Wow we have had some really nice weather around Wrightsville Beach and surrounding beaches! The forth of July weekend was some of the best weather I’ve seen around here this time of year. And with those cooler temps the fishing was great! It was starting to get a little to hot for June, but with the cooler weather the inshore and near shore waters have cooled just a bit and has helped the fishing. Let’s go over that in this weeks fishing report.
Flounder fishing has really picked up in the last week. There is a mix of size in the Flounders we are catching. Some keepers some not, but the bite is really on for catching them. Live bait has been the key for catching higher numbers of Flounder, but you can catch them on artificial bait too. Mud minnows and small finger mullet have been the best live baits lately. 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; scented and none scented grubs as well as spinner baits will do the job. Berkley Gulp 3” pogy in pearl white and smelt colors. Rig the grubs on a red or black jig head for best results. Saltwater Assassin spinner baits with space monkey, copperhead, and chicken on a chain colored grubs have caught us some nice Flounder lately too.
One of my favorites when the water and air gets hot is the good’ole Sheephead! These fish are fun to catch and there really good to eat! It’s not hard to catch Sheephead, you just have got to put your time in and give it a try! 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. Drop it down and check your bait in one minute, if it’s gone and you did not feel a bite; there is a Sheephead down there! Good luck!
We have seen some nice schools of Tarpon pushing up the beaches in the last two weeks. We jumped a nice eighty pound plus off on Tuesday morning, only got one jump but it cleared the water by five feet. Tarpon fishing in North Carolina can be very fun but it can be a challenge to get one to bite! We fish for Tarpon on the bottom or free lining, using live and fresh dead baits like; spots, bluefish and Menhaden. We are rigging these baits on fish finder rigs, with three to five feet of 80 to 100 pound mono 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 have also had a fair share of Tarpon on my kite rig with live baits like greenies, bluefish and menhaden. Nothing like seeing a Tarpon hit kite baits!
Shark fishing has been very good lately, with sharks of all sizes biting. We have caught a few over 100 pounds in the last two weeks and have seen some even bigger. 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. 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!
Redfishing is still going good on most days. The best fishing has been earlier in the day or later in the day (lower light). We are catching the reds on top water lures and rattling corks (SWA kwik-croks) with live bait in shallow water (one to three foot). When we fish docks and channels (deeper waters); we are using live bait, fresh cut bait and scented grubs. Scented grubs like Berkley Gulp and Powerbait have been working well for the Reds.
Keep your eye out for a great new Berkley Gulp product called the Ripple Mullet. Finally a Gulp bait with great scent and ACTION!! You’re not going to believe it till you see them! And yes they work; trust me!
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.
Cobia, Shark and Tarpon: Spinning setup Penn Conquer 7000 with an Ugly Stick Tiger lite Jigging rod 6’ 6” and Penn 320LD Reel and a Tiger lite jigging rod. Line for Cobia, Shark and Tarpon: Berkley Big Game 30# mono and 50# Spiderwire Stealth High-Vis Yellow.
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
The weather is still warm to hot and the fishing is the same, some days warm; some day we have hot fishing. The water temps in the area are getting to late July temps already in June; I believe this is going to give us a summer trend of fishing for most of the season. To the fishing report>>>.
We are still seeing so good numbers of Cobia around the area waters. The Cobia are around the inlets, shoals, and bars just off the beach. We are also still seeing them offshore a bit; around hard bottoms and reefs. Live bait has been the key to the bigger fish lately. Smaller Cobia have hit jigs around the inlets and ocean sand bars. Sight casting live bait to bigger Cobia just off the beach has produced some nice Cobia form Carolina Beach to Topsail. When we drift fish for Cobia, we are using carolina rigs with three to four once egg sinkers and 7/0 circle hooks with an eighty pound Berkley big game mono leader. The baits we are using are small Bluefish, Mullet, and Menhaden.
The Flounder fishing is really starting to pick up. We are seeing Flounder inshore as well as just off the beaches. The places we look for Flounder are in the ICW, Cape Fear River and Creeks off the ICW. Look for drop offs on the edge of the main channel with current or any where baitfish are passing by. Most of the Flounder are eating little menhaden and Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs. The Flounder are mixed in size to just under keeper size to a few over five pounds. We have caught some Flounder on Artificial baits as well. We have had the best luck with Berkley Gulp 3” pogy in pearl white and smelt colors. Rig the grubs on a red or black jig head for best results.
