The inshore fishing is still solid in inshore and backwaters from Wrightsville Beach to Southport. Redfish, speckled trout, flounder, whiting, black drum and sheephead are all currently available to anglers fishing these waters. If the water cools over the next couple of weeks, flounder and sheephead will start to move into the ocean for the winter. Fishing for speckled trout should be good thru Christmas and redfish and striped bass will be available all winter.

The speckled trout fishing is picking up throughout the Cape Fear area. Specks are showing up around the inlets and creeks from Wrightsville Beach to Carolina Beach. The Cape Fear river is also holding good numbers of specks from Snow’s Cut to Southport. The trout are hitting mirrolures, soft plastic jigs, artificial shrimp, live shrimp and mullet minnows.

The redfishing is good in the backwaters and creeks of the lower Cape Fear. There are also some reds being caught around docks and other structure in the waterway. Most of the redfish are lower and under slot fish with a few upper slot fish in the mix. The reds are hitting soft plastic jigs, gulp shrimp, spinnerbaits and live minnows.

There are still some flounder around and we have caught some really nice fish over six pounds recently on Gulp Shrimp. Most of the flounder on my charters have been caught while we are fishing artificials for specks and redfish. We have also picked up a few flounder fishing live minnows on float rigs and carolina rigs in the same areas we are fishing these baits for redfish.

There are also a few sheephead and black drum around structure and can be caught fishing live crabs and shrimp on carolina rigs and float rigs close to the structure.

There are good numbers of nice sized whiting in the Cape Fear river, along with some spots and gray trout in the mix. Fishing two hook bottom rigs baited with fresh shrimp can put good numbers of these tasty panfish in the cooler.

The fishing should continue to be good over the next month or so and hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can get some good fishing days in. This is the best time to of year to get out there and do some inshore fishing if the wind cooperates. If you want to get out there and get in on some of this fall fishing give me a call. I can make it as easy as fishing in a farm pond for all of the inshore species of fish.

I would like to congratulate my son Christian on his recent committment to play baseball for the UNC Wilmington Seahawks. Christian is a junior at Ashley High School and looks like he will be terrorizing redfish in this area for the next six years.

Thanks for reading the report,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
NC Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

10/23/10 Christian with a red and flounder he caught fishing Gulp shrimp. He caught an unbelievable amount of reds on this day sightfishing to schools in the creeks at low tide

10/23/10 Jimmy with a red he caught sightfishing to school in the creeks while fishing with Christian

A fall sunrise on the lower Cape Fear

10/25/10 David with a good catch of specks fishing mirrolures in the creeks

Walt with a sunset speck on 10/26/10. Caught fishing a soft plastic jig in the creeks

10/22/10 I picked up a rod and made a cast while fishing with clients Adam, Wes, and Thomas and look what I caught. A six pound plus flounder on a Gulp Alive Shrimp.

10/22/10 Adam, Wes, and Thomas with a good catch of whiting, sheephead, redfish, black drum, and flounder fishing artificials and live minnows

10/27/10 Walt with a six and three quarter pound flounder caught on a Gulp Alive Shrimp. These Gulp baits work really well on flounder

The inshore fishing has really picked up over the past week with catches of speckled trout, redfish, flounder, sheephead, black drum, whiting, and spots. We went through some tough days shortly after the rain but things are getting back to normal in the Cape Fear area. There will be some great fishing opportunties for a number of different species for the next month or so.

The speckled trout fshing has picked up with lots of double digit days recently. The specs are hitting mirrolures, soft plastics jigs, artificial shrimp imitations, and live shrimp on float rigs. The trout fishing should get better and continue through Nov. and into Dec.

The redfishing continues to be good, but not what is was before the rains. We are catching lots of reds, but not the size and numbers we were a few weeks ago. Most of the fish are lower and under slot, with a few upper and over slot reds in the mix. Live baits and artificials are both working well on the reds. The redfishing should get back to normal for this time of year once water clears up some more.

The flounder are moving closer to the inlets, and are hitting live minnows and artificials. Most of the flounder with me have been caught while throwing artificials for redfish and speckled trout. We had a seven pounder caught on a recent trip with a Gulp Shrimp!!

The sheephead and black drum are biting well on live fiddler crabs and shrimp. The whiting, spots, and gray trout are showing up in the lower Cape Fear River and putting good numbers of these tasty panfish is always a possibility this time of year.

This is a great time of year to get out and do some inshore fishing with less people on the water and lots of different fish to catch. Thanks for reading the report and I should have a good one for the first of Nov. Check out the photos from the past couple weeks. These are just a few of good catches we have had recently.

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

10/6/10 Jason with a nice sheephead he caught on a live fiddler crab

10/6/10 Rob and Jason with a catch of redfish, black drum, and sheephead caught on live baits and artificials

10/8/10 Zach with a couple of black drum he caught fishing shrimp on a carolina rig

Mike and Dan doubled up on reds on 10/910

10/11/10 Jeremy with a drag screaming 32 incher he caught blindcasting a Gulp Alive shrimp

10/13/10 Jeremy with a 7lb flounder that inhaled a Gulp Alive shrimp

10/13/10 Steve with a upper slot red he caught fishing a live mud minnow on a carolina rig

10/13/10 Steve and Jeremy with a catch of redfish, flounder, speckled trout, and a lost spanish mackerel. They also picked up three more keeper specs after we took the photo.

10/14/10 Julie with a drag screaming 31 inch red she caught float fishing a live mud minnow

Jay and Jamie with two of the 30+ keeper specs they caught on 10/15/10 fishing mirrolures and jigs. They only kept four for the frying pan

Eric with a red and Jeff hooked up on 10/16/10

Jeff with one of his slot reds. Jeff and Eric had a good day with lots of redfish and six keeper speckled trout