Cape Fear River Striper
Is it the first day of winter? It sure feels like spring to me! Let’s not rush things now! The weather has been so up and down lately warm and wet then cold and dry; welcome to North Carolina! I hope everyone has a Marry Christmas and a good fishing new year! To the fishing report we go>>>
Those Cape Fear River stripers are still biting. Most of the stripers have been in the 18” to 25” range with a few bigger stripers mixed in too. We got another very nice cape fear striper yesterday (12-20) the striper was just over 29” and around fourteen pounds. She hit an X-rap in the color blue back, while drifting on a drop-off. The numbers were not as high as other trips but the fish are nice in size.
There has been a few stripers hitting top water in the mornings, I don’t think this will last much longer with more cold air coming our way. We’ve caught a fair amount of stripers on jerk shad soft baits; Saltwater Assassin’s (Blurp) in colors pearl and Elec-chicken have done the trick. We are rigging the shad lures Texas style.
The speckled trout have been hit and miss lately, some days we catching some days we don’t. When we do get them; live shrimp has worked, as well as grubs have. The water has been little dirty from the rains and wind we’ve had. This has changed my color pattern some with the grubs. The colors I like to use when the water is stained; pearl, chicken on a chain and space guppy.
We’ve caught a good amount of black drum and small sheephead around the Masonboro jetties lately. Some of the drum are over ten pounds. They are hitting live and fresh shrimp; using Carolina rigs with EC L42 #1 size hooks and thirty pound mono leaders. We fish for them up and down the jetties; dropping the rigs along the rocks on the bottom.
The Fishing gear we use:
Drum Trout and Stripers: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6035 and 6040. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. 12 & 20 pound Ugly Braid. Bait cast rod and reel combo Pflueger Supreme low profile with an All Star Platinum P845MC 7’ rod. Great striper set up!
In Other Fishing News: There are some great boat and fishing expos coming this winter 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 9-11, 2009 – 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 charters, 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; Jeff Cronk of Fish’n 4 Life charters and Capt. Mike Taylor of Taylor-Made charters, as well as many others fresh and salt water pros! I will have tarpon and cobia fishing seminars all three days of this show.
January 23-25, 2009 – Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show – Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ One of our top Ranger pro staff members will be at this show; C.A. Richardson of Flats Class TV and team Evinrude. This show will have lots of boats for you to take a look at, get in and get a feel for; “maybe you will find your next boat there!
January 31, 2009 – Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series – Wilmington, NC. www.nationalseminarseries.com Location: Hilton Riverside Wilmington- Grand Ballroom. This is a great day of seminars from local, regional and national fishing captains and guides! You can learn a lot at this great day of seminars.
February 20-22, 2009 – Carolina Power & Sailboat Show NC State Fairgrounds – Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This show will have lots of nice boats to see!
March 21, 2009 Saltwater Fishing School Saturday, 2615 Jefferson Davis Hwy (US 1 South) – Sanford, NC. www.northcarolinasportsman.com This all-day event will feature successful tournament anglers, prominent charter captains, top notch guides, knowledgeable pro team members, experienced local fishermen, and well-informed industry professionals giving tips, plus explaining lures and techniques used to catch everyone’s favorite fish.
If you get a chance you should really take the time to visit some of these shows and seminars. You will learn lots of great info from the fishing seminars and see some great new boats! For more info on these shows and seminars just go to the links on this page.
Thanks for reading this report; I’ll see ya on the water!
Good Luck Fishing,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Well Folks, it seems like one day its winter and the next its fall or spring! The weather has really been up and down; but there have been some very nice days as well! Those days are the ones we look for to get out on the water and catch a few fish! We’ve had some great catches lately; let’s talk about that in this weeks fishing report.
The Cape Fear River stripers are biting well and some days great! We have caught from ten to over thirty some days. The stripers are hitting hard baits as well as “jerk shad” pattern soft baits. The hard baits that are working for us have been X-raps in colors white ghost and green back. Jerk shads that seem to do the trick have been Saltwater Assassin “Blurp” in colors pearl and electric chicken. In the non-scented shad colors chicken on a chain and white. We are rigging the jerk shad Texas style.
The stripers are holding in around creek mouths, sharp drop-offs and docks. You name it there is probably a striper near by! We’ve caught them trolling as well as casting; the bigger striper we are catching while casting. There are a few trout, redfish and catfish mixed in too.
There is still a trout bite going on, most of the trout we are catching are around the inlets. We are fishing the live shrimp on float rigs and light Carolina rigs. Fishing around the Masonboro jetties and Carolina beach inlet; on the falling and raising tides.
Artificial baits that are producing for us have been grubs, shrimp grubs and hard baits. One grub color by Saltwater Assassin that has really been a great one this season is the new color (Chicken on a Chain). Some other colors that are producing well are salt & pepper, chart-diamond, space guppy and pearl. All these grubs are in the (sea shad) pattern. Don’t forget as the water temps drop fast; slow your retrieve on the grubs for the trout.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing give me a call.
