February in Southeast NC is one of the tougher months to get out and fish, the weather windows are much smaller and the temp can be downright cold some days. But it’s not all doom and gloom, fishing can be great during February especially when we have mild runs of weather. This year has been no different just some the up’s and down’s have been pretty aggressive; Snow and teens one week then seventies and rain! Target the back side of milder trends in temps and you’ll catch fish!
Cape Fear River Striped Bass are one of my favorites for winter fishing in our area. I look for the Stripers on drop offs, around pilings and creek mouths. Working baits like Berkley Gulp five or six inch jerkshads and Berkley Havoc grass pigs should get you a bite or two from a Striped Bass. I prefer white and chart pepper neon for the jerkshad and pink, swamp gas and chartreuse silver flake in the Havoc grass pig. I rig my jerkshad and grass pigs on swim bait 7/0 hooks, in 1/4oz weight. Mid water crank baits work too, try lures that dive from three to eight feet deep for best results, Rapala X-raps work well. If the crank bait starts to hit the bottom let it float up a bit or trust me you’ll lose it to a structure! Don’t forget that the Cape Fear River Striped Bass fishery is a closed fishery and is catch & release only; you must release all Striped Bass. Keep your eyes out for tagged Stripers there are a lot of tagged fish out there.
There is one fish that can be caught very easily during the winter months; if you find them! This Redfishing can be some of the best of the year for catching numbers of fish; the deal breaker for this fishery is you have got to good weather, calm seas and bright sunny skies for the ocean schools. I use Berkley Gulp Ripple Mullet in colors Pearl/chart tail, New Penny and Rootbeer gold/chart tail; also the Berkley Gulp 2” & 3” Shrimp work well too. Also MirrOlure Catch 2000Jr lures work well for winter Redfish. On warmer light wind days you can also find some nice schools of Reds in shallow water oyster flats and rocks. The Reds will sun on these dark colored bottom areas for a little extra warm up; this is also where you’ll see some bait fish doing the same thing (warming up). Work these baits slowly in front of the Redfish schools; not right through the school, all this will do is spook the Reds and will make it very hard to catch them. If the Reds are hungry they break away from the school and eat your bait!
With the late fall we had, water temps are a bit higher this winter than past winters and the Speckled trout bite has been a good pick most of the winter! Here are some ways I like to target Speckled trout into later winter months. A lure that always comes to mind for winter Speckled trout is the MirrOlure in the 52M, 52MR and TT series. MirrOlure color codes I prefer are: 11, 21, 26, 51, 704, CFPR, CH, EC, HP AND Capt. Jot Custom color (only found at Tex’s Tackle shop). Most any local tackle shop can help you with these color codes (a lot easier than spelling them all out here). Working MirrOlures slowly in deeper water breaks and drop offs can produces some very nice trout. If the water gets a bit dirty due to winds or rain/ice/snow, give Berkley Gulp 3” shrimp, fire tail shrimp and Jerkshad a try. Rig the Gulp or Saltwater Assassin Sea shad’s on lighter jig heads, here too for the trout so you can work them just a bit slower due to the colder water temps. Don’t rule out a nice Gray trout mixed in during the winter while speckled
trout fishing. Look for the bigger trout to be sitting close to the current, but just off and out of it. Remember these fish are not going to burn calories they don’t have too swimming against the current. Don’t forget Speckled trout is closed at this time until June 15th 2018; you must release all Speckled trout.
Tackle run down: PENN Battle II & Conflict II Spinning reels sizes 2500, 3000 & 4000 for the Redfish, Speckled trout and Striped Bass. PENN Battalion in 6’6” & 7’ medium and line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten or fifteen; Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon leader for leaders.
Thanks for reading, stay warm or cool and good fishing to ya!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Tackle Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on February 1st, 2018
October is the month when ‘Fall’ fishing really gets in full swing! So many great fishing opportunities during October; Big Redfish, Gator Specked trout and Jumbo Flounder!
As the waters cool down from the fall air the Redfish really get active and this is the time to catch some good numbers in shallow water. The mullets will be in full run by early October and the Redfish take full advantage of this! Casting top-water lures along marsh grass banks and oyster rocks in creeks and along the ICW will sure to put a Redfish on your line. Try these top-water lures; MirrOlure’s Top-pup or Top dog Jr. Remember work these lures with good side to side action (walking the dog) for a sure strike bite action! Also you can cast live finger mullets on rattling or popping corks for these shallow water Redfish as well.
The bigger Reds start to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets during September. 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 fish finder rigs with 7/0 or 8/0 circle hooks and eighty pound Berkley Big game mono leaders. Don’t forget to keep your drag tight when using circle hook so they will do their job. One tip I can give you when fishing for Bull 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 to 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 Red has a yellow tag in its back; there are a fair amount of tagged Big Reds out there.
