Well folks fall is finally here and the weather is holding just the way I like it. The rains have finally almost drained out of the back waters and creeks. “I did not think it was ever going to finish draining!” The fishing has really gotten great over the last few weeks!
Bigger Reds and a few Bulls has been the story lately as far as Red Drum fishing goes. This has been one of the better years for fall Red fishing. Most fish have been caught on live and fresh cut bait. I have got a few on Berkley Gulp Ripple mullets and 5” & 6” Jerkshad. When I rig for bigger Redfish I use only circle hooks. I’m a true believer in the circle hook; in the last mouth we have caught well over 110 Redfish and everyone was hooked in the side of the mouth. No throat or gill hook sets! I prefer 7/0 Gamakatsu circle hooks for live and cut bait fishing.
When I throw artificial baits for the bigger reds, I use a little heavier jig heads for the Berkley Ripple mullets or Texas rig the Berkley Gulp jerkshad. I rig the Ripple mullets with 1/2oz, 5/8oz and ¾oz jigs heads in colors red and lead gray with forty pound mono or fluorocarbon leaders. The leaders are about fifth-teen to twenty inches long with no swivel, I prefer an Albright knot to connect my leader to my main line. When using Berkley Gulp jerkshad I rig them Texas style with a 5/0 wide gap worm hook and bullet weights of 1/4oz to 1oz.
The False Albacore, Bluefish and Spanish mackerel have been very active over the last few weeks just off the beaches to about three miles off shore. All of these species are fun to catch on light tackle as well as fly gear. Some days the schools have been large and very easy to catch. Just remember not to run right through the school for this will just end the bite and make everyone around you very mad!
Rigging for these schooling speed fish is easy, all you need is a lure that is bright, small and work it fast. One of my new favorites is the Sea striker Jigfish series in 1/2oz and 3/4oz. You can easily cast these lures a county mile and they won’t break the bank when you buy them. I prefer blue, green and pink as colors and rig them with thirty to forty pound mono leaders, fluoro if you prefer. Keep your eyes peeled on the water for birds and busting fish, if you see porpoises working the area move on to another school. The porpoises usually mean its just bait in the water not predator fish that you are trying to catch.
And last but certainly not lest, Speckled trout. I have had a few good number days of Specks lately. It has been a little hit and miss on numbers but this will change with cooler fall weather coming our way. If you read my reports you know what I like for Speckled trout fishing lure wise but here is a run down. One of my favorites is the good’ole MirrOlure; some of my favorite styles are the 17MR, 27MR, 52M & MR. Colors you ask: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, BNSBO, CFPR, CH, EC, HP, BKGCH, BCH. I’ve been playing with the 14MR & 18MR and I think they both will have there place in my tackle box; I’ll let y’all know soon!
Soft baits are always a winner for trout fishing and there are many on the market, so here are a few good ones to get started with. Berkley Powerbait shrimp will catch the specks. I prefer colors, natural, pearl white and new penny, rigging with red or brown jig heads. One thing I always use for Speckled trout fishing is fluorocarbon leader trout have very goo eye sight and the water can get very clear in the fall. Give Stren’s tinted fluorocarbon leader material a try. I like gunsmoke tint for clearer waters and tannic tint for river or stained waters. I use twenty pound and thirty pound when the blue fish are around.
Thanks so much for reading this report, if you would like a guided fishing charter; give me call or drop me a line. Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fall fishing to ya!
Fishing gear we use:
Gear used: False Albacore and Speckled trout: reels Penn Sargus SG2000 and Battle 2000. Rods: All Star ASR 7’ Trout (med-light) and/or Redfish (med) series. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound. Bull Redfish: Penn Battle 6000 or 7000 and Penn Conquer 7000 spinning reels. Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Jigging 6’6” spinning
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Well folks, the weather is showing fall a little bit here and there; we get one or two cooler mornings from time to time. The fishing on the other hand is showing fall big time! In the last few weeks fishing has been good to great! The mullet run is in full swing and the fish know it! To the Fishing Report>>>.
One of my favorites to fish for with my clients is Bull Reds (bigger Redfish). They fight good, are pretty easy to catch and most of the fish we have got to release do to size (over slot). We find bull reds around inlets, sand bars, and hard/live bottom just off the beach to ten miles. The baits that work the best for us are live and fresh cut Menhaden and/or Mullet. Rigging for these fish is not hard, but there are a few points you need to learn when fishing for these older Reds.
