Fishing Report 01/13/2017

 
Well, last week we had our first real cold blast of 2017. Lucky for us, it only lasted a few days so not much damage was done to our inshore fishery. Now, we're back into the 60’s with no cold air in the forecast for the next 15 days bringing water temps up a bit.  I've done some research since Monday and talked to a few Speckled Trout biologists in the area, what I've found out the only area that saw any numbers in a kill off was the North River area. Which were mostly small fish with no loss of big fish being reported. Other than that area we haven't seen or heard of any major kill offs.  So that's GREAT NEWS for us; now let’s just hope we don’t see any more major cold blasts this winter. 
Even with the cold weather we've had. There's still some fish in the area, just last week we saw some very nice catches of Sea Mullets in the inlet area around the 18 Buoy, near where they're dredging the channel. Now keep in mind it's winter so these fish will move around, could be there one day gone the next.  Spec Rigs tipped with bait shrimp will be the best for action.
Also, we've been seeing good numbers of Black Drum around the Coast Guard Station and the Beaufort High Rise Bridge, fishing bait shrimp on the bottom has been producing the most fish. You can also find some Black Drum action in the back creeks and marinas around the docks this time of the year. 
With the warm weather we've had just in the last two days there's been some Speckled Trout action.  Tim, here at the shop fished a small creek off Bogue Sound yesterday for an hour or so and limited out; this same creek was frozen over on Monday. He was using Live Mud Minnows fished right on the bottom produced the best luck, also he caught a few on 17MR Mirrolures. I had a customer yesterday send a picture in of a Speck over 7lbs caught in a creek also off Bogue Sound.  So, trout fishing isn't over becaue of one cold snap. Trout fishing should be good over the next week or so since temps are going to remain warm. Some anglers even seeing some Speckled Trout action at the Radio Island beach, most have been on the small side but it's nice to catching fish in January. 
The talk of the town has been Blue-fin Tuna over the last few weeks, fishing so far has been pretty good. Last week, the bite started off very hot then slowed down when the cold blast hit. With the warm up this week the bite has fired back up with some of the largest fish of the season caught. Yesterday fishing was very slow but from what I heard the tuna fleet thought it had a lot to do with the Navy ships coming to port. With powerful sonar waves coming off the ships and helicopters flying around for sure doesn't help fishing. Looks like warm temps for the weekend so hopefully; the fish and bait will bunch back up and anglers can get back to catching. Best area seems to be around the Sea Buoy out in the Shipping Channel. We have plenty of Blue-fin supplies in-stock at the shop along with plenty of Select and Horse Ballyhoo. 
The boats that haven't been Tuna fishing have been taking advantage of the good bottom fishing going on. Black Sea Bass, Trigger Fish and Snappers haven't been that hard to come by, most of the best action has been in the 20 to 35 mile range off the beach.  But this time of the year it’s not uncommon to pick up keeper bass as close in as AR 330. 
 
 
 
 
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