I love Southeast North Carolina for the seasons, but I’m really starting to get over this winter FAST! Man; up and down but mostly down as far as water and air temps go! The good news is we are in to March and hopefully it will start warming up soon. Just like the weather the fishing has been up and down lately; we have good days and slower days, for the most part we are catching a few fish. Let’s take a look at that in this weeks fishing report.
Redfish has been the main shot lately for my trips. On some of the warmer days, the bite has been good to even great! Here are some tips that will help you catch inshore winter Reds. Take your time when looking for winter Reds, they are less likely to get up and move when there cold. You want the lure to get to them before they know you are close by. Check every hole and oyster rock edge; we have found Reds in some of the smallest holes this year because of the cold waters. You have got to cover area to find winter inshore Redfish; it takes time and patients to find and catch winter Redfish.
Lure’s that seem to do the trick have been, Saltwater Assassin grubs in colors 10w40 & lime-tail, Chicken on a chain and copperhead. In Berkley Power baits; 5” jerkshad in colors new penny and pearl white have worked well. We rig the grubs on ¼ Red jig heads with Stren’s 20# tinted fluorocarbon in tint “tannic”. When the fish are spooky this floro is the trick! When we rig the Berkley jerkshads, we rig them Texas style, with a bass worm hook and a bullet weight.
The Redfish are schooling in the surf and we are always looking for a nice day to get out and chase them. They are pretty easy to catch; you just got to find them. That part can be a bit harder, trust me! A sunny, light wind day and good polarized sunglasses are the keys to catching these Reds. Try to keep your boat as far form the school as you can!!! If you can’t cast real far; learn to or get a better casting rod & reel, try a PENN Conquer 2000. Trust me this will help you catch these Reds. I’ve seen a lot of boats running over the schools lately because they don’t know what they are doing. Take your time don’t get in a hurry the fish are not going anywhere but they will stop biting if pressured! Grubs seem to be the easy go to bait for surf Reds. Lures we are using are SWA 10w40/ Lime-tail and Berkley Powerbait’s Ripple shad in colors New penny and Smelt. You need to use heavier jigs heads, 3/8 and ½ oz plus for casting.
Speckled trout fishing has been more miss than hit lately but, it should get better with the warmer weather we have coming. We have caught a few specks lately while we are Drum fishing. The best bet for the trout this time of year is mud minnows and working artificial baits very slow. MirrOlure’s 17MR and 52M are a good bet this time of year. I like the colors 11, 51, CFPR and EC. SWA grubs in colors chicken on a chain, chart-diamond and silver-ph & chart tail. Berkley Powershrimp in colors Pearl and Natural; using 1/8oz jig heads have caught a few two to three pound trout lately. I use twenty pound Stren tinted fluorocarbon leader; I prefer gun smoke tint for clear water applications.
On some of the windier days when it’s been hard to get out on the coast to fish we’ve been doing a little bit of fresh water fishing. The river fishing should pick up as long as we don’t get to much rain. Lake fishing has been OK to good and should get great in the next few weeks. On good trips we are catching nine to over fifth teen bass a day. The size of the Bass are running one to over five pounds, most fish are two to three pounds. Bass are hitting Bass Assassin rubber worms in colors black and red shad “red and black”. We are also catching some of the bass on Powerbait senko worms. Rigging the worms Carolina style seems to work the best. A very slow presentation, is working the best on cooler days.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Conquer and Sargus spinning in sizes 2000 and 4000. Fire line crystal braid in 10 and 20#. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy and the All Star ASR spinning rod ASR844S and ASR845S.
In Other Fishing News:
Don’t forget; there are some great boat and fishing expos coming to North Carolina. If you like fishing and boats you don’t want to miss these shows and fishing seminars! Here are the one’s that myself as well as other Ranger boats pro staff members will be at this winter.
March 20-12, 2010 Cape Fear Wildlife Expo, at the Coastline Convention Center. http://www.capefearwildlifeexpo.com/ Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy two days of hunting and fishing exhibitors, wildlife art, decoys, boats and accessories, truck and ATV displays, Hunter Safety Certification Class, fly fishing demos, camping, guides, outfitters, sportfishing simulator, contests, archery demos and fun for the entire family.
April 23-25, 2010 Tex’s Tackle Spring Tackle Sale and Show. I’ll be there with PENN Reels and Pure fishing. We will have some of the new Tackle from Penn and Pure Fishing, if you have any questions about any products from Penn or Pure fishing we’ll be happy to answer them for you.
June 5-6, 2010 “In the Water Fishing School” Myself, Capt. Rick Bennettand four other of the best local guides are putting on this school on. This school will be real-time hands on fishing experience! There will be one day of hands on classroom instruction and the next day on the water, real-time fishing experience. The school is limited to the first 24 participants! If you want to learn from the best local guides and see how we do it, take the time to check it out; http://www.rodmancharters.com/inthewater-fishing-school.htm I’m really looking forward to being part of this school!
Thanks for reading this report, if you would like to go fishing drop me a line. Don’t forget that special winter rates end on March 31st, so if you have cabin fever and want to get out on the water; give me a call. Book now for this coming summer fishing season. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
910-233-4139
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