We always use circle hooks while using live or cut bait for Redfish, this is very important! Reds will swallow your bait to the point where you can not got it out of there throat and many times this will kill the fish. We prefer 7/0 to 9/0 circle hooks with eighty pound Berkley Big Game clear mono for our leaders. My rig is really a big Carolina rig with a leader about two to three feet long. It’s a good idea to use a little heavier tackle when fishing for these fish; this is so you don’t fight the Redfish to long to the point it can not be revived. We use a 6’6” Ugly Stik Tigger lite jigging series med-hvy action and a Penn Conquer or Battle 6000 or 7000 size spooled with thirty or fifty pound Spiderwire braid.
This has been one of the better Flounder years we’ve seen around this area in a while. And for that reason I’ve run a lot of Flounder trips this season with good success. One thing we have seen this year is that the Flounder fishing has been good inshore as well as the ocean this season, giving us lots of opportunities to flounder fish. Live bait fishing has put the most flounder in the boat for us. Carolina rigs with Eagle Claw L42 #1 size hooks and forty pound BBG clear mono leader works well. Small finger mullets, small menhaden and mud minnows are our choice live baits. The flounder are hanging around inlets, channel drops and creeks inshore. In the ocean near shore artificial reefs, ledges and hard/live bottoms are holding some nice numbers of flounder too.
As the weather cools off we will see some bigger Spanish mackerel and Albacore close to the beach. We saw a good run of nice size Spanish and Albacore this last week. We even got few Albacore to hit a fly and that was a lot of fun. Just keep your eyes on the water for birds and jumping fish, it’s not hard to catch these fish, but if there are a lot of boats chasing them. I would go look for another school, trust me there is not just one school out there and it will pay off for you! As for as lures; keep it bright and small, jigging spoons and casting spoons in sizes of two to four inches will do the trick. If they will not hit what you’re casting; go smaller and try different colors!
Speckled trout are starting to show up here and there, most of the action for us has been south of Wrightsville Beach but I’ve caught a few trout here around the islands this last week. As the weather turns to fall we’ll see more trout every week in until December. In the early part of trout season when the trash fish (pinfish & lizardfish) are still around I prefer artificial lures. My favorite is the good’ole MirrOlure; some of my favorite styles are the 17MR, 27MR, 52M & MR. Colors you ask: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, BNSBO, CFPR, CH, EC, HP, BKGCH, BCH. I know this looks like code but check out www.mirrolure.com for a full color chart to match with there color codes.
Thanks so much for reading this report, if you would like a guided fishing charter; give me call or drop me a line. Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fall fishing to ya!
Fishing gear we use:
Gear used: Flounder and Speckled trout: reels Penn Sargus SG2000 and Conquer 2000. Rods: All Star ASR 7’ Trout (med-light) and/or Redfish (med) series. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound. Bull Redfish: Penn spinning reel 760L (Live Liner), Penn Battle 6000 or 7000 and Penn Conquer 7000. Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Jigging 6’6” spinning
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Hello folks, I hope everyone is well and looking forward to some cooler weather, that we should have soon; I am! If we can just keep these storms away I think its going to be a good fall fishing season. The fall mullet run has started and with that the fishing should really pick up.
Flounder have been a big part of our charters lately. We are catching numbers and there size is
getting better too! We’ve caught a few Flounder in the last two weeks over five pounds. Most of the action is coming off Mud minnows and small finger mullet have been the best baits for us lately. Rigging the live bait on carolina rigs with EC 042 1/0 hooks and thirty to forty pound mono or Fluorocarbon leaders. On the artificial side of things; jig heads rigged with Berkley Gulps new Mud minnow/croaker pattern have been great for our Flounder trips in the last few weeks. Also the Gulp Ripple Mullet and the Gulp Jerk shad have caught some bigger Flounder too.
My charters have had some good early Redfish morning and late afternoon bites. We are fishing mud flats and oyster flats in creeks and along the ICW. Top water plugs like the MirrOlure’s Top Pup and She Pup have done very well. Rattle and popping corks with live mullets have also been working well. The best rattlin’ corks for me have been the Saltwater Assassin’s “Kwik-cork” this is one of the loudest corks on the market. When the water has been a little stained form strong winds we are catching some Reds on spinner baits too.
