and finger mullet will get bites, but a peanut shad is the best bait.
Nice black drum are eating shrimp fished on the bottom in the inlets, the turning basin, and the Newport River side of the Beaufort high rise bridge. Big sea mullet over 1.5 lbs. are in the inlets as well. A speck rig tipped with shrimp is a good choice.
Large spanish mackerel are around AR315 and other spots a short distance off the beach.
