March is a month of watching the weather forecast and like the weather the fishing can be the same too. So far pretty warm weather, but in March that can change quickly!! Same with the fishing; One day slow fishing the next they are jumping in the boat! Here are the species I like to target during March around Southeast NC area waters.
In March the Redfish finally start to move around a little more than they have all winter. Not that they do not move around in the winter; they just start to show up in place’s they like during warmer times of the year. This is the time of the year you need to get out and find where the Redfish are going and are showing up. In the cooler months I have seen crustacean patterns work better for Redfish; since these baits are a little easier to catch, than say baits like fish patterns. A good handful of our local shrimp has wintered over because of the mild winter weather, also some of the little baitfish stayed too. All of this will make for a better March fishing scenario for sure!
On warmer days the crustaceans and baitfish will move a little more; these are the days you need to be looking for Redfish in March. Working scented baits like Berkley Gulp in patterns two- and three-inch shrimp will get the Redfish to bite. These baits do not have paddle tails so you need to work them very slow, which is still very important because the water still be cool in March. Find those banks where the sun can warm up shallows just a little more than other places. Look for dark bottom banks and places with less current these are the areas where the water will be warmer and the Redfish will be more likely to be feeding. Remember to keep your eyes peeled in the shallow water areas for Reds, March can be a very good sight fishing month; just make sure you work the baits a little slower with a fluorocarbon leader (twenty pound) for those clear spring waters.
March can be another mouth when Cape Fear River Striped Bass fishing will pick up. The Striper size is very mixed during early spring. In March the Stripers will start to move in to shallower waters, I look for the Stripers in three to eight feet of water during early spring. This is when you need to also shallow up your presentation, go lighter with you tackle. I prefer Berkley PowerBait five-inch Cullshad, Gulp jerkshad in six inch and Berkley Powerbait grass pig lures in five inch; I use colors pearl & chart pepper neon (Gulp), Crazy chrome Violet and Swamp gas “new penny”. Using swimbait hooks size 6/0 or 7/0 in ¼ or 3/8 ounce should put a Striper on the end of your line. I prefer Trokar TK 170 swimbait hooks. You can also cast mid-water crank baits that dive three to eight feet, do not let the lure drag the bottom to much or you will lose your lure to a stump or log! Look for Cape Fear River Stripers around mud-flat edges, bulk-heads, creeks, and shallow reed-grass edges on sunny warmer days. CFR Stripers are closed to keep; catch and release only.
Do not count out a nice Speckled trout during the month of March! But what is a trout going to hit in March? This is when you need to know where to start; what lures to try? One of my favorites is the good’ole MirrOlure; it has been around a long time and it is still catching fish, but if it is cold so work them SLOW! The patterns I prefer are the 17MR, 18MR, 52M and 52MR. Colors; MirrOlure makes a lot of different colors but here are some of my go too colors in clearer area waters. MirrOlure color codes: 11, 21, 26, 51, 704, CFPR, CH, EC, HP AND Capt. Jot Custom color #1, #2 & #3 (only found at Tex’s Tackle shop). Any local tackle shop can help you with these color codes. Best depths to use these lures; 17MR use these lures in two to six feet of water. 18MR, 52M & 52MR use these lures in four to fifth-teen plus feet of water.
There is another kind of fishing I like to try in March but there is no saltwater involved. I like to hit the upper Northeast Cape Fear River and Sutton Lake the do a little Large-mouth bass fishing. If you want to try something different try some bass fishing, they are a lot of fun to catch on lighter tackle. Most of the time I use heavy sink worms from Berkley Powerbait MaxScent in colors black, cinnamon purple, purple and green pumpkin candy red. I rig these sinko style worms with a 6/0 Eagle Claw wide bend worm hook with no weight. Work these worms very slowly off banks and stump beds. If you like to fly fish, try slow sinking small minnow patterns along the grass flats in Sutton Lake on cloudy or foggy days.
Tackle run down: PENN Battle III, Clash II or the new Authority Spinning reels sizes 2500, 3000, 3500 for the Redfish, Speckled trout, and Striped Bass. Fenwick HMG Inshore 7’ medium rods 8-to-15-pound class and line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten or fifteen; Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon leader for leaders; 20 pound for trout and 30 for all other species. Tackle Bags and Organization, I prefer the new Plano Z-series and Guide Series tackle bags. I use Plano EDGE Stowaway boxes for organization of my tackle in these tackle bags.
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Thanks for reading, Happy Spring, stay warm or cool and good fishing to you!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on March 1st, 2024
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. Hey we are starting out February very mild, hopefully this will be the trend for later winter. Here are some of the species I target around Southeast NC during February.
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 Powerbait grass pigs in five inch should get you a bite or two from a Striped Bass. I prefer white and chart pepper neon for the jerkshad and swamp gas and chartreuse silver flake in the grass pig. I rig my jerkshad and grass pigs on swimbait 7/0 TroKar TK-170 hooks, in 1/4oz or 3/8oz 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 Stripers are sitting shallow a MirrOlure 17MR can get a bite or two as 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! The Redfish bite 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 have good weather, calm seas and bright sunny skies for the ocean schools. I find the winter ocean Reds around the inlets, sand bars, up and down the beaches in the surf line. I use Berkley Gulp swimming mullet in colors pearl white; also the Berkley Gulp three & four inch Shrimp work well too both rigged on 3/8oz jig heads. A MirrOlure Catch 2000Jr or 2000 lures work well for winter Redfish in the ocean as well.
