Morehead City September 1, 2005
George, at Carolina Bait and Tackle, reports that surf fishing is providing some blues at night, and you may hook a spanish in the early morning or late afternoon. You can also target some croakers and sea mullet.
The flounder bite continues to do well. They weighed in a 4.5 lb. fish from the Beaufort Draw Bridge, but the best action has probably been in the inlet and around the Coast Guard Station. And it’s still all mullet minnows for flounder.
The red drum action around Cedar Island has been fantastic, with fish up to 48 inches recently reported. Most of the reds are measuring in the high 20’s.
The kings in the shipping channel have mostly been in the teens. Other areas that see regular king action have been around the Cape and Barrs Wreck.
And guys have been continuing to pick up a wahoo or two while king fishing with live bait in the 5-10 mile areas.
Joe, at Joe’s Pro Bait and Tackle, reports that the large red drum continue to bite well around Swan and Raccoon Islands. Anglers are reporting days with multiple (over 20) releases. And some tarpon have been caught and released at night.
Flounder fishing is good with many keeper flounder being caught. Remember, deep water around the port and the artificial reefs is where you need to be fishing now. This will change as the cold fronts come through. The shallow water temps will cool to the preferred range, and the mullet will be running down shoreline providing an endless buffet.
Some nice red drum have been caught up in the marshes and at the mouths of creeks.
Speckled trout are showing at the mouths of the creeks. It will not be long before they start showing up at the Atlantic Beach Bridge.
The king mackerel bite is still slow, but there have been some very large kings caught here and there in the mid-range places. There are still a lot of blacktip sharks around, and dolphin fishing has been very slow.
Big spanish mackerel have been caught live lining small minnows on titanium leaders. Spanish trolling has been slow, but fair numbers of bluefish have been caught trolling.
Offshore, the wahoo bite is getting better, and the fish are coming in closer. Dolphin fishing is still slow. The billfish bite is still excellent from the Big Rock north.
As for bottom fishing, the Carolina Princess had great catches of vermillion snappers this past week and a good number of grouper and triggerfish.
Jaz, at Sportsman’s Pier, reports that they’ve been catching blues regularly, but the action that got everyone’s attention this week was big schools of jumping mullet. Before the weekend, they had 100′ circles of jumping mullet moving past the pier. Otherwise, it’s been a little bit of everything-some spanish, some spots, some sea mullet in the morning and early evening, and some flounder (more under-sized than keepers).
Frank, at Triple “S” Pier, reports that 8-10 inch blues are biting mostly on cut bait on the bottom rigs. The spanish fishing is real slow right now. The night time has been the better time to fish for species such as blues, mullet, and croaker. Hit it one hour before the high tide and stay through at least one hour after. They’re also picking during the day at some sheepshead, pompano, and flounder (lots of throwbacks on the flounder). They also experienced the huge schools of jumping mullets moving through the area before the weekend.
J.J., at Freeman’s Bait and Tackle, reports that big spanish (up to 5 lbs.) and kings in the teens are coming from AR315. There has also been a king bite on the east side, such as 1700 and 30 Minute Rock. The kings are mostly in the teens, but there have been fish up to 30 lbs. reported recently. Guys king fishing more than a few miles off the beach have also been picking up an occasional wahoo on the live baits.
Not much with the dolphin, and what action there is has moved farther out.
For flounder, most of the recent reports have been from Barden’s Inlet or the turning basin. Sheepshead are reported from the fisheries docks and other places with good structure.
The surf is slow, with a few flounder and pompano, and then spanish and blues may hit at the crack of dawn or late afternoon.
