Ocean Isle Winter 2013-2014
Raymond Hilburn, of Tabor City, NC, with a citation red drum that bit a live mullet near AR-440. He was fishing off Lockwood Folly Inlet with John Maguire.
Brant, of Ocean Isle Fishing Center, reports that the weather has kept many people off the water over the past few weeks, but anglers will have fishing options all winter long when the seas and winds lay down.
Wahoo feed off the area all year long, and small pockets of them will be looking for meals at spots along the break in the coming months. They’re generally scattered and in smaller groups over the winter, but the average size makes up for their relative scarcity (most fish 40+ lbs. with 80-100 lb. fish a possibility). Both ballyhoo paired with skirted trolling lures and high-speed artificials will fool the ‘hoos.
Good numbers of blackfin tuna will be hunting in the same areas and provide further action. The blackfins will fall for the same ballyhoo rigs anglers run for wahoo, but smaller skirted lures and artificials like cedar plugs are an even better option.
King mackerel will be feeding wherever anglers can find water temperatures in the upper-60’s and concentrations of bait over the winter months, often within sight of Frying Pan Tower. Jigging up live baits with sabiki rigs or trolling dead cigar minnows will tempt bites from the kings when anglers find them.
Bill Britt, of Holden Beach, with a 5.8 lb., 26″ speckled trout that he hooked in the ICW near Holden on a Saltwater Assassin soft plastic.
Bottom fishermen should be happy that it seems the black sea bass season will stay open through the winter for the first time in several years. Anglers are already landing legal sea bass around structure in the 5 mile range, and the bite only gets better as December fades into January and February.
Gag and scamp grouper are feeding at structure further offshore in the 100’+ range, but the grouper bite has been a bit spotty all year.
Anglers also have some good options inshore over the winter, as the speckled trout and red drum bite has been solid and should hold up for weeks or more as long as there’s no extremely cold weather.
Kyle, of Speckulator Inshore Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are seeing some excellent speckled trout action all over the area, with good bites from Little River to Lockwood Folly recently. They’re still feeding at many of the typical fall spots along the ICW and the local rivers and in the inlets, but they’ll be schooling up and heading to their winter haunts like deeper holes in canals and marinas and far back in shallow creeks. Live shrimp are tops for the trout, but they’ll soon become unavailable. Live mud minnows and a variety of artificials will fool the specks when the shrimp supply dwindles.
Ned Garber and Larry Spainhour with a 45 lb. wahoo that bit a purple-skirted ballyhoo in 20 fathoms of water inshore of the Steeples. They were fishing with Bob Newell on the “Black Dog.”
There’s also been solid action with red drum and specks around the Little River jetties (with some 5+ lb. trout in the mix). Live shrimp are the best bets for both and are also fooling big numbers of sheepshead on many days. Anglers are also hooking the reds and specks on MirrOlures and soft plastic baits.
Red drum are schooling up and moving into their shallow-water wintering grounds, but many are still feeding along ICW docks as well. Live shrimp and mud minnows pinned to jigheads are the way to go for the reds when they’re feeding shallow. As it continues to cool off, the skinny water action should get even better, and anglers with shallow-draft boats capable or reaching the fish can often have some thrilling sight-fishing opportunities.
