Swansboro September 29, 2005
Jeff Cronk, of FishN4Life Charters, reports that the hurricane didn’t hurt the bait population. Finger mullet are back in full force moving up and down the ICW and throughout White Oak River and Queens Creek. And there’s lots of shrimp in White Oak River and a few in Queens Creek.
The hurricane brought the water temps down into the 70’s and pushed some speckled trout into the internal waters. There has been a trout bite for a couple days that should continue and pick up as the weeks pass by.
The drum have really turned on since the hurricane. Most of the fish fall between 16-24″ and have been hitting live shrimp and finger mullet. The reds are from the inlet all the way to the brackish waters up White Oak River. The bite along the inlets has picked up really well, with lots of slot-sized reds on both live and cut bait. The flood tides have also pushed many 18-27″ reds into the flooded marsh. The bite has been hot this weekend on the latter part of the rising tide.
The southern flounder bite is slow along the ICW and near the inlets, but it’s much better up White Oak River and Queens Creek where the water isn’t cloudy. The bite in the ocean is almost non-existent. The water should settle out within a week or two, and the bite should then pick back up close to the inlets and along the beaches and nearshore live bottoms.
Good numbers of gray trout have shown up around the A Buoy, Station Rock, and AR 342 this weekend. Expect to find several grays (up to 16″) while looking for flounder along the live bottoms. The grays came on live shrimp, bare speck rigs, and stingsilvers.
Lots of small (10-15″) bluefish are around the creeks between the ICW and the inlets, as well as up river.
The hurricane blew a new channel through at the Coast Guard Station into the old inlet area. The slew is about 30 yards wide and on high tide as much as 8′ deep. If you attempt to use this channel, use extreme caution as it might have shallow spots or debris settled in it from the storm. There is a definite strong current coming through the Coast Guard Channel (creek) which will probably cause flounder and drum to begin holding good along the docks in that area as time passes.
Capt. Stanman, of Captain Stanman’s Fishing Charters, reports that Hurricane Ophelia, although a week before the OBO KMT, had a big effect on the catch at the tournament. Milky colored water was prevalent on some rocks on the East Side of Cape Lookout, and where the water was green some small fish were caught. The blue water had some small kings (too small to weigh in) and some small dolphin.
Most of the top fish came from the area of 1700 Rock. There was a temperature break of four degrees that moved over the area late in the morning, and that is where the bite turned on. In addition to the kings, there was also a 54 lb. wahoo caught on the break.
Menhaden are plentiful in the ocean along Shackleford Banks on some days. Other days they aren’t there. A more consistent area for bait is Harkers Island and in front of the Duke Marine Lab.
Capt. Shane Brafford had an excellent overnight trip for bottom fish, loading up on grouper, snapper, etc. at the rocks within 20 miles of the beach.
The king bite should get better as the water clarity improves and the fish move closer to the beach. Now is the time to fly a kite over the inshore rocks out of Bogue Inlet to catch your citations for 2005. Try the Keypost, Jim Davis Rock, Bear Rock Inshore and Offshore, and Lost Rock. Other spots that will also turn on are Jerry’s Rock South of 13, Clayton Kirby Rock, Ash Rock, and Christmas Rock.
Sharon, at Bogue Inlet Pier, reports that spots are the main action. They had several runs and an overall consistent bite for the last few days. Otherwise, it’s been a few pompano and blues.
They suffered some damage to the end of the pier, so there’s currently no king fishing.
