We have had some great weather here on the southern coast of N.C. and the fishing has been good. We are catching good numbers of redfish and speckled trout and still picking up a few flounder. The striper bite has also been good in the upper Cape Fear River around Wilmington. We have had some beautiful days to be on the water fishing with lots of calm, warm days. Hopefully this trend will continue, if so the fishing should be good through the holiday season.

The redfish bite has been good to excellent on the days when the weather cooperates. Getting good weather days makes things a lot easier on locating reds and getting them to bite. There are lots of reds around, but somedays they are a bit skiddish and getting them to bite can be difficult. There are some large schools on the flats and smaller schools working the creeks and the sightfishing has been good when the winds are light. On the windier days we are concentrating our efforts in the smaller protected creeks where we can catch reds on artificials and live baits. Gulp scented baits are working best along with DOA paddletail jigs. Mud minnows and shrimp on light jigheads and carolina rigs are also working well. The reds have not fully got into their winter pattern and are still spread out. When the water cools a bit more they should bunch up and be easier to locate.

The speckled trout fishing is still going strong in the Cape Fear area from Wrightsville Beach to Southport. The specs are normally larger this time of year and we have picked up a few fish over four pounds. Most of the specs with me have been caught fishing the main creek channels of the lower Cape Fear. DOA soft plastic splittails, paddletails, and shrimp on popping floats along with Gulp Shrimp, jerkbaits,and swimming mullet are all working well on the trout.

We are still picking up a few flounder when we are blindcasting Gulp baits for reds and trout. There have also been some reports of good striper catches in the Cape Fear River around Wilmington. I hope to get up there to do a little striper fishing over the next couple of weeks. There should also be some reds and specs to be caught along with the stripers.

I had Michael Brazda http://www.mjbproductions.com on the boat on 12/5/11 to do some filming of fishing in the lower Cape Fear. We had a good day catching reds, a few trout and flounder and he got some awesome footage. Michael is a professional film producer who loves to fish and produce fishing videos. He has worked on several projects on the Outer Banks and does a great job. Check out his video Oyster Bed Reds on http://vimeo.com/33379567

I have the new 19′ Carolina Skiff in action and it is working well. I can get three anglers on this boat and get to those shallowwater reds. I will also have a new 2012 17′ Ranger Banshee Extreme soon. Thanks for reading the report and I should have good one for the holidays. Check out the photos from the past few weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Carolina Beach Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

11/19/11 Bobby and Amy doubled up on reds fishing mud minnows on carolina rigs

11/20/11 14 year old Weston was rewarded with a fishing trip for being a good kid with good grades. He had a good day sightcasting for redfish and picked up a few specs with one around 23″ and four pounds.

Chris, Ricky, and Colby fished with me two days with similiar results on both days ( Reds and Speckled Trout ). 11 year old Colby was one heck of a fisherman picking up some of his fish casting Gulp Alive Shrimp and DOA soft plastics.

11/23/11 Dee also fished two days and caught good numbers of reds and speckled trout

11/26/11 Avery and Jeremy had a good trip catching reds on a beautiful November day with light winds and highs in the 70’s. Avery is confined to a wheelchair, but has not let that stop him from doing the thing he loves, fishing. So glad I could accomodate you Avery. You are such a inspiration and it was a honor to have you on my boat.

11/28/11 John had a good day on the reds and picked up a couple of nice trout and a flounder for his wife.

12/3/11 Jason with a red and spec he caught casting a DOA paddletail jig

12/4/11 Matt and Christian doubled up on reds out of a school in the creeks. The new Carolina Skiff is rigged and ready for action, minus the Minn Kota Talon Shallow Water Anchor and poling platform I will be installing in the near future. This boat is working well on the flats and shallow creeks and can accomodate three anglers and myself.

Tommy with a nice red he picked up fishing with Christian on the 19′ Carolina Skiff. I had to think twice about posting this pic with all of that Hoggard stuff on. Tommy is is the assistant baseball coach at Hoggard highschool.

12/6/11 Dave, Ed, Rick, and Michael had a great day with the reds and also picked up three nice speckled trout casting DOA soft plastics and Gulp Alive Shrimp.

