Sidebars Archives - Page 161 of 194

June 18, 2026

Marine worms make up a large part of a redfish’s diet, especially in the winter.

Wormz!

Inshore redfish must scavenge through the winter, hoping to find mud minnows or mullet, but they also find happiness noodling in the pluff mud, which provides perfect habitat for healthy colonies of tasty marine worms. […]

The author caught this nice striped bass on a wintertime trip for speckled trout in the Pamlico Sound watershed.

Welcome bycatch: stripers

Jeff Burleson

Fishermen crawling grubs through deep holes in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries during the winer should expect a familiar by-catch: striped bass. […]

Fly fishermen need to keep their rod tip low and set the hook with a strip of the line.

Strip sets only

Jeff Burleson

Fly fishing for redfish can be exciting and rewarding, but the territory is rough and quite challenging for all levels of fly anglers. […]

Winter trout will get well back in creeks if the water is warm and deep enough to protect them from the onset of sudden cold waters.

Amp up safety gear in winter

Jeff Burleson

Anglers targeting the Pamlico Sound’s speckled prize during the winter will have more to worry about than which color of MirrOlure to tie on. […]

Don’t be afraid to fish a fly that will make some noise or put off some vibration, as it will often attract redfish.

Make some noise? What?

Jeff Burleson

Winter redfish can be very spooky, and fishermen should always be conscious of making unnatural noises while poling into the shallows, especially in the marsh where sometimes hundreds of fish will be congregated. […]

Stripers caught in the Cape Fear Riverwatch Striper Tournament help biologists with their research through examination and tagging.

CFRW and its striper tournament

Jerry Dilsaver

The first Cape Fear Riverwatch Striper Tournament was held in December 2008, but the annual events are now held in mid-January, with this year’s set for Saturday, Jan. 19, as part of Striperfest 2013. […]

Santee Cooper striper fishermen are releasing most of the fish they’re catching these days, but some guides wish creel restrictions would loosen.

Should Santee Cooper striper plan run its course or change now?

Terry Madewell

The increase in the number of stripers in the Santee Cooper lakes is welcome news to fishermen and biologists alike, but there are differences of opinions on what the next step in management should be. […]

The rock-arch rapids, a ‘fish ladder’ at Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Cape Fear near Riegelwood, is under construction.

Cape Fear locks, dams and stripers

Jerry Dilsaver

Striped bass were once so plentiful in the Cape Fear region that they were classified as one of the nine major striper populations on the Atlantic Seaboard, but this was prior to locks and dams being built along the river to help with commerce between Wilmington and Fayetteville. […]

Guide Don Drose shows off a hefty winter striper from Wyboo Creek caught by Jordan Drose and William Hardee.

Stripers on the migratory route

Terry Madewell

It’s hard to predict when stripers’, upriver migration will begin since the biggest female fish are the ones most likely to spawn and that’s the size striper fishermen like to target. Much depends on water temperature during the winter. […]

The recovery of banded waterfowl through harvest can provide biologists with extremely important data on migratory habits and population trends.

Check (duck) legs for jewelry

Jeff Burleson

The prime days of the duck season will arrive this month; more ducks are harvested in the next few weeks than any other part of the season, as hunters get serious and head to lakes, swamps, marshes, rivers and flooded impoundments filled with corn and millet. […]