Well folks the HOT weather is back and with it has been a brisk Southwest wind. The wind has really kept me inshore fishing for the last few weeks, but we did get out in the ocean a few times early in the morning before the wind got up. The days we got out the Spanish mackerel fishing was good and the days we could not get out we've been catching good numbers of Flounder and a few nice Redfish too. Let's talk about that and a few other things in this weeks fishing report>>>
The great thing about Spanish mackerel fishing is that most days it is instant gratification fishing. When you take kids fishing or first time anglers this is very important for your day of fishing; "get some fish in the boat"! Spanish are fun on light tackle and they are good to eat, not a bad first time catch fish. Most of the Spanish lately are biting just off the beach to about two miles offshore. When the Spanish are on top, we are casting Maria jigs and jig fish spoons. We Rig these jigs with thirty pound mono or Fluoro leader material.
When the Spanish are not jumping, we are trolling number one planners with Clark spoons. The Clark spoons that have worked the best for us have been #00 and #0 in colors gold, silver and pink flash. We rig the planner with a ball bearing swivel connected to thirty to forty feet of thirty pound mono leader then the Clark spoon tied on. I have just this year started to use a new product for Spanish fishing and it works great, it's the Blue Water Candy Spanish Daisy Chain. You can troll this rig on a light spinning or bait casting combo and catch Spanish in very good numbers. The colors I've had the best luck with are pink, blue and silver. We put a three foot shot of thirty pound Fluorocarbon in front of the chain with a ball bearing swivel for line twist. On one of my last Spanish trips we caught over thirty Spanish and a fifth teen pound King mackerel on the Spanish Daisy chain. Give it a try!
Flounder fishing has been good lately, with good numbers and starting to see bigger fish everyday. We have caught Flounder good on live bait as well as artificial baits and some of the bigger Flounder lately have hit artificial baits. Live baits like mud minnows and small mullet rigged on light Carolina rigs are doing the trick when using live baits. Jig heads rigged with Berkley Gulps new Mud minnow/croaker pattern have been great for our Flounder trips in the last three weeks. We have caught two Flounder over Five pounds so far on this new Gulp pattern. We rig the Mud minnow Gulp on a 1/4oz to 3/8oz gray or red jig heads (spring lock) works the best. A thirty pound mono or fluoro leader about fifth teen to twenty inches long will work just fine. The colors that we've had the most luck with are Killifish, New Penny, Pearl White and Sardine. I have no idea why these baits work so well for Flounder but they really do work. On a trip two weeks ago, I had one guy fishing with the Mud minnow Gulp and he caught the biggest and most Flounder that day!
We've caught a few Reds this last two weeks, not as good as I would like it to be but still getting a hand full. One thing we have in this area is a lot of pressure on the Redfish. With so many people today chasing Redfish and with not a lot water fish IE: "lots of people fishing", Redfish are taking a beating around Wrightsville Beach. So how do you catch Redfish with so much pressure; go early in the mornings or very late afternoon or fish for something else! "I'm sure you can tell in this short paragraph how I feel about local Redfishing lately."
Shark fishing has gotten very good in the last two weeks and will only get better. Shark fishing will be good until early October. Best baits for the near shore sharks are, fresh and live Menhaden. When we use bait to catch the sharks we use spinning reels, with 300+ yards of thirty and fifty pound Spider wire Ultracast braid. Rigging the baits; eight feet of 80 pound mono leader; some will wind on to the reel. Connected the 80 pound mono to a fifty pound swivel, then to Two to three foot of #9 SS wire and an 8/0 or 9/0 off set J hook; this rig should get'em to the boat.
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 lite 6'6" and 7' Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. I'm very busy this time of year but if you would like to go fishing please feel free to call any time to check my availability 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
