Swansboro May 11, 2006
Jeff, of FISHN4LIFE Charters, reports that there are plenty of peanut shad at the mouths of the small creeks off Bogue Sound, White Oak River, Queens Creek, and Bear Creek. There are some mullet minnows up those same creeks. And around the sandy flats near the inlets will be plenty of tiger-side minnows.
The bluefish are scattered all over. Places to target will be along the inlet connecting channels, the ICW, and current rips off structure in the river and sound.
There are red drum feeding on the shad and mullet minnows around the creeks, as well as along the docks in the ICW and the feeder creeks behind the barrier islands. Spinner baits or jig heads with soft plastic grubs will work fine if you can’t find live bait.
Southern flounder have made their migration down river toward the mouth and the ICW, and they can be found around most structure in the river including oyster rocks, edges of sand and grass flats, and around dock pylons and crab traps.
The summer flounder (up to 17”) have also begun to migrate into the inlets and sounds from the ocean.
The speckled trout have moved out of the creeks and down river, and there have been catches of multiple specks when the bite is on. Although most of these fish are from 10 to 15”, there have been fish up to 5+ lbs.
Typically May is the kickoff of the sheepshead bite in Swansboro. Sheepshead can be found in abundance around shallow shelly bottoms and deep shelly channels, as well as dock and bridge pylons. The best bait for sheepshead is live fiddler crabs or sand fleas. To target larger sheepshead, a good bait is sea urchins (break off the needles) fished on the bottom around the structure. Black drum can often be found in the same places as the sheepshead and will eat the same baits.
Offshore, there are plenty of bluefish in the surf zone as well as around nearshore live bottoms and artificial reefs. The summer flounder have moved in along the live bottoms and AR’s as well.
The bonito are still working the bait along the beaches and out several miles in good numbers. They love slow-trolled deep diving lures, as well as stingsilvers.
Stanman, at Stanman Fishing Charters, reports that offshore it appears the yellowfin bite passed us by when boats couldn’t get to them due to the rough seas. The bite is at the Tower in Hatteras, with limits every day on almost every boat. However, the mahi have made a showing, and they have shown up in force. Reports of gaffers up to 35 lbs. are prevalent at the 90’ Drop and the 14 Bouy. They should be moving closer to the beach and could be about 15 miles off the beach come Father’s Day.
Mahi will eat any color, but they prefer pink and white.
There are also some wahoo around, and they will be caught all summer long as they move in and out from the gulf stream and come in to within 10 miles of the beach to spawn. It’s at the spawning time when king mackerel tournament anglers think they have the “Big Lady” on, only to be disappointed by wahoos in the 70 lb. class.
Small kings (8 to 10 pounders) will be moving in to the Swansboro Rotary Reef, AR342, and the Keypost. Live bait might be difficult to catch at this time of the year, so be sure and have your trusty Yo-zuri Deep Divers in several colors.
Small blues are tearing the beach up right now. Troll slow (3-4 mph) using Clark spoons or anything else that shines. The spanish have not made a good showing, but they should come in strong any day.
Rhonda, at Bogue Fishing Pier, reports that blues have been biting well in the morning. Some days they get a mix of blues, mullet, and spanish all day long. The spanish first showed up around May 5.
They are also catching small spots on cut shrimp.
