We have finally got a break in the weather and the water temps are rapidly coming up. There have been some beautiful days to be on the water lately with highs in the upper 60’s and low 70’s. The redfish should soon be getting in their spring patterns and speckled trout, black drum, whiting and other species should soon be moving in from their winter haunts.

The redfish bite has been good to excellent lately in the backwaters. Most of the reds have been caught by dropping the trolling motor and searching the creeks by casting Berkley Gulp Alive Shrimp and DOA CAL Shad Tails. Once the reds are found we have been able to set in one spot and pull some impressive numbers out of these holes. Most days we end up finding several places where the reds are schooled up. These fish have been mixed in size from under slot fish to upper and over slot. The redfish will soon be moving out of their winter holes and spreading out and the ocean schools will move in. We should be looking at a awesome spring for redfishing.

The black drum should be hitting the docks and rocky structure the first to middle of March and the whiting will be moving in from the ocean to the mouth of the Cape Fear river. Catching good numbers of these tasty fish is always a possibility in the early spring.

Spring fishing is right around the corner and hopefully this weather will continue to stay on this early spring pattern. Thanks for reading the report and I should have a good one for the first of March. Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

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

2/3/11 Ed with a red he caught walking a sandbar and casting a Gulp Alive Shrimp along a creek bank

2/7/11 Doug, Danny, and Bob with a few of the reds they caught casting DOA CAL Shad Tails in the golden shiner color

2/12/11 Gene with a red he picked up casting a DOA CAL Shad Tail jig

2/13/11 Tiffany and Mike celebrated their annivesary with a backwater redfish trip and was rewarded with good numbers of reds casting Gulp Alive Shrimp

2/15/11 James and Rick with a couple of the reds they picked up on a beautiful day fishing the lower Cape Fear

2/17/11 Another great redfish trip with Phil (warehouse manager) and Kevin (owner) from Custom Home Furniture Gallery in Wilmington. Great people, and THE PLACE to buy furniture in Wilmington.

The redfishing has been great in the Cape Fear backwaters, especially on the warmer days with light winds. Most of the reds have been caught by dropping the trolling motor, searching the creeks, and locating schools by throwing DOA and Gulp baits into deeper pockets of water around low tide. Some days it takes a little time, but we have been able to locate the fish everyday we have fished over the past couple of weeks. Once the fish are located we have pulled some impressive numbers of middle to upper slot reds out of some of these holes. There are also a few small ones mixed in.

I haven’t been striper fishing, but I have heard some good reports on stripers in the upper Cape Fear river. The redfishing has just been to much fun to pass up.

Looks like we are going to get into a normal winter weather pattern for the next week and the redfishing should continue to be good. I’ll be out there on some trips searching them out so I should have a good report for the middle of February. Check out the pics from some of the trips from the past couple of weeks.

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

1/20/11 John and Kevin with a result of a double hookup on another incredible January redfishing trip

1/21/11 Dick and Patrick had a great father and son fishing trip catching good numbers of reds in the backwaters.

1/29/11 Luke and Christian with a couple of reds caught on Gulp Alive shrimp. The streak of double digit days continues.

1/30/11 Christian and me doubled up numerous times out of a large school in the creeks. Another special day to remember fishing with my son.

2/1/11 Mitch from Penn. with a couple of the reds he caught on a cloudy and cooler day. This was another great day with good numbers of redfish.