Southport April 1, 2004
Bobby, at Long Beach Pier reports that the pier has been seeing small whiting, small trout, and some blues. Cut shrimp has been the bait for whiting, and blues have been caught on gotcha plugs, cut bait and shrimp. The blues have been in the 8-11″ range. There have also been several skates and sharks caught during this early pier fishing season. Thursday saw some catches of spot. As for trout, there have been some gray trout during the day and some specks at night.
Tanya, at Ocean Crest Pier, reports that the first fish of the 2004 season was caught on March 17th. Mike Payne won a $50 prize for a 6″ whiting. The needlefish have been around the pier in numbers. They have also been seeing blowfish and skates. Some small blues have also been showing up, mostly in the late afternoons, and they have been caught on gotcha plugs, cut bait, and frozen shrimp. There have also been a couple of gray trout, with the largest going 14″.
Scott , at Southport Fishing Center, reports that the king bite has been great one week and then slow the next. Inshore anglers have been finding some small trout around Bald Head. One boat had a day where they saw 14 to 17 juvenile trout, but none of the fish had any size to them. Offshore has been producing yellowfin and wahoo catches. The Same Ole has been the consistent spot to target.
John, of Haag and Sons Seafood, reported a strong three days of b-liners. There have been some triggerfish and whiting onshore, and some guys have also been gillnetting some whiting a little offshore. Offshore has also been producing catches of tuna, little yellowfins (30 lb. range), and wahoo.
Brandon, at Wildlife Bait and Tackle, reports that there has been a pretty good trout and drum bite so far for early spring. Most of the trout are 10-11″ in size. The offshore bottom fishing has been steady, with catches of triggerfish, b-liners, and grouper coming from about 40 miles off. Tuna and wahoo catches have been good, and the Black Jack hole has been a hot spot; however, expect the bite to be moving around from day to day.
Linda, at SOI Sportfishing Charters, reports that the boat My Way brought in a catch of blackfin tuna, mahi, large sea bass, snapper, and a few grouper. Several other boats out in the area also brought in wahoo, which has been hitting hard in the last couple of weeks. The king run hasn’t started yet, but a few have been caught. Inshore hasn’t produced much except for small sea bass and a trout or two.
