Fishing Report 02/22/2019

Don’t know about y’all but we're ready for Spring fishing to kick off. Even though we haven't had terrible weather this winter, it's time to get this season rolling. We're in full stock mode at the shop getting everything ready. So when the weather breaks, we'll have all you need to help you catch some fish. The shop is filling up with Inshore, Offshore, Piers and Surf supplies more than ever before, we've always kept it stocked full but going into this season we're bumping up the inventory. If it's dealing with saltwater fishing, we'll have you covered in whatever you might need from Red Drum in the Backwaters, Bluefish along the Surf to Wahoo out in the Bluewater and all in between. That goes for tackle, rods, reels, live bait and like always we carry the freshest dead bait we can get our hands on.

As far as fishing it’s been on the slow side of things, not saying there's nothing to catch because the few people that have been going have been seeing some decent action. We saw something last week that got us super excited, kind of how we can tell Spring is on the way and things are getting ready to start happening for us. We saw our first signs of Spring Sea Mullets in the Beaufort Inlet. Sam, our guy that hand ties our custom Spec Rigs has been out scouting every day the weather has been decent so we'll be the first to know when the fish have shown up in big numbers. The ones he caught last week was a decent catch of fish plus good size in the 13 to 15″ range. Also, I'm hearing of some reports on the commercial side of things that some big schools of fish are working their way down the beach that are just north of us. The “Sam Gitters” Spec rigs tipped with our fresh caught bait shrimp will be the way to go when trying for these fish. Bottom line fresh bait is a major key when targeting these fish. They will bite other stuff but I'm telling you the fresher shrimp makes a huge difference in catching numbers and quantity, we'll have plenty of bait and plenty of the local hand tied rigs ready for action. 

Also, we've been seeing a few Speckled Trout in the area, crazy enough we had a customer come by the other day with some nice trout he caught at the Radio Island access, usually the fish aren't there this time of the year but with the warmer winter there's still fish hanging on the rocks. I had a few customers make the trip to Cape Lookout Rock Jetty over the last week or so, Red Drum and Black Drum have been the name of the game up there. Bait Shrimp and Live Mud Minnows from the shop is working the best for anglers when you target the Jetty. 

We also have been seeing some Black Drum and Red Drum hanging around the docks along the ICW and most of the creeks off the ICW. Just fishing Live Minnows and Bait Shrimp on the bottom under the docks have been producing the best action. Of what, I've been hearing from anglers coming in the shop buying bait it’s been pretty good action, enough to keep you busy this time of the year. 

As far as Offshore fishing most of our customers are getting their boats ready, most of the charter fleets are out of the water prepping rigs for the season. But we're starting to see the mates show back up in the shop so they're getting prepared so that means things are getting ready to start happening. 

The best news we are hearing about is the Wahoo bite off Wrightsville Beach, so those fish should start making their push toward us in the next few weeks. Usually, we don’t hear the size of the fish they're seeing and the numbers, so we could be setting up for a great Spring run on the Wahoo. 

The few boats that are going out are bottom fishing for Trigger fish, Sea Bass and Snappers. Most anywhere with some decent bottom in the 25-40-mile range you shouldn't have any issues catching limits of bottom fish right now. The other day we had a customer catch a nice limit of Sea Bass as close in as AR330.

So that pretty much sums the report up, but I have to say we're so close to things starting to happen. Just like seeing those Sea Mullets show up last week that's a great sign. I would say like year after year, by mid-March we will start seeing our first run of Blue Fish, if the weather stays warm, we could see them show up sooner than that.