Flat relocation – Think flounder, think lower Brunswick County in the summer

The author caught this nice flounder from his home waters of lower Brunswick County.

Flounder once jammed into the Shallotte River, but now they’re scattered up and down the coast of lower Brunswick County.

Dating back more than a half-century, the waters of southern Brunswick County have had a reputation for producing big flounder. Old-timers smile as they tell tales of the doormats that used to be wrestled from around the pilings beneath the shrimp houses at Shallotte Point in the Shallotte River.

Unfortunately, much like the trawlers and shrimp houses that used to line the river near its intersection with the Intracoastal Waterway, those flounder are gone. Fortunately, they haven’t moved too far, just relocated.

Mark Dickson grew up just across the state line in South Carolina, but he listened intently to tales of flounder caught in the Shallotte River. He was able to sample some of the last of that good fishing as a youngster and then saw the flounder move out of the river as it silted in, the shrimp houses sold out to development and the food source dwindled. There is still some excellent flounder fishing in the river, but many of the flounder have moved to nearby creeks and inlets and the number of flounder caught in the river has declined.  However, enterprising guides like Dickson have found them in new places.

Dickson honed his fishing skills as the area was changing from a sleepy fishing community to its current state of development. He followed the fish and made note of where and how they moved and now specializes in leading clients to flounder, red drum and speckled trout in the waters between the Shallotte River and Dunn Sound, including Shallotte Inlet, Tubbs Inlet, Little River Inlet and Calabash Creek, plus various wrecks and artificial reefs in the nearshore ocean.

“We still have good flounder fishing that borders on excellent at times,” Dickson said. “It’s also an odd area, so some local knowledge is a real plus. The state line runs through some of the best fishing, and there are noteworthy differences between the states. There is a significant tide change of 4 feet plus, and places we run across at high tide are dry at low tide. The movement of this much water also affects the fishing.”

Dickson sometimes catches flounder on lures, but taking clients who don’t fish much, he believes that nothing looks more like an injured and easy meal than a live bait slowed by carrying a hook. Instead of trying to teach someone the correct retrieve, he teaches them to keep the line tight so they can feel it when a fish tries to make off with their bait. The bait does the work and, if he has chosen the correct place, a hungry flounder tries to eat it.

“I typically use a Carolina rig for live bait,” Dickson said. “They are simple to make and work well. The rig has a short monofilament or fluorocarbon leader with a hook on one end and a swivel on the other. Many folks like to make this really long, but a foot to 18 inches is plenty. I use several different hooks, but I like a sharp hook like the Gamakatsu wide-bend so it is easy to hook the bait and then the fish. The main line from the reel is tied to the other eye on the swivel, and an egg sinker slides on it. Typically, a half ounce or so of weight is enough.

“Sometimes, when I’m on really nasty bottom or want to creep the bait along to cover more ground, I simply put the bait on a 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jighead. I like the Mission Fishin’ jigheads, as they are wider and may lean to the side a little but don’t fall on their side as bad as narrower jigheads when you stop. This means the hook is usually exposed better and in a good position to grab whatever picks them up.”

Dickson said flounder rely on moving water to bring bait to them. They move into an area they like and then camouflage themselves on the bottom while looking up to see what the current carries past. When the current washes something past they want, they jump up off the bottom and grab it. They may move around a little, but not a lot.

Dickson said flounder bites are rarely like other fish. If your bait is moving, their bite is usually a thump that grabs the bait and stops it. Don’t set the hook yet. If your bait is stationary, a flounder bite often feels as subtle as one tick, and then your line starts feeling heavy. Don’t set the hook yet.

Flounder have a narrow mouth with pronounced teeth. The teeth grab the intended quarry securely, but the flounder has to turn the bait to head first to swallow it, otherwise, the baitfish’s fins will open and jam in the flounder’s throat.

“The time between feeling the flounder and setting the hook is tense and the longest few seconds you’ll ever wait,” Dickson said. “However, if you don’t wait for the flounder to turn the fish and start to swallow, you may pull the hook and bait, out of its mouth without hooking it. If you are missing flounder and are pulling back baits that appear to be scaled, you are trying to set the hook too quickly. Patience really is a virtue when flounder fishing.”

