Swansboro May 24, 2007
Jeff, of FishN4Life Charters, reports that many red drum have moved into the internal waters, and they’re hunting food in shallow bays and on mud and grass flats. Target drum along the grass flats and shallow feeder creeks at higher tides, and then in deeper channels and sloughs when the water is lower.
The fish follow a consistent pattern of movement and feeding with the tides, so anglers who pay attention to tides and wind should be able to relocate schools of drum day after day.
Flounder fishing is just getting red hot for the season, and the fish should be in predictable areas. Summer flounder will be in the inlets as they move from offshore to the backwater. In the ICW, target a mix of summer and southern flounder at rock piles, shell bottoms, docks, and creek mouths.
Shell bottoms, oyster bars, hard bottomed channels, rock piles/walls, and pilings will be prime locations to look for sheepshead searching for a crustacean meal. Fiddler crabs, sand fleas, mud crabs, and sea urchins are the best sheepshead baits.
Anglers can catch shrimp right now in shallow creeks off the ICW and the river, and fishing them with a split shot or under a slip float will tempt black drum and a few early summer trout.
The backwaters will be hosting plenty of bluefish as May gives way to June. The blues will run between .5 and 5+ lbs. Working a topwater plug along the edges of grass flats and oyster beds will get plenty of attention from the blues.
Summer flounder and nice sized sea bass are available at the nearshore reefs, ledges, and live bottoms, and they will pounce on a 1 to 2 oz. bucktail tipped with a Gulp bait. The flounder will range from sub-legal fish up to 7+ lbs.
At the same structure, plenty of king mackerel (from 4 to 10 lbs.) will be feeding heavily after their long migration north, and very willing to strike deep diving lures. Larger kings will be scattered amongst the smaller fish, as will some bonito and spanish mackerel.
The greatest catches of spanish will come from the inlets and just outside the surf line. Anglers can target the spanish by trolling Clark spoons and small shallow and deep diving lures, or by casting small metal jigs.
Late May and June is the prime time to hunt the big cobia that are migrating nearshore around Swansboro and Morehead City. The cobia will be feeding on schools of menhaden close to the beach and hanging around structure and flotsam, especially near inlets.
Cobia will eat a variety of baits including live crabs (particularly softshells), menhaden and other oily fish, bucktails tipped with squid, and other baits. Cobia have incredibly hard mouths, and strong sharp hooks must be coupled with hard hooksets in order to catch them. Anglers can get the best hook hold if they allow a cobia to swallow the bait before setting the hook.
Stan, of Captain Stanman’s Fishing Charters, reports that the bottom fish bite is solid within 30 miles of shore. Grouper, snapper, and black sea bass are among the tasty fish that anglers can catch at offshore ledges and other bottom structure, and they’ll all fall for frozen cigar minnows.
The yellowfin tuna are feeding north of the Big Rock, and boats from Ocracoke are getting in on the tuna action. Some reports are coming in of 60 lb. class yellowfins on temperature breaks at the 90’ Drop, and this is also a great area to find dolphin. Begin trolling at the 90’ Drop and head northeast until a fish strikes.
Wahoo are mixed with the dolphin and tuna, but anglers can specifically target the wahoo by high-speed trolling with Green Machines and Wahoo Wackers at 15 to 18 knots. Once the wahoo have been located, anglers can slow down and pull ballyhoo with black/red and black/purple skirts. Wire line rigs or a Z-Wing will help get baits down to where the wahoo feed.
Herb, of Bogue Inlet Pier, reports that 7-12 lb. bluefish are taking an interest in live baits and Gotcha plugs.
Gotchas are also producing smaller snapper blues and spanish mackerel around 2 lbs.
The snapper blues are hitting bottom rigs baited with cut mullet as well.
Anglers fishing shrimp on the bottom are catching some gray trout.
At night after the bluefish bite dies down, bottom rigs baited with shrimp are proving irresistible to whiting.
The water temperature is 73 degrees.