The Fishing gear we use:
Reds, Trout and Stripers: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6035 and 6040. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. 12 & 20 pound Ugly Braid. Bait cast rod and reel combo Pflueger Supreme low profile with an All Star Platinum P845MC 7’ rod. Great striper set up!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Wrightsville Beach NC Charter fishing
Wilmington NC Fishing Charters
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Maybe you got out on the water or in the woods; the weather was pretty good for the most part! The warmer weather should help the local inshore and near shore fishing. I got out on the water before Thanksgiving and those big Speckled trout were biting! Let’s get to that in this fishing report.
I think the trout bite should carry on with this hit of warmer weather; the water temp has come up a few degrees. This is a very good thing; the water temp almost got to low to fast in the last couple of weeks. Here are a few tricks for colder water trout fishing. Work jigs and hard baits slower; use baits that don’t sink as fast. This will keep the lures looking more natural for cold water and slow moving fish.
The real winner for the most part on the Specks has been; you guessed it Live Shrimp, especially the four to over seven pound trout! We are fishing the live shrimp on float rigs and light Carolina rigs. Fishing around the Masonboro jetties; on the falling and raising tides. I know the live shrimp are not cheep, but they really do work! I always have some in the live well this time of year.
We have caught some trout on grubs; numbers has been the deal with the grubs. I had a few charters caught well over thirty trout in less then four hours grub fishing. Grubs colors that have been productive; chart-diamond, silver mullet, salt & pepper-chart tail and chicken on a chain. These grubs are in the (sea shad) pattern and are made by Saltwater Assassin. I’ve really had great luck this season keeping the jig heads light (weight) for grub fishing. We’re using 1/8 and ¼ oz for the most part in colors red and black.
The Flounder have been a nice bonus for us lately while we are trout fishing; most of the fish are in the 15 to 20inch range (good eating size). The flounder are hitting the live shrimp as well as the grubs we are using. We are catching most of our flounder in the creeks and around the inlets; they are usually not far from the trout.
We are starting to see a few stripers showing up in and around the Cape Fear River. Most are in the smaller range two to ten pounds; with the colder water temps bigger ones should start to show up very soon.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line!
Fishing Gear we use:
Trout and Flounder: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6030 and 6035. Line: Ugly braid 10 and 15# Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med-light& Med. Another new rod that has just been a treat to use for the trout this season has been the All Star ASR series: ASR844S. This is truly a very sensitive rod for feeling those light trout bites! Check it out at www.allstarrods.com
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Wrightsville Beach NC Charter fishing
Wilmington NC Fishing charters
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Today was a cold but great fishing trip! We caught 17 Specks, 23 Reds, 6 Sheephead and 2 Flounders. All the trout were two to high six pound range. The trout hit live shrimp and grubs in colors (Chicken on a chain) and “Blurp” good penny. I had a lot of fun today; cold YES but Fun!! Good luck they biting!!
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Wrightsville Beach Charter Fishing
Wilmington, NC Charter Baots
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Well folks, it looks like winter is about to really show its face in eastern North Carolina! I don’t like to see such cold air coming in so fast but, that’s fishing and weather for ya. With that said; here is the fishing report pre cold air and forecast for after the cold air.
The Speckled trout fishing has been up and down for the last few weeks. We will catch good numbers of small fish one day, then we will catch a few big fish another day. So far this season we’ve caught as many as 30 plus trout on a half day charter. My charters have caught Specks on artificial as well as live shrimp; the bigger fish seem to be hitting the live shrimp. With that said we have caught a few nice trout on artificial too. I always try both during trout season; you just never know what they want some days!
Artificial baits that are producing for us have been grubs, shrimp grubs and hard baits. One grub color by Saltwater Assassin that has really been a great one this season is the new color (Chicken on a Chain). I don’t know why the trout like it so much but they DO; so I’m using it! Some other colors that are producing well are silver mullet, chart-diamond, space guppy and pearl. All these grubs are in the (sea shad) pattern. Don’t forget as the water temps drop fast; slow your retrieve on the grubs for the trout.
Shrimp pattern grubs we are using; Assassin’s shrimp cock tail in colors bone-diamond, clear and electric chicken. We are rigging the shrimp grubs on light jig heads 1/8oz to 1/4oz; this gives the shrimp a very natural look. When the water cools down, I will put a shot of (Bang shrimp scent). This seems to help with the trout holding on to the grubs a little longer when they hit.
The warmer weather we have had in the last few days gave us a great but quick redfish bite on the docks in the water way (ICW). We fished three to six docks a trip and found reds on every dock we fished; some more than others. The reds were in the 16 to a few over 30 inches, one good pull on light tackle! The reds hit fresh cut mullet and scented (Blurp) grubs. When fishing with the grubs we are rigging them on jig heads for the reds that are in deeper water five to ten feet of water. If the reds are in shallower water; rattling corks are paying off.
The Speckled trout fishing should really pick up with the colder air coming in; also the bigger trout should start show as well! I’m really looking forward to seeing those gators show up on the Cape Fear coast! Thanks for reading this report. If you would like a guided fishing trip drop me a line or give me a call.
Fishing gear my charters use:
Trout and Red Drum: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6030 and 6035. Bait cast reel Pflueger Summit. Ugly braid 10 and 15# Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. All Star bait cast rod Team series TISCS1 7’6” “Great bait cast trout rod”
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Wrightsville Beach NC Charter fishing
Wilmington NC Fishing charters
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
