SPOTTED SEATROUT SIZE LIMIT INCREASES

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2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

SPOTTED SEATROUT SIZE LIMIT INCREASES

Speaking for myself, I am elated about this change. A 12 incher isn't even enough to stink up my fry pan. I wouldn't have complained about a 15 or 16 inch size limit. Most anglers I know don't keep them under this size anyway.

Date: Sept. 30, 2009
Contact: Patricia Smith
Phone: (252) 726-7021

MOREHEAD CITY— The minimum size limit for spotted seatrout will increase from 12 inches to 14 inches Monday, Oct. 5.

The change applies to both commercial and recreational fisheries. A 10-fish recreational bag limit will remain in place.

A 2009 stock assessment determined that spotted seatrout is overfished in North Carolina. The increased size limit is needed to allow more female fish to spawn in an effort to restore the stock to a healthy population level.

Only about 89 percent of female spotted seatrout are reproductively mature at 12 inches; by the time they reach 14 inches, 98 percent of female spotted seatrout have reached reproductive maturity.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is working with a Spotted Seatrout Advisory Committee to develop a fishery management plan for the species. The management plan will recommend permanent rules to address issues pertaining to the spotted seatrout fishery.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission authorized the size limit change as an interim measure until that plan is developed and adopted.

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nr-42-09

Date: Sept. 30, 2009
Contact: Patricia Smith
Phone: (252) 726-7021


Fishing Report
Spots on all three fishing piers. Wind has died down and turned around. Look for the spots to come back in when we get NE wind and a little chop on the water. Bright side, blues, spanish, and flounder seem to have turned on. Still seeing a few nice pompano. Surf report much of the same, with a few huge sea mullet, and a few puppy drum.

Till next time....
Tight lines!
Johnny

Quick Report-Good Fishing

Sorry for the short report but I had a second and wanted to pass on the report for the last several days. Tuesday was a great day on the spanish and blues with many people catching limits out on the pier. There was also a tarpon hooked but not landed. Since then the NE wind has really kept the water stirred up and muddy. While that has put somewhat of a damper on the plugging and kind fishing, it happens to be just what we look for to get the bottom dwelling fish biting! Yesterday the people that were able to brave the somewhat damp conditions had good catches of virgina mullet and spots with a few slot size puppy drum. I was just informed that the first regulation SPOT RUN of the year is on today!! The weather isn't great but the fishing is right now. I haven't talked to anyone fishing the surf but it would stand to reason that the same fish are beginning to show out there. The hard NE winds have cut some really nice sloughs over the last few days. No offshore reports since the wind has been blowing but fall fishing is heating up all over so in soon as it lays, it should be on!

Good Luck,

Rob Orr

Jolly Roger Pier

803 Ocean Blvd.

Topsail Beach, NC 28445

(910)-328-4616

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

Hot Bite's; Flounder, Redfish, Speckled trout and Spanish.

I’m very happy that fall is really starting show here in eastern North Carolina. This is by far my favorite time of the year for outdoors and fishing in North Carolina. As the air temps Fall the fishing action just heats up more and more every day. I just hope we don’t get to much rain this fall!

We’ve done a lot of Flounder fishing the last couple of weeks, with some pretty good days of fishing. Most of the Flounder are eating Mullet and Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs. The Flounder are mixed in size to just under keeper size to a few over five pounds. If you would rather use artificial bait, I would try a Saltwater Assassin Blurp grub in molting color. Rig the Blurp on a red or black jig head for best results.

We have found most of the Flounder in the creeks in mixed size but higher numbers. Fishing the drop of the main channel in the creeks, this is where we have found the most fish. The bigger Flounder seem to be around the inlets and just off the beach. There seems to be less action and Flounder but, they are very nice Flounder; in the three the over six pound range.

