December 2, 2009
Nice Speckled Trout
Hello from southeast North Carolina! I hope everyone had a great
Thanksgiving, I enjoyed mine! The fishing has been quite good for the last two weeks, with lots of Speckled trout and a few other species mixed in as well to keep things fun. The big speck this week was six pounds and three ounce’s; we also caught a few over five and many more over four pounds. This is no doubt this going to be another big trout year! To the fishing report>>>
Not much has changed as far as how we are catching the Speckled trout. We are still catching quite a few nice Gary trout mixed in with the specks. The grays are hitting grubs and jigging spoons. Saltwater Assassin grubs in colors Chart-diamond glitter and Salt-pepper with chart-tail have worked well for the grays. The specks are hitting chicken on a chain, 10w-40 with chart tail and Salt & pepper with chart tail. The body shape that has worked for us is the sea shad in four inch size. In the last few trips we have got a few nice specks off Saltwater Assassin Blurp in shrimp pattern. The colors in blurp that are working are molting, good penny and rootbeer. We have also caught some trout on Berkley gulp new ghost shrimp in new penny color. This is the first gulp shrimp to have some real leg action; check’em out! We are using jig heads in colors pink and red; in weights 3/8oz and ½ oz for the grays and 1/8oz and 1/4oz for the specks.
We have started to use live shrimp as well for the specks. At this time on Tuesday 12-1 the water temp around Wrightsville Beach was 58` to 60` inshore and the inlet was around 60` to 62`. With this said it’s still warm and the trash fish are still eating up a lot of our live shrimp. This is going to change very soon with a good shot of colder air coming in this week. When we are using live shrimp, I rig them two different ways. We use float rigs and light Carolina rigs. On the float rig we use a #6 red or brown treble hook, for the Carolina rig we use a #1 L42 eagle claw hook. For both of these rigs, I prefer Stern’s tinted fluorocarbon leaders in 20# (Gunsmoke) tint. This stuff really works for our super clear water around the area!
There have been a few good by-catches while we are trout fishing; these include some Tautogs, Sheephead, Flounder and Black & Red drum. These by-catches are hitting the grubs and live shrimp we are using for the trout. The great thing is they are all good eating! My favorites are the Tautogs and Sheephead. It your bait gets close to the bottom, you’ve got a good chance at picking up one of these guys.
There still has been some False albacore fishing when the ocean is calm enough for us to get out. Marie jigs have been the best bet for the albacore. We are using a forty pound mono leader with a loop knot tied to the Marie jig. Colors and size’s; color green and pink in sizes 7gram and 14 gram. These albacore are a lot of fun on light tackle and fly; they are real drag screamers! Keep your eyes peeled for breaking fish and birds!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