We have had some great Sharks fishing trips in the last two weeks; the bigger fish are just starting to show up. We are already even starting to see a few Hammerheads just off the beach. 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. 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!
When Shark fishing gets good, it’s not long before we start to see some Tarpon in the area. We have seen some nice schools of Tarpon pushing up the beaches in the last two weeks. Tarpon fishing in North Carolina can be very fun but it can be a challenge to get one to bite! We fish for Tarpon on the bottom or free lining, using live and fresh dead baits like; spots, bluefish and Menhaden. We are rigging these baits on fish finder rigs, with three to five feet of 80 to 100 pound mono 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 have also had a fair share of Tarpon on my kite rig with live baits like greenies, bluefish and menhaden. Nothing like seeing a Tarpon hit kite baits!
Redfish are still biting well, but with all the hot weather its best to go early in the morning or later afternoons when the water is a bit cooler. Topwater lures and rattling corks in the shallow waters earlier mornings and afternoons will produce some Redfish. Working grubs like Berkley Gulp later in the day in deeper waters will also produce Reds for ya. 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.
A few other fish that are biting lately; Spanish mackerel bite has been hit or miss lately. The best catching have been earlier in the morning and casting jigs and spoons to jumping fish, has put most of the fish in the boat lately. The Sheephead bite has really picked up in the last few weeks, fishing around bridges, pilings and bulkheads will produce some nice Sheephead. Off the beach from five to fifth teen miles the King Mackerel and Mahi are showing some. Fast trolling Ballyhoo or slow trolling lives baits a working for the Mackerel and Mahi. There has also been a few Sailfish caught as well lately in the same areas.
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.
Cobia, Shark and Tarpon: Spinning setup Penn Conquer 7000 with an Ugly Stick Tiger lite Jigging rod 6’ 6” and Penn 320LD Reel and a Tiger lite jigging rod. Line for Cobia, Shark and Tarpon: Berkley Big Game 30# mono and 50# Spiderwire Stealth High-Vis Yellow.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Book now for this coming summer fishing season 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
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Southeast North Carolina has been quite HOT lately the good thing about this is the fishing has been the same; HOT! The summer trend of local fishing is really showing and the summer fish showing up in good numbers too. We have been fishing for all kinds of fish lately; Mackerel, Cobia, Blues, Redfish, Flounder, Trout and Sharks. Let’s talk about that in this weeks fishing report>>>
Let’s start with one of my favorites; Cobia. I love to catch’em, cook’em and eat’em! We have seen quite a few Cobia lately; we caught a forty pounder on last Monday. We are seeing most of the Cobia just off the beach and out to five miles off the beach. Live bait has been the key to the bigger fish lately. Smaller Cobia have hit jigs around the inlets and ocean sand bars. Sight casting live bait to bigger Cobia just off the beach has produced some nice Cobia form Carolina Beach to Topsail. When we drift fish for Cobia, we are using carolina rigs with three to four once egg sinkers and 7/0 circle hooks with an eighty pound Berkley big game mono leader. The baits we are using are small Bluefish, Mullet, and Menhaden. Drifting these baits around inlets, sandbars and near shore live bottoms; has produced the best bites.
The inshore Redfish bite has been very good lately with artificial baits as well fresh cut and live baits. Working shallow waters early morning and late afternoon when the heat of the day is lower has produced well. Later in the day when the sun is high, we are working deeper waters for the Redfish. The shallow water lures have been MirrOlure’s Top Dog Jr and Top Pup, also a rattling cork with a Berkley Gulp Alive peeler crab under the cork has also produced very well in waters of one to three foot deep.
When we are fishing deeper grubs that have been doing well are Berkley Power bait shrimp and Gulp Alive 3” shrimp in colors new penny and molting. Saltwater Assassin’s Copperhead and 10W40 colors are catching some Reds as well. Rigging the grubs on a simple red jig head 1/8oz to 1/4oz, just make sure the jig head has a hook that will not straighten out when you hook that nice Redfish! Tip: one thing I’ve starting using this season is Berkley Gulp Alive Shrimp spray; I put a shot on all my non-scented grubs. It seems to work well for Redfish and Flounder fishing.
