Folks, it's a new year! Gas prices are down, weather has been pretty warm around these parts and fishing has been pretty good too! I hope fishing will be as good this year as it was last year; but with better gas prices!! I think that would make a lot of us happy; for this up coming summer fishing run! Let's talk fishing, to the fishing report>>>
Those Cape Fear River stripers are still biting well. Most of the stripers have been in the 18" to 28" range with a few bigger stripers mixed in too. We caught one of our top three largest Cape Fear Rivers ever just before Christmas Eve; she was 31.6 pounds. We were fishing a drop-off on the edge of the river channel; throwing green-back x-raps 4 3/8". When my friend Duane's lure got smacked; the fish about took the rod out of his hand! Fifth teen minutes later he got her to the boat; photo, tagged, weighted, and released. That was one striper I'll never forget!
The stripers are still biting good ole' x-raps, "blurp" jerk shad (5") and swim shads. Colors that seem to catch them, green back, blue back and some white hard lures. In the soft bait colors Electric chicken, Chicken on a chain, pearl and fire tiger seems to do the trick. We are casting on drop offs, creek mouths and turns in the river. You never know where you will catch one, you just have got to go and try!
There has been some rather nice catfish coming out of the river as well. Most of the cats are hitting chicken livers (fresh as possible). The cats are hanging around docks and brush piles. Fishing Carolina rigs with forty pound leader and L42 or circle hooks in sizes 2/0 to 4/0 will work. There has been a few cat fish over twenty pounds and larger caught.
The speckled trout have been hit and miss lately, some days we catching some days we don't. When we do get them; live shrimp has worked, as well as grubs have. Just lately I've had a few friends catch some bigger trout around the Masonboro jetties. When I'm looking for bigger trout, I turn too the live shrimp, not to say that big trout will not hit lures; they will! But for ease of fishing with charters; live shrimp do the trick time and time again!
When we are using grubs these are some of the patterns that are catching trout. One grub color by Saltwater Assassin that has really been a great one this season is the new color (Chicken on a Chain). Some other colors that are producing well are salt & pepper, chart-diamond, space guppy and pearl. We rig the grubs on jig heads in colors black and red; in sizes 1/8, ¼ and ½ oz. With a twenty pound fluorocarbon leader, I don't use a lot of floro, but I do for speckled trout fishing.
The Fishing gear we use:
Trout and Stripers: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6035 and 6040. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6'6" and 7' Med & Med-Heavy. 12 & 20 pound Ugly Braid. Bait cast rod and reel combo Pflueger Supreme low profile with an All Star Platinum P845MC 7' rod. Great striper set up!
In Other Fishing News: Don't forget starting this coming weekend; there are some great boat and fishing expos coming to North Carolina. If you like fishing and boats you don't want to miss these shows and fishing seminars! Here are the one's that myself as well as other Ranger boats pro staff members will be at this winter.
January 9-11, 2009 - Raleigh Bass & Saltwater Fishing Expo NC State Fairgrounds - Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This is a GREAT show, with over 160 booths offering everything from the latest lures, plastics, jigs, custom rods, apparel, knives, product sample booths, hard-tops, saltwater charters, fresh water guides, cast nets, gaffs.....by far one of the best shows of its kind in the Carolina's and Virginia. I will be there along with other Ranger pro staff members who include; Jeff Cronk of Fish'n 4 Life charters and Capt. Mike Taylor of Taylor-Made charters, as well as many others fresh and salt water pros! I will have tarpon and cobia fishing seminars all three days of this show.
January 23-25, 2009 - Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show - Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ One of our top Ranger pro staff members will be at this show; C.A. Richardson of Flats Class TV and team Evinrude. This show will have lots of boats for you to take a look at, get in and get a feel for; "maybe you will find your next boat there!
January 31, 2009 - Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series – Wilmington, NC. www.nationalseminarseries.com Location: Hilton Riverside Wilmington- Grand Ballroom. This is a great day of seminars from local, regional and national fishing captains and guides! You can learn a lot at this great day of seminars.
February 20-22, 2009 - Carolina Power & Sailboat Show NC State Fairgrounds - Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This show will have lots of nice boats to see!
March 21, 2009 Saltwater Fishing School Saturday, 2615 Jefferson Davis Hwy (US 1 South) - Sanford, NC. www.northcarolinasportsman.com
This all-day event will feature successful tournament anglers, prominent charter captains, top notch guides, knowledgeable pro team members, experienced local fishermen, and well-informed industry professionals giving tips, plus explaining lures and techniques used to catch everyone's favorite fish.
If you get a chance you should really take the time to visit some of these shows and seminars. You will learn lots of great info from the fishing seminars and see some great new boats! For more info on these shows and seminars just go to the links on this page.
Thanks for reading this report; I'll see ya on the water or at the shows!
Good Luck Fishing,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
