Well Folks, the rain has slowed down a little but; now here comes the COLD weather!!! Welcome to southeast North Carolina fishing and weather, everyday is different and the fishing will be different as well! You can catch fish during colder weather and/or winters; you just have to change your style a little. I think this is going to be a little colder winter than the last one. So here is the fishing report>>>
The speckled trout have been hit and miss lately, some days we catch them good some days not as many. When we do get them; live shrimp has worked, as well as grubs have. Just lately I’ve had a few friends catch some bigger trout around the Masonboro jetties. When I’m looking for bigger trout, I turn too the live shrimp, not to say that big trout will not hit lures; they will! But for ease of fishing with charters; live shrimp do the trick time and time again!
When we are using grubs these are some of the patterns that are catching trout. Grub colors by Saltwater Assassin’s that have really done well are chicken on a chain and chart-diamond. Some other colors that are producing well are salt & pepper, space guppy and pearl. We rig the grubs on jig heads in colors black and red; in sizes 1/8 and ¼; with a twenty pound fluorocarbon leader. I don’t use a lot of floro, but I do for speckled trout fishing; trout have very good eye sight.
We are catching some small trout, Redfish and Striped bass in the Cape Fear River. These fish are hitting grubs, jerk shad and hard baits. The grubs and jerk shads that are working for us is. Saltwater Assassin and Berkley gulp in colors pearl, new penny and chartreuse. We use red and white jig heads in weights 1/4, 3/8 and ½ oz for the grubs. When we use jerk shads, we rig them Texas style with a 4/0 to 6/0 wide gap bass worm hook.
Redfish are schooling in the surf, we are always looking for a nice day to get out and chase them. They are pretty easy to catch; you just got to find them. That part can be a bit harder, trust me! A sunny, light wind day and good polarized sunglasses are the keys to catching these Reds. Grubs seem to be the easy go to bait for surf Reds. Saltwater Assassin “Blurps” in pearl and molting color work very well. We’ve also had good luck with Berkley gulp alive in jerk shad pattern; in colors new penny and pearl white. You need to use heavier jigs heads, ½ and 5/8 plus for casting. Color of the head is not a big deal Red, white and black all work just fine. Hold on tight, they fight great even in cold water!
There have still been good by-catches while we are trout fishing; these include some Tautogs, Sheephead, Flounder and Black & Red drum. These by-catches are hitting the grubs and live shrimp we are using for the trout. The great thing is they are all good eating! My favorites are the Tautogs and Sheephead. If your bait gets close to the bottom, you’ve got a good chance at picking up one of these guys.
Remember when the water gets cold, slow down your presentation. This will greatly help you catch more fish during the winter mouths!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
In Other Fishing News: Don’t forget starting in early January; there are some great boat and fishing expos coming to North Carolina. If you like fishing and boats you don’t want to miss these shows and fishing seminars! Here are the one’s that myself as well as other Ranger boats pro staff members will be at this winter.
January 8-10, 2010 – Raleigh Bass & Saltwater Fishing Expo NC State Fairgrounds – Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This is a GREAT show, with over 160 booths offering everything from the latest lures, plastics, jigs, custom rods, apparel, knives, product sample booths, hard-tops, saltwater fishing guides, fresh water guides, cast nets, gaffs…..by far one of the best shows of its kind in the Carolina’s and Virginia. I will be there along with other Ranger pro staff members who include; Capt. Jeff Cronk and Capt. Mike Taylor, as well as many others fresh and salt water pros! I will speak on Cobia and Tarpon fishing during Saturday’s seminars.
February 12-14, 2010 – Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show – Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ This is a great show with lots of the “top of the line” boats form around the world. I’ll be there with other Ranger Pro’s to show you all the great benefits to the Ranger Saltwater line of boats.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Hello form a wet Southeast North Carolina, boy we’ve have had some rain lately! The good thing is the fish are still biting well to great some days! I talked with a few other fishermen lately and a lot have asked what to do about dirty water Speckled trout fishing. That is what I’m going to go over in this weeks fishing report>>>
The Speckled trout fishing continues to be pretty steady most days but we have had to change up a few things in our presentation for dirtier waters. What grubs do I use in dirtier waters; colors (Chicken on a chain), (10w 40/lime tail), (S&P SLV.PH/Chart.TL), (Blurps Rootbeer) and (Space Guppy) all of these are Saltwater Assassin colors in sea shad pattern. If you like to use Gulp Ghost shrimp (Chart Belly), (New Penny) and (Natural with sparkle). Now I’m not real big on scents for Speckled trout fishing, but when the water is dirty it can help bring a bite or two. Of course Gulp already has the scent but if you like none scented grubs try some BANG shrimp and/or BANG Texas tea spray scents. I don’t really change the color of my jig head; I use a little more red then black when the water is dirty. One thing I always do when the water is dirty is slow down my presentation; work the grub a little slower!
