Southport/Oak Island – October 2026
Angie, of Dutchman Creek Bait and Tackle, reports that surf anglers have been catching a good mix of whiting, croakers, and some pompano.
The spanish mackerel action has been picking up off the beach, with a lot of larger fish mixed in.
Further off the beach, the king mackerel bite remains slow, but reports indicate that the kings are working their way south.
Inside, it’s been all about flounder, and many keepers were caught during the short season.
Inshore anglers are now focused on finding the red drum that remain scattered.
Steve, of Oak Island Sporting Goods, reports that a lot of spanish mackerel and bluefish are being caught off the beach and from the local piers. However, the fall king mackerel bite has yet to kick off.
Bottom fishing in the surf is mostly producing croakers and a ton of small sharks.
Flounder fishing was awesome during the keeper season, with some big flatfish (to 9 lbs.) in the mix.
Ian, of Fin-Fisher Charters, reports that most of the success during flounder season with catching keepers came from dropping live mullet around structure at just about any of the nearshore reefs.
Inshore, plenty of bait is around to choose from, whether that’s live shrimp, menhaden, or finger mullet. Any of these baits fished around docks, oyster beds, or grass lines will produce scattered red drum.
The speckled trout action should be steadily picking up moving further into October.
Anglers are catching sheepshead and black drum around the inshore hard structures.
Ryan Brendle, of Southport, reeled in this 28″ red drum in the Cape Fear River using a live finger mullet.
Steve, of Oak Island Fishing Charters, reports that the red drum bite has really started to fire off. On high tides, it has been best to focus on grass lines. As the tide falls out, head to the ICW and fish around the feeder creeks. With mullet running and water temperatures starting to cool down, the red drum bite should only get even better.
Flounder are still around, though by the end of the short season some of the more popular spots felt picked through. Anglers will still find plenty of flatfish over the next month by working grass banks and oyster edges. The key has been to focus on those areas that feature a high amount of mullet traffic.
Big red drum should be showing up off the beach any day. Anglers have found a big fish here and there, but the “season” has yet to truly start. Most of the successes should come from looking for these big reds around bait balls and over nearshore bottom structure.
The king mackerel bite has not quite materialized, but the bite on the beach should kick off soon, especially with all the bait around.
Ryan, of Fugitive Charters, reports that some bigger spanish mackerel are showing up off the beaches.
A bunch of undersized king mackerel are mixed in with them, and the larger kings should show up on the beachfronts any day.
Bigger bluefish (5-7 lbs.) are feeding around the bait balls that are moving down the beach, and these bigger bait balls mean it’s about time to see the “bull” red drum show up.
Further offshore, sailfish are around in the 20-25 mile range. Mixed in that same range are scattered mahi and king mackerel. All of these species are hitting both trolled ballyhoo and live bait.
Bottom fishing in the deeper areas (100-120’) is producing a bunch of big black sea bass, plenty of vermilion snapper, and graysbys grouper.
Colby Kelly, of WV, reeled in this spanish mackerel from the Oak Island surf using a soft plastic swimbait.
Steele, of Catherine Anne Sportfishing, reports that nearshore anglers are enjoying a spanish mackerel bite that has been on fire. Anglers are finding that most of the schools of spanish are feeding really shallow on the finger mullet that are running the beaches.
Some smaller king mackerel are near the beach as well.
On offshore trips, there’s been some late season mahi action, and the sailfish bite has also been good. Expect the wahoo to show up in numbers with the cooling weather.
Lisa, of Ocean Crest Pier, reports that a bunch of spanish mackerel has been caught with casting jigs and Gotcha plugs. Bluefish are mixed in with the spanish.
Anglers fishing from the end have caught a couple king mackerel, and they also saw a bonus jack crevalle.
Bottom fishing is producing a bunch of flounder and the typical late summertime mix of croakers, pinfish, whiting, and the occasional spot.
Some pompano are starting to show in better numbers.
Rick, of Oak Island Pier, reports that bottom fishing efforts are producing a mixed bag of flounder, the occasional speckled trout, pompano, and whiting.
Some sheepshead are being caught around the pilings.
Sight-casting efforts have been producing spanish mackerel.