There have been some very good Spanish Mack runs lately. Most of the Spanish hit Clark spoons on number one planners, a few fish hit on top as well. We did get a few on Marie jigs and fly’s; casting when the Spanish get on top feeding. The Spanish were very nice in size; most fish were two to some over four pounds “nice fall size”. There has also been some False Albacore mixed in with the Spanish. They were biting just off the beach to about two miles off the beach. I don’t know how much longer they will be here with this cooler air moving in; will just have to see!

There are still fair amounts of good ole’ Redfish around, some in the creeks and some in the ocean. In the creeks and waterway top water plugs and live baits are doing the trick. We are fishing top water early in the morning and late afternoon when the sun in low. Rattle and popping corks with live mullets have been working great too. The ocean Redfish is eating; live bait and scented shrimp and or shad grubs. Extra scent never hurts when Red fishing!

The Trout are starting to show up around the area. We’ve caught Trout from right around Wrightsville Beach to down in the Cape Fear River. Most that we have found are in the creeks and channels running along the drop offs to deeper water. The trout that we have caught are hitting grubs in colors Chart Diamond, Pump Seed/Chart tail, chicken on a chain and sliver mullet on red jig heads. Hard baits getting the luck are Mirrolures redhead silver body and white back-white belly.

As water temps drop the Trout fishing will get better and better. The last couple of seasons have been the best Trout fishing I have ever seen around Wrightsville Beach, it seems to get better every year; with lots of big trout. I do a great deal of Trout charters in November, if you would like to go book soon for I will book up fast!

There are some Bull Reds in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets. You never know when you might hook one of these big fish might bite. When we try to catch these Bulls, we use fresh cut or live menhaden. We use fish finder rigs with 9/0, 10/0 and 11/0 circle hooks, keep your drag tight and the circle hooks will do there job.

The Fishing gear we use:

Reds, Trout and Flounder: Reels Penn Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. 20 pound Ugly Braid. Bull Redfish: Penn spinning reel 760L (Live Liner) and Penn Torque 100TRQ. Rods: Penn Torque 6’6” 30-80 class spinning and Torque 6’ 80-130 casting. Line: forty pound Spider wire Ultracast.

Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fishing to ya,

Captain Jot Owens
Ranger boats and
Pure Fishing Pro staff
http://www.captainjot.com/
910-233-4139

Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington NC Fishing Charters

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

Wind Matters-Big Time!

Wow, what a difference the wind makes. In last weeks post I commented on how the NE winds had improved the fishing conditions so much. As it turns out, they can just as easily work in a more negative direction. Starting with last Friday and continuing through this past Tuesday, the winds were predominately from the southerly directions. This put and effective halt on the good fishing we had been having. Luckily, on Tuesday the winds clocked back around to the North and have remained out of the North or NE ever since! This has brought about some really good fishing over the last couple of days.

PIER: One exciting event on the pier was the return of the king mackerel after an absence of several weeks. There was a 31lber caught on Tuesday afternoon, yesterday they had several strikes but no catches, and today there were two caught, a 16lber (only the head was brought back due to a hungry shark) and an 18lber. The tarpon are still coming by but none have been landed since my last report. The water was BEAutiful today and was absolutely FULL of bait. Finger mullet are still passing by in good numbers with an occasional school of the "corncobs" coming by. There are also lots and lots of glass minnows and 4-6" ballyhoo out there. Big (fat 2-4lb) blues are thick right now and have been biting very well in the mornings and afternoons. There are also lots of nice sized spanish out there but due to the extreme amount of bait in the area, they can be difficult to get to bite. In addition to the above action, there has been a decent smattering of pompano, puppy drum, trout, and flounder during the day, and some fair to good catches of mullet and spots late at night. We are still waiting on the big schools of spots to start moving. Other notable catches since Thursday include a 6lb flounder, and a 4lb speckled trout.

SURF: It seems that the main catch has been blues with nice puppy drum, mullet, and flounder mixed in. Most of the fish were reported to have been caught on fresh shrimp or live mullet minnows. One group reported to have caught 11 drum since Tuesday and another came in with good numbers of blues, mullet, and drum plus a nice flounder!

