Posts Tagged ‘Cape Fear’
CFR mixed bag
September 27, 2010 | 
Author After battling a nasty bug all week, I picked up a last minute trip for Saturday morning. Hoby, Ken, Bob and John, all former river guides, wanted to do a little fishing and catch up on old times. The crew was a few too many for my flats boat, so we decided I would take the helm of Hobie’s bateau’ and hit the Cape Fear River.
We started out making a run towards the mouth of the river to fish for Redfish with the plan of working back up river with the tide to finish out on the Speckled Trout. It was a good plan that came together. We fished the backwaters around Bald Head Island first and got our Redfish. Then as the water got closer to flood, we made the run back up river to pursue the Specks.
The Speck bite started kind of slow, but the blue fish keep the rods bent in the interim. As the water started to fall, the Speck bite picked up, but not as good as in previous trips. My take on this was that the tide turned right in the middle of the day and Specks bite best either early or late in the day. None the less, we came back to the dock with a cooler of fish, lots of comradery and some great memories of a good day on the water!!
Fall fishing is in full swing. Call today to book your next trip.
Tight lines!!
Capt. B.
Late August Speckled Trout
I made an early start this morning is hopes of finding a new trout hole and some trout for the dinner table. I succeeded at both.
My first stop of the morning produced one small puppy drum, a.k.a. rat red. The area I was in showed lots of promise with lots of bait in the water, but the bite just wasn’t to be. I decided to make a move and try some new spots, but to no avail.
I decided to make a run and while running down river, I saw something on the gps chart that caught my eye. I made a hard starboard turn and decided to check it out. I made a good choice.
The tide had started to rise and I found a point with good current on it. It didn’t take long to get hooked up with the fish. I tried many different baits and swithched often, but gulp shrimp, DOA shrimp and the mirrolure MR-17 produced. Most of the trout caught were in the 14-15 inch range, but I did catch one 3-4lb fish on the MR17.
All in all, it was a great day and I am looking forward to the fall when the trout bite typically picks up. I feel I will have a good trout hole for the fall.!!
Late April fishing report
Spring is here and the fishing has been, well, challenging!! The air and water are both warming, but steady fronts coming through has made for challenging conditions. It seems as of late it has either been beautiful or the winds have been howling. The constant change in conditions have seemed to put the fish in a confused state.
In the past week I have had to cancel trips due to wind, fished in some less than perfect conditions and had some perfect days as well. Last weekend I had Ed and his son Conner on board for some flats fishing. With winds of 15-20kts, we tucked up in Hewletts creek off the ICW to get out of the wind. Having a front go through the previous night, the fish didn’t want to cooperate. However, Ed did entice one sub- slot fish to bite a Berkley Gulp bait however.
The Cape Fear River is full of bait. On a recent outing to try and locate some speckled trout, there were massive schools of small pogies in the river channel as well as up on the river flats. I didn’t have any success on the trout that afternoon, but seeing the all of the bait fish was a very welcomed sign.
Another recent trip took me up in the North Topsail area. I went looking for several schools of fish that I had been finding in recent weeks, only to find that they had vacated the flats they were holding on. I was beginning to think that they had all left the state, but I finally found some small fish that were willing to eat a topwater plug. I don’t care how big they are, any time you can get one to eat topwater, it is always exciting!!
In other fishing news, the first Spanish Mackerel of the year has been reported being caught off of the Jolly Roger Pier on Topsail Island. Also the bluefish have been biting well on got-cha plugs. Atlantic Bonito as well as False Albacore are biting well near the inshore rocks and artificial reefs such as Divers Rock, Dallas Rock and the Liberty Ship. With the warm temperatures expected the next few days, I really expect the bluefish to bite well and I expect a good showing of Spanish Mackerel in the near shore waters. Some large Spanish should be caught around Sheepshead Rock this weekend for those that run down there.
I am planning on doing a little Turkey Hunting followed by some striped bass fishing this weekend with my brother-in-law on the Roanoke River. Wish me luck and I hope to have a little better report next week.
Fishing heats up along with the weather
As May blows out and the heat of June builds in, so does the fishing. the weather in May has been far from desireable, but June is looking better.
Spanish and King Mackerel are biting well along the coast and the Redfish and Flounder bite is picking up as well. Traditionally, June marks the beginning of the Mahi run. Though i haven’t had a chance to get out and find any, I am sure they are out there. Speckled trout continue to be caught in the Cape Fear River, and Cobia are showing up along the beaches.
While coming in from a charter on Saturday, I got to watch a guy in a Kayak do battle with a huge bluefish, that was probably well over ten pounds. It was pretty awesome to watch that fish tail walk just a few feet from the Kayak.
Fishing is heating up, so give me a call to book your trip. I will be fishing in an inshore tournament this Saturday, but I have other good dates available.
Tight lines!!!
Capt. Brent
