Topsail/Sneads Ferry – August 2026
David, of East Coast Sports, reports that anglers getting out on the beaches are catching a mix of whiting and black drum. The best baits have been shrimp and sand fleas. In addition, some red drum are around for those fishing fresh cut baits on Carolina rigs.
Pier anglers are seeing the same bottom species, but they are also finding a speckled trout or two. Those fishing live baits off the end are catching the occasional king mackerel and tarpon, and they’re also pulling in some large spanish mackerel.
Inshore has been mostly about red drum and flounder while fishing live baits.
Good numbers of sheepshead are around hard structure for those with live fiddler crabs.
Bottom fishing for grouper has been the bright spot for offshore efforts.
Anglers are finding scattered mahi from the nearshore reefs on out to the break.
Mike, of Native Son Guide Service, reports that inshore trips are focused on bouncing around to find red drum. Topwaters have been a good way to scout through spots in the morning, and then to keep on a bite, switch over to finger mullet as the day moves on.
Plenty of flounder are around. Though they aren’t being targeted, anglers can’t help but find a few when fishing a live bait on the bottom.
The nearshore action is really the best option at this time in the season, with good numbers of spanish mackerel (2 lb. class) being caught with trolling setups. Anglers are looking forward to the larger spanish starting to show up (hopefully) as early as the end of August.
Bluefish are plentiful off the beaches, with most of the schools in tight to the beach.
Bottom fishing is a great choice for nearshore trips in the summer, with anglers catching a mix of black sea bass, grunts, and grouper.
Some cobia are still around and will come up off the bottom and check out the action when you’re bottom fishing.
Stephanie Green, of Hampstead, caught this red grouper on a whole squid in 130′ of water offshore of Topsail Island.
Ray, of Spring Tide Guide Service, reports that the main focus in the heat of summer is on red drum fishing. When on the water early in the morning, anglers are doing well on topwater plugs. They then switch over to bait fishing as the sun rises and temperatures heat up. The top bait choice has been cut menhaden, with finger mullet just starting to show up in the desirable sizes and numbers.
When the weather allows, it’s a lot of fun to sight-cast Big Nic Spanish Candies to schools of spanish mackerel both just inside the inlet and right off the beach.
If looking for some bottom fishing action, catches in the shallower areas (35-50’+) are producing black sea bass, grunts, and the occasional gag grouper.
Adam, of Carolina Flats Fishing, reports that the red drum bite has stayed somewhat steady, but these fish can be very picky this time of year. Overall, anglers will find that getting out on the water in the early morning is best. It’s also been productive to start off with throwing topwater plugs and then switch over to live bait as the sun gets up.
The speckled trout bite remains sporadic, but anglers are catching a few on topwaters during that first hour of sunrise. After that first hour, an occasional trout strike can come from paddle tails fished in deeper holes.
Nothing has changed with the flounder bite—they are everywhere and in good numbers.
Jim, of Plan 9 Charters, reports that bottom fishing anglers have been catching a good mix of gag grouper, big black sea bass, vermilion snappers, and porgies. Overall, the best tactic has been cut bait while holding over bottom structures in the 70-100’ range.
A few cobia continue to show up while bottom fishing.
Anglers looking for mahi and king mackerel should be targeting the same areas. Size-wise, it has mostly been schoolie kings and peanut-sized mahi, but there have been a fair amount of both species to make up for the smaller sizes. When targeting the kings and mahi, try trolling both live and dead baits.
When closer to the beach, spanish mackerel fishing has been good, especially the early morning bite.
Brantley and Brighton Wallace, of Willow Spring, NC, doubled up on red drum in the Topsail area using live mullet.
Taylor, of South End Adventures, reports that there’s a good number of spanish mackerel over hard bottom and other structure out into the 5-mile range. Anglers are typically finding them while scouting for birds or seeing fish breaking the surface.
Some spanish mackerel and bluefish are also being found around the inlets. For these fish, anglers are having the best success when trolling Clarkspoons under planers.
Bailer dolphin have been plentiful in the 8-20 mile range, with an occasional gaffer mixed in. For the mahi, troll small topwater lures around bait marks.
The gag grouper bite has been strong in the 12-20 mile range.
Black sea bass action has started to slow down with the water warming up a lot, but there are still plenty of big grunts.
Robin, of Jolly Roger Pier, reports that anglers fishing live bait on king rigs off the end have been having some great catches that include multiple tarpon (to est. 110 lbs.) and a 63 lb. cobia.
In addition to the big fish, the pier is seeing spanish mackerel, bluefish, spots, Virginia mullet, and croakers.
Vinita, of Surf City Pier, reports that the pier has had some productive catches this month, including speckled trout, pompano, sea mullet, spots, and the occasional red drum.
Anglers casting plugs are catching spanish mackerel (to 3+ lbs.).
