Wrightsville Beach, NC Fishing Forecast-October 2024
October is the month when ‘Fall’ fishing really gets in full swing around Southeast, North Carolina! So many great fishing opportunities during October; Big Redfish (RED October!), Specked trout, High Speed Spanish Mackerel, False Albacore, and more!
The bigger Reds are starting to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets during October. 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 or mullet. Carolina rigs with TroKar TK5BS 9/0 Circle hook and eighty-pound clear Berkley Big game mono leaders. Do not 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 do not 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.
When the water starts to cool down just a little bit the Redfishing (puppy drum) will heat up. I look for the Reds to be in the creeks, along the ICW docks, oyster rocks, and 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 Gulp Shrimp three- or four-inch in colors sugar spice glow, molting, new penny fleck or any of the Chrome series rigged on a 1/8oz or 1/4oz Fusion Jigheads should get’em to bite. Early mornings or late afternoons the top water bite should be good; cast MirrOlure Top Dog Jr’s or 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 or a 1/8oz Jig head & a Gulp Shrimp.
During October I catch some of the biggest numbers of Speckled trout all year. Hard baits like MirrOlures have put some big numbers of trout in the boat for me and for many other anglers over the years. One key point to trout I have found is that most days Specks will bite, but what are they eating that day? This is when you need to know where to start; what lures to try? The series I prefer are the 17MR & 22MR (Catch 2000jr) suspending, 18MR, 51M and 52MR sinking baits.
Colors; MirrOlure makes a lot of different colors but here are some of my go to colors around Southeast NC area waters. MirrOlure color codes: 11, 21, 26, 51, 704, 706, CFPR, CH, EC, HP and Capt. Jot Custom color #1 (Pink back/white belly), #2 (purple back/pink belly) and #3 (Blue back/pink belly) colors in 17MR, #1 in 22MR & 52MR (only found at Tex’s Tackle shop) Any local tackle shop can help you with these color codes or at MirrOlure.com. Fishing Depths to use these lures; 17MR & 22MR use these lures in two to six feet of water (suspending). 18MR, 51M & 52MR use these lures in four to fifth-teen plus feet of water with current (sinking). If your lure is hitting the bottom, go to a shallower running lure (suspending type). I prefer for my leaders Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon twenty pound in clear, thirty pound if the blues show up in numbers.
If you have ever done any trout fishing at all you know that the grub/jig (soft plastic) lures work very well for Speckled trout. Good looking scented lures that have been working very well for me lately are Berkley Gulp Shrimp and Gulp Jerkshad come in many colors, but here is a few that I like for trout in (shrimp pattern); sugar spice glow, pearl white, Key lime chrome and flamingo chrome The new chrome series of Gulp baits have really caught my eye.
The newer Bonga series of lures really did well last trout season for me. I like the Bonga Shad in four-inch size. Also, the Bonga Shrimp for targeting larger Trout and Redfish did well too. If you like trick/stick style trout lures, check out the Bonga Stick. I rig all my trout soft plastic lures on 1/16oz, 1/8oz and 1/4oz Fusion Jigheads heads in colors red, gray, or white and I always use a fluorocarbon leader when trout fishing. I prefer for my leaders Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon twenty pound in clear, thirty pound if the blues show up in numbers.
Do not count out live bait if you enjoy fishing with it. Try live smaller mullets, mud minnows and live shrimp. In shallow waters of two to six feet I like to float these live baits with a cork and a small #6 treble hook. In deeper waters of six to ten plus I rig them on light Carolina rigs with a small #1 or #2 Eagle claw L42 offset circle hook. Just wait until you feel that trout take off with the bait and lightly set the hook, remember trout have very soft mouths fast hooks sets but with light power work best. Here again Pro Spec Fluorocarbon twenty-pound test fluorocarbon leaders.
Spanish mackerel and false albacore fishing can be great during October. 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 1.5oz Big Nic Spanish Candy in Capt. Jot custom color. One tip that has really helped my customers catch more of the Spanish, false albacore and bonito is using high speed spinning reels. I did not think it would make such a difference but it really has, speeding up the presentation gets more bites! I really like the Slammer IV High speed spinning reel for this application. 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.
Tackle run down: Slammer IV & Authority spinning reels 2500, 3000, 3500 sizes or PENN Low-profile reels (baitcasters) 200 or 300 sizes for the Spanish mackerel/false albacore (High speed series), normal speed for Redfish. 2000 and 2500 Clash II or New Battle IV spinning reels for Speckled trout. Bull Drum (Big Drum) Slammer IV & Authority Spinning reels 5500 & 6500 reels with Carnage III rods series, PENN Fathom II 20LW casting reels with Carnage III spinning rod. Fenwick HMG Inshore spinning 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Redfish. Fenwick Eagle series rods for Speckled trout in medium 7’. Line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound for light tackle fishing and Berkley Pro Spec mono thirty pound in orange for the Bull Drum. Tackle Storage I prefer Plano Guide series and Z-Series with EDGE boxes inside.
Good October fishing to you and thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
