Fall is really starting to show its face around Southeastern North Carolina these last few weeks. Some warm days, some cool days and a few colder days with rain mixed in from time to time, but over all good fishing weather. The good part of this is no more hot days but lots of hot fishing to come!
October and November are great mouths for Speckled trout fishing and one of my favorite to fish for. They are good to eat and a lot of fun to catch on light tackle. It really does not matter if you like to fish artificial bait or live bait you can catch lots of Specks either way! So far in the last two weeks I have picked up some very nice Speckled trout as well as good numbers of keeper size trout. The gator trout (big ones) are starting to show up too and more will come with this cool weather we are having.
Here is how I have been catching the Speckled trout lately. On the artificial side of things; MirrOlures and Sebile's Stick Shadds are working very well for me this season so far. I've caught trout the 17MR and 18MR but some of the bigger ones are hitting the good old 52M&MR this season. Another bait that has really picked up a few nice trout this season is the Stick Shadd by Sebile in sizes 90 and 114 with colors in white lady, hollow mullet and yellow pepper. The colors for the MirrOlures that are having the most luck are; 17MR and 18MR's in colors: 11, 26, 808, CFPR, CH, EC and BCH. As far as the 52M & MR in colors: 11, 26, 51, 704, 808, CFPR, CH and HP.
Soft baits are always a winner for trout fishing and you can catch good numbers of Speckled trout on grubs etc. Berkley Ripple Mullets and Fire tail shrimp are two newer baits on the market and have been real good baits for Redfish but I've caught a few very nice trout on them lately. The colors I've had the best luck with are Goby magic/chart tail, Root-beergold/chart tail and glow/chart tail in the Ripple mullets. In the fire tail shrimp pattern colors of rootbeer gold, watermelon red fleck and new penny are working great. Saltwater Assassin makes a very large selection of great trout grubs, give one of these colors in the sea shad pattern a try on your next trout outing; chicken on a chain, copperhead, S&P silver phantom/chart, chart/diamond, sweet pea, 10w40/limetail and greenback shiner.
I rig all of these grubs on high quality jig heads in colors red, gray and brown; in sizes 1/16, 1/8, ¼ and 3/8oz. When I say high quality; I mean a jig head with a strong yet very sharp hook, a good jig head makes a big difference in how many fish you catch and don't miss; trust me! Check out jig heads by Sebile, Bluewater Candy and Saltwater Assassin; all of these companies make great high quality jig heads!
So you like to catch trout on live bait, well give live shrimp a try. The trick to live shrimp is knowing when to stop feeding the trash fish like; pinfish, lizard fish, and small bluefish. Using live shrimp can get expensive but you can catch some good numbers and size trout with live shrimp. I rig live shrimp a two different ways; in shallow water two to six feet I use a float rig. My float rigs consist of twenty pound Stren or Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon about twelve inches long and a number six treble hook for a live shrimp. When I fish deeper waters (five foot plus) or with stronger currents I use a light carolina rig. These rigs consist of a very small swivel, fourteen to twenty inches of fluorocarbon and a number one L42 Eagle claw hook. The sinker for this rig needs to be light 1/16oz or 1/8oz split shot and 1/8oz or 1/4oz egg sinkers should do the trick.
I'm still seeing the Redfish around and a few Bull reds are still biting from time to time around the inlets. There have been a few schools of Reds in the surf but due to very high winds and seas not much action there lately. On some sunny days I've caught a good number of Reds along the ICW and oyster flats in local creeks north and south & North of Wrightsville Beach. Live finger mullet and fresh cut bait will catch'em but, give a Berkley Gulp 3" new penny shrimp or a root-beergold/chart tail Ripple mullet a shot and I bet you'll have no problem catching a few redfish.
In other fishing news, the weekend of October 22nd and 23rd was the Red Bone-Cape Fear Red*Trout Tournament Series. This year again Adam Meyer and Liz Pitts of Charter Lakes Insurance Group fished with me. Liz did very well again this year taking home Grand Champion Lady Angler General Division Champion and Most Speckled trout Champion. Our team came in 1st over all in points, but the elusive keeper size Redfish was no where to be found; we got one as close at 171/2 inches (yes that hurt)! So we could not bring home Grand Champion Angler for Liz; hey there's always next year! This is a tournament to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis; I look forward every year to fishing this tournament of a great cause.
Fishing gear I use:
Speckled trout and Redfish: Reels Penn Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70ML & GS 70M-MF Line: *new line I'm using and really enjoying for Trout fishing is NanoFil from Berkley, this line is for spinning reels and its very smooth casting line! I prefer eight and ten pound for trout fishing. Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in twenty pound test.
If you are in or around the Morehead City area come by for the Grand Opening of Dick's Sporting Goods in Morehead City on November 12th. I'll be there with Berkley, Penn, Fenwick, Sebile and Spiderwire to help answer any questions you have about products or fishing. If you come by, please stop and say hello.
Dick's Sporting Goods
Crystal Coast Plaza
5130 Highway 70 West
Morehead City, NC 28557
*Are you on Facebook? Check out my page Capt. Jot Owens/Jot It Down Fishing Charters LLC for lots of good info on local fishing, fishing tips, detailed live reports, photos and tackle giveaways; yes free stuff! Just Fan (like) the page on I'll have monthly random drawings of Fans for free tackle!
Thanks so much for reading this report! I'm booking now and booking up fast for trophy Speckled trout trips November to mid December. Don't forget take a kid fishing and good fall fishing to ya!
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
