The fall fishing is here in the Cape Fear area and seems to be getting better day by day. Redfish, flounder, speckled trout, gray trout, sheephead, and black drum are all roaming the inshore and backwaters of the lower Cape Fear. Inshore slams and double digit days of redfish and speckled have been the norm on most of my charters recently. There is still a tough day here and there, but overall the fishing is good. October and November are a couple of our peak months with a wide variety of fish to pursue and a minimal amount of boat traffic on the water.
The redfish bite has been up and down with the dirty water we had for a couple of weeks. The water has really cleaned up and the reds seem to be feeding much better recently. Live mullet minnows on carolina rigs and float rigs have been working best. We are also locating reds by dropping the trolling motor, covering ground, and throwing DOA soft plastics and Gulp baits. There are also some small schools of reds on the flats, and there have been some sightfishing opportunities when the winds are light. The redfish bite should continue to get better as we get into October and throughout the winter months.
The speckled trout fishing has really picked up recently and the specs are getting bigger. Double digit days have been common and most have been caught on a variety of artificials. DOA Jerkbaits and shrimp, Billy Bay Halo Shrimp on popping floats, topwater plugs, and mirrolures have all worked well on the specs. Live shrimp on float rigs will always do the trick on hungry specs and normally catch fish when they will not hit artificials. Look for the trout fishing to get better and continue thru December.
The flounder fishing is still good and should continue thru mid November. Most of the flounder on my charters have been caught throwing Gulp Baits and Jerkshads in the creeks. We have also picked up a few flounder on live mullet minnows, with a 5lb 11oz. fish caught this past week on a live mullet. This is the time of year to catch larger flounder in the Cape Fear River and the creeks of the lower Cape Fear area.
October is a great time of year to catch sheephead and the fish are normally larger this time of year. Some of my best days sheephead fishing has been this time of year. Fiddler crabs dropped on carolina rigs around dock pilings and other structure will put good numbers of these tasty fish in the cooler. We also occasionally catch black and red drum while sheephead fishing.
The whiting bite will be picking up as we get into mid October and filling up coolers with whiting, spots, and a few gray trout is always a possibility thru mid November. Two hook bottom rigs baited with fresh shrimp will do the trick on these tasty panfish.
I’m am excited and looking forward to what fall fishing has to offer, cooler temps, less boats, and hungry fish. Thanks for reading the report and check out a few of the pics from the month of September. I will be doing a report for mid October and it should be a good one.
Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
North Carolina Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580
