Inshore Fishing Archives - Page 243 of 287

May 14, 2026

South Carolina’s redfish population is excellent, and it stands to get even better the next several years.

2012 Saltwater Forecast

South Carolina is blessed with an abundance of excellent saltwater habitat, even if it doesn’t have as extensive a coastline as some states. […]

Jeff Cronk with the colors of spring: a black drum and a red drum.

March is a notoriously fickle when it comes to weather. Windy days and chilly weather can pose problems for many anglers who try to fish the larger, open waters, but for those who watch the wind, heading across Bogue Sound to reach the protected headwaters of its small feeder creeks is key to consistent fishing success. […]

Capt. Jeff Cronk caught this black drum at one of the small creeks entering Bogue Sound.

A fool’s mate for black

Mike Marsh

Black drum are among the easiest fish in the creeks to catch in March because they are so easily fooled. However, most anglers don’t head into the creeks prepared to catch them. […]

Capt. Jeff Cronk pitches a float rig beneath a boat dock to tempt a red or a black drum.

Approach and cast docks with caution

Mike Marsh

To pawn a jig with a scented soft plastic or mud minnow in exchange for a red drum strike in the back of Queen or another of Bogue Sound’s creeks, an angler should get very close to the prospective dock, but avoid banging it. […]

The Coastal Fisheries Reform Group has announced it will seek a total gill-net ban along the North Carolina coast because the state Legislature has refused to act on proposed gamefish status for red drum and speckled trout.

Fisheries group calls for total gill-net ban, cites legislative inaction on gamefish bill

Craig Holt

The Coastal Fisheries Reform Group declared last week its intent to seek a total gill-net ban in North Carolina coastal waters. […]

A strike-netter goes past a recreational angler’s boat Feb. 4 in Onslow County's Stones Creek before closing off the creek to fishing by hook-and-line anglers.

Angler: Stones Creek netting incident shows lack of respect, portends trouble

Craig Holt

Robert Patterson of Jacksonville is used to swimming against the tide. […]

Rep. Darrell McCormick (background), co-chairman of the Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources, listens as DMF director Louis Daniel III answers a question during a Raleigh public hearing. McCormick will speak at a recreational-fishing group’s fundraiser Feb. 25 in Swansboro.

McCormick to speak at Swansboro fundraiser for gamefish fight

Craig Holt

Representative Darrell McCormick, co-chair of the North Carolina Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources, will be the keynote speaker during a Feb. 25 event to raise money for the fight to change the state’s saltwater fisheries management and better reflect the value of recreational fishing. […]

River herring crashed because of mismanagement by the NCMRC even as state biologists warned continued commercial netting was detrimental, and at least one recreational angler says he fears the same thing could happen with speckled trout.

Mismanagement of river herring warns of NCMFC’s commercial bias, veteran rec angler says

Craig Holt

As commercial and recreational saltwater fishing interests duke out their positions online and at meetings of the legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources, Ray Brown of Goldsboro remains one of the most eloquent speakers on behalf of coastal resources. […]

Spotted seatrout are biting suspending MirrOlures in the lower Neuse River’s creeks.

Specks, stripers active in Pamlico, Albemarle

Craig Holt

With recent days of unusually mild winter weather, fishing across North Carolina has been just as extraordinary — particularly for spotted seatrout. […]

Securing gamefish status for red drum, speckled trout and stripers is vital to ensuring the health of North Carolina coastal communities, Topsail Island realtor Dean Phillips says.

Coastal realtor says gamefish status key to coastal counties’ survival

Craig Holt

The way Dean Phillips of Topsail Island sees it, fish availability is the horseshoe nail, the linchpin to the survival of most of North Carolina’s coastal counties, which is to say saltwater fish are crucial to the lives of a majority of coastal residents. […]