Nathan Yow of Sanford holds a nice red drum he caught last week.
Nathan Yow of Sanford holds a nice red drum he caught last week.
I really do appreciate the weather professionals getting the forecast right last week. They aren’t always this good, but most days had wind light enough to head well offshore if so inclined and that’s what we look for. If I ever grow up, I think I’d like a job as a weather forecaster. If you’re correct half the time you receive accolades and if your average is worse, you still get to keep your job. They’ve made some close calls for the coming week and let’s hope the good days are correct and they only miss the forecast badly on the days they were projecting more wind and thunderstorms that we prefer.
Yes, we come in a bit breezy on Wednesday and Thursday, but drop below the 10-knot level by Friday. However, the wind direction goes wacky this week. The forecast begins with winds from the southwest, which would be typical for August, but then they are projected to go to the west overnight on Thursday before moving to the northwest and northeast for Friday and Saturday and switching to the east beginning Sunday.
Normally, we would expect the northerly winds to cool things off a bit, but the forecast doesn’t show that. The heat isn’t expected to go away and should continue to hold in the low 90s into the weekend. I wouldn’t call it a cold snap, but once the winds get to the east, the highs are projected to drop a few degrees – to the upper 80s. This is odd wind for early August, but it fits right in with this year’s weather. Be concerned that when the wind switches to the northwest and northeast that it doesn’t blow the biting black flies out of the woods and onto the beach. Nothing seems to help with them except covering all skin or leaving the beach. Let’s hope the weather guys are wrong about this wind shift.
The August full moon is Thursday, August 11. We should be prepared for some flooding in low lying areas and having to wade to eat in many of the Old Southport Yacht Basin eateries. There will be some flooding in the marshes and it should be a good time to spot a few puppy drum tails as they stand on their noses to root sandfiddlers and crabs out of their holes in the flooded marsh. Be stealthy as you stalk them; they can be very spooky at times when in the shallow water of the flooded marsh.
Check your tide tables for the projected times and tide heights, but in general the afternoon/evening tides will be greater than five feet through Friday. The morning tides peak a little later and will be their highest from roughly Friday through the weekend, but will peak below five feet unless the wind assists. Use this knowledge to find fish. There isn’t much that is more exciting than a drum tail waving at you across the flooded marsh.
While our local weather is slowly trying to moderate back to more normal readings for early August, it remains hot and humid, with thunderstorms and breezes in almost every multiple day forecast. Unfortunately, the tropics now appear to have awakened too. We were fortunate to not have rapid-fire low pressure systems rolling off the African Coast during July, but the tropics are at least opening a sleepy eye to begin August.
There is a system that broke free of the African Coast over the weekend and is slowly moving across the South Atlantic. When this system first popped up, it was regarded with a low probability for development. However, it seems to be organizing better, even with the Saharan Dust in the atmosphere, and has been upgraded to 40 percent probability of further formation in the coming five days. It should be approaching the Windward Islands by mid to late week and forecasters anticipate being able to better project its movement at that time. Don’t be lazy because of the lack of tropical systems so far. We should pay attention to all of them and any could be bad. Let’s hope not, but this one has a lot of hot water to cross to draw strength before reaching its first potential landfall.
Check the official forecast at the National Hurricane Center (www.nhc.noaa.gov). They will update several times a day. Those folks who are weather geeks or just want more information, should check out Mike’s Weather Page (www.spaghettimodels.com). This website assembles tropical weather information from multiple sources and often helps laymen understand what is happening and why.
Here’s this week’s reminder not to be lackadaisical about our high temperatures and humidity. Fishing is an outside activity and if you are doing any outside activity, it is imperative to keep hydrated. The simplest thing to do for hydration is to drink lots of water. An occasional sports drink is OK and will help replace electrolytes, but avoid soft drinks and adult beverages until back ashore and out of the sun.
It’s also important to dress for the high temperatures and humidity. Wear some of the newer hi-tech clothing that offers UV protection and helps keep you cool. Unless you’re heading to the bank to make a withdrawal, head and face coverings are good ideas too. Use sunscreen liberally and regularly. Top this off with a wide brim hat that provides facial shade and some good polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses will also help your fishing by cutting through the glare to help you spot fish.
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries released their annual stock status report last week. I mentioned the review briefly last week, particularly that sheepshead was mentioned as a “species of interest,’ even though there is not a Fishery Management Plan for Sheepshead.
