Topsail May 10, 2012
Christy French, of Hampstead, with her first gag grouper. The fish struck a piece of Boston mackerel on a Barefoot Decoy Jig at some bottom structure 19 miles off Topsail Inlet.
Chris, of East Coast Sports, reports that anglers are still connecting with some speckled trout around the Surf City Bridge and other hard structure along the ICW. Live baits, Gulps, or suspending lures like Rapala X-Raps will fool the specks.
Red drum are feeding well inshore, especially around flats at the mouths of creeks. Live baits, topwater plugs, Gulps, and a variety of other lures will tempt bites from the reds.
Sheepshead have shown up. They are feeding around bridge and dock pilings, rocky structure inshore, and along the ocean piers. Sand fleas and fiddler crabs are tough to beat as baits for the sheeps.
Flounder are also making a strong appearance inshore, with some of the best action around docks over the past week. Mud minnows or other live baits and Gulps on jigheads or bucktails will attract attention from the flatfish.
Large bluefish are feeding around the inlets, and finger mullet, cut baits, or metal casting lures are the way to go for the blues.
Both boats trolling small spoons and anglers casting Gotcha plugs from the piers are connecting with spanish mackerel.
King mackerel are also showing up in increasing numbers not far from the beaches, and anglers reported king catches from 3-20 miles offshore last week. Live baits, dead cigar minnows, and diving plugs will all tempt bites from the kings.
Grouper fishing is open, and boats making the run to around 100’ have reported some excellent action with gags, scamps, and reds. Some gags are also feeding at structure closer to the beaches. Live baits and vertical jigs are both prime grouper foolers.
Daniel, of Flat Foot Charters, reports that the recent inconsistent weather has slowed the inshore action a bit, but warm water temperatures mean the bite should be on when the weather patterns stabilize for a few days. The high moon tides have made the red drum bite a bit tough, but anglers are hooking some on the flats, with lower tides producing the most action. The big moon effects will be gone over the next few days, so the fishing should return to normal. Live peanut menhaden are producing most of the action with the reds that anglers are catching, and the menhaden have been schooled up in the local creeks.
Flounder seem to be in a transition pattern, with some fish still feeding in deep (10-12’+) water and some moving into the shallows (3-5’). Anglers should try both to see which areas are more effective on a given day. Live baits or Gulps are tough for the flatfish to pass up when anglers can find them.
Black drum are still feeding around area docks and other heavy structure. Shrimp are among their favorite meals.
Allen, of Breadman Charters, reports that red drum have been easy to find but somewhat hard to tempt to bite recently. Most of the fish are holding in the creeks and bays, and Gulp and TTF soft plastics on Prototype jigs and bucktails have been fooling the fish that anglers are catching lately.
Flounder fishing has been solid inshore whenever the water is clean (with decent numbers of 20-23” fish), with most of the fish coming from the channel edges and drop-offs in the marshes. Gulp baits and live pogies are tempting the flatfish to bite.
Some speckled trout should be feeding around the 172 Bridge, and anglers using live shrimp will likely have the best luck with them.
Thornton Stovall, Reverend Tony Futrell, and Robert Montague with the results of a triple hookup on 24-28â red drum behind Bear Island. The reds bit Gulp smelt while they were fishing with Capt. Rob Koraly of Sandbar Safari Charters.
Bill, of Fish On Charters, reports that anglers are connecting with solid catches of dolphin and wahoo when they’ve made the run to the Gulf Stream recently. This is also the best month out of the year to hook up with a blue marlin, so anglers should be prepared for a big billfish out in the blue water.
Grouper season is open, and anglers caught good numbers of gags last week around bottom structure in the 80’ range. Some pinkies and plenty of black sea bass (closed to harvest until June 1) are mixed in, and all the bottom feeders are falling for cigar minnows and squid.
Richard, of Sea View Pier, reports that anglers are catching some flounder on small live baits fished under the pier (with many undersized but legal ones in the mix). A few red and black drum are also coming over the rails.
Some sea mullet are biting bottom rigs baited with shrimp, but the run seems to be slowing down.
Plug casters are catching some spanish mackerel and bluefish (including some big choppers).
Steve, of Surf City Pier, reports that anglers are hooking some sea mullet and spot on bottom rigs baited with shrimp.
Some bluefish are falling for Gotcha plugs worked from the pier, and anglers are connecting with a few spanish on the plugs when the water’s clean.
A few large chopper bluefish are falling for plugs and live baits on king rigs.
Cindy, of Jolly Roger Pier, reports that anglers are hooking some sea mullet on bottom rigs baited with shrimp and bloodworms.
A few bluefish are falling for Gotcha plugs worked from the pier.
