Inshore Report

It’s that time of the year where it has been hot for a while the fish know it and so do the fishermen. You good go and have a bonus catching day or not! The reason being is fish don’t have to eat what you are offering as bait, because they have some much to choose from. I suggest using the lightest leader, the small hooks, and the liveliest bait!

Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters shows Calep the smiling catching way!



This smile says it all!!

As you can see from the smile on Calep Piland’s face he had scored a big catch. Calep’s 30 inch red fish was caught, fought, and released.

Catching your own bait report!

To cast or not!

It’s that of the year where you can catch your own bait that is if you don’t mind throwing the cast net a few times. According to the report received from Captain Ray Crawley there are a few nice size bait shrimp being caught in the mud flat banks in the Wilmington River. The best times to throw the old net are on the outgoing tide stage right at the grass line. Shrimp and other possible live baits are busy trying to get out of the grass way before the water leaves. Baits are also being caught in the back of small creeks. Mullet (finger and the larger ones) and peanut menhaden are plentiful. It’s best to keep them in your live well and don’t forget throw in a couple pieces of ice to cool the tank’s water down. This can only help the healthy survival rate of your baits.



Ryan Howard makes the prefect cast! What makes a prefect cast? It’s when the net is thrown allowing it to spread completely opened right as it hits the water. Fishermen love it and the fish don’t!

Flounder Power



The old flounder has what I call a hinged jaw, which in my book means, “The flounder is a fish that can open wide as it would like especially when a full meal deal is possibly involved!” Just from this photo it’s clear that the founder has lots of room in its mouth to turn around and swallow good size stripped bait or live fish.

Rumor has it that there are quite a few flounder being fought and caught. The best baits are the live ones that have been sentenced to having to stay on the bottom. It seems where you catch one flounder there are more in the area. Here are a few suggestions:

When anchoring…
Pitch at different directions from the boat forming a pattern,meaning off bow area, let you bait fall, pause, retrieve, pause, retrieve pause…working all areas. When you get a hit or catch a fish this would be where the flounder are staging.

Taking your bait for a walk!



Walking the Jigs or Not! The first three are what I call “walking jigs!” The bottom is a standard type jig head that is used the most when threading on grubs, screw tails, or jerk baits. All jigs can be used with live bait and will work. However, the top three when retrieved on the bottom make a move natural move, because of the added keel. I have added a small hook to the third jig, which doubles your chances of hooking up!


Mud minnows the forgotten summer time bait!



Mud minnows are easy to catch, very hardy when hooked up, and normally a founder can’t pass one up. And sometimes, if you lipped up two minnows at a time on your hook, well, quicker hits can happen!

Mud minnows

The mud minnow is a bait that can certainly add some different style to you cooler. Lip hooking a live mud minnow on a 1/8 to a ¼ ounce jig is a good way to get a flounder’s attention. When going this fishing route I suggest tying the jig right directly on to your main line if you are using monofilament. Now, if you are using braided as your main line I suggest using a 15 inch 20 to 30 pound test fluorocarbon leader. When using braided line the fish sometimes sees the line more that it does the bait. This means the line seen is hard to follow taking the fish’s attention from the bait right to the line. If this happens to be the case you only means for catching the fish is wrapping it up or basically lassoing it. The hook normally does a much better job.

Artificial Reefs

Catching lots of black sea bass, but not many keepers!




The artificial reef buoys are not the only thing missing from these areas!

I know this report is going to sound crazy, but if I have 6 fishermen on my boat while bottom fishing at the artificial reefs they most likely will catch over 300 fish. Now, I said “Catch not keep!” The bottom fishing is good, but the keeping or the size of the fish caught are not. This is not too un-normal for the dog days of summer. Normally I can find a few keeper black sea bass pods on the out skirts of heavy populated small fish holding areas. However, this has not been the case lately! And of course when the month of August rolls around we are blessed with the top water migrations for Spanish and king mackerel. Well, there have been a few Spanish mackerel caught here and there. The most I have caught so far this year have totaled to about 130 fish. Now, keep in mind on one charter we caught 60 fish. So for the entire fishing year, so far to this date, this is my total count. I do not think that this is because our mackerel stocks are low, I believe it a life cycle that is causing this blimp in this year’s migration. I am going to call it a “fifty year cycle!” Since I am not sure when it started I don’t know when it will end. I will keep you posted…because it could be tomorrow!