There are some Bull Reds starting to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets. You never know when you might hook one of these giants! When we fish for Bull Reds, we use fresh cut or live menhaden and Mullet. We use fish finder rigs with 8/0 or 9/0 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 there job.
There has been a few Trout starting to show up around. Most that we have found are in the creeks and channels running along the drop offs to deeper water. The trout that we have caught are hitting grubs in colors chicken on a chain, copperhead and sliver mullet on red 1/8oz jig heads. Hard baits having all the luck are Mirrolure’s 17MR and 27MR in colors 11, 50, 808 and CFPR. Always remember to use a loop knot when fishing MirrrOlures this will give the lure a lot more life like action. Fishing on good days has produced fifth teen or more specks. Cooler weather will equal more good fishing for Speckled trout!
Thanks so much for reading this report, if you would like a guided fishing charter; give me call or drop me a line. Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fishing to ya!
Fishing gear we use:
Gear used: Redfish, Flounder and trout: reels Penn Sargus SG2000 and Conquer 2000. Rods: All Star ASR 7’ Trout (med-light) and/or Redfish (med) series. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound. Bull Redfish: Penn spinning reel 760L (Live Liner) and Penn Conquer 7000. Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Jigging 6’6” spinning Line: thirty pound Berkley Big game mono.
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Hello form still very warm (hot) southeast North Carolina. The good news is fishing has been good to very good and we are starting to see signs of fall everyday. I’ve got to tell you; this is one summer that I’ve been hoping for an early fall! I know, the winter will get here and we will want summer back again! To the fishing report>>>
Flounder has been the name of the game! We have caught a lot of Flounder this season so far and we are really just getting to good Flounder time. We have caught very high numbers with any where form one in two (50%) to one in four (25%) keepers this season. The good news is in the last two weeks the numbers as well as the size is getting better. On most ½ day trips we are catching fifth teen to over twenty Flounder. The best days have been on live bait but; some of the bigger fish have hit artificial baits.
Live bait has been the key for catching higher numbers of Flounder, but you can still catch very nice ones on artificial baits too. Mud minnows and small finger mullet have been the best baits for us lately. Rigging the live bait on carolina rigs with EC 042 1/0 hooks and thirty to forty pound mono or Fluorocarbon leaders. We use egg sinkers when casting for Flounder and river sinkers when drifting for the Flounder; the river sinkers seem to ride over stuff (hangs) on the bottom easier when drifting.
Jig heads rigged with Berkley Gulps new Mud minnow/croaker pattern have been great for our Flounder trips in the last few weeks. Also the Gulp Ripple Mullet and the Gulp Jerk shad have caught some bigger Flounder too. We rig the Mud minnow Gulp on a 1/4oz to 3/8oz gray or red jig heads (spring lock) works the best. A thirty pound mono or fluorocarbon leader about fifth teen to twenty inches long will work just fine. The colors that we’ve had the most luck with in the Mud minnow pattern Killifish, New Penny, Pearl White and Sardine. In the Ripple Mullet pattern colors that have worked well are Root beer/gold with chart tail and New penny. The Jerk shad colors that are working for us are Blue Pepper Neon, Sapphire Shine and Pearl White.
Speckled trout fishing is starting to pick up south of Wrightsville Beach and should get even better in September. The warm temps have made it a little hard to get numbers of Speckled trout but we have caught a few nice trout in the early mornings with top water lures. On very calm mornings or late afternoons one lure has worked well for us catching some nice speckled trout. The lure is the 10MR (MirrO Prop) by MirrOlure, this lure is a prop bait with sonic rattles. This lure is not loud to our ears but it emits vibration and sound that fish can hear very well. Give it a try on a calm morning when the water is flat and very still. Berkley Gulp Alive Ripple Mullets in the colors Goby magic with chart tail and New penny fleck have caught us some trout lately too.
