The fall fishing has taken off here in Southeastern North Carolina with catches of Bull Redfish, slot sized redfish, flounder, speckled trout and sheephead. There are also some of the less popular fish like ladyfish, bluefish, and jack crevalles roaming the inshore and backwaters of the Lower Cape Fear. We are experiencing some awesome fall weather with low’s in the 50’s and 60’s and high’s in the 70’s and 80’s. Perfect fishing weather!!!
The redfish bite has been good in the backwaters, inlets, flats, and nearshore wrecks. We are catching some bull reds just off the beach on large mullet minnows, cut mullet, and spots. All of these reds in the ocean are over-slot fish and some are in the 30 to 50 pound range. The redfish are feeding in the creeks and on the flats and are hitting artificials, live mullet minnows and shrimp. Topwater plugs, Catch 2000 Mirrolures, soft plastic jigs, and Gulp Baits have been the artificial baits of choice lately. Most of the inshore reds have been slot sized with a few over-slot fish in the mix.
The speckled trout bite has been up and down depending on weather patterns, but that should change with cooler temps in the forecast. We have had some good days on specs, just not large numbers. The trout are staged up around oyster beds and current breaks where topwater plugs, Mirrolures, and soft plastics jigs have been very effective. The trout bite should turn on as we get into October and peak around the first of November and into December.
We are catching some nice flounder on the lower Cape Fear and a couple have been in the 5 to 6 pound range recently. The flounder are hitting live mullet minnows, soft plastic jigs and Gulp Baits. Flounder love Gulp Baits and most of the flounder on my charters have been caught on the Gulp 3″inch shrimp in Pearl White and Molting colors. Look for the flounder fishing to get better as they start to make their move down river and into the ocean. There should be some larger flounder in the mix also.
We have had some good catches of nice sheephead recently fishing fiddler crabs around structure. The sheephead are normally larger in the fall and school up in better numbers as they move closer to the inlets. Catching good numbers of these tasty fish is always a possibility through October.
We are also having some fun with the less popular fish like jack crevalles, ladyfish, and bluefish. We are seeing all three of these species crashing bait where we’ll stop and throw topwater plugs and soft plastics in the schools. Sometimes all three are mixed together feeding on mullet minnows.
It is a great time of year to be on the Lower Cape Fear and I am looking forward to the fall fishing season. The bait is here, the fish are on the move, cooler weather, less boat traffic, and it is all coming together to be good for the next couple of months. Thanks for reading the report and check out some of the good catches from the past few weeks.
Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
North Carolina Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580
