Wrightsville Beach June 2, 2011
Taylor Edgerton with her first citation flounder. The doormat fell for a live menhaden while she was fishing with family near Wrightsville Beach.
Chip, of Tex’s Tackle, reports that the Gulf Stream bite has slowed down a bit over the past week, but boats making the run to blue water are still connecting with some dolphin, blackfin tuna, and a few wahoo. Ballyhoo under skirted trolling lures are the way to go for all three.
Some dolphin are starting to move inshore of the Stream, and boats reported a few in the 30 mile range last week.
Bottom fishermen are reporting solid red, scamp, and gag grouper fishing around structure 30-40 miles off the beaches. Live, dead, and cut baits and vertical jigs will all tempt bites from the groupers.
Black sea bass are all over bottom structure from a few miles offshore to the break, and with the season opening June 1, anglers can now keep them. Squid, cut baits, and small metal jigs should produce all the sea bass that anglers care to catch.
Cobia are cruising along the beaches and following bait balls nearshore, and anglers are catching a few while sight-casting bucktails to the fish and bait.
Spanish mackerel fishing is solid near the inlets and beaches, and anglers can hook them while trolling Clarkspoons or other lures around diving birds or fish feeding on the surface.
Inshore, there’s been decent red drum fishing on the flats between Wrightsville and Topsail. Anglers can tempt the reds to bite topwater plugs, Gulps and other scented soft plastics, or a variety of other baits and lures.
Frank, of Intracoastal Angler, reports that dolphin have worked their way inshore as far as 23 Mile Rock. Trolling ballyhoo and other baits or light-lining dead baits while bottom fishing will attract attention from the ‘phins.
Boats making the run to the Gulf Stream saw trolling slow down a bit last week, but anglers are still catching decent numbers of slinger and gaffer dolphin, a few wahoo, and getting some shots at blue and white marlin. Skirted ballyhoo and baitless trolling lures are both drawing bites from the blue water predators.
Inshore of the Stream, grouper fishing has been improving somewhat, with anglers reporting decent action with gags, reds, and scamps around 30 miles off the beach. Live baits, cut baits, and vertical jigs are all getting attention from the groupers.
Black sea bass are numerous at bottom structure from the 30 mile range to Frying Pan Tower and beyond, and anglers can take them home as of June 1.
Spanish mackerel and bluefish are feeding around the inlets and off the beaches, and anglers can catch both while trolling Clarkspoons and other lures.
Harley Lawson and Bryan Pearson with a sailfish that fell for a skirted ballyhoo near the Same Ol' Hole while they were fishing out of Masonboro Inlet on the "Doctor M."
Some cobia are cruising in the same areas as the blues and spanish and following bait balls. Anglers can cast large lures like Blue Water Candy Cobia Jigs to the bait balls to find out whether the cobia are home.
Flounder fishing at the nearshore reefs and live bottoms has been solid lately, with anglers catching good numbers of keepers on live baits and bucktail jigs tipped with Gulps.
The flounder fishing is also good inshore, where Gulps and live baits will also produce flatfish action.
Topwater red drum fishing on the flats throughout the area has been good lately, especially in the calmer early mornings. Some speckled trout have also been taking an interest in the topwater plugs lately.
Rick, of Living Waters Guide Service, reports that Gulf Stream Trolling produced good numbers of gaffer dolphin (to 25 lbs.) last week. Some smaller wahoo are in the mix as well, and the best action was in 160-180’ of water last week. Fast-trolling with baitless lures has been at least as productive as ballyhoo trolling lately.
Some blue and white marlin are feeding a bit further offshore, and baitless trolling plugs will get their attention as well.
Bottom fishing in around 160’ produced some big red and scamp grouper last week, both on vertical jigs and live baits.
Spanish mackerel are working along the beaches and will take an interest in Clarkspoons, Blue Water Candy Spanish Daisies, and other small trolling lures.
Jim, of Plan 9 Charters, reports that the spanish mackerel bite has been excellent lately, with larger fish (to 2-3 lbs.) feeding further north. Gold, silver, and flash-tape Clarkspoons have all been effective lately, particularly behind #1 planers.
Some cobia are feeding along the beaches, too, but it’s been somewhat tough to get them to bite lately. Live baits should prove the most tempting to them.
Amberjacks and more cobia are feeding at structure in the 10-15 mile range, where anglers should have an easy time convincing them to bite live menhaden.
Tim, of Fishin’ Days Sportfishing, reports that solid gaffer dolphin fishing last week turned into a scattered bite over the weekend, likely due to an area of dirty water that pushed in over the break. Boats still put together some decent dolphin catches over the weekend (and landed fish to 40+ lbs. last week). The ugly water appears to be moving to the north, so the bite could be hot again any day.
Some wahoo and a few sailfish are in the mix with the ‘phins (and the wahoo have been pushing inshore of the break as well). Skirted ballyhoo are fooling all the fish, with pink and blue/white still the hottest colors.
Steve, of Johnnie Mercer’s Pier, reports that anglers are putting together good catches of spanish mackerel and bluefish while casting Gotcha plugs from the pier.
Bottom fishermen are scoring with sea mullet, croaker, and bluefish, with the best action coming at night. Shrimp are the best baits.
Live baiters are seeing some cobia from the end of the pier, but they’ve been reluctant to strike baits and lures.
The water is 76 degrees.
