Spots Out, Blues In

I haven't posted for a couple of days. Bad migrane. I called Surf City Pier this morning between naps, and found that everything except spots are biting. The water is really clear and the blues have moved in. The gotcha pluggers are having a ball with the blues. They have caught a couple of kings this morning also. Bottom anglers are catching black drum, mullets, speckled trout, and flounder.

Till next time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

Our inlets are in trouble. The current administration has cut funding to the Army Corps of Engineers who is responsible for dredging our inlets and waterways, especially the Intra-Coastal Waterway. New River Inlet on the north end of Topsail Island was actually closed for a time this summer. There is NO MONEY allocated for dredging for 2006. I have never given a second thought to the maintenance of the ICW. But it is apparent now that we need to get involved to make sure we have these waterways available in the near future. Not years from now, but months from now. Click on the Frying Pan Tower link below for links to contact your congressional representatives and urge them to take action on this important issue.

Fall Fishin' is GOOD!

Surf City Pier has come alive with shoulder to shoulder anglers. All ages and sizes. From everywhere in the state and some from out of state. The spots are biting so well that bait doesn't seem to matter. One angler said "I think I could catch them with marshmallows!". Everyone is filling their collers. The surf fishing is good also. Scattered trout, puppy drum, and flounder are being caught in the surf. Spots seem to be everywhere in the surf, and although you may not catch as many you would from the piers, you can catch plenty. The large fall mullets are coming in as well. I caught 3 big ones yesterday, 13, 14, and 15 inches. The rain is also here and will be here for a couple of days. It's not stopping the fishing. Rain suits, ponchos, and even large black plastic bags with holes cut in them for your head, are everywhere. If you can get out there, now is the time.
Till next time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny



Our inlets are in trouble. The current administration has cut funding to the Army Corps of Engineers who is responsible for dredging our inlets and waterways, especially the Intra-Coastal Waterway. New River Inlet on the north end of Topsail Island was actually closed for a time this summer. There is NO MONEY allocated for dredging for 2006. I have never given a second thought to the maintenance of the ICW. But it is apparent now that we need to get involved to make sure we have these waterways available in the near future. Not years from now, but months from now. Click on the Frying Pan Tower link below for links to contact your congressional representatives and urge them to take action on this important issue.

Surf Fishing

Donna and I went surf fishing in Surf City near the Fire Department today. We got out to the beach about 9:30 AM. Immediately caught a 14 or 15 inch whiting using a sand flea for bait. Ken and Karen got there about 10 AM. Throughout the morning, we caught another pair of mullets. The three were 13, 14, and 15 inches long. We caught 3 nice pompano, and 10 medium to large spots. Sand fleas caught all the mullets and a couple of the pompano. The spots were caught on shrimp and artificial blood worms, made by FishBites. Surf was calm, wind NW, cool temp morning to warm about noon and clear. High tide was about noon today. May go back in the morning if weather permits. Calling for windy and rain.

Our inlets are in danger. The current administration has cut funding to the Army Corps of Engineers to the extent that there is not enough money to dredge the inlets. Enough money was obtained by a special bill to dredge once this year. No money is allocated for 2006. Visit the website below to find out what you can do to help. The website contains links to contact your representatives. Get involved.



Till next time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

NW Wind Yields Better Spot Bite

The wind is back out of the NW, and with it comes the spots. Anglers are catching coolers full. Bait of the day is blood worms, and the bite is only on the north side of the pier. I only saw a few spots caught on the south side. I saw a few croakers, but no pompano or mullets. The spots that are biting are still not the usual fall monsters. They are still on the small to medium size. Larger spots along with the large sea mullets and whitings should be moving in soon. Get those home made rigs ready for the mullets. They don't like shiny hardware on the rigs.
Till Next Time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

NW Wind Yields Better Spot Bite

The wind is back out of the NW, and with it comes the spots. Anglers are catching coolers full. Bait of the day is blood worms, and the bite is only on the north side of the pier. I only saw a few spots caught on the south side. I saw a few croakers, but no pompano or mullets. The spots that are biting are still not the usual fall monsters. They are still on the small to medium size. Larger spots along with the large sea mullets and whitings should be moving in soon. Get those home made rigs ready for the mullets. They don't like shiny hardware on the rigs.
Till Next Time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

NIght Fishing Outing a Blank

Went surf fishing last night with Ben. Water looked good. Not really rough, but deffinetly not flat. No undertow. Also, no fish. Tried every bait. Sand fleas, shrimp, cut mullet, fresh cut spot, redworms, and squid. Still nothing. We were fishing in sight of the pier, (Surf City), and I didn't see a fish caught there either. Really slow night, but not wasted. The almost full moon reflected in the water gave a silvery glow and was beautiful.

