Wrightsville Beach – August 21, 2014
Don Henderson with an upper-slot red drum he hooked on a topwater plug while fishing the lower Cape Fear River with Capt. Mike Pedersen of No Excuses Charters.
Arlen, of Tex’s Tackle, reports that anglers are seeing an improved spanish mackerel bite off Wrightsville Beach, with good action reported from the jetties to the Liberty Ship last week. Clarkspoons trolled behind planers and trolling weights are fooling most of the fish, but anglers can also cast metal lures to schools chasing bait on the surface.
King mackerel seem to have shown back up, and some solid fish were caught by anglers trolling live baits and dead ballyhoo around 23 Mile Rock last week. Some wahoo have also been feeding in the same area and biting live and dead baits as well.
Some sailfish have been feeding alongside the kings and wahoo and biting the same baits.
Anglers making the run to the Gulf Stream are reporting excellent wahoo action, with the best fishing north of the 200 Loran Line last week. Both skirted ballyhoo and baitless high-speed lures are fooling the ‘hoos. Some big gaffer dolphin have been in the mix as well, but they’re very scattered at present.
Bottom fishermen are reporting decent gag grouper fishing at spots 20-30 miles off the inlets. Plenty of black sea bass, grunts, and other bottom feeders are mixed in. Live, dead, and cut baits are all producing results with the reef fish.
Structure further out in the 40-50 mile range is producing more gags and some fat red and scamp grouper. They’ll bite the same baits along with vertical jigs like Blue Water Candy Roscoes.
Inshore, the red drum fishing has been red hot lately. Big numbers of reds are biting topwater plugs in the marshes, and anglers are fooling them on soft plastics and other subsurface lures as well. Plenty of the fish are also feeding under ICW docks, where live and cut mullet and menhaden are tough to beat as baits.
There’s still some good speckled trout action going on as well, with most of the fish coming from the marshes and creeks near the inlets. The specks will bite topwater plugs, soft plastics, and live baits.
Flounder fishing has been excellent lately both inshore and at nearshore structure in the ocean. Inshore, the best action seems to be between Wrightsville and Carolina beaches and in Carolina Beach Inlet. The flatfish are biting live finger mullet and menhaden along with Gulp baits on jigheads and bucktails.
Kelsey Claiborne, of Wilmington, with her first topwater fish, a 28″ red drum that struck a Rapala Skitterwalk inshore of Wrightsville Beach while she was fishing with Brent Hinson.
Sheepshead are looking for meals around inshore structure like bridges and docks (and anglers have been weighing in some over 8 lbs. lately). Dangling fiddler crabs tight to the pilings is the best bet for anglers looking to connect with the sheeps.
Jim, of Plan 9 Charters, reports that the spanish mackerel bite was excellent off Wrightsville Beach last week, with big numbers landed from the beachfront to the 50’ depths. The action has been moving around a bit, though, so anglers may have to do some trolling in order to find the hungry fish. Big numbers of small kings are mixed in with the spanish, so anglers should be certain to positively ID a mackerel before tossing it in the cooler.
Sharks are feeding in the same areas and will pounce on dead and cut baits.
Lynn, of Shearwater Charters, reports that anglers are seeing some king mackerel action in the 10 mile range off Wrightsville recently. Live, dead, and strip baits will all fool the kings.
Bottom fishing 20-30 miles out is producing action with sea bass, grunts, porgies, and some gag grouper. Squid, cigar minnows, and cut baits are all good choices for the bottom dwellers.
Some cobia and amberjacks are feeding around structure in the same range. Both will pounce on live baits and take a variety of dead baits and artificials as well.
Jamie, of Seagate Charters, reports that anglers are connecting with red drum while fishing docks along the ICW and around the rock jetties at Masonboro Inlet. Live and cut mullet and menhaden are tough for the reds to turn down.
Flounder fishing has been solid around ICW docks and near the inlets as well. Anglers are also connecting with the flatfish around nearshore structure in the ocean. Live finger mullet and peanut menhaden on Carolina rigs are the way to fool the flounder.
Speckled trout are feeding around the creeks and marshes inshore, and anglers continue to hook decent numbers. They’ve been biting topwater plugs well on many days and subsurface twitch baits when they aren’t feeding on top.
Brittany English, of Wilmington, with a 23″ red drum that attacked a live finger mullet just north of Wrightsville Beach while she was fishing with Robert Johnston.
Spanish mackerel and false albacore are feeding just off the beaches and inlets, and anglers are hooking both while trolling Clarkspoons and casting metal jigs to fish feeding on top.
A few king mackerel are in the same areas and will bite live baits like menhaden.
Phillip, of Johnnie Mercers Pier, reports that anglers are hooking some spot, sea mullet, croaker, and other panfish while bottom fishing with shrimp and bloodworms.
Some keeper flounder have been falling for small live baits fished under the pier.
Plug casters are hooking a few bluefish on Gotchas.
Live baiters have seen some cobia and landed barracudas from the end of the pier this week.
