Swansboro August 22, 2013
Rodney Richards, of Hubert, NC, with a 26.25″ red drum that bit a live pinfish in Bear Creek.
Rob, of Sandbar Safari Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are seeing some solid action with amberjacks, barracuda, and scattered king mackerel around rocks, wrecks, and other structure 4-10 miles off Bogue Inlet. Live menhaden are fooling all three of the hard-fighting fish.
There’s still a decent bite of larger spanish mackerel around nearshore structure, where anglers are hooking up on small live menhaden pinned to light-wire rigs.
Flounder are feeding on the bottom at most of the same places, and anglers dropping bucktail jigs tipped with Gulp baits are hooking decent numbers.
Inshore, last weekend’s rains dropped the water temperatures and improved the red drum bite in the shallow marshes. Anglers are hooking the reds while casting topwater plugs, Gulps and other soft plastics, and live finger mullet under floats or on light Carolina rigs.
Plenty of flounder are mixed in with the reds and falling for the plastics and finger mullet. Anglers are finding more action with the flatfish along the outer marsh edges and around inshore structure like docks. Live baits and Gulps will fool the flatties wherever anglers find them.
Sheepshead and black drum are looking for meals around bridge and dock pilings and some of the oyster rocks in the marshes. Live fiddler crabs and shrimp are tough for both fish to turn down.
Chesson, of CXC Charters, reports that anglers are finding fast action with barracuda and amberjack at nearshore and offshore structure and around the alphabet buoys. Live menhaden or other smaller fish are excellent baits for both predators. A few king mackerel are in the same areas, and they will also fall for the live baits.
Harrison Harper (age 2) with a pair of spanish mackerel his mother Amanda caught after they struck daisy chains just off Bogue Inlet.
The large spanish mackerel are still feeding at nearshore structure and just off the inlets, where anglers can tempt them to bite smaller live baits on scaled-down king mackerel rigs.
Robbie, of Hall’Em In Charters, reports that there’s been a surprisingly good speckled trout bite for August taking place in the past week. Most of the fish are feeding in the marshes, creeks, and rivers, where live shrimp under floats, topwater plugs, and soft plastic baits will tempt them to bite.
Josh, of The Reel Outdoors, reports that the inshore flounder bite keeps getting better (with both increasing numbers of fish and increasing numbers of keepers recently). The areas near the inlets, ICW docks, and marsh edges are all producing flatfish action, and live finger mullet and white Gulp baits have both proven effective lately.
Red drum are feeding in the marshes, but they’re still spread out and not feeding in large schools yet. Live baits, topwater plugs, and Gulps are all attracting attention from the reds.
Surf casters are reporting plenty of action with sea mullet, pompano, and a few spot while baiting bottom rigs with shrimp and Fish Bites baits. Good numbers of small flounder are also feeding in the surf zone.
Lots of spanish mackerel are feeding just off Bogue Inlet, and anglers can hook big numbers while trolling lures like Clarkspoons or by fishing small live baits to target the larger fish.
Mike, of Bogue Inlet Pier, reports that anglers are catching plenty of bottomfish from the pier, including spot, sea mullet, pompano, sheepshead, puppy drum, and more. Shrimp, sand fleas, bloodworms, and cut baits on double-drop rigs have all been productive lately.
Some bluefish and spanish mackerel are falling for Gotcha plugs.
