Morehead City – May 22, 2014
Leroy Everhard, from Kernersville, NC, with a 57 lb. dolphin that he hooked while trolling near the Big Rock. Weighed in at Chasin’ Tails Outdoors.
Matt, of Chasin’ Tails Outdoors, reports that cobia have arrived on the Crystal Coast, and anglers are finding them in the inlets and ocean off Atlantic Beach and Cape Lookout. Sight-casting to fish both cruising and around menhaden schools, as well as soaking live and dead baits on the bottom, has been producing action with the cobes (from 30-80+ lbs. so far). Bucktail jigs with soft plastic trailers, Gulp eels, and live eels have been tempting the bites for sight-casters.
Spanish mackerel have also shown up in force, and anglers are hooking them while working Gotcha plugs from the pier and trolling Clarkspoons and diving lures from boats just off the beaches. Plenty of bluefish are mixed in.
Flounder are beginning to stack up around AR-315, 320, and 330, along with other nearshore structure in the area, and anglers were able to put together some limit catches last week. Bucktail jigs tipped with Gulp baits are producing most of the flatfish action in the ocean.
The flounder bite hasn’t fully turned on inshore yet, but anglers are picking up a few and it will only get better in the coming weeks.
Sea mullet action is slowing down as the water warms, but anglers are still catching decent numbers in the inlet and shipping channel on spec rigs tipped with shrimp. Good numbers of gray trout are in the same areas, and they will bite the spec rigs or metal jigs like Stingsilvers.
Surf and pier anglers are connecting with some black and red drum, pompano, and a few sea mullet while bottom fishing with shrimp, cut baits, bloodworms, and sand fleas.
Plug casters are connecting with good numbers of spanish mackerel and some bluefish from the pier.
Bottom fishermen have been finding action with grouper, sea bass, triggerfish, grunts, snapper, and more. The best action has been around structure 30-40 miles out, but anglers are also connecting with fish closer to the beaches at the NW Places and the Atlas Tanker. Squid, cigar minnows, and vertical jigs will all fool the bottom feeders.
Offshore, the dolphin bite is still going strong (with fish to 50+ lbs. weighed in last week). Wahoo are still mixed in along with some blackfin tuna, and boats are hooking all three on small and medium skirted ballyhoo. The best bite on the blue water fish has been from the Big Rock down to the Rise recently.
Some blue marlin have shown up as well, and they are biting ballyhoo and skirted trolling lures.
Robert Auton with a 14 lb., 2 oz. mutton snapper that bit a Boston mackerel offshore of Beaufort Inlet while he was fishing on the headboat “Capt. Stacy.”
Paul, of Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that the spanish mackerel bite was excellent last week (with many 2-3 lb. fish in the mix), and anglers should see the action hold up for a while. Both trolling Clarkspoons behind planers and casting metal jigs to fish feeding on the surface will put the spaniards in the boat. Anglers have also been hooking good numbers while working Gotcha plugs from the Oceanana Pier.
Surf and pier bottom fishermen are hooking black and red drum, sea mullet, spot, croaker, pompano, and more. Shrimp, sand fleas, bloodworms, and cut baits are all tempting bites on the bottom rigs.
Cobia are feeding around Cape Lookout and off Beaufort Inlet, and anglers hooked good numbers while sight-casting to cruising fish and menhaden schools last week. Anglers are also hooking some of the cobes while bottom-fishing with live and dead baits near the inlets, but they’re weeding through big numbers of sharks and rays to get to the cobia.
Offshore, the gaffer dolphin bite is in full swing, and anglers are putting together big catches while trolling skirted ballyhoo around local hotspots like the Big Rock. Some blackfin tuna are mixed in and also biting the ballyhoo. Boats have also reported some blue marlin encounters this week, so it looks like the billfish bite is heating up as well.
Chris, of Mount Maker Charters, reports that anglers have had some excellent sight-fishing opportunities around Cape Lookout lately. Some large black drum have been schooling on the surface and biting bucktail jigs and other lures.
Cobia are also looking for meals in the same area, and they’re biting bucktails and live baits that anglers are sight-casting to them.
Further offshore around structure like wrecks and large rocks, amberjack are schooling up. Anglers can tease the schools to the surface with live baits or jigs, and then cast large topwater poppers to excite the fish into surface strikes.
Thomas, of Dancin’ Outlaw Sportfishing, reports that the gaffer dolphin bite off Beaufort Inlet is in full swing (with fish to 55 lbs. recently). Anglers are hooking the dolphin while trolling skirted ballyhoo along weedlines and temperature breaks offshore, and there’s been action up and down the break recently.
