The redfishing has started out good for 2011 and should continue thru the winter months. We had a couple of warm days with highs in the upper 60’s and that has brought the water temps back up a few degrees. The water temps actually touched the fifty degree mark on the rising tide in the the lower Cape Fear on Saturday Jan 1st. The redfish have really responded and hopefully this trend will continue. We need a normal weather pattern and the redfishing should be good for the rest of the winter.

The reds are schooled up in the creeks and we have been able to do a little sightfishing when the winds and tides cooperate. Most of the reds have been caught blindcasting soft plastics and Gulp Shrimp along creek banks, shellbeds, and the marsh edge. We have also picked up a few fish on live mud minnows. There have been lots of 20+ to 30+ fish days over the past week. We did struggle one day after the last cold front, but did manage five fish in some cold conditions. We have also picked up a few nice speckled trout in the two to three pound range.

Thanks for reading the report and hopefully I will have a good one for the middle of Jan. Check out the photos from some of the trips last week.

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

A nice red I picked up blindcasting a paddle tail jig along a creek bank on Christmas day.

My favorite father-in-law Lloyd Hudson and Christian with the result of a double hookup. This was a great present for us with around 40 reds on Christmas day.

12/28/10 Kevin, Eric, and Roger with a few of the reds they caught casting artificials along the marsh edge

Bill and Dave had a double digit day on 12/30/10

12/31/10 Christian and the masked man Alex with the the speckled trout they caught fishing Gulp Shrimp. This was a great day with 34 redfish and four speckled trout.

1/1/11 Paul with one of the reds he caught fishing a live mud minnow on a jighead. This nine year old did a great job casting jigs and picked up 12 reds on artificials and mud minnows

Eric and Paul with three of about 20 reds they caught fishing mud minnows and scented artificials on 1/1/11

Robert with a 26″ and 28.5′ redfish he caught fishing Gulp Alive Shrimp. This was a good day with 27 redfish all on artificials.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Jeff, Amy, and Christian Wolfe!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my family, friends, and clients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. I am looking forward to a new year and fishing with many of my clients and meeting new ones.

If everything goes as planned I will be adding a new boat to better serve my clients in 2011. I am planning on custom rigging a 19′ Carolina Skiff as a shallow water flats boat that can access the skinny water and accommodate three anglers and myself. With my 17′ Ranger Banshee I can only fish two and myself and my 21′ Kenner Bay can’t get to those skinny water redfish on low tides. I will also be able to launch this boat at Buzzard’s Bay and cut out that run up and down the Cape Fear River.

Now to short fishing report. We are catching good numbers of redfish when the weather cooperates. The reds are schooled up on the flats and in the creeks of the lower Cape Fear area. The sightfishing has been good when the winds are light which has been rare lately. On the windier days we are hiding back in the creeks and picking up a few fish blindcasting artificials and fishing live mud minnows to known productive areas.

We did have a calm wind day on 12/22/10 with Fred and Marnie from Greensboro, N.C. After searching and finding a few schools with lockjaw we finally found a school of mid to upper slot redfish working about a fifty yard stretch of a creek bank. These fish were willing participants and they caught around 35 redfish on the warmest, calm day we have had lately. After Fred had caught about ten on the spinning rod he broke out his flyrod and picked up his first red on the fly and added four more shortly afterwards.

On 12/24/10 I had Zack from Durham, N.C. on the Ranger Banshee fishing for reds in the backwaters. We had highs in the upper 40’s and the wind layed out nice for us in the afternoon We located a couple of schools along a creek bank and caught 61 reds, about ninety percent were middle to upper slot fish and the others were under slot. I was able to make a few cast and got into the action as well. We need more weather days like we had on the 22nd and 24th and the redfishing should be good.

Looks like it is going to be cold for the next week or so. Hopefully this wacky weather will get out of here and we’ll get back to a normal Southeastern N.C. weather pattern. If we get highs in the fifties and sunny days, I should have a good report for the first of January. Check out a few of the photos from this past week.

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

12/22/10 Fred and Marnie doubled up on redfish out of a school along a creek bank

Another one of the many double hookups on 12/22/10. Marnie with spinning tackle and Fred with the flyrod

Fred hooked up on the flyrod

One of the five reds that Fred caught on the fly

Zack with a couple of the 61 redfish we caught on 12/24/10

12/24/10 I was able to get in on the action and picked up around 20 of the 61 redfish on a charter with Zack from Durham

12/19/10 Christian with a red on a cold day back in the creeks

12/22/10 Christian and Wade with two of the reds they caught sightcasting to a school along the marsh edge