Fishing Report 01/31/2019

Well one thing for sure, we’re having a typical North Carolina kind of winter and that’s been great for our fishery. We’re seeing a few cold days then we bounce back in the 50’s. Starting next Monday it’s looking like we’re going to even have a run in the 60’s for 4 days straight. Without having weeks of just cold freezing weather it doesn’t allow our waters to get too cold to harm our fish. I expect with what we have coming starting on Saturday with temps back in the mid 50’s then getting warmer for 5 days straight along plus with a lot of sunshine the water temps will start creeping up. For sure, winter isn’t over by a long shot but if we can just get through February with the cold snaps, we should be good to go for the spring with the fishing turning on pretty quickly. I remember just two years ago, we had a run of some great weather mid-February and by the end of the month anglers were catching Sea Mullets and Bluefish that early, not just a few; the bite was really good.

 

Inshore:

As far as the fishing, I’m not going to lie it’s been on the slow side but way better than it was last winter. We still have been weighing some nice Speckled Trout over the last two weeks. We have weighed some over the 6lb mark and still getting reports of plenty of small fish back in the creeks. Which is a great thing because once the water starts really warming up, we should see a great spring bite.

 I get asked a lot this time of the year where is the best place to fish. Most of the action you’re going to find now is in the back of the creeks, when I say back of creeks all the way back where it narrows down. Really, any creek that has good depth in the back of it this time of year could have trout stacked in it. Now, they don’t bite every day, but with this warm trend coming in the next few days that’s when fish will turn on. Just a degree or two rise in the water temps will turn the fish on and they’ll start eating. Lures that we’ve been seeing working the best has been 17MR and 18MR Mirrolures in some of our custom colors because you can work them so slow. Also, we’ve seen a few big fish caught on Fluke style lures like Z-Man JerkshadZ, DOA Jerkshads and Zoom Jerkshads. Anglers are fishing these baits on light jig heads or even on a light weighed weedless style hook enabling to fish the bait slow. Something a lot of trout anglers will carry with them now is Live Mud Minnows, this time of the year in the cold they can really make a difference if you get in a creek that the fish don’t want to bite.

Black Drum, Red Drum and Sheepshead also have been in the area to catch, most of the action has been around the bridges, docks and the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty. Just bait shrimp on the bottom has been working the best, letting the fish find the bait. The bite has been kind of hit or miss but when you find them, they have been pretty easy to catch. We have some customers that have been fishing some of the local docks in the area catching fish just about every trip, same goes for the Cape Lookout Jetty. Had some customers that fished the jetty last week and brought back some nice Sheepshead in the 4 to 5lb range.

As far as the Red Drum, a few anglers are starting to report they’re starting to really get into their winter time school pattern. One of our guides fished last week and found some nice schools of fish in the marsh areas and were pretty easy to catch. Now, keep in mind these fish aren’t all over the marsh like summertime, but if you put the time in there are some schools around to fish. Also, this is the time of the year when you can find the huge schools of fish along the surf zone and up at the Cape’s point. I know of some good catches caught last weekend off the point by casting spoons.

We have seen a few nice Taugs caught around the Port Area in the last week or so, not many but there’s a few fish in that area if you take the time to fish for them. Just shrimp on the bottom will get you some bites if they are around. One customer came by last weekend with a really nice one that was in the 3lb range plus I heard of some caught in the 6lb range. These fish are great to eat so if you catch one don’t release it back because it’s probably one of the best fish you can catch from our waters and only a very limited window to even catch them.

Still some Puffer Fish in the area to catch, bite has slowed some with the cold weather but with the warm up coming over the next week I have a feeling Radio Island and Fort Macon Park access will start producing good numbers of fish again. They usually stay around all winter and like any other fish will bite better on the warmer days.

 

Ocean:

Something we never have talked about this time of the year is Bonito, now we don’t know if this was being at the right place at the right time of deal but we had some customers kill them at AR305 last weekend. They were trolling Cigar Minnows rigged up on Mack a Hoos and Clarkspoons. So, I’m not saying you’re going to kill them at 305 but there was a nice batch of fish in that area a few days ago. Plus, with the warm weather on the way who knows they might still be there to catch or move closer inshore. Just very odd to see the size and numbers these anglers ran across.

Also, in the 20 mile range the Albacore have been thick, schools busting the top of the water all over the place. I talked to a few customers that’s caught them on light tackle and casting jigs over the last week. So that’s a really good sign for our spring Albie run, if numbers are already like that offshore of us when they push in along the beaches the bite should be on fire.

Triggerfish bite has been going off, boats having no issues in catching limits of fish. Best action is finding hard bottom offshore in the 30-40-mile range but boats have been catching limits of fish as close in as 20 miles over the last few weeks. Squid wing has been the go-to bait of choice for the triggers, and yes, we do have them in-stock. Along with the Trigger Fish anglers been seeing plenty of nice Sea Bass, actually had a customer the other day get a nice limit of bass as close as AR320. Also, seeing some Grouper being caught but that season is closed; so, you must release them. Unless it’s a Snowy Grouper but usually you aren’t going to see them unless you’re on offshore toward the deep.

As far as Wahoo didn’t hear all that much last weekend, did have some customers fish last Sunday that caught nice Wahoo and a couple of Sailfish. Best bite still seems to be on down south toward the Swansboro Hole or even further. I know some of the boats fishing off Wrightsville Beach have been seeing some Wahoo on the good weather days with nice Sails in the mix. So those fish are more than likely slowly heading our way. Winds going to be light coming up for about 5 days so I’m guessing if anyone wants to go try their luck should be some fish out there to catch. If not, you can always fall back to catching some bottom fish to make the trip worth it this time of the year.