The Spanish mackerel bite has been good lately with the best of it being early in the morning and late afternoon. Trolling Clark spoons in sizes 00, 0 and 1 in colors sliver, gold and pinks flash are working well. When we are seeing the Spanish jumping and feeding on top; casting jigging spoons is producing some nice Spanish. There is still a lot of Blues mixed in with the Spanish up and down the beach too. We have found some bigger Spanish by going off the beach a few miles and getting away from the crowds in the clearer waters.
Flounder fishing is really picking up around the area. Most of the Flounder are eating little menhaden and Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs. The Flounder are mixed in size to just under keeper size to a few over five pounds. We have caught some Flounder on Artificial baits as well. We have had the best luck with Berkley Gulp 3” pogy in pearl white and smelt colors. Rig the grubs on a red or black jig head for best results. Flounder fishing should stay consistent right through the summer and fall.
The Shark fishing is picking up with the warmer water temps and should be good all summer long. 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. 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!
Keep your eyes peeled for some great new Berkley Gulp products that will be out soon, some of these baits are going to be great for Redfish and Flounder fishing; Trust me!!!
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.
Cobia: Spinning setup Penn Conquer 7000 with an Ugly Stick Tiger lite Jigging rod 6’ 6” and Penn 320LD Reel and a Tiger lite jigging rod. Line for Cobia Berkley Big Game 30# mono and 50# Spiderwire Stealth High-Vis Yellow.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Book now for this coming summer fishing season 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 weather has been a little better lately; but with that said here comes a low pressure heading up the coast! It’s a little early for this kind of weather. With all the East/Northeast wind lately the water just off the beach has gotten very clear and has helped the fishing for my clients! Let’s talk about this in this weeks fishing report>>>
The inshore fishing is really picking up; the last two weeks have been very good inshore! We are catching Redfish on fresh bait as well as artificial lures. The best bait lately has been fresh cut menhaden and small live menhaden. Using carolina rigs with 1/0 EC L42 hooks and forty pound Berkley Big Game mono leader. A 1/2oz to 1oz egg sinkers is doing the trick for weight on the carolina rig. Fishing in the ICW, creeks and on docks with carolina rigs for deeper water Redfish has been a good trend lately. When fishing with live bait for Redfish in shallow water we are using Saltwater Assassin Kwik-Cork with twelve to sixteen inches of forty pound Berkley BG mono leader and a 1/0 EC L42 hook.
When we are casting artificial’s for the Redfish we are using a few different kinds of baits. In deeper waters scented grubs have done very well; Berkley Gulp and Powerbait have been the favorite. Gulp 3” shrimp and 2” peeler crabs on 1/4oz to 3/8ox red jig heads with a thirty pound Stern tinted Fluorocarbon leader (gunsmoke). We use the same setup for the Powerbait in shrimp and jerkshad patterns as the Gulp grubs. The swallow water artificial bite is really picking up; casting lures in one to three foot of water. MirrOlure’s Top Dog Jr and Top Pup in colors 11(red head/white body) and 808 (black/gold/orange) have been the choice top waters for us. When the sun is high and the sky is clear we cast spinner baits in shallow waters; we prefer gold spoon and new penny grubs on our spinner baits.
Sheephead fishing is starting to pick up as well around the area. The best bet is fishing around bridges, docks and bulk-heads. Fishing in water from six to fifth-teen feet for Sheephead seems to work the best for us. We fish mostly using small Carolina rigs, with forty pound mono leader and small but strong live bait hooks. Baits we are using; fiddler crabs and sand fleas have worked just fine. Give it a shot, it takes time but you’ll get one; Hold-on tight! We have also caught a hand full of very nice Blackdrum while Sheephead fishing.
Flounder fishing is really picking up around the area. Most of the Flounder are eating little menhaden and Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs. The Flounder are mixed in size to just under keeper size to a few over five pounds. We have caught some Flounder on Artificial baits as well. We have had the best luck with Berkley Gulp 3” pogy in pearl white and smelt colors. Rig the grubs on a red or black jig head for best results. Flounder fishing should stay consistent right through the summer and fall.
