Mackerel, Blues, Reds and More Wrightsville Beach, NC
Capt. Jot Owens
May 11, 2010
Wrightsville Beach - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hello from Southeast North Carolina, I hope everybody is having a good fishing season so far this year! I've had a good one so far myself; the water temps are going up so fast this year. We have had a lot of up and down weather lately, but the water temps are still going up fast. I thought we were going to be late on water temps this year but we are very close to being on time with past seasons.
The real winner for me lately has been those Spanish mackerel. My charters have done very good in the last few trips, with catches of twenty or more Spanish in a half day. Most of the Spanish are biting Clark spoons trolled behind #1 planner's. The Clark spoons that are working the best for us are sizes; 00 and 0 in silver and pink flash. I really like the pink flash series, these spoons have worked very well for my charters. If you would like to go lighter; you can pull small deep diving lures as well.
When the Spanish are on top feeding and jumping, Maria jig spoons have been the trick. The colors that seem to be working are pink, green and blue in sizes seven & fourteen gram. (Hint): keep it to smaller lures when the weather gets hot! We also caught a few Bonita's mixed in with the Spanish.
There has also been plenty of blue fish up and down the beach as well. Trolling or casting small deep divers has produced lots of bluefish around the inlets. We have also caught a hand full of chopper blues too. These choppers are running in the six to over fifth teen pound range. The choppers are biting big poppers and mid water stick baits. Color really does not seem to matter to those big blues, just a lot of action from the lure!
Bottom fishing just off the beach has produced some nice Black bass, grunts and small Grouper, of course on the lighter wind days! Jigs and squid are the trick, fishing the squid on simple two hook bottom rigs. Jig fishing using two to five once jigs in colors pink, green and red/white. We are fishing mostly hard and live bottom areas, in the one to ten mile range for the bottom fish. There has been some small and keeper Gray trout showing up on hard bottoms closer to the beach.
The flounder bite is picking up some too; we are starting to see a few fish inshore as well on the near shore reefs and wrecks. Most of the flounder inshore are mixed in size, but the fish in the ocean are a little better in size. Live bait and grubs are the best bet. Carolina rigs for the live bait and heavy jig heads for the grubs. I prefer bright grubs; Berkley Powerbait jerk shad and Saltwater Assassin's sea shads in colors chart/diamond and silver mullet work very well.
Red fish have been hit or miss for me lately, some days we get a few some days we don't. This should change when more live bait shows up in the creeks and channels. What Reds we are getting are hitting fresh bait and Berkley Gulp shrimp and peeler crabs (2") size; on Carolina rigs and jig heads. We are starting to see a few Reds on the Flats, when we are fishing shallow waters for Reds we use Rattling corks. Rigging the Rattling corks with a Berkley Gulp 3" Shrimp, really seems to get there attention.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Spiderwire Ultra-cast braid in 10 and 15#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6'6" and 7' Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
In Other Fishing News:
June 5-6, 2010 "In the Water Fishing School" I, Capt. Rick Bennett and four other of the best local guides are putting on this school on. This school will be real-time hands on fishing experience! There will be one day of hands on classroom instruction and the next day on the water, real-time fishing experience. The school is limited to the first 24 participants! If you want to learn from the best local guides and see how we do it, take the time to check it out; http://www.rodmancharters.com/inthewater-fishing-school.htm *We only have a few spots left for this School!!! I'm really looking forward to being part of this school!
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Book now for this coming summer fishing season and don't forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Target Species:
Spanish, Mackerel, Bluefish, Redfish, Flounder, trout
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