Speckled trout are not too hard to catch, but knowing what lures to use and when can really make a difference in how many you catch. I prefer to use grubs and hard baits in deeper waters (six to twenty feet) like MirrOlure 52m & 52MR’s or 18MR series. The grubs I prefer are Berkley Gulp 3” shrimp, the new 3” Ripple mullet and Saltwater Assassin Seashads in 4” size. When I’m targeting Speckled trout in shallower waters (two to six feet) I prefer lures like the MirrOlure 17MR and 22MR (catch 2000 jr): on very calm mornings try a MirrOlure She pup top or Top pup top water lures will catch’em. It’s so exhilarating to see a big fall Trout hit a top-water lure! If you would rather use live bait, try live mud minnows or live shrimp; rig the live bait on a light Carolina rig for deeper water or a float rig for shallow waters.
During October you can catch very good size and numbers of Flounder. I catch most of my October flounder around the inlets, creeks and channels (deeper is better) that lead to the inlets. Casting lures like Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in sizes five and six inch should put some keeper Flounder in the cooler for you. If you would rather use live bait; try a Carolina rig with a three to six inch mullet in the same areas. Try an Eagle Claw L42 1/0 size hook for your flounder Carolina rig. Just remember to take your time when you hook that door mat Flounder, they are great at getting off the line and have a good landing net close by like an EGO rubber mash net.
Spanish mackerel and False Albacore fishing can be great during October. The Spanish and False Albacore run the biggest all year during the fall. You can cast or troll for them and the fly fishing can be great as well. The Spanish and False Albacore will be around the inlets and near shore artificial reefs. Look for jumping/busting fish and diving birds; that is where you will find the Spanish and False Albacore. Casting small spoons or jigs on light spinning tackle will put some fish in the boat for you. 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 nine weight set up with floating line with a small minnow pattern fly or epoxy minnow pattern; my favorite!
Tackle run down: PENN Battle II’s and Conflict II Spinning reels 2000,2500, & 3000 sizes for the Redfish, Speckled trout, Spanish, Albacore and Flounder. Bull Reds PENN Fathom casting reels or Slammer III spinning reels. Rods PENN Battalion 6’6” & 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Redfish, Spanish, Albacore and Flounder. Med/light for the Speckled trout. Bull Reds PENN Rampage Jigging class rods in 50 to 100 class. Line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound. Berkley Pro Spec fluorocarbon leader material in twenty pound. Bull Red line Thirty pound Berkley Pro-Spec Chrome mono.
Thanks for reading and good fishing to you!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Tackle Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on October 4th, 2017
September is the start of fall and one of my favorite months to fish! A bit cooler weather, less boat traffic and the summer fishing is only better! Here are some of my ‘goto’ September species.
The Flounder fishing has been good this season so far, with this said it looks like September should be a great mouth for Flounder too. We look for Flounder in the fall around the inlets, in the creeks; up and down the ICW. We also will find some very nice Flounder just offshore of Wrightsville/Topsail/Carolina Beach on live/hard bottom as well artificial reefs. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for Flounder in September. Rigging the live bait on carolina rigs with EC 042 1/0 hooks is a good choice of rigs for Flounder. If you prefer to use artificial baits, which I do; scented and none scented grubs will do the job. Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in six inch with colors chart pepper neon and pearl white seem to work the best for me. Rig these on jig heads with longer hook shanks with will help with a better hookup ratio.
When the water starts to cool down the Redfishing will heat up. Look for the Reds to be in the creeks, along the ICW docks and oyster rocks. 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 inch in color sugar spice glow or molting 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 fish finder rigs with TroKar 8/0 or 9/0 AP circle hooks and eighty pound Berkley Big game mono leaders. Don’t forget to keep your drag tight when using circle hook so they will do their 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 to 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 Red has a yellow tag in its back; there are a fair amount of tagged Big Reds out there.
Spanish mackerel fishing can be great during September. The Spanish run the biggest all year during the fall. You can cast or troll for them and the fly fishing can be great as well. The Spanish will be around the inlets and near shore artificial reefs. Look for jumping Spanish and diving birds; that is where you will find the Spanish mackerel. Casting small spoons or jigs on light spinning tackle will put some Spanish in the boat for you. 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 five 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. We 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. We use spinning reels for Shark fishing with 300+ yards of thirty and fifty pound Spider wire Ultra-cast braid. Rigging the baits; eight feet of 80 pound mono leader; some will wind on to the reel. Connected to the 80 pound mono is a fifty pound swivel, then Two to three foot of #9 SS wire and an 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 weight set ups; have lots of extra flies with you!
