Pamlico / Neuse – October 2023
Donald, of Custom Marine Fabrication, reports that anglers have had a lot of success targeting flounder since the short keeper season opened. The trophy red drum fishing has been a bit hit or miss. The water has been really dirty after passing storms, and this seems to have pushed the reds down river and out into the sound. Anglers have only had very modest success with the popping cork setups; however, this year has seen better success coming from anglers casting larger hard lures.
Topwaters, sub-surface, and crank baits (made by Nomad, Yo-Zuri, and Rapala) have given anglers better opportunities to work different areas of the water column and fish around some of the bait balls quicker. The key with the large hard lures is to change out the hooks to singles and fish them barbless to ensure better hookups and easier releases for both fish and angler. Speckled trout have seemed to start their move upriver, with conditions starting to cool down and coming off their summertime highs. Anglers can have success targeting deeper banks all the way up towards the New Bern area.
Brad, of Gunny B Outdoors, reports that anglers fishing the upper end of the Neuse (from the ferry line up to New Bern) have been battling a tough algae bloom. Finding areas with cleaner water has been key before getting into fishing efforts. The old drum fishing picked up a little with cooler water showing up. The classic popping cork setup (rigged with a 4-5” paddle tail) or throwing larger hard lures have both been having success.
If fishing in the evening, anglers are finding the better action using fresh mullet or menhaden on the bottom. Speckled trout have started making a move from the lower river to the sound and up towards the Pamlico River. Topwater plugs have been the best producing bait for the trout, as the cooler water gets them more actively feeding. If that isn’t working, any variety of twitch baits, paddle tail soft plastics, or popping corks rigged with shrimp will get that strike. Anglers are landing plenty of slot-sized red drum while fishing both cut baits and artificials.
Zach, of UFO Fishing Charters, reports that many have been out catching their keeper flounder during the two-week season, and most of the flatfish were good quality (18-24”). Anglers can have a lot of success fishing live or cut finger mullet, but many chose to fish Gulp baits casted down the banks. The artificial route allows you to work through an area quicker and possibly add in a bonus slot-sized red drum or speckled trout.
When looking at the long stretches of shoreline, target the grass points or steeper banks (with around 4’ of water) to help hone in on areas the fish will be. Plenty of the slot-sized red drum are being caught, and target the same areas you would for flounder. Speckled trout action has been hit or miss. For the trout, begin with soft plastics fished under popping corks, and as the water cools more, anglers will start seeing d success with MirrOlures and other twitch baits. Anglers looking for a little more relaxed bottom fishing are finding some larger croakers (to 14”) and scattered black drum while fishing fresh cut shrimp.
Kent, of East Side Bait and Tackle, reports that flounder action has pulled a lot of attention, and anglers have been able to fill their solo limit when targeting the grassy banks and points along the shoreline. Slot-sized red drum are scattered all over the place. Marsh banks or flats around stump fields are good areas to target. The speckled trout action is starting to pick up. Anglers looking for trout will have the best success fishing in the bigger creeks. Bull red drum are around, though this recent run of storms has thrown them off their typical pattern. Between the winds and dirty water, it seems most fish are out towards and into the sound and staged up around points and ledges. The bait fishing efforts are definitely seeing more success than anglers fishing popping corks and other artificial lures.
Mitchell, of FishIBX, reports that the trophy red drum action is still in full swing. A ton of bait is around, and this abundance of bait has the fish scattered a bit. During the keeper season, the shorelines were producing some doormat flatfish. While fishing the banks, there are plenty of slot-sized red drum in the mix, too. With water temperatures cooling down, anglers should continue to see plenty of the bull drum caught.
Grey, of Hyde Guides, reports that the big red drum are still being found all over the place. A run of storms stirred conditions up a bit and made the water dirty, and this made finding the bait more difficult than anything and forced anglers to focus on the bottom fishing tactics. Similar to how it has been this whole season, the evening bite has been better. There are fish being caught during the day while casting around bait balls, but this tactic has had unpredictable results the whole season, possibly due to the large amounts of bait that have made it difficult to locate groups of reds.
Anglers looking to catch their keeper flounder through the short season found their success while targeting the river shorelines. A bunch of puppy drum are pushed up against the banks, too. The redfish are scattered, but they are definitely in this area in good numbers. With cooler water, anglers will see more speckled trout mixed in along these same banks. The conditions have made it difficult to push into open water to target the wrecks. For anglers that catch the window, they can expect to find black drum, speckled trout, and some gray trout.
