Pamlico July 26, 2012
Capt. Gary Dubiel, of Spec Fever Guide Service, with a citation-class red drum he hooked while light tackle sight-casting to a school of the fish near the mouth of the Neuse River.
Gary, of Spec Fever Guide Service, reports that the unrelenting west wind, heat, and storms have made fishing tough in the Neuse River lately, but anglers willing to work for it are still finding some solid action.
The winds have pushed a lot of water out of the river and made the shoreline striped bass bite inaccessible lately, but anglers are still hooking good numbers of stripers around the bridge pilings and deeper structure near New Bern. Some fish chasing bait in open water have provided brief flurries of topwater action lately as well.
Speckled trout are still feeding along the river shorelines, where soft plastics fished on jigheads or beneath popping corks will tempt them to bite. A few puppy drum and flounder are in the mix.
The big drum bite has stalled for local anglers as the winds have made it tough to get to the best spots, but anglers have hooked some in protected waters recently. Fishing large cut baits around depth changes near the mouth of the river is the best bet for hooking the big reds.
Tarpon are still in the Pamlico Sound and Neuse River, but as with the beg reds, it’s been tough to get to the best areas to fish for them lately.
Dave, of Knee Deep Custom Charters, reports that the trout bite is still going strong in the lower Neuse River, despite west winds that have made for tough fishing recently.
Most of the specks are feeding around the river shorelines, and anglers are hooking them on live mud minnows (which produced a 6 lb. fish last week), D.O.A. shrimp, MirrOlures, and topwater plugs like Storm Chug Bugs.
Mike Holton with a striped bass that bit a topwater plug in the Pamlico River while he was fishing with Capt. Richard Andrews of Tar-Pam Guide Service.
Big numbers of small fish are still in the area, but decent numbers of keepers are mixed in. In addition, the little ones keep getting larger, an excellent sign for the fall season this year.
The big red drum bite in the area hasn’t really kicked off yet (very few people have been pursuing them due to the weather), but it should be getting good over the coming weeks.
Donald, of Custom Marine, reports that a few large red drum have begun showing up around the lower Neuse River, with some reports out of Oriental last week. Large cut baits are the tickets to hookups with the big reds.
Richie, of East Side Bait and Tackle, reports that big amounts of rainfall and high winds have slowed fishing down a bit in the area, but anglers are still hooking some speckled trout and flounder. The majority of the action has been from North Creek on out to the mouth of the river, with a larger class of fish the further east anglers get. Gulp and Lil’ Fishie soft baits are tempting most of the bites from the specks and flatfish.
Tarpon have shown up in the river, but they’re rather scattered and tough to target right now.
Richard, of Tar-Pam Guide Service, reports that anglers are finding some fun mixed-bag fishing on the Pamlico River. Live mud minnows and soft plastic baits are producing much of the action, and they’re attracting bites from flounder, speckled trout, puppy drum, and some large striped bass. Many of the fish are undersized, but anglers are connecting with some keepers in the midst of the smaller fish (and large stripers, but their season is closed).