12/4/11 Christian with a overslot red and a nice 21″ and 23″ spec he caught fishing DOA fluketail jerkbaits

My good ole friend David Byerly jumped on the Kenner for a couple of hours after a trip and picked up a couple of reds and trout. We had a good time reminicing about the good times we had growing up fishing and surfing on Carolina Beach. David is living and working in PA. and does not get to saltwater fish much.

The inshore and backwater fishing remains solid in the Cape Fear area and will continue for the next month or so. Speckled trout, redfish, black drum, whiting, and flounder are all currently available to anglers fishing these waters. We have had some great days to be on the water recently with daytime temps in the 70’s. This is the time of year when some of our best fishing can occur, especially for redfish and speckled trout.

The speckled trout fishing has been good to excellent in the Cape Fear area from Wrightsville Beach to Southport. The specs are around the inlets and creeks and hitting a variety of lures. DOA Shrimp on popping corks, DOA paddletails and fluketails, Gulp Shrimp and Gulp Swimming Mullet, Mirrolures, and twistertail grubs are all working well for me. Of course live shrimp on a float rig or carolina rig will also put a hurtin on a speckled trout. There are a lot of small specs around which is a great sign for next year. Hopefully we will get back to having some normal winters here in the Cape Fear area and the trout will rebound to healthy numbers like they were prior to the last two winters.

The redfish bite was a bit tough, but has picked up lately and will continue through the winter months. Some of the best redfishing of the year can occur in late November and the months of December and January. The reds are hitting Gulp Shrimp and DOA paddletails, mud minnows, live and dead shrimp on float rigs and carolina rigs. There are some schools roaming the flats and grass banks and the sightfishing should be good when conditions are right. On Sunday Oct. 13th I had four guys on the boat throwing artificials along a grass bank where a school of reds were feeding. All four hooked up sightcasting to the school and landed all of their reds from ranging from 24″ to 27″. That was pretty exciting.

There are still a few flounder around, but will be moving out soon. Most of the flounder have been caught while fishing for redfish with artificials and live baits.

There are some decent sized black drum around and lots of smaller ones. The black drum are hitting dead shrimp on carolina rigs around oyster bars, dock pilings, and shelly bottom holes around low tide.

The whiting fishing has been excellent along the edge of the shipping channel in the lower Cape Fear River. Two hook bottom rigs baited with fresh shrimp are putting big numbers of these tasty fish in the cooler. Some of the whiting are good size, hit hard and pound for pound are one of the scrappiest fish out there.

Thanks for reading the report and I will try to stay more consistent with my fishing reports. It has been a busy summer and fall and I would like to thank my customers for their business. I have met so many great people and made lots of friends and memories through my charter business. It is a great to leave the dock with a customer, get to know them, and come back as friends. Check out the photos from some of the recent trips. These are just a few of the good catches we have had lately. 
LOOK FOR GREAT WINTER RATES STARTING IN DECEMBER. REDFISHING CAN BE INCREDIBLE IN DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND INTO FEBUARY.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Carolina Beach Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

Jacob and Gabe with some mid Oct. reds. They caught these fish with live mud minnows on carolina rigs

Mark and Mike with a catch of sheephead, redfish, and flounder

Douglas, Larry, and Steve with some nice specs, reds and sheephead

A couple of nice specs in the 20 inch range

A pair of Bald Eagles we have been seeing on the lower Cape Fear

John had a double inshore slam

Gary, Carlton, and Paul had a good trip on a day with winds predicted to blow 35 to 40. They were determined to make a day of it and we did with good numbers of redfish and black drum fishing the protected creeks behind Bald Head Island

Tammy with her 27′ red she took home and had mounted. Caught fishing a dead shrimp on a carolina rig.

Phil, Matthew, Sarah, and Andrew caught lots of redfish and a few black drum on 8/8/11

Bill fished with me two days with similiar results on both days. Redfish, speckled trout, and black drum.

Bob with his 33″ red he caught on a Gulp Shrimp on his one more cast.

Hannah with of one her many reds she caught fishing dead shrimp on a carolina rig. Hope you didn’t rub it in on Jackson to bad Hannah

Kim the other half of the girls vs guys backwater challenge on the Kenner Bay boat. With one of the reds that put her and Hannah the victors for the trip.