Wrightsville Beach, NC Fishing Forecast-September 2023
September is the month of change; summer starts to wind down and fall starts to show itself. I personally really like to fish in September, warm days, a little less humidity, much less boat traffic and best of all; great fishing! Here are some of the “goto” fish I like to target during September. Also, during September, the mullet run starts to get going, this always helps the fishing!
September is NC Flounder season. *Keeper North Carolina Flounder season for 2023 at the time of this report is September 15th to September 29th in coastal waters. Any Flounder caught outside of these dates must be released. Working live bait or artificial lures are both good ways to catch flounder. Live bait is good for catching higher numbers of Flounder, but not always as many larger size flounder with live bait for me. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for Flounder in September. Small menhaden work too but die very easy in the warm waters of September.
Rigging the live bait on carolina rigs with Eagle Claw L42 sizes 1 or 1/0 hooks is a good choice of rigs for Flounder. If you prefer to use artificial baits which I see bigger size flounders more often on artificial lures. Scented and unscented soft plastics work well in clear or stained waters. Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in five and six inch and colors of new penny, pearl white, fire tiger and chart pepper neon are all good too. Darker colors like new penny and fire tiger (bright but not bright?) in heavy stained/dirty waters work better to get more bites. Also try Berkley’s Powerbait Grass Pig lure in colors, chartreuse, crazy chrome violet, and swamp gas (new penny). I rig all of these lures on jig heads in 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz weights in colors red, gray, or white. Another “set” of colors that is just hitting the tackle shops is the Chrome series of Gulp baits. I tested some of these baits last year and had good luck with inshore Flounder and Redfish. I prefer all chrome, purple chrome, and red chrome. There are some even newer Chrome series colors hitting the tackle shops now!! Keep your eyes peeled for my new favorite color, Dazzleberry Chrome!!
Look for the bigger flounder around deeper water docks with good current, bait fish and lots of structure inshore. The inlets, offshore reef and ledges are all good places to find hot weather flounder. What do all these places have in common, deeper water, current and structure. Do not forget look for the clearest water possible and when fishing very stained/dirty water slow down your presentation of the bait.
When the water starts to cool down the Redfishing (Red Drum) will heat up. I look for the Reds to be in the creeks, along the ICW docks and oyster rocks. Anywhere bait is moving by! Carolina rigs with live bait or fresh cut bait is a good bet to catch a Redfish. If you want to go the artificial root, try Berkley Gulp three- or four-inch shrimp in colors sugar spice glow or sangria rigged on a 1/8oz or 1/4oz jig head should get’em to bite. Early mornings or late afternoons the top water bite should be good; cast MirrOlure Top Dog Jr’s and Top Pup’s for the best bite. Look for the top-water reds to be along marsh grass lines and shallow oyster rocks. You can also use rattling or popping corks in the same areas you use top-water plugs, just rig them with eight to fourteen inches of forty-pound fluorocarbon, 1/0 hook L42 Eagle Claw and a live figure mullet.
The bigger Reds are starting to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets. You never know when you might hook one of these hard fighting fish. When I fish for bigger Reds, I use fresh cut or live menhaden and mullet. I use carolina rigs with TroKar TK5 8/0 or 9/0 AP circle hooks and eighty-pound clear Berkley Big game mono leaders. Don’t forget to keep your drag tight when using circle hook so the hook will do its job. One tip I can give you when fishing for Bull (Old) Reds, is don’t use to light of tackle for these bigger Reds. If you fight them to long, there is a chance you can tire them out too much and kill them. Try a med/heavy rod and a reel with at least thirty-pound mono or braid, this will help you get the fish in quicker; with a better chance of a good release. Check to see if the Drum has a yellow tag in its back; there are a fair amount of tagged Big Reds out there.
Spanish mackerel and false albacore fishing can be great during September. The Spanish run the biggest (in size) all year during the fall. You can cast or troll for them and the fly fishing can be great as well. The Spanish/albacore will be around the inlets, up & down the beaches and near shore artificial reefs. Look for jumping Spanish and diving birds; that is where you need to fish. Casting small spoons like Big Nic Spanish candies on light spinning tackle will put some Spanish in the boat for you. Keep your eye peeled in local tackle shops for my new custom 1.5oz Spanish Candy Capt. Jot custom color! If you would rather troll, give a Blue Water Candy Daisy Chain a try on top and a #1 planner down deep with a Clark spoon. If you would like to give fly fishing a try, use a six to eight weight set up with floating line with a small minnow pattern fly or epoxy minnow pattern: my favorite!
Shark fishing will be good until late September. I see lots of different kinds of Sharks in September; Black tip, black nose, Sandbar, Hammerhead and Tiger. Best baits for the near shore sharks are fresh/live Bluefish, Mullet and Menhaden. I use spinning or conventional reels for Shark fishing with 300+ yards of fifty- and sixty-five-pound Spider wire Ultra-cast braid. Rigging the baits; eight feet of 80-pound mono leader; some of this leader will wind on to the reel. Connected to the 80-pound mono with a fifty-pound swivel, then Two to three foot of #9 SS wire and a TroKar 8/0 or 9/0 AP circle hook. (I push down the barb for easy release) If you prefer Fly fishing, I like Striped bass flies in Menhaden patterns with 4/0 and 5/0 hook sizes. We use ten to twelve plus weight set ups; have lots of extra flies with you!
Fishing Tackle I use: PENN Authority series reels 2500 & 3500 for Redfish, Flounder, and casting to Spanish mackerel. Big Drum and Sharks PENN Slammer IV or Authority5500 or 6500 series spinning reels or conventional Fathom II 20LW reels. Rods PENN Battalion II or Fenwick HMG Inshore 8 to 15 pound 7’ class for Redfish and Spanish mackerel. Big Drum and Sharks PENN Rampage jigging spinning or casting 30-to-80-pound class. Lines Light tackle Redfish and Spanish/albacore Spiderwire Ultra-cast 10-to-15-pound, Big Drum and Sharks 30-pound Berkley Pro Spec Chrome mono on conventional reels or Spiderwire braid 50 to 65 pound on spinning reels. Tackle storage: Plano Guide or Z series tackle bags with EDGE boxes inside.
Good September fishing to you and thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