The Oak Island Recreation Department has been holding a series of Surf Fishing Seminars throughout the summer and will continue them into the fall. The next one is this weekend, August 12 and 13. More information on these events is available below or by calling 910-278-5518.
This isn’t local, but is close enough to mention in case any fishermen want to ride or trailer a couple of hours and give them a try. The tarpon bite in the Neuse River fired up last week. The action is centered around Oriental, with some fish a little more upriver and some at the mouth of the river where it enters Pamlico Sound. There are some good guides there, who would be glad to take you – if they aren’t already booked. You can also launch at one of the ramps in the area and try it on your own. There were quite a few tarpon released last week that were estimated at 100 pounds plus.
I think I mentioned several weeks ago that the floating dock had been returned to the Oak Island Municipal Ramp at 57th Place West (Blue Water Point). The marina is closed and its docks are gone, but the pilings are still there. With only the one floating dock, this ramp can get hectic if it is crowded. The ramp at Southport Marina is also open again. It’s a little more complex to get to than in the past, but it’s open. There is a ramp fee of $10 and a collection box is at top of the ramp. This may be more convenient for some fishermen.
Now that it’s summer and more people are getting out fishing, we want your pictures. When you catch those big fish, think about emailing pictures of them to us at sports@stateportpilot.com or captjerry@captjerry.com. This report will be coming weekly through Thanksgiving. Scales and Tales always welcomes pictures and fishing reports from readers. If you had a great fishing trip and or have a picture of a fish that makes you smile, send the picture and some details on the trip. We look forward to highlighting outstanding reader catches.
Fishermen had been waiting for the winds to subside and they got several days this week with good fishing conditions. They made the best of them too. Fishermen who roamed the ocean found hungry fish in many places. The best example of this was during the East Coast Got-Em-On King Mackerel Classic held over the weekend at Carolina Beach. The forecast for good sea conditions had fishermen excited and approximately 250 boats set forth after big kings. They caught a bunch of them too, plus a few surprise wahoo and more.
The news from the tournament on the hot king bite was good, but it was mainly from off the beaches. Some folks found their fish in ballpark of 50-65 feet of water and some went even deeper. Several mentioned being around Frying Pan Tower. The tower is a bit far to run at the first of August, but it’s pretty regular for kings to be in 50-65 feet of water at this time of year. Some of the favorite spots are 15 Mile Rock, 18 Mile Rock, Shark Hole, 65 Foot Hole, Jungle, 90/90, Horseshoe and just keeping an eye on the fish finder when running in these depths and spotting suspended schools of bait over structure that isn’t named.
As a bonus, king mack fishermen often also catch a few dolphin and occasionally a sailfish or wahoo at these spots. These interlopers are always welcome and often complete a day that was already pretty good.
It appears the kings might be moving back closer in. There have been a few kings caught from the piers north and south of us over the past few weeks, but it wasn’t happening here. Most fishermen believe that was because of all the rainwater runoff coming down the Cape Fear River and into the ocean.
The Cape Fear is the only large river in N.C. that flows directly into the ocean, without being filtered by crossing a sound with low current that allows the water to slow and much of the effluent it’s carrying to fall out of suspension. The Cape Fear rolls right into the ocean with currents of several knots and carries the dirty water out with it. Sometimes, this moves fish offshore until a few weeks after the rains subside and the river cleans up.
There wasn’t any information attached, but this week I received a picture of several Spanish mackerel and one king mackerel large enough its tail was sticking well out of the cooler. The cooler was sitting on planking that I recognized as part of one of our local piers. Maybe the nearshore water has finally cleared enough for some kings to return to the beach?
Spanish macks are biting too. Now that we’re really in the “Dog Days of Summer” the heat is affecting fish as well as fishermen. Early mornings and late afternoons are good times to catch Spanish and the temperatures are easier on fishermen. Sometimes in this heat, you can see Spanish feeding, but they turn up their noses at whatever you’re trolling or casting. Typically, when this happens, they’re feeding on small silverside minnows and your lures are larger, so they ignore them. Sometimes, they just don’t like the sound of your boat motor and dive or move away as you approach.
Two tips for helping with this. First is to switch to smaller lures. Nungesser makes spoons down to a 0000 size, but they can be hard to find. Something that has worked for me is to switch to using small bucktails. There have been days we smoked the Spanish using 1/4-ounce speck rigs. The second tip is to take your motor noise out of the mix. This can be done while trolling by letting out a lot of line and keeping the boat away from the school, then turning sharply to pull the lures across the edge of the school. The other way is to position the boat upwind of the school and cut the motor off. The wind will push you to within casting distance. These tips should help you catch dinner on those days the Spanish seem to be teasing you.