Good September fishing to you and thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Tackle Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on September 6th, 2017
August fishing around Wrightsville, it’s the hot of the summer but fishing can be pretty good. I prefer to go earlier or later bet the heat and the crowds. Here are a few of my favorite August “goto” species.
Flounder are a great hot weather fish because it really does not seem to matter how hot it gets they still bite! Live bait is the key for catching higher numbers of Flounder, but if you want to catch bigger Flounder try artificial bait. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for Flounder in August. Rigging the live bait on carolina rigs with Eagle Claw L42 1/0 or 2/0 hooks is a good choice of rigs for Flounder. If you prefer to use artificial baits; scented and none scented grubs as well as spinner baits will do the job in shallow waters. Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in five and six inch and colors of new penny, pearl white and chart pepper neon are all good too. Also try Berkley’s Havoc Grass Pig lure in colors, chartreuse, pearl white silver and swamp gas. I rig these lures on jig heads in 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz weights in colors red, gray or white.
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.
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!
North Carolina is not really known for Tarpon fishing but I do see them pushing just off Masonboro inlet and the lower Cape Fear River form time to time. 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 in to 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 three to five 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 AP TK5 9/0 circle hooks, super sharp and super strong! It 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! I drift live and fresh dead bluefish, Spanish mackerel, mullet or menhaden in thirty to forty five feet of water offshore. I rig these baits with a 7/0 to 9/0 TroKar circle hook with one foot of ninety pound 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’ll know when you get a bite! Most sharks are in the ten to one hundred pound range.
Last but certainly not lest is Bull Redfish (big Red Drum). The Bull Reds 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 to catch size! It’s not hard to rig for the Bull reds; short carolina rigs with a 7/0 to 9/0 TroKar circle hook will do the trick. Remember if your catching larger Drum, please use heavier tackle; these Drum will work so hard when the water is hot and it is easy to kill them using to light of tackle (fighting them to long).
Tackle run down: PENN Battle II & Slammer III reels 2500, 3000, 3500 sizes for the Sheephead and Flounder. Tarpon/Sharks/Bull Drum PENN SlammerIII 6500 & 7500 and PENN 20 Fathom LW casting reels. Rods PENN Battalion 6’6” & 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Sheephead and Flounder. Tarpon/Shark/Bull Drum Rods: PENN Rampage Jigging series. Line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound and Berkley Pro Spec Chrome mono in thirty and forty pound for the Tarpon/sharks.
Have a good August, stay cool and thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Fishing Tackle Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on July 11th, 2017
June what a great fishing month around Southeast NC! Lighter winds, warm days and the fish are biting! Here are my “goto” Southeast NC June target fish.
Everybody loves to catch and eat Flounder; they are really getting their act together by June. You can find Flounder just about anywhere when June rolls in, just knowing where to look to find the keepers is the key! In the Wrightsville area, I look for keeper Flounder around deeper channel drop-offs; in waters of five to fifth-teen feet deep. The local inlets and cuts Carolina Beach, Masonboro, Mason’s, Rich’s inlets and snow’s cut are always a good place to find some keeper 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 more keeper size Flounder. I prefer Berkley Gulp five and six inch Jerkshad in colors pearl white, chart pepper neon and new penny. Another great Flounder bait is the Berkley Gulp 4 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 1/8oz to 5/8oz for inshore and 1/2oz to 3/4oz for ocean fishing; 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!
Redfish are in their summer trend by June and the trick to summer Reds is go early before that sun is high and hot in the sky. Topwater lures and rattling corks in the shallow waters earlier mornings and afternoons will produce Redfish. I prefer MirrOlure Top dog Jr’s and Top Pup’s for great ‘walk the dog action’. Working grubs like Berkley Gulp later in the day in deeper waters will also produce Reds for you. Slow rolling spinner baits with a Berkley Gulp Ripple Mullet (four inch) in the color root-beer gold/chart tail as the trailer has produced me 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.
Last but never least; Cobia fishing is in full swing by early June and should be good until early July; it’s already been a great year! 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); Blue Water Candy makes a great Cobia jig but I always add a Berkley Gulp 6.5 inch Nemesis! 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!
Tackle run down: PENN Battle II & Clash Spinning reels 2500 & 3000 sizes for the Redfish and Flounder. Cobia: PENN Slammer III 5500 & 6500 spinning reels and PENN 20LW Fathom casting reels. Rods PENN Battalion and Regiment 6’6” & 7’ medium and med/heavy for the Redfish 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 and Berkley Pro Spec Chrome mono in twenty and thirty pound for the Cobia; that is great line!!!
I hope summer fishing is good to you and thanks for reading!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Reels Elite Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on May 9th, 2017
