October/November/December is the best time of year to be fishing the backwaters and the nearshore ocean waters of the Lower Cape Fear area. Water temps are dropping, bait is moving, and the fishing should be getting hot for the next few months. This is my favorite time of year with less boats on the water and some great fishing opportunities.
Big Bull Redfish are chewing along the beaches and smaller reds are schooled up on the flats and in the creeks. Chunk mullet, menhaden, and spots are working well on the big reds and topwater plugs, soft plastics, Gulp Baits, Shrimp and mullet minnows are working well on the slot reds. November and December are normally a couple of the best months to catch good numbers of reds in the backwaters.
Flounder will be around till mid to late November. Gulp Baits and live mullet will put a few of these in the boat. We often catch flounder while throwing Gulp Baits in the creeks and backwaters for redfish and speckled trout.
November and December are a couple of the best months of the year to catch nice speckled trout in the Cape Fear area. A number of artificials work well such as Mirrolures, topwater plugs, DOA Jerk Baits, and Gulp Baits. Mullet minnows will catch some big specks and live shrimp will put good numbers of specs in the boat.
Black drum fishing was on fire this past spring and we are starting to catch a few this fall. Last year we caught good numbers from October through January. We should have another good year on these great eating fish and the limit is 10 per person. Black drum often school up with redfish and provide us with some incredible action fishing live or dead shrimp on jigheads or Carolina rigs.
Sheephead fishing is good in October, but Sheephead will be moving out come mid November. There should also be lots of bluefish around the inshore and nearshore waters.
Albacore are starting to show up and sightfishing to these drag screamers are an absolute blast on light tackle. When looking for Albacore we often run across large schools of Spanish Mackerel on the nearshore waters of the Cape Fear area.
Gray trout will be on the nearshore artificial reefs and live rock bottoms, along with Bull Redfish, Spanish mackerel, Bluefish, and Albacore.
So you can see there will be a good variety of fish to pursue and some great fishing opportunities over the next few months in the Cape Fear area. If you want to experience this awesome fishery give Christian or me a call.
We just added a new 2015 22′ Kencraft Bay Rider to our small fleet. This is THE top of the line skiff, with lots of room, a hard T-top, 10′ Power Pole Blade and has the ability to fish anything from the shallow flats to the ocean. This boat handles choppy water way better than any skiff I have ever owned or rode on. As you can see we are really excited to be a part of the Bay Rider family.
Thanks for reading the report and check out the photos from recent trips.
Thanks,
Captains Jeff and Christian Wolfe
Jeff’s # 910-619-9580
Christian’s # 910-619-5053