We have started to catch a few very nice Speckled trout lately, summer Specks are not always easy to catch. The great thing about summer trout is they love to hit top water lures as well as grubs! This last week we had one over five pounds and few others in the two to three pound range. Casting topwater’s like the Top Dog Jr and She Dog early in the morning and late afternoon have produced some nice Trout. When we are not using topwaters, Powerbait shrimp grubs and 17MR’s are working well. Just remember Trout have very eyes, always use a fluorocarbon leader when Trout fishing. We prefer twenty pound Stren tinted Fluorocarbon leader material in tannic for brown/river colored waters and gumsmoke for clear water conditions.
Last but never lest; Cobia are starting to show up around the area waters. We 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 so clear it has been easier to see those brown logs in the water. We are throwing big jigs, swim baits and live bait to the Cobia. Color really does not seem to matter; “go bright”! When I’m not sight casting for them, we are fishing around inlets, shoals and near shore artificial reefs. We float fish, bottom fish and kite fish in these areas with live menhaden, blues and mullet as bait. You can chum if you like, but the sharks will come and they will come in numbers!
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.
Cobia: Spinning setup Penn Conquer 7000 with an Ugly Stick Tiger lite Jigging rod 6’ 6” and Penn 320LD Reel and a Tiger lite jigging rod.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Book now for this coming summer fishing season 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
Hello from Southeast North Carolina, I hope everybody is having a good fishing season so far this year! I’ve had a good one so far myself; the water temps are going up so fast this year. We have had a lot of up and down weather lately, but the water temps are still going up fast. I thought we were going to be late on water temps this year but we are very close to being on time with past seasons.
The real winner for me lately has been those Spanish mackerel. My charters have done very good in the last few trips, with catches of twenty or more Spanish in a half day. Most of the Spanish are biting Clark spoons trolled behind #1 planner’s. The Clark spoons that are working the best for us are sizes; 00 and 0 in silver and pink flash. I really like the pink flash series, these spoons have worked very well for my charters. If you would like to go lighter; you can pull small deep diving lures as well.
When the Spanish are on top feeding and jumping, Maria jig spoons have been the trick. The colors that seem to be working are pink, green and blue in sizes seven & fourteen gram. (Hint): keep it to smaller lures when the weather gets hot! We also caught a few Bonita’s mixed in with the Spanish.
There has also been plenty of blue fish up and down the beach as well. Trolling or casting small deep divers has produced lots of bluefish around the inlets. We have also caught a hand full of chopper blues too. These choppers are running in the six to over fifth teen pound range. The choppers are biting big poppers and mid water stick baits. Color really does not seem to matter to those big blues, just a lot of action from the lure!
Bottom fishing just off the beach has produced some nice Black bass, grunts and small Grouper, of course on the lighter wind days! Jigs and squid are the trick, fishing the squid on simple two hook bottom rigs. Jig fishing using two to five once jigs in colors pink, green and red/white. We are fishing mostly hard and live bottom areas, in the one to ten mile range for the bottom fish. There has been some small and keeper Gray trout showing up on hard bottoms closer to the beach.
The flounder bite is picking up some too; we are starting to see a few fish inshore as well on the near shore reefs and wrecks. Most of the flounder inshore are mixed in size, but the fish in the ocean are a little better in size. Live bait and grubs are the best bet. Carolina rigs for the live bait and heavy jig heads for the grubs. I prefer bright grubs; Berkley Powerbait jerk shad and Saltwater Assassin’s sea shads in colors chart/diamond and silver mullet work very well.
Red fish have been hit or miss for me lately, some days we get a few some days we don’t. This should change when more live bait shows up in the creeks and channels. What Reds we are getting are hitting fresh bait and Berkley Gulp shrimp and peeler crabs (2”) size; on Carolina rigs and jig heads. We are starting to see a few Reds on the Flats, when we are fishing shallow waters for Reds we use Rattling corks. Rigging the Rattling corks with a Berkley Gulp 3” Shrimp, really seems to get there attention.
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 lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
In Other Fishing News:
June 5-6, 2010 “In the Water Fishing School” I, Capt. Rick Bennett and four other of the best local guides are putting on this school on. This school will be real-time hands on fishing experience! There will be one day of hands on classroom instruction and the next day on the water, real-time fishing experience. The school is limited to the first 24 participants! If you want to learn from the best local guides and see how we do it, take the time to check it out; http://www.rodmancharters.com/inthewater-fishing-school.htm *We only have a few spots left for this School!!! I’m really looking forward to being part of this school!
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Book now for this coming summer fishing season 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