To the hard baits we use in dirtier waters. MirrOlures are great dirty waters bait; because you can work them so darn slow! This gives the trout longer to see and eat the MirrOlure. So which MirrOlures; 17MR, 27MR and S52MR all of these MirrOlures have rattles one more thing to draw in a bite! MirrOlure colors I like in dirtier waters; EC, 11, 26 and 808. One trick that has worked for me in the past is; steeping up in lure size when the water is dirty. Try a 27MR or a S52MR instead of a 17MR; this gives the trout a bigger target to see. Rapala’s X-rap in chartreuse is a good dirty water lure too.
Let’s not forget those good ole’ live shrimp; they work in clear or dirty waters. But I have seen lures work well when the water is dirty and sometimes better then live shrimp, I still don’t leave the dock with out them (shrimp).
There have still been lots of good by-catches while we are trout fishing; these include some Tautogs, Sheephead, Flounder and Black & Red drum. These by-catches are hitting the grubs and live shrimp we are using for the trout. The great thing is they are all good eating! My favorites are the Tautogs and Sheephead. If your bait gets close to the bottom, you’ve got a good chance at picking up one of these guys.
I hope some of these tactics help you catch more Speckled trout this season. Remember slow down your presentation, go with a little bigger lure and have some patients; you’ll get’em!
I’m going to offer a VERY GOOD but limited offer for the next few weeks or until they sell out. ½ price (50% off) 1/2 day (4 hour) charter gift certificates. That’s right; $150.00 for four hours of fishing; yes you can buy them for you or as a gift. They a good for all of 2010. E-mail captainjot@yahoo.com or call 910-233-4139 for details of to purchase. Also my special winter rates are in affect till the first of April.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Nice Speckled Trout
Hello from southeast North Carolina! I hope everyone had a great
Thanksgiving, I enjoyed mine! The fishing has been quite good for the last two weeks, with lots of Speckled trout and a few other species mixed in as well to keep things fun. The big speck this week was six pounds and three ounce’s; we also caught a few over five and many more over four pounds. This is no doubt this going to be another big trout year! To the fishing report>>>
Not much has changed as far as how we are catching the Speckled trout. We are still catching quite a few nice Gary trout mixed in with the specks. The grays are hitting grubs and jigging spoons. Saltwater Assassin grubs in colors Chart-diamond glitter and Salt-pepper with chart-tail have worked well for the grays. The specks are hitting chicken on a chain, 10w-40 with chart tail and Salt & pepper with chart tail. The body shape that has worked for us is the sea shad in four inch size. In the last few trips we have got a few nice specks off Saltwater Assassin Blurp in shrimp pattern. The colors in blurp that are working are molting, good penny and rootbeer. We have also caught some trout on Berkley gulp new ghost shrimp in new penny color. This is the first gulp shrimp to have some real leg action; check’em out! We are using jig heads in colors pink and red; in weights 3/8oz and ½ oz for the grays and 1/8oz and 1/4oz for the specks.
We have started to use live shrimp as well for the specks. At this time on Tuesday 12-1 the water temp around Wrightsville Beach was 58` to 60` inshore and the inlet was around 60` to 62`. With this said it’s still warm and the trash fish are still eating up a lot of our live shrimp. This is going to change very soon with a good shot of colder air coming in this week. When we are using live shrimp, I rig them two different ways. We use float rigs and light Carolina rigs. On the float rig we use a #6 red or brown treble hook, for the Carolina rig we use a #1 L42 eagle claw hook. For both of these rigs, I prefer Stern’s tinted fluorocarbon leaders in 20# (Gunsmoke) tint. This stuff really works for our super clear water around the area!
There have been a few good by-catches while we are trout fishing; these include some Tautogs, Sheephead, Flounder and Black & Red drum. These by-catches are hitting the grubs and live shrimp we are using for the trout. The great thing is they are all good eating! My favorites are the Tautogs and Sheephead. It your bait gets close to the bottom, you’ve got a good chance at picking up one of these guys.
There still has been some False albacore fishing when the ocean is calm enough for us to get out. Marie jigs have been the best bet for the albacore. We are using a forty pound mono leader with a loop knot tied to the Marie jig. Colors and size’s; color green and pink in sizes 7gram and 14 gram. These albacore are a lot of fun on light tackle and fly; they are real drag screamers! Keep your eyes peeled for breaking fish and birds!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
A very nice 7.2 pound Speckled trout caught around Wrightsville Beach, NC
Well folks it is Trout Time and I love it! With cooler water temps and a little lighter winds fishing has been pretty good this last week and the start of this one. We did gat a lot of rain but, the water is in good shape for the most part. We are really starting to see some very nice Speckled trout around the area. We caught a 7.2, 5.5 and a half dozen over four pounds this week so far. It was nice to see the 7.2 in the net; the biggest trout I’ve seen in my boat this year. Let’s talk about how we have caught some of these nice trout lately in this weeks fishing report.
Grays and Specks are feeding well around in creeks, channels and inlets. The grays are hitting grubs and jigging spoons. Saltwater Assassin grubs in colors Chart-diamond glitter and Salt-pepper with chart-tail have worked well for the grays. The specks are hitting chicken on a chain, 10w-40 with chart tail and Salt & pepper with chart tail. The body shape that has worked for us is the sea shad in four inch size. In the last few trips we have got a few nice specks off Saltwater Assassin Blurp in shrimp pattern. The colors in blurp that are working are molting, good penny and rootbeer. We are using jig heads in colors pink and red; in weights 3/8oz and ½ oz for the grays and 1/8oz and 1/4oz for the specks. Colors for the jigging spoons that have worked well for the grays are Pink, Green/blue, and gold.