The Sheephead fishing is still going very good and should be good until late October. Rigging is easy for Sheephead; we use a short carolina rig with forty pound mono or fluorocarbon leader about eight to ten inches long. The hook is a number one or 1/0 live bait nose hook; small, sharp and strong, very important for Sheephead! Look for Sheephead around pilings, bulkheads and large oyster rocks that stay covered up by water most of the tide. For bait, we catch fiddler crabs on mud banks on the ICW. Sheephead fishing takes patients and time to catch them but it’s worth the time!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Spiderwire Ultra-cast braid in 10 and 15#. Rods: Ugly stik lite 6’6” and 7’ Med light & Med and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. I’m very busy this time of year but if you would like to go fishing please feel free to call any time to check my availability and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Well folks the HOT weather is back and with it has been a brisk Southwest wind. The wind has really kept me inshore fishing for the last few weeks, but we did get out in the ocean a few times early in the morning before the wind got up. The days we got out the Spanish mackerel fishing was good and the days we could not get out we’ve been catching good numbers of Flounder and a few nice Redfish too. Let’s talk about that and a few other things in this weeks fishing report>>>
The great thing about Spanish mackerel fishing is that most days it is instant gratification fishing. When you take kids fishing or first time anglers this is very important for your day of fishing; “get some fish in the boat”! Spanish are fun on light tackle and they are good to eat, not a bad first time catch fish. Most of the Spanish lately are biting just off the beach to about two miles offshore. When the Spanish are on top, we are casting Maria jigs and jig fish spoons. We Rig these jigs with thirty pound mono or Fluoro leader material.
When the Spanish are not jumping, we are trolling number one planners with Clark spoons. The Clark spoons that have worked the best for us have been #00 and #0 in colors gold, silver and pink flash. We rig the planner with a ball bearing swivel connected to thirty to forty feet of thirty pound mono leader then the Clark spoon tied on. I have just this year started to use a new product for Spanish fishing and it works great, it’s the Blue Water Candy Spanish Daisy Chain. You can troll this rig on a light spinning or bait casting combo and catch Spanish in very good numbers. The colors I’ve had the best luck with are pink, blue and silver. We put a three foot shot of thirty pound Fluorocarbon in front of the chain with a ball bearing swivel for line twist. On one of my last Spanish trips we caught over thirty Spanish and a fifth teen pound King mackerel on the Spanish Daisy chain. Give it a try!
Flounder fishing has been good lately, with good numbers and starting to see bigger fish everyday. We have caught Flounder good on live bait as well as artificial baits and some of the bigger Flounder lately have hit artificial baits. Live baits like mud minnows and small mullet rigged on light Carolina rigs are doing the trick when using live baits. Jig heads rigged with Berkley Gulps new Mud minnow/croaker pattern have been great for our Flounder trips in the last three weeks. We have caught two Flounder over Five pounds so far on this new Gulp pattern. We rig the Mud minnow Gulp on a 1/4oz to 3/8oz gray or red jig heads (spring lock) works the best. A thirty pound mono or fluoro leader about fifth teen to twenty inches long will work just fine. The colors that we’ve had the most luck with are Killifish, New Penny, Pearl White and Sardine. I have no idea why these baits work so well for Flounder but they really do work. On a trip two weeks ago, I had one guy fishing with the Mud minnow Gulp and he caught the biggest and most Flounder that day!
We’ve caught a few Reds this last two weeks, not as good as I would like it to be but still getting a hand full. One thing we have in this area is a lot of pressure on the Redfish. With so many people today chasing Redfish and with not a lot water fish IE: “lots of people fishing”, Redfish are taking a beating around Wrightsville Beach. So how do you catch Redfish with so much pressure; go early in the mornings or very late afternoon or fish for something else! “I’m sure you can tell in this short paragraph how I feel about local Redfishing lately.”
Shark fishing has gotten very good in the last two weeks and will only get better. Shark fishing will be good until early October. Best baits for the near shore sharks are, fresh and live Menhaden. When we use bait to catch the sharks we use spinning reels, with 300+ yards of thirty and fifty pound Spider wire Ultracast braid. Rigging the baits; eight feet of 80 pound mono leader; some will wind on to the reel. Connected the 80 pound mono to a fifty pound swivel, then to Two to three foot of #9 SS wire and an 8/0 or 9/0 off set J hook; this rig should get’em to the boat.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Spiderwire Ultra-cast braid in 10 and 15#. Rods: Ugly stick lite 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. I’m very busy this time of year but if you would like to go fishing please feel free to call any time to check my availability and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
