Fishing has been good! Strong wind has muddied local waters making finding fish more difficult. Nonetheless when fishermen have found clean water fishing has been good. Lots of small menhaden (3 to 4 inch) in the rivers. This bait will attract lots of fish! Allen (from River Supply) said a fisherman caught a 27″ seatrout on a hard bait while fishing off the bank at Bonaventure cemetery. We’ve caught several nice redfish and seatrout on menhaden. Don’t overlook the bait that present. Shrimp for the next few weeks will be difficult to come by. White shrimp are moving into the sounds. Brown shrimp haven’t moved in. Usually brown shrimp will start appearing around the 1st of June hence the nickname “junies”. Glass minnows are present in the sounds in the sounds. This bait fish is so slender its literally impossible to catch this fish in a legal net. Seatrout, ladyfish and redfish love to pound glass minnows. When birds are working bait during the Spring they’re usually working menhaden out and glass minnows in. Fishing around feeding birds can be productive! No telling what you’re going to catch. Maybe a spanish, a seatrout or lady fish pretty neat! The flounder and seatrout bite in Wassaw sound has been good! The whiting bite on the sandbars is slowing up and larger sharks are showing up. When fishing shallow water for sharks fish spots without lots of boat traffic. The continual churning over the bars will drive off even the most obnoxious fish. The key is bait. What kind of bait are you seeing? No bait, no bites move on. In strong wind look for lee shores, clean water and a good drift. When the drift is poor the bait fish aren’t moving neither are the fish. A good drift will likely mean good fishing. No bait, a poor drift, and dirty water will usually mean fishermen are struggling. Sometimes you can make the best out of a difficult situation by looking for pockets of clean water. You’ll see bait fish in these pockets as well as the fish you’re targeting. This is exactly how the Bailelys and I caught some nice fish this week. We found some clean water and worked lee shores.
Despite the full moon last Saturday the tides were small (less than 6.5 feet). Small tides and dirty water caused by the wind presented challenging conditions. Tides for the coming are once again small tides. Should be good for flounder fishing not the best for float fishing. Tides are building to 6.7 ft on Saturday and 7.1 ft on Sunday. For those heading out on the weekend might find the best fishing of the week. Building tides often corresponds to a building bite.
Hope this of help! Keep a few and release the rest! Always go light on your redfish catch. The redfish bite in Wassaw has been sad but good to the south and north.
Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan