The inshore and backwater fishing has been a little more consistent lately with catches of redfish, speckled trout, flounder, black drum, sheephead, jack crevalles, and bluefish. Look for the fishing to improve as we get into September with more comfortable tempartures and the water starts to cool off some. Fall is by far the best time of the year to experience the variety of all the inshore species in the Cape Fear area. Carolina inshore slams ( redfish, speckled trout, and flounder) should be common.

We have experienced some amazing sightfishing for redfish lately with some 20 to 30 plus redfish days. One day we had around 25 reds and a few trout, all caught sightcasting topwater plugs. The reds have been schooled up on the flats and around the marshes and crushing topwater plugs throughout the day. We are also catching the schooling reds on soft plastics and casting minnows pinned to jigheads into the schools. This action has occurred on days with light winds. On the days with some wind we have been picking a few reds in the creeks, around marsh points, and oyster beds. Most of these reds have been caught fishing live minnows on carolina rigs and float rigs. We are also catching a few redfish by dropping the trolling motor, covering ground, and throwing soft plastics where we can also catch flounder and speckled trout on the same lures.

The flounder are also hitting soft plastics and live baits in the creeks and around the marshes of the lower Cape Fear. Most of the flounder on my charters have been caught while throwing Berkeley Gulp baits and Berkeley Jerkshad Powerbaits. We are also picking up a few flounder with live mullet and mud minnows.

The speckled trout bite is improving and the fish are getting larger. September is typically the beginning of a good speckled trout run and has been one of my best months in years past. Hopefully that will be the case this year. We have caught trout on a variety of lures lately. Topwater plugs, mirrolures, DOA Jerkshads, and Gulp Shrimp to name a few. Live shrimp and mullet minnows will also do the trick for those wanting to fish live baits.

Thanks for reading the report and check out a few of the photos from a few of my recent trips.

Thanks,

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