Morehead City May 26, 2011
John Culp with a citation-class red drum he caught and released while casting bucktails to bait balls off Atlantic Beach. He was fishing with Capt. Charles Brown of Old Core Sound Guide Service.
Matt, of Chasin’ Tails Outdoors, reports that the cobia bite has been up and down lately, but with sunny skies and a calm forecast, it should be a good weekend to search for bait balls and cruising fish. The area around Cape Lookout and from Fort Macon to the Sheraton Pier are two of the best places to begin the hunt. When anglers sight fish, bucktails tipped with large grubs or eel trailers or rigged artificial eels will tempt them to bite. Bottom fishing will also produce some cobia in the coming weeks, and setting up at Beaufort or Barden’s Inlets with some dead menhaden on the bottom is the way to go there.
Spanish mackerel are still showing up in good numbers just off the beaches, along with plenty of bluefish. Both will fall for trolled Clarkspoons, mackerel trees, and bird/squid rigs.
Flounder fishing is getting better inshore, and anglers are picking up decent numbers of keepers while drifting along the ICW and behind Shackleford. The port wall is starting to produce some flatfish as well. Live and Gulp mud minnows are producing most of the fish. The nearshore reefs like AR-315, 320, and 330 are holding solid numbers of flounder too, and Spro bucktails tipped with Gulp baits are the way to go for the oceanic flatfish.
The red drum bite has been sporadic inshore lately, with few big schools around and most anglers encountering scattered fish in the marshes of the Haystacks, Core Creek, and Carrot Island. Topwater plugs, spinnerbaits, and scented soft plastics are the way to go for the reds when anglers can find them.
Sheepshead are showing up inshore, and anglers saw big numbers at the Lookout Jetty last weekend. The bridges and the port wall are starting to hold some sheeps as well, and fiddler crabs, clams, or sea urchins will tempt bites from them.
Bottom fish (like pigfish, gray trout, and sea mullet) are feeding in the turning basin, and they’ll take an interest in bottom or spec rigs baited with shrimp or squid.
Pier and surf anglers are hooking up with some spanish mackerel and bluefish on Gotcha plugs and other casting lures. Larger chopper blues are feeding in the surf zone and biting cut baits and finger mullet.
Some keeper flounder are on the feed in the surf as well, and anglers have been hooking them on live mud minnows.
Sea mullet, pigfish, sharks, and skates are all also taking an interest in bottom rigs in the breakers.
Offshore, the gaffer dolphin bite has been excellent lately, from the 90’ Drop on out to the Big Rock. Boats are also connecting with some wahoo and sailfish in the same areas, and they all are taking an interest in rigged ballyhoo.
John Matthews, of Morehead City, with an 11 lb. bluefish he hooked on a chartreuse/white streamer fly while sight-casting to feeding fish in the surf near Sheraton Pier on Atlantic Beach.
Marty, of Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that the bluefish and spanish mackerel bite is still excellent along the beaches, where boats are hooking them while trolling Clarkspoons and other lures.
Flounder fishing is still solid at the nearshore reefs and improving inshore as well. Small live baits and Gulp baits pinned to bucktails are the way to go for the flatfish.
Sheepshead are showing up around hard structure like the bridges and the port wall inshore, and they’ll take an interest in fiddler crabs, sand fleas, or other crustacean baits.
The cobia bite is still going around Cape Lookout and the inlets, and anglers can look for the fish around bait balls and sight-cast to them or bottom fish dead and cut baits near the inlets to hook up.
Offshore, the dolphin are starting to move in from the Stream, with boats reporting some fish around the Trawler Buoy and the NW Places. They’ll be coming closer to the beaches over the next few weeks, often feeding as close in as the sea buoy in past years.
Charlie, of Old Core Sound Guide Service, reports that the cobia fishing is slowing a bit, but it should remain decent through the second week of June. Bottom fishing for the cobes is a better bet than sight-casting now that their numbers are thinning a bit.
Chopper bluefish are feeding on the shoals at Cape Lookout and will strike a wide variety of baits and lures.
Spanish mackerel are feeding heavily along the beaches, and trolling small Drone spoons behind #1 planers will produce plenty of bites with them.
Flounder are feeding at the artificial reefs on both sides of the shoals and will strike bucktails tipped with scented soft plastics.
Puppy drum are fattening up on shrimp on the flats behind the barrier islands, and soft plastic shrimp imitations or topwater plugs (like MirrOlure Top Pups and She Dogs) will tempt bites from them.
Pete, of Energizer Charters, reports that the offshore bite has been pretty solid lately, with most boats returning with solid catches of gaffer dolphin. Some wahoo and blackfin tuna are still in the mix, and boats are also starting to see some blue marlin showing up. Trolling skirted ballyhoo along weedlines and temperature breaks around blue water hotspots like the Big Rock, Swansboro Hole, and the Rise is the best bet to hook up with the Gulf Stream predators.
Closer to the beaches, the spanish mackerel and bluefish fishing has been excellent for boats trolling small spoons.
Some cobia are still around but their numbers are thinning, and bottom fishing with dead baits will likely be more productive than sight-casting in the coming weeks.
Mason Glissendorf (age 4) with a spanish mackerel that fell for a silver Clarkspoon off Atlantic Beach while he was fishing with his father.
Willis, of Oceanana Pier, reports that plug casters are picking up good numbers of spanish mackerel and bluefish while working Gotchas from the planks.
Bottom fishermen are decking some flounder (most just short of legal) and pigfish, spadefish, and some stout (to 2 lbs.) pompano.
Royce, of Sheraton Pier, reports that bottom fishermen are landing some large pigfish and croakers on squid and shrimp baits.
A few flounder are beginning to show up.
Some large chopper bluefish are taking an interest in cut baits and metal lures like Hopkins spoons.