OFFSHORE: When the gail subsided on Tuesday, we were lucky enough to be able to slide offshore for a day of blue-water trolling in our 26' Jones Brothers. We found some nice temp breaks and a beautiful weed line in about 180-250' and caught all of our fish in this area. The end result for the day was 1 wahoo and 18 dolphin. Although none of the fish were hugh, all were nice sized and tasted great on the grill! The wahoo fishing has really picked up in the last 10 days with a few bonus blackfin tuna thrown in. A little closer to shore the fall king run seems to have finally begun. Those big leaping kings have moved into the beach and the hard-bottoms that are just off the beach; hopefully they are here to stay. I have also heard some good reports of kings coming from the 15mile range. Folks trolling up the beaches and around the inlets have reported good catches of nice spanish and blues.

Overall I think our fishing continues to improve with the day to day activity being dictated by wind direction and weather. Remember to look for those North to East winds when planning a fishing trip during the fall. (The marine forecast is calling for them through Monday.!!!)

Feel free to give us a call at the Jolly Roger for up to date fishing reports!

Happy Fishing!

Rob Orr

Jolly Roger Inn & Pier

803 Ocean Blvd.

Topsail Beach, NC

(910)-328-4616

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

The Fall Redfish Bite is on!!!

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler, the water temps are falling and the mullet blow is kicking off. It can only mean one thing, fall fishing is here. The Redfish bite has been on fire in the North Topsail Beach area as of late as well as many other areas in the Cape Fear Region.

With the water full of finger mullet heading South, the top water action for big Redfish as been awesome. Early mornings while the sun is still low seems to be the best time for the topwater action, but cloudy days will produce strikes all day long. Skitter walks and Top Pups have been working well. Color doesn't seem to matter much as the fish are feeding heavily and they just can't resist the action of one of these plugs.

Top water is not the only baits that are working well now. Both Gulp™shrimp and jerk shads fished on weighted hooks have been producing a lot of fish. Skimmer jigs tipped with Fish Bites™ have been producing a lot of fish as well. Most of the trips taken lately have been producing double digit numbers of Reds in only a few hours of fishing.



The new ECC Vantage is performing beautifully and allows me to get into the skinny waters that tend to hold these great fighting fish. If you are looking to get into some great redfish action, give me a call and let's get you out on the water. I still have some good dates in September available, but I will not be running any trips in October as I am getting married and will be heading to Hawaii for a couple of weeks with my new bride!!! Trips will resume in November and historically, Thanksgiving provides some really good fishing.




Give me a call and let's go catch some fish!!

Tight lines!!!

Capt. Brent
Current Adventure Charters
910.200.9959

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

FISH!

I was at the Jolly Roger for the majority of the day today and let me tell you, FALL FISHING is upon us. The brisk north wind and 60 degree temps felt really nice this morning, and the water temps have already dropped around 4-6 degrees in the last week. On the pier the nice sized (23-30inch) puppy drum bit throughout the day. I think there were at least a dozen already landed when I left the pier around mid-afternoon; thats not counting all the ones that got away though! Baits for these ranged from live mullet, to cut bait, to shrimp. A few nice black drum were also landed by someone who had some FRESH SHRIMP! I spoke with several people that braved the rather cool conditions last night and enjoyed really good virgina mullet fishing, although these fish weren't hugh, they were still nice sized fish. Another positive sign was the emergence of the speckled trout from there summer haunts. There were at least 5 quality fish caught with the majority coming early in the morning. The spots made a "spotty" showing throughout the day with just a few here and there; best bait to use was bloodworms. The big blues bit well first thing in the morning on gotcha plugs, but the water was just a tad bit murky for spanish. The flow of big jumping mullet subsided slightly over the last several days but the fingers continue to stream by. Flounder, pompano, and croaker were also present in mixed numbers. Someone caught and weighed in a 3+(I don't recall the exact weight) pompano at the pier yesterday.

