Wrightsville Beach, NC Fishing Forecast-August 2024
August fishing in southeast NC can be pretty good but a few things to keep in mind. Most August’s we must watch the water temps, they can get high during August. Remember fish get lethargic from high water temps just like cold water temps during the winter. Also, we sometimes get very heavy rain/thunderstorms which can dirty up the waters quickly and these dirty waters can last a few hours to a few days. Or you have a tropical storm system coming through like right now! Yes, with lots and lots of rain, wind for days. This is going to change how I fish for the next two weeks of so. With that said here are my dirty and hot water fishing tactics.
One fish that is always on my hot weather and stained waters list is the Sheephead. The Sheephead is a good challenge to catch, and they fight hard, but they are also good to eat! 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. I really like to use a 300 size PENN Low-profile bait-casters. Tie on a short carolina rig with forty- or fifty-pound fluorocarbon leader and a small live bait J hook (sharp/strong)! Another rig I have been having success with is a NC treat jig rig for Sheephead fishing. Drop that fiddler crab down beside a piling on one of these rigs and when you feel that little bump; set the hook and hold on! PS: they are great eating in the two-to-eight-pound range in my opinion.
North Carolina is not really known highly for Tarpon fishing, but I do see them pushing just off the southeast inlets and the lower Cape Fear River from time to time. To date this year, we have had three on and landed one. If you want a good challenge, give Carolina Tarpon fishing a try this August. The best times are very early morning or late afternoon and into the night. I fish for Tarpon on the bottom or free lining, using live and fresh dead baits like, spots, mullet, and menhaden. I rig these baits on fish finder rigs, with one to three feet of 80-to-100-pound fluorocarbon leaders. Circle hooks are the best bet for good hook ups and landings for Tarpon in hook sizes 7/0 to 9/0 depending what hook series you like. I prefer Trokar TK5 Bait Saver Circle 8/0 or 9/0 circle hooks, super sharp and super strong! It is not easy to catch a NC Tarpon, but I promise if you do or even just jump one off its still really cool to see!
I also enjoy shark fishing later in the summer (late July to early September). Sharks on light tackle are always a good pull and boy the kids love to catch’em! Sharks do not really seem to care if the water is dirty either. I drift live and fresh dead bluefish, Spanish mackerel, mullet, or menhaden in twenty to forty feet of water offshore. I rig these baits with a 7/0 to 9/0 TroKar circle hook TK5 with one foot of ninety pound plus wire and six to eight feet of eighty-pound mono leader. You can free line the bait and /or put a small egg sinker on to keep the bait close to the bottom. You will know when you get a bite! Most sharks are in the ten-to-one-hundred-pound range.
Bull Redfish or old drum (big Red Drum) will start showing up in good numbers around inlets and hard/live bottoms just off the beach to about ten miles out in early August. Live or fresh dead bait is the key to catching these brutes. Most fish will be twenty-eight to over forty inches in length, very fun sizes to catch! It is not hard to rig for the Bull reds; short carolina rigs with a 7/0 to 9/0 TroKar TK5BS circle hook will do the trick (less chance of a throat hook). Live or fresh cut Menhaden or mullet as bait. Remember if you are fishing for larger Drum, please use heavier tackle. The larger Drum will fight so hard when the water is hot, and it is easy to kill them using to light of tackle (fighting them to long). *Please take the time to revive Red drum especially bigger fish during warmer water months; it may take upwards of fifteen minutes to do so.
Flounder can be a tougher species to catch in dirty water, but keep in mind they still must eat too! Working live or artificial lures slower so the flounder have time to see and react to the target (bait). Live bait is good for catching numbers of Flounder, but not always as many larger size flounder with live bait. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for Flounder in August. Small menhaden work too but die very easy in the warm waters of August. 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 do prefer and I see bigger size flounders more often on artificial lures. Scented and unscented grubs 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. Do not be afraid of using scented lures when the water is hot and/or stained/dirty, scent can make a difference. The Chrome series Gulp baits give you scent and great colors, especially in stained/dirty waters. I really like the Purple chrome, Red chrome, and Key lime chrome six-inch Gulp Jerkshad for Flounder and Redfish! Also try Berkley’s New Powerbait Bonga Shad in five inch, colors I prefer are HD Pinfish, Silver flash, Sight flash, Cold Beer and when the waters are dirty/stained I like Dark night. I rig all these soft plastic lures on Berkley Fusion Jigheads in 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz weights in colors red, gray, or white. Leader material Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon in 30- or 40-pound test.
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. *At the time of writing this report there is No Coastal NC Flounder season planned for 2024. BUT the catch & release Flounder fishing has been pretty good this season.
Tackle run down: PENN Slammer IV & Authority spinning reels 2500, 3000, 3500 sizes or PENN Low-profile bait-casters 300 sizes for the Sheephead, Redfish and Flounder. Tarpon/Sharks/Bull Drum PENN Slammer IV & Authority 5500 & 6500 reels with Rod Carnage III Spinning/Jig series, PENN Fathom II 20LW casting reels with Rod Carnage III 40 to 80 Boat series. Fenwick HMG Inshore spinning 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Sheephead and Flounder. Line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound and Berkley Pro Spec Chrome Mono-Orange thirty pound for the Tarpon/sharks/Bull Drum. Tackle Storage I prefer Plano Guide and Z-series tackle bags with EDGE Boxes inside.
Have a good August, stay cool and dry, thanks for reading! Good fishing to You!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