Till next time,
Tight Lines,
Johnny

Wind Change Changes Bite

The wind changed to SSW yesterday, and so did the spot bite. What was a terrific 2 at a time bite has changed to one every couple of hours. However all the news is not bad. When the spots moved out, the flounder moved in. I don't think I have ever seen the flounder bite so good from the piers. Reports from pier employee Vinita is that one angler caught 56 flounder Tuesday. He left the pier with his limit of 8 keepers. One young lady, age 10 hooked and landed (with the help of her dad) a 5 and 1/2 pounder. My dad, John Sr. caught a 20 inch beauty! I am guessing it weighed between 4 and 5 lbs. There was a huge 4 1/2 lb spadefish caught Tuesday. The netters in the bays and intracoastal waterway are starting to catch spots in their nets, and the night time flounder catch is pretty good, with probably 2 to 5 flounder a night per 100 yard net. Starting November 1st, netters will have to sit with their nets instead of leaving them out all night. I am hearing the reds are still biting near the inlets, especially New Topsail Inlet. Trout are showing up around the New River bridge, with a few being caught around the Surf City Swing bridge. The swing bridge is also producing a few black drum. There are still a few blues being caught at the end of the piers early morning. Offshore, the captains are telling me that the water is still dirty as far out as 8 miles, so the game fishing is a bit off. They are still catching a few kings, but are having to go deep to get them. My outing tonight south of Jolly Rodger pier produced one shark, one spot, two pompano (small), and a skate. Pretty dismal. Waiting for the weekend when a wind change is predicted. Until next time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

Get in Line!

Just returned from the pier. We got there just as the spot run was winding down. There were lines at the cleaning tables. Two sinks on each side of the pier, all busy, and several people waiting on each side. Coolers full of nice spots, pompanos, mullets and blues. Heard there was several nice flounder caught. One was just over 5 lbs. Flounders hitting finger mullets. Winds are NNW at about 7 mph. High tide is about 5:30 am and if I can get out of bed, we will be there. The spots have been biting best at about 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide. Stay tuned for tomorrows report.

Tony, better hurry! We are gonna catch'em all before you get here Saturday! Be safe.

Till next time...
Tight Lines!
Johnny

Catch'em While you Can

If you want to catch spots, and if you don't mind the shoulder to shoulder crowds, call in sick to work tomorrow, grab your gear, and head for Surf City. They are coming up on the pier two at a time, almost the total length of the pier. Everybody is catching them. Don't know how long this will last, so don't delay!

UPDATE

Just talked to a man and wife fishing team who were cleaning fish near my home. They had over 150 large spots and large pompano and 3 keeper flounder. All were caught Wed and Wed night from Surf City pier. They were cleaning fish for several hours. Both say they are ready to go fishing again early in the morning. Congratulations!

The Bite is Good!

Spots are biting anything in the water. Shrimp, bloodworms, redworms, nightcrawlers, and artificials like "Fish Bites". I went to Surf City Pier tonight and everyone has a nice catch. Spots range in size from small to huge. A bunch of really good pompano are coming over the rail. A good number of speckled trout along with lots of blues are in the water. Take your rain gear, small showers are coming through, but only for a few minutes at a time. If you run to the pier house, someone will get your spot.
Until next time,
Tight Lines!
Johnny

Spots, Lots and Lots of Spots

I haven't fished or posted in about 2 weeks because I had some bad migranes. I am hearing of some really good spot runs at all piers. Have heard as many as 50 to 60 spots can be caught in just a few hours. I can imagine that they are biting in the surf as well. Best bait is bloodworms although they are biting shrimp also. I am hearing of huge puppy drum in the creeks and waterways. Some as big as 10 lbs. according to Bandit Charter's Captain Tim Faircloth.

I see SPOTS

The surf is still full of seaweed. The spots are still here, but not the big run. They are still biting bloodworms. "sigh" I guess I'm going to need to break down and buy some goldworms, I mean bloodworms. They are about 8 bucks for 10, even more for the XXL bloodworms. About 11 bucks for 10. There have been a few puppy drums, a couple of speckled trout, and small flounder caught. A large king was caught from Surf City Pier. Fishin' is gettin better. The wind is coming out of the NE and its been cloudy for a couple of days. If these conditions hold, the water will cool on down and the spots will follow the cooler water. So get ready. Tie your rigs, clean those reals, and go out and dig some old fashioned earth worms. Spots love em. Yea, fall is here and the fish are coming. Till next time.....
Tight Lines,
Johnny