I talked to a couple of people who have been fishing the surf for the last couple days and they reported good drum (puppy and black) and blue fishing. I ask about the bigger fall mullet but they don't seem to have shone in the surf quite yet. Shouldn't be long though!

As you may well be able to tell from the above report, the fishing is not as hot and heavy as we would expect to see it in mid-October. It is however a welcome relief from the dog days of summer. There is some really excellent UNCROWDED fishing to be had right now with a real smorgasbord of fish out there. The weather forecast looks favorable for the next several days with lots of NE winds. If everything holds it should be a really good weekend to fish!

Good luck and be safe!

Rob Orr

Jolly Roger Pier

803 Ocean Blvd.

Topsail Beach, NC

(910)-328-4616

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

Mullet Run=Great Fishing around the area!

Hello folks, I hope everyone is well and enjoying the cooler weather we have had lately. I have not really liked the stiff Northeast wind from it, but I like the cool morning temps. The cooler weather has really started to change the fishing in good way! The fall mullet run has started and with that the fishing has really picked up in the last few weeks! Let’s go over all that in this fishing report>>>

Flounder have been a big part of our charters lately. We are catching numbers and there size is getting better too! We’ve caught a few Flounder in the last two weeks over five pounds. Most of the action is coming off grubs, in shrimp and sea shad patterns. The shrimp pattern is a new one I’ve just started to use. It’s made by Berkley power bait and it’s a 3” Rattle Shrimp in colors watermelon red gltr & pearl white. I think these are going to be a big hit for Flounder, Redfish and trout. In the sea shad’s Saltwater Assassin’s in colors chicken on a chain and chart-diamond. We’re rigging the sea shads with 1/4oz red jig heads.

We are also catching the Flounder on Carolina rigs with live mullets. Now that the mullets are everywhere it’s very easy to catch all you need for a day of fishing. The Carolina rigs we are using for Flounder fishing are very simple. Hook is a EC L42 1/0, leader fifth teen to twenty inches of forty pound mono and an ¾ to one oz egg sinker. We are pulling the rigs across the bottom very slowly; so that the rig stays on the bottom. If it comes off the bottom; slow down your pull or go with a heavier egg sinker. Take your time; it takes patience to catch Flounder!

My charters have had some great early Redfish morning and late afternoon bites. We are fishing mud flats and oyster flats in creeks and along the ICW. Top water plugs like the Rapala skitter-walk have done very well. Rattle and popping corks with live mullets have been working great! The best rattlin’ corks for me have been the Saltwater Assassin’s “Kwik-cork” this is one of the loudest corks on the market. When the water has been a little stained form rain water we are catching some Reds on spinner baits.

There are some Bull Reds starting to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets. You never know when you might hook one of these big fish might bite. When we try to catch these Bulls, we use fresh cut or live menhaden. We use fish finder rigs with 9/0, 10/0 and 11/0 circle hooks, keep your drag tight and the circle hooks will do there job.

There has been a few Trout starting to show up around. Most that we have found are in the creeks and channels running along the drop offs to deeper water. The trout that we have caught are hitting grubs in colors Chart. Diamond and sliver mullet and red jig heads. Hard baits getting the luck are Mirrolures redhead silver body and green back white belly. South of Wrightsville we are having some very good days with the Specks. Fishing on good days has produced twenty or more specks! Fall weather will equal more good fishing!!

Thanks so much for reading this report, if you would like a guided fishing charter; give me call or drop me a line. Don’t forget take a kid fishing and good fishing to ya!

Fishing gear we use:

Gear used: Redfish, Flounder and trout: reels Penn Sargus SG2000 and SG4000 Rods: Ugly Stick Lite 7'0" Med light and Med act. Line: Fire Line crystal in 10 and 20 pound test. Bull Redfish: Penn spinning reel 760L (Live Liner) and Penn Torque 100TRQ. Rods: Penn Torque 6’6” 30-80 class spinning and Torque 6’ 80-130 casting. Line: forty pound Spider wire Ultracast.

