Topsail – September 14, 2017
Chris, of East Coast Sports, reports that due to the large amount of turbulence in the surf, it’s been hard to fish, but that hasn’t stopped anglers from taking advantage of a good sea mullet and pompano bite. Sand fleas have been the ticket. There have also been some decent spot runs, which will continue to pick up in the coming weeks.
Most of the spot have been caught off local piers on both real and artificial bloodworms. Blues are being caught off the piers (and in the surf, too) on Castmasters and Hopkins lures, and some 30-40 lb. reds have also been landed.
Inside, slot reds are still doing well, and while they’re hitting pretty much anything, topwaters have been producing the most fish. Black drum have been biting around local bridges and at the seawall. Using live shrimp at night will produce the most fish. During the day, sheepshead are biting fiddlers, sea urchins, and sand fleas.
Outside, king fishing has been decent. Most of the fish are being caught between 12-15 miles on Mackahoos rigged with cigar minnows.
In the Gulf Stream, Blue Water Candy Jag-A-Hoos are favored by anglers looking to take advantage of an on-fire wahoo bite, but really any high speed trolling rig will work. The key to catching wahoo is to troll fast.
While there aren’t a lot of flounder to report, some anglers are having success with Gulp-tipped bucktails around AR-360 and a little farther out around AR-362.
There have been some citation-sized spanish between 2-3 miles out using live finger mullet and menhaden.
Cooper Radtke (age 12) with a black drum that was landed near Futch Creek using a 3’’ Gulp shrimp.
Mike, of Native Son Guide Service, reports that fall is in the air, which means inshore drum fishing is continuing to improve as the reds storm the creeks looking for food. Red drum can be found in the pockets off of the main creeks where they’re out of the current. If you see bait scattering, there’s a good chance that a drum is underneath.
Flounder have been hanging around in the same areas. Dragging your favorite soft plastic (such as Z-Man MinnowZ) through the deeper holes has been working well.
Bait showers are also a dead giveaway for trout, which are slowly starting to bite more as the water gets cooler. Expect the trout bite to keep improving in the coming weeks.
Spanish and bluefish are also biting heavily in the inshore high-current areas. Keep a diamond jig rigged to up your chances of landing one.
Chadwick, of South End Anglers, reports that inshore fishing has been picking up thanks to cooler temperatures. Baitfish are schooling up more heavily, and red drum are keying into their movements, feeding along oyster beds, grass shorelines, and any “pinch point” where the baitfish are steadily moving. Skitterwalks and MirrOlure Poppa Mullets are working well for the reds, especially during low light periods.
Speckled trout are showing up with the north winds that have been in the area lately, and once Irma passes, the bite will pick up even more. The trout are feeding around creek mouths and drop-offs and have been hitting popping corks with Fathom inshore jigs, topwater plugs, and MirrOlure MR18s.
Nearshore fishing has been great for spanish, blues, false albacore, and small kings. Trolling with traditional planer and spoon setups are producing the most fish. Clouser minnows (on 7 and 8 wt. fly tackle) and casting small metal jigs on light spinning tackle will also work wonders when the fish are surface feeding.
Bottom fishing has been good lately, as gag grouper, grunts, sea bass, and porgies are all feeding heavily. There are plenty of gags to be found in the 8-20 mile range. They’re mostly biting dead cigar minnows on bottom rigs, while the other bottomfish are going for squid.
Amberjacks and barracudas have been thick over nearshore structure, and both fish are falling for live bait. The amberjacks are also hitting flat fall jigs, while the barracudas can be picked up with poppers and tubes.
Jordan Blaz with a 21” flounder that struck a D.O.A. jerk shad near North Topsail.
Jim, of Plan 9 Charters, reports that the strong northeast wind has put a damper on an otherwise fantastic spanish, bluefish, and false albacore bite. Fish were being caught just offshore on small jigs, spoons, and flies.
King fishing is picking up, especially between the 7-12 mile range, with fish between 26-34” being caught on cigar minnows (on dead bait rigs), Drone spoons, and ballyhoo rigs.
Frank, of Seaview Fishing Pier, reports that the kings are nowhere to be found, but plenty of big reds are being caught on finger mullet by anglers venturing out at night.
A few blues and spanish are being landed using plugs and jigs.
There’s also been a decent black drum bite and a handful of keeper flounder landed.
Paul Park with a citation red drum that went for a finger mullet tossed from the Seaview Pier.
Vinita, of Surf City Pier, reports that decent hauls of all sorts of fish are being caught, mostly on shrimp. Everything you can expect at this time of year is biting, with flounder, blues, spanish, and pompano making up the majority of the catch.
The spot are moving in, too, with a handful being landed already. Bloodworms are the ticket for any spot in the area.
Robbie, of Jolly Roger Pier, reports that most of the pier’s catch has been Virginia mullet and black drum, which have been landed with shrimp on bottom rigs.
Plug fishing has been producing a few spanish and bluefish.