We didn’t receive any offshore reports this week except from the king fishermen that looked a little deeper than usual. However, the wahoo and dolphin that king fishermen caught as bonus fish tell us they’re moving around and feeding. The water is still very warm, but August is typically when the fall wahoo bite begins.
We didn’t receive any bottom fish reports this week either. I asked one dedicated offshore bottom fishermen why he wasn’t fishing and he answered with a single word – heat. I understand; with trolling there is a little breeze, but when anchored or drifting, there isn’t much way to cool down. Put a few pieces of ice under your hat and get back in the game. The wind could begin blowing again at any time.
Closer to the beach, the surf fishing action returned with the cleaner water. It wasn’t hot, but with a moderate effort, catching dinner was a reasonable expectation. The primary catch was pompano, but there were occasional catches of red and black drum, trout and flounder (which had to be released regardless of size). Sand fleas (mole crabs) are great baits at this time of year, but shrimp and cut bait will catch a little too. Bottom bouncers on the piers saw much of the same action.
Inshore fishing picked up a little this week also. Many fishermen are singing the praises of fishing with live baits and area tackle shops are trying to keep them in stock. Everything likes live shrimp – especially the bait thieves, but a live shrimp suspended below a cork will often produce when nothing else will. Live mullet minnows are the next best, with fishermen debating on whether peanut pogies or mud minnows are third best. Minnows can be fished suspended under a cork or on Carolina rigs on the bottom.
For what it’s worth – you can’t buy peanut pogies and will have to catch them yourself. However, there are schools wandering in many marinas and in the bay near the Dutchman Creek Wildlife Ramp.
As we approach flounder season, the talk of how many large flounder fishermen are releasing seems to overshadow the drum and trout they are catching and keeping. When this issue hits the newsstands, there will be 22 days until flounder can be kept. The limit will be a single flounder per fisherman per day, but with the number of 20-inch-plus flounder we’re hearing about, fishermen are getting excited.
Fishermen are catching and keeping speckled trout, red drum and black drum. They are scattered through the marshes and creeks of the lower Cape Fear River, the Elizabeth River and in the Lockwood Folly River, Davis Canal, Davis Creek and ICW on the west end of Oak Island. Consistency has been a bit of an issue as bait is moving and fish are following it. That big school of fish may not be where they were a few days earlier. However, they shouldn’t have moved too far. Set your trolling motor on low or drift and fish through the area until you find them.
If you don’t have live baits, work some artificials to look like live baits. Most fishermen will catch on to fishing soft plastics first. I like shrimp shapes and there are some available that look good enough to cook and eat.
Try fishing a soft plastic shrimp under a cork. Set its depth to 1 to 2 feet above the bottom and cast it to drift with the tide across a creek mouth, across a point, along an oyster rock or along a hard grass edge and twitch it occasionally. If you don’t select a scented lure, add some scent to it to help seal the deal. Many guides use and recommend Pro-Cure Scent Gels. If there are fish, this will draw strikes.
We also have a few “summer only” visitors. Two are lots of fun to catch, but don’t offer much for food value, while the other is fun to catch and also is a fine addition to the dinner table. Tripletail are the summer visitor that are fun and taste good. They may be in the ocean, but are found mainly in the bays and creeks of the lower Cape Fear River.
Tripletail like structure that creates shade, like pilings, day markers, range light towers and even crab pot buoys. They will occasionally hit lures, but the most successful way to get a tripletail to bite is to drift a live shrimp or minnow by it. Many times, tripletail will lay on or just below the surface and can be spotted from a ways away. That’s good because they’re really spooky and disappear at the slightest close movement or sound.
Tripletail are strong and seem to know how to wrap your line around something and break off. This is a fish you must get heavy-handed with the drag to get it clear of the structure creating its shade. FYI – many more are hooked than landed.
Tarpon and ladyfish are the two southern visitors that are fun to catch. While they’re on opposite ends of the size spectrum, they are very similar on how they fight. If ladyfish got as large as tarpon, there might not ever be another caught. Ladyfish are rovers and may be anywhere trout or drum may be. The have large, oversize eyes and often feed more ravenously at night. Any dock with lights and far enough into the creek or river that shrimp and minnows sweep through the light with the tide is a potential hotspot. Locally, the ADM Dock gets a lot of attention.