My charters have caught specks on a wide range of “hard” lures this season; some new and some good ole’ timer’s. Mirrolures that are working well for us are the Catch 2000 Jr, 52M and the 17MR. The best Mirrolure colors that are catching the trout are; pink, white on white, chartreuse and silver. Rapala’s X-rap in colors glass ghost and pink have all so been a hit this season. And of course don’t forget those live shrimp; they really do catch the trout! I rig all live bait, grubs and hard lures with fourteen to eighteen inch’s of twenty pound fluorocarbon. Trout have good eye sight and with the mostly clear water around this area, this seems to help us get more bites out of the trout. I really like Stren’s new tinted fluorocarbon leaders, we use gunsmoke tint for clear water apps.
We have caught some nice Flounder while Flounder fishing and also caught some while trying to catch trout lately. The Flounder are running about thirteen to twenty inch’s with a few bigger ones as well. The Flounder are hitting grubs in colors morning glory, chicken on a chain and molting in the blurp grub. When we are just targeting Flounder we are using live bait on Carolina rigs. Finger mullet and mud minnows are doing the trick for those flat fish. Most of the Flounder we are catching are in the creeks and around the inlets.
The red and black drum are showing around the area too. We’ve seen reds and blacks in the waterway (ICW) around docks and oyster rocks. There have been a few reds and blacks around the jetties as well lately. These drum are hitting scented grubs and live bait on the bottom. This week we caught a few black drum over seven pounds around the inlets on blurp grubs.
The trout fishing will only get better; we had lots of fish over four pounds last year. It looks like its going to be another great trout season, I believe that some body will catch a Speckled trout over ten pounds in the Wrightsville beach area this season! Let’s go Trout fishing>>>!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
I hope everybody is enjoying the fall weather; it did get a little warm for a couple days. I think that is over for the most part, I’m ready for more fall weather! Now that the weather is getting back to normal; fishing has really picked up in the last couple of days! With that said here is the fishing report!
Trout has been the story for the most part lately. Grays and Specks are feeding well around in creeks, channels and inlets. The grays are hitting grubs and jigging spoons. Saltwater Assassin grubs in colors Chart-diamond glitter and Salt-pepper with chart-tail have worked well for the grays. The body shape that has worked for us is the sea shad in four inch size. We are using jig heads in colors pink and red; in weights 3/8oz, ½ oz and 1oz. Colors for the jigging spoons that have worked well for the grays are Pink, Green/blue, and gold. Going with bright colors is a good “go too” choice when fishing for gray trout.
The Speckled trout fishing is really getting good and will continue to pick up. We have already caught some very nice trout in the four and five pound range on live and artificial baits. My charters have caught specks on a wide range of lures this season; some new and some good ole’ timer’s. Let’s start with the hard baits. Mirrolures that are working well for us are the Catch 2000 Jr, 52M and the 17MR. The best Mirrolure colors that are catching the trout are; pink, chartreuse and silver. Grubs and soft baits; in the grub style baits colors chart-diamond, silver mullet and chicken on a chain. Yes that is the real name of this grub color.
In the shrimp style grubs the colors we are using; Arkansas glow, clear and bone-diamond. We are rigging the Saltwater Assassin shrimp with worm hooks and Texas style worm weights. We are also using Berkley Gulps new ghost shrimp in New penny color. To the live bait; it’s hard to beat the good ole’ live shrimp, they just work! Rigging the live shrimp on float rigs has worked for us. Don’t forget all you Fly fishermen out there, trout are fun and pretty easy to catch on a fly. Try shrimp and clouser patterns in natural colors and chartreuse & red/white.
False albacore fishing has been good on days when the ocean is calm enough for us to get out. Marie jigs have been the best bet for the albacore. We are using a forty pound mono leader with a loop knot tied to the Marie jig. Colors and size’s; color green and pink in sizes 7gram and 14 gram. These albacore are a lot of fun on light tackle and fly; they are real drag screamers! Red fishing is starting to change around the area; the Reds are starting to move around some with the cooler weather. On lighter wind and sunny days we’re finding fish on the oyster flats. When we find these fish we are using rattling corks with finger mullets to catch them. We’ve also caught some Reds in the ICW around docks and boat landings. Carolina rigs with finger mullet are working well for the dock Reds. On days when I’m using just using lures to catch Reds, we’ve caught Reds on Saltwater Assassin Blurp grubs in the shrimp pattern, color good penny and pearl.
My charters have caught lots of bluefish while we have been Trout fishing; there really has been all the bluefish you can deal with lately!! If you like catching blues; Go Fishing! Flounder are biting as well, we’ve caught a good number while trout fishing. Some of the flounder are in the three to five pound range; a nice bonus while trout fishing.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S “Best Trout rod I ever have fished”
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats and
Pure Fishing Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
