Southport July 8, 2004
Dave, at Ocean Crest Pier, reports a good week for flounder fishing with fish up to 4 lbs. 10 oz. They are taking live shrimp on the bottom or mullet minnows which are along the beach now. Speckled trout are still hitting live shrimp, but they will soon prefer the mullet. Sheepshead are on the pilings, but only a few were landed. Spanish, along with small blues, are still taking baits out on the end. The bottom fishing has produced a few whiting.
Billie, at Dutchman Creek Bait and Tackle, reports lots of shrimp around, and the speckled trout are feeding on them with fish averaging 15 to 16 inches and an occasional 20+ inch fish mixed in. Flounder fishing has improved around docks and artificial reefs, and there are plenty of mullet in the creeks to find for bait. Pogies are along the beach again, and the mackerel shouldn’t be too far behind.
Tommy, at Long Beach Pier, reports good numbers of speckled trout in the 2 lb. range, with a few fish over 3 lbs. The trout are biting early in the mornings and still preferring live shrimp. Bottom fishermen caught a few citation pompano this week, and those using mullet minnows are bringing in the flounder up to 5 lbs. There are a few spanish lingering, and bluefish are dominating the catch of those plugging.
Linda, at Southport/Oak Island Sportfishing Charters, reports that the inside flounder bite has been fantastic. Everybody’s been having success at finding flounder, and they have been finding them in numbers with few throwbacks. Yaupon Reef and the beachfront have also had a good flounder bite. However, there hasn’t been much action with drum fishing lately. Kings continue to bite, with smaller ones closer to the beach and bigger ones a little further out. Guys have been working the Shark Hole and the 10 Mile Rock. There have also been some good catches of dolphin this past week, starting at about 10 miles off.
John, of Haag and Sons Seafood, reports that there is still nothing on the beeliners. The full moon did not start them feeding. There have been more red grouper than anything coming in. There are also some scamps, but only a very few black grouper were caught. A couple of guys found some African pompano in the Tower area. They were the bigger sized ones, weighing an average of 23 to 24 lbs. The dolphin action is slow, but the king bite has definitely improved with several catches of kings reported. Many of the kings were over 20 lbs.
