Seatrout are biting! Lots shrimp in the creeks! Lots of small bluefish in the sounds as well sharks. As temperatures begin to fall look for the blues and sharks to head out for deeper water. For now plenty of sharks, bluefish and whiting in the sounds. Spanish mackerel can be seen jumping out of the surf chasing finger mullet. Fishing a finger mullet in the surf is an excellent way to catch to spanish. Large redfish can found around inlets, sand bars, jetties and other beachfront structure. Again finger mullet would be an awesome bait! Take your cast net and throw your net when see a school of mullet skimming the surface. Spanish mackerel can quickly chew up a light leader so be prepared to do some quick cranking or try beefing up to a steel leader. If the steel leader fails to produce fish switch back to mono. Likely these fish are in a feeding mode and a steel wont matter.
The seatrout bite has been good! Lots of seatrout in the sounds as well on the inside. The key to catching seatrout is current and long drifts. With a long drift you’ll likely find fish. Staying close to bank could be mistake. Lots of seatrout can well off the back and in some creeks they could be literally in the middle. Today the largest seatrout were 50 to 60 feet off the bank. Popping and conventional bobbers worked equally as well. If you fishing in six feet of water start fishing at the bobber. In other words you’re only fishing the depth of the leader. Take a few casts to explore the area. If you fail to have any bites keep deepening up. Change is the key! Once you find a pattern that works keep repeating it. With this mind above all stay within the limits. Consciously taking more than a limit is illegal. Don’t condone it or laugh with a friend who does. Keep what you want to eat and release the rest.
Redfish and blackdrum bite has been strong! Fishing is funny sport. Areas that can produce incredible one day could be dormant the next. That said there have been lots of reports of nice redfish (20 inches and better with several over sized fish) and black drum (in the three to seven pound range) around Wassaw. These fish are mostly close to the grass in some spots several yards off the structure but usually the smaller redfish are found close to structure. Lots of small redfish are legal size (14 inches). There are still lots of undersized redfish (13 inches or so). Trash fish are numerous. When bait fishing parcel out your bait with care or you might end feeding a bunch of pinfish and yellowtails.
Tides peaked at 8.3 feet Tuesday morning. Tides should fishier and fishier as we head into the weekend. Fall is a great time for fishermen to hit the water! One frequently asked question is, where can you catch fish? This is time when almost any spot of marsh grass could be a potential hot spot. Likely spots to anchor is any place you can detect a subtle change such as a point. Seatrout love clean water and current so hard bottom areas could be likely areas.
Hope this of help! Practice Catch and Release! Support the fishery join your local CCA Chapter!
Fish On!
Capt. Jack McGowan