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!
There is one fish that a lot of anglers over look during the winter months, the Black Drum. What I love about these fish is you can catch them in good numbers this time of year and there pretty darn good to eat! On top of all that they can be fairly easy to catch; all you need is a little fresh (as you can get) shrimp. I use a light Carolina rig with an Eagle claw L42 #1 hook. Light meaning using as light as you can get away with sinker wise to not spook the drum. Fish around docks, oyster rocks and inlets for these Black Drum; often you’ll catch Redfish and Sheepshead mixed in as well.
What a rollercoaster of weather this winter so far, like most winters in Southeast NC. You can find a good winter Speckled trout bite, but it takes the right weather pattern for good results. 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 #1 & #3 (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). As far as colors go I try to use light colors in clearer waters and darker colors in stained/river or dirty waters.
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, Berkley Powerbait Pro Twitchtail minnow or a Cash Out a try. Rig the Gulp shrimp or twitchtail on lighter jig heads, here too for the trout so you can work them just a bit slower due to the cooler 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.
Tackle run down: PENN Battle II & Clash II Spinning reels sizes 2500 & 3000 for the Redfish, Speckled trout and Striped Bass. Fenwick HMG Inshore 7’ medium rods 8 to 15 pound class and line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten or fifteen; Berkley Pro Spec Fluorocarbon leader for leaders; 20 pound for trout and 30 for all other species. Tackle Bags and Organization, I prefer Plano Z-series and Guide Series tackle bags. I use Plano Edge Stowaway boxes for organization of my tackle in these tackles bags.
Thanks for reading, stay warm or cool and good fishing to you!
Capt. Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on February 6th, 2020
This winter has been one of the most up and down I’ve even seen around Southeast NC; really 67` one day and snow the next day??? The fishing overall even with this weather has been pretty good most days. I’ve said once, I have said it 100 times; you really have to pick your fishing days during the winter months here in Southeast NC!
The Redfishing lately has been pretty good most days when the wind is not howling and we’ve seen some nice schools of Reds. Warmer, sunny and lower wind days can be the key to catching these inshore winter Redfish. It’s not hard to catch them once you find’em, look for these Reds in creeks with dark colored bottoms and oyster rocks never hurt. Scented soft plastics like Berkley Gulp should do the trick to get these Reds to hit. Patterns in Gulp like Shrimp in sizes 2” and 3” are my go too; I’m keeping the baits smaller. Colors that seem to work the best are pearl, molting and new penny; the new Fire tail colors work great too!
Try lighter jig heads like 1/16oz and 1/8oz when winter fishing; lighter jig heads help you to work the lure much slower and will still look nature. 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!
Surf Reds have been hit or miss; I believe that a lot of the Reds are still up in the creeks due to all the up and down weather this season. I have caught a few good days of surf Reds when the weather is just right. Casting Berkley Gulp Ripple mullets on 1/4oz and 3/8oz jig heads in colors Rootbeer gold and New penny’ don’t forget that fluorocarbon leader this time of year the water is super clear most days!
I’ve made quite a few trips to the Cape Fear River year; there are three different kinds of fish to chase in the Cape Fear, Catfish, Striped Bass and even a hand full of nice Redfish most all winter long. Here is a few ways to put a CFR Striper on your line. Try Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in five and six inch size; in pearl & new penny colors and Berkley Havoc Grass Pigs. Work these baits slowly and always rig them weed-less; there are many hangs in the Cape Fear River. Try a Moaner swim bait hook with the Berkley Jerkshad; this is a great hook at a great price. www.moanerhooks.com I use the weighted Stroker hook in 1/4oz 5/0. Look for Stripers on drop-offs, dock pilings and reed-grass lines. The Cape Fear River Striped Bass fishing is a closed fishery; all Stripers must be released.
If you would like to give the Catfish a try, use baits like cut mullet, chicken livers and cut eel. I use heavy Carolina rigs when I fish for catfish. Try an Eagle claw L42 2/0 to 4/0 hook with fifty or eighty pound mono leader to make your carolina rig. Look for the catfish on drop-offs from five to twenty feet of water. We have seen some blue cats over thirty pounds caught in the river so try not to use to light of tackle; these are not always your ‘farm pond channel cats’!
Tackle run down: PENN Battle & Conflict Spinning reels sizes 2500, 3000 & 4000 for the Redfish and Striped Bass. PENN Legion in 6’6” & 7’ medium and med/hvy action; line Spiderwire Ultra-cast in ten and fifth-teen pound; Berkley Big Game Fluorocarbon leader for my leaders.
I have a few tickets available for my NC Inshore Fishing School in Raleigh, NC on April 5th (Saturday). The Wilmington School has Sold Out. If you would like a ticket to the Raleigh school please let me know by E-mail or phone call captainjot@yahoo.com
If you have any questions about the tactics I use fishing the local waters please e-mail me or catch me on Face Book at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Capt-Jot-OwensJot-It-Down-Fishing-Charters-LLC/134340373310487
Thanks for reading and good fishing to ya!
Capt. Jot Owens
PENN Fishing Tackle Elite Staff
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on January 30th, 2014