Tarpon have moved into the lower Cape Fear River, but tarpon fishermen are tighter lipped than trout fishermen. The prime time to catch them in the river is when a high tide is near sunrise or sunset. The moon is full on Thursday and the high tides are right. This should be a good time to have a Cape Fear River encounter of the tarpon kind. There are also tarpon moving through the sloughs along Frying Pan Shoals and they often get hungry during the middle of the day. Chunks of cut bait and live baits both often draw tarpon strikes.
Scales and Tales runs each week through Thanksgiving and we like to fill the page with pictures from readers. Send those pictures of you smiling wide and holding your latest catch to us at sports@stateportpilot.com or captjerry@captjerry.com. Include a few details of your catch and we’ll gladly share them with all our readers.
NOTE: Size and number regulations for all coastal species may be found in the Hot Topic links at the top right of the Division of Marine Fisheries home page at www.ncdmf.net. This page also has links to DMF news releases and fishery proclamations. There are provisions on each of these pages to register to receive e-mail notification of fishery management issues and changes.
Military Appreciation Day (MAD) in Southport will be September 10 and volunteers are needed to take the military participants fishing, plus assist with meals and other landside duties. Military Appreciation Day is a N.C. organization dedicated to having volunteer captains taking active-duty troops out for a day of fishing, followed by a large family style picnic for the troops and volunteers with plenty of door prizes for the troops.
The 2022 Southport MAD event will be held at South Harbour Marina and Dutchman Creek Park. Donations are always welcome, but the big push is for more boat owners willing to take the troops fishing or volunteers to help with the meal and other shoreside activities. The more boats that are available, the more troops that can be invited and with more troops, more volunteers are needed to help with the meal.
Military Appreciation Day is a 501(c)3 organization and everything is free to the participating troops. All donations and expenses for MAD volunteers are tax deductible.
To learn more about MAD and Military Appreciation Day, visit http://militaryappreciationday.net/what-is-mad-military-appreciation-day. There is a need for general volunteers and boat volunteers. General volunteers who wish to help with the organization and assist on the day of the event can register at http://militaryappreciationday.net/southport-chapter-committee-volunteer-registration and captains wishing to offer their boats to take the military participants fishing can register at http://militaryappreciationday.net/southport-chapter-boat-volunteer-registration. Military participants should register at http://militaryappreciationday.net/southport-chapter-troop-sign-up.
The Oak Island Recreation Department is hosting surf fishing classes again this year and there are only two remaining; one in August and one in September. In a slight change for this year, participants can opt to only attend the classroom session on Friday night or choose the full class which includes the classroom session Friday night and a toes-in-the-sand session Saturday on the beach. These classes have been popular in past years and tend to fill quickly. The next class will be this weekend, August 12 and 13.
All of the classes include a classroom session at the Oak Island Recreation Center Friday evening that covers everything from equipment, rigs, baits, locations, catching fish and even preparing your catch for dinner. Participants who choose the full class that includes a session on the beach Saturday have the opportunity to practice their newfound knowledge under the watchful eye of the instructor. Participation on the beach on Saturday is limited so all fishermen get personal attention.
The instructor for the surf fishing classes will be Ian Sands, an Oak Island resident who has fished the local waters for many years and is also a licensed charter captain. Participants will benefit from many ways to shorten their learning curve thanks to Sands’ experience.
Participants are asked to bring their own fishing rod, tackle box and sand spike. Bait and rigs for Saturday will be provided by the Oak Island Recreation Department. Saturday times are tide dependent and will be announced. The dates for the currently scheduled classes are: August 12 and 13 and September 9 and 10. More information is available by calling 910-278-5518. Online information and registration are available at: https://oakisland.recdesk.com/Community/Program.
The East Coast Got-Em-On Classic King Mackerel Tournament that was rescheduled from the second weekend in July because of high winds was held Saturday and Sunday from Carolina Beach Yacht Basin. The weather cooperated this time and the 242 boats of hopeful fishermen spread over much of the ocean between Cape Lookout and Cape Romain. When the scales closed on Saturday, Jeff Crouch of Oak Island and the Strictly Business crew held the lead with a 37.72-pound king and there were a dozen more kings that surpassed 30 pounds.
The king action fired off even better on Sunday and unfortunately the Strictly Business slipped to third place. They were bumped down the leader board by Brett Barnes and crew on the Hot Rod with a 47.21-pounder that secured the win and Top Senior Angler honors for Barnes and Joey Crisp and the Wee Doggie Crew with a 42.72-pounder that finished second. The bite was on this weekend and the top 23 boats landed 28 kings heavier than 30 pounds.
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