Wow – We finally had a streak of good marine weather. The temperatures were hot but the seas were fairly calm most of the week. As a result there was a lot of catching going on offshore and near shore a like!
Topsail Island’s fishing piers are reporting anglers are taking limits of Spanish on a regular basis most in the mornings before the surface temps get hot. The blues and mullet are still biting and some pompano are being taken. When the water has been clear some nice flounder have been caught as well. The king fisherman have been doing real well too with a few fish topping the 20 pound mark.
Inshore the drum have moved to the marsh banks and around the docks on the ICW. They are hitting topwater plugs, live bait and soft plastics. The New River area is producing some nice speckled trout with live bait working best to land the bigger fish. Some nice black drum have been caught, especially at night. Flounder are being caught too.
Off shore the king bite has been hot and they are likely to show up just about anywhere there is large schools of bait. The best strategy right now seems to be to motor out to ledges look for suspended bait in mid column or on the top and then troll that area. If you don’t see any bait pods, move to another ledge till you do. Mahi are now being caught in 100 feet of water and keep moving closer. As usual look for a nice weed line or other flotsam and fish there.
The grouper bite has been steady with many nice gags and reds being taken in 100’ of water and deeper. A few smaller gag grouper have been reported in closer. Deep water is producing