Captain Jot Owens

Ranger Boats and

Pure Fishing Pro Staff

http://www.captainjot.com/

910-233-4139

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide

Introduction & Report-9/4/09

Hello from the southern end of Topsail!

Let me start by extending my thanks to Jonny and Donna for the opportunity to contribute here. I look foreword to sharing stories and reports pertaining to the fishery in the Topsail area.

I guess an introduction is in order. My name is Rob Orr and I was born and raised on Topsail Island; more specifically the south end of Topsail and the Jolly Roger Pier. My Grandfather, Lewis Orr, built the Jolly Roger back in the early 50’s and it is currently owned and operated by my father and his siblings. Some of my earliest memories include landing my first solo bluefish from the pier, trolling for kings and Spanish along the beaches, and fishing for assorted bottom fish in the “croaker hole” on the sound side. You could make an argument that I was hooked from the start!

Time flies, I am now 18 years old and attending Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington. I work a number of different jobs including continuing to work at the Jolly Roger Pier & Motel. I fish at every opportunity, whether it be from the planks of the pier, the sand in the surf, the back bays of Old Topsail, or the blue waters of the gulf stream. I have a burning passion for the sport, and am very excited about the opportunity of sharing it with you!

Enough about me! On to the important stuff; the fish! I hope to bring you up to date pier reports from the Jolly Roger throughout the fall. This is in addition to keeping you up to date on the current fishing report(s) for the South End of Topsail and all of the offshore info..

Report-9/4/09:

The last several days have seen a DRAMATIC shift in the ocean conditions and fishing activity. With the air temps dropping and the first “noreaster” (a little one anyway) blowing for the last several days, the smell of fall (and fish!) is definitely in the air.

I fished on the pier this afternoon and there were streams of the jumping mullet going by all afternoon, both finger and corncob. The water was beautiful and there was a large variety of fish being caught. I saw several nice flounder and puppy drum come up down in the “suds”, and there were some nice pompano being brought in a little further out. The big (2-4lb) fall blues were everywhere along with a few really nice Spanish. The guys throwing gotcha plugs had a great afternoon with both the blues and Spanish. I personally spent most of the time with my eyes glued to my “king rig” bait. The tarpon have left the Pamlico and Neuse rivers and are beginning to make there southward migration. We sighted around 8 separate schools of tarpon come by the end of the pier just this afternoon. They didn’t seem to be in a very aggressive feeding mood until right before dark. That is when everything broke loose. I was on the NE Corner of the pier throwing a gotcha plug when I saw a silver streak flash under a friends bait. I hollered for him, and by the time he reached the rail the fish had circled back around and slurped the big mullet down. He set the hook and up jumped a BIG( 129-130lb) tarpon.. The fight didn’t last long but the fish put on an awesome aerial display by jumping 6-8 times in a matter of 45seconds before throwing the hooks. When the angler brought the rig back, both 1/0 Owner 4x Strong trebles were flattened… WOW, it really is amazing the amount of power those fish have. About 10 minutes after that fish hit, my mullet started acting frisky. All of a sudden the water around my bait turned white and I saw yet another tarpon go airborne after a bait; this time it was mine! Unfortunately this one only smashed the bait slightly and didn’t come back for seconds. So for this afternoon the tarpon won, 2-0.. That’s ok though, that just means there will be more out there tomorrow!

Although I haven’t been able to get offshore in the last week or so, I have heard several reports that the kings are starting to move in close to the beach. Shouldn’t be long before we have those fall “leapers” in here thick. I can’t wait!

Have a great and safe Labor Day, and good luck fishing!

Rob Orr

Jolly Roger Pier

Topsail Beach, NC

(910)-328-4616

Fishing Topsail Message Board
Topsail Area Charter Boats
2009 NC Recreational Coastal Waters Guide