Swansboro October 12, 2006
Jeff, at FishN4Life Charters, reports that this month anglers will not have a problem finding live bait. Finger mullet will be scattered everywhere from the mainland creeks off the rivers to the inlets and surf. Shrimp will be plentiful near the mouths of White Oak River, Queens Creek, and all of the feeder creeks off Bogue Sound. Finding these live shrimp will sometimes be an angler’s ticket to a successful day of speckled trout fishing.
Most of the speckled trout are ranging from 1 to 2.5 lbs., with a few larger fish mixed in. The trout have been found in the creeks near the inlets, as well as around oyster rocks and flats in Bogue Sound, White Oak River, and Queens Creek.
The redfish bite has been great in the bays and creeks with the full moon high waters. The prime baits have been spinner baits, light jigheads tipped with Berkley Gulp baits, and topwater baits. Live mullet minnows and shrimp will also do the trick for those folks preferring live bait. There are plenty of 24-30 inch redfish working the surf zone along the beaches and inlets, too. The key to catching reds in the surf is to fish your baits close to the sand in the whitewater and to cover ground.
The flounder can be found all along the ICW around any structure including docks, pylons, rock piles, and drop-offs. Anglers will also find flounder up the feeder creeks and along the shallow bays in the White Oak River, Queens Creek, and Bogue Sound. As October draws to a close, expect to find many summer flounder along the inlets and in the surf as they slowly begin moving toward the ocean. The bite will continue on the live bottoms and artificial reefs throughout October and November.
Along with flounder on the ocean bottoms, expect to find good numbers of gray trout. The grays will range from short fish (about 10 inches) up to sows (about 20 inches) and can be best targeted by jigging either stingsilvers or double spec rigs tipped with Berkley cut bait or fresh shrimp. The key is to be sure your jigs are making contact with the bottom before twitching it each time.
The king mackerel bite has picked back up recently, with many 10-15 lb. kings caught this past week. The kings are beginning their migration back to the south, and they usually pull tight to the beaches as the winds tend to blow more from the N and NE directions.
Along with the kings will be schools of albacore busting on the surface. Late fall presents some of the best opportunities to fish the albacore as the fish are often very aggressive. Fishermen hoping to boat an albacore should keep a variety of baits tied on and ready as these fish will often surface for short periods of time. These baits should include silver or gold metal jigs/spoons; jigheads tipped with a glass minnow look-a-like bait; spec rigs w/hair; and maybe even a small topwater bait.
Stan, of Captain Stanman’s Charters, reports that the recent unsettled weather means inconsistent fishing. There were some kings caught on the east side of Cape Lookout last week, but they were few and far between. However, in spite of a cold front moving through on Saturday morning and a full moon, some nice fish were caught there this week.
There was good bite at 30 Minute Rock on Friday, and on Saturday there were only 2 or 3 fish that came out of there.
The D Buoy could provide a limit of kings in the 10-15 lb. range (if you spent most of the day working at it). We are still waiting for the bigger kings to hit the beach at such places as Lost Rock, the two Bear Inlet Rocks, and the mouth of Bogue Inlet.
The jig bait is plentiful at the Alphabet buoys (if you move away from the buoys to find the larger baits).
You can walk across the ICW on menhaden one day, and the next day you won’t find even one. This is attributed to the shrimp trawlers who work the ICW all night long and frighten the menhaden back to the 2-3 foot shallows.
Bottom fishermen have been running about 30 miles off the beach to load up on grunts, snappers, and sea bass. All are plentiful right now. Catch some albacore on the way out, and use them to make strip baits for bottom fishing. Also, take along a box of frozen cigar minnows.
James, at Bogue Inlet Pier, reports that a few spots have been biting shrimp and artificial bloodworms. Sand fleas have been productive on decent sized pompano.
Some keeper flounder have been caught on live shrimp.
Plug casters have had their efforts rewarded with bluefish and spanish.
The water temperature is 78 degrees.
