Wrightsville Beach, NC Fishing Forecast-June 2020
One of the better fishing months in Southeast NC is June; lighter winds (hopefully), warm days and so many different kinds of fish to target. Here are some of the fish I like to target during June around Southeast NC.
Redfish are in their summer trend by June and the trick to summer Reds is to go early before the sun is high and hot in the sky. Top water lures and rattling corks in the shallow waters earlier mornings and afternoons will produce Redfish. I prefer MirrOlure Top dog Jr and Top Pup’s for great ‘walk the dog action’, fishing these along marsh grass edges. Working grubs like Berkley Gulp later in the day will also produce Reds for you, fishing deeper holes and docks. Slow rolling swimbaits like a Berkley Powerbait Champ swimmer or Grass pig’s rig on TroKar 7/0 1/4oz swimbait hooks in two to five foot of water has produced some nice Reds when the water heats up. Sometimes it can be just like colder mouths, slow down your presentation a little when the water gets hot. Give the Redfish a little more time to catch up with your bait when the water temp is over eighty degrees.
Everybody loves to catch and eat Flounder; they are really getting their act together by June. Keep in mind you can fish for Flounder but the season is closed in NC; you must release all flounder. (Keeper season August 16th to September 30th) You can find Flounder just about anywhere when June rolls in. In southeast NC, I look for bigger Flounder around deeper channel drop-offs; in waters of five to fifth-teen feet plus deep. The local inlets and cuts; south Topsail, Rich’s, Mason’s, masonboro, Carolina Beach and snow’s cut are always a good place to find some bigger size Flounders. Last but certainly not least, are the artificial reefs, ledges and hard/live bottoms from one to ten miles off the beach, these areas always hold very nice Flounder in June.
Once you have found some Flounder you need to know how to catch’em. If you want to go the artificial root, try bigger baits; this will greatly help you catch bigger size Flounder. I prefer Berkley Gulp five and six inch Jerkshad in colors pearl white, chart pepper neon and new penny. Also Berkley Powerbait Grass pig lures in colors Chartreuse silver fleck, green back or crazy chrome violet. Rigging both the jerkshad and grass pig lures on 3/4oz to 1oz jig heads or Berkley Fusion bucktails in 1oz or 1.5oz for ocean fishing. Another great Flounder lure is the Berkley Gulp four inch shrimp pattern; this bait is great for cast up and down inshore drop-offs in creek channels. I rig these baits on jig heads in sizes 1/4oz to 3/8oz for inshore; in colors red, gray and white.
If you would like to go with live bait for the Flounders, try mud minnows, small mullets or small menhaden as live bait. Rig these live baits on Carolina rigs with an Eagle Claw L42 1/0 hook, eight to fourteen inches of thirty to forty pound fluorocarbon as leader. I prefer egg sinkers as my weight, the secret to how much weight you use is ‘as much as you need to stay on the bottom but as least as you can get away with.’ You need to be on the bottom for Flounder but going lighter will always get you more bites!
Last but never least; Cobia fishing is in full swing by early June and should be good until early July; so far this year it’s been hit or miss for me. I look for Cobia around inlets, shoals and bait schools; near shore/offshore reefs and ledges are also a good place to look too. With the water being clear most of the time in June it should easier to see those brown logs in the water. I like to throw big jigs, swim baits and live bait to the Cobia. Color really does not seem to matter, but (go bright); Berkley Fusion Bucktails in 1.5oz to 3oz, but I always add a Berkley Gulp 5 inch grub. When I’m not sight casting for them, we are fishing around inlets, shoals and near shore artificial reefs. I float fish, bottom fish and kite fish in these areas with live menhaden, spots and mullet as bait. You can chum if you like, but the sharks and Rays will come in numbers!
One fish that is always on my hot weather list is the Sheephead. The Sheephead is a good challenge to catch and they fight hard, but they are also good to eat! Another great thing about Sheephead fishing when it’s hot outside is that you can hide under a bridge out of the sun to catch them. Just think; fishing somewhere out of the sun and you’re catching great eating fish! All you need is some fiddler crabs or sand fleas for bait. A medium/heavy action spinning or casting rod with Spiderwire twenty or thirty pound braid for line will help you bring in that big Sheephead in. Tie on a short carolina rig with forty or fifty pound fluorocarbon leader and a small live bait J hook (sharp/strong)! Drop that fiddler crab down beside a piling on the carolina rig and when you feel that little bump; set the hook and hold on! PS: they are great eating in the two to six pound range!
Tackle run down: PENN Spinfisher VI or the new Clash II series spinning reels 2500, 3000, 3500 sizes for the Redfish, sheephead and Flounder. Cobia: PENN Spinfisher VI 5500 & 6500 spinning reels or PENN 20LW, 25LW, 25NLD Fathom casting reels. Rods PENN Battalion or the New Fenwick HMG Inshore series; 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Redfish, sheephead and Flounder. Cobia Rods: PENN Rampage or Carnage II Jigging series 50 to 100 class casting and spinning. Line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound braid and Berkley Pro Spec Chrome mono in twenty and thirty pound for the Cobia; it is great line! Leader material Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon 30 to 40 pound for inshore and 80 pound Cobia fishing. Tackle storage Plano Z-series or Guide series tackle bags with Plano Edge stowaway boxes.
Stay cool and enjoy your summer fishing! Thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