Dickson said a few locations are keys for good flounder fishing in southern Brunswick County. Two of the most-obvious are the high-rise bridges crossing from the mainland to Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach. They have pilings and bulkheads to protect the navigation span, and that equals to cover for baitfish, flounder and other species to gather and feed.

The old Sunset Beach Bridge had an excellent reputation as a good place to catch fish and that has slowly transferred to the new bridge. Catches are increasing every year as fishermen learn where fish like to hang out around the new structure. The old Ocean Isle Bridge wasn’t known as a great fishing spot, but fish and fishermen have taken a liking to the new, high-rise version.

Dickson said inlets are the next most-obvious place to catch flounder. Shallotte and Tubbs Inlets are in North Carolina, while Little River Inlet is just a few hundred yards across the South Carolina border. Many North Carolina fishermen buy a South Carolina license every year just to be able to fish Little River Inlet, which is jettied to help maintain the channel while providing places for baitfish to hide and predator fish to feed.

Dickson likes to drift Little River Inlet, but he cautioned that the best fishing is usually close to the jetties, where the bottom is littered with rocks that tumbled off the jetty riprap during construction. The way to drift successfully, he said, is to keep the lines short and fish vertically, rather than with the lines trailing back. This avoids many, but not all, of the hang-ups along the jetties.

Shallotte Inlet is passable but tricky, and the channel there is marked by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission rather than the U.S. Coast Guard. Flounder gather along the edges of the channel and the flats beside it. Most fishermen drift here, but they keep their motor running to adjust the drift and escape the occasional odd wave.

Tubbs Inlet is not marked, changes regularly and shouldn’t be considered passable. There is sometimes  good flounder fishing on the flat just inside the inlet, and sometimes the fishing is best on a couple of blockade runner wrecks in the ocean a few hundred yards outside it.

Dickson sometimes ventures into the ocean on calm days. The Jolly Mon Reef (AR460) is located just outside Shallotte Inlet in approximately 35 to 40 feet of water at 33.50.217N/078.22.033W. The Jim Caudle Reef (PA-01) is just outside Little River Inlet in approximately 30 feet of water at 33.48.812N/078.30.522W. Both reefs hold flounder and a variety of other fish. Dickson said there is a lot of structure on the artificial reefs and fishing vertically will help prevent snags and losing rigs.

“Numerous creeks run through the marsh behind Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach and Bird Island, and there are flounder scattered through many of them,” Dickson said. “Baitfish and shrimp go into these creeks and the flooded marsh around them as the tide rises to hide from flounder and other predators. When the tide begins falling, they have to come out of the marsh, and some of the smaller creeks run almost dry by low tide.

“Flounder will hold in the mouths of the smaller creeks where they run into larger creeks and feed on the baitfish and shrimp washing out as the tide falls,” Dickson said. “This is their version of a seafood buffet, and they eat well. Some creeks hold a few flounder, and some hold more. If you find a creek mouth with a lot of flounder, it can become more like catching than just fishing. It takes some experience in the marsh to see where you can go at low tide, but once you know how to maneuver to the hot spots, the fishing can be real good.”

Dickson said fishermen could often do well fishing around the many docks that line the ICW, Shallotte River and Calabash Creek. The pilings give flounder places to hide so they can jump out and grab baitfish swept through the pilings. Flounder may be right along the edge of docks, but they often are holding a few feet under the docks, just inside the shadow line. Fishermen must be alert and maybe even a little lucky to pull flounder from under docks supported by pilings covered in oysters, barnacles and other sharp edges.

In addition to flounder, there are also good numbers of red drum, a few black drum and a few speckled trout in many of these places. Dickson usually has mixed bags of flounder, red drum and black drum regularly.  Sometimes he also finds summer trout and bumps the catch to an inshore slam. Yep, those flounder may have moved from the Shallotte River when the shrimp houses left, but they haven’t gone far and Dickson knows their new addresses.

DESTINATION INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE — The beaches of lower Brunswick County are accessed from US 74, US 421, US 17 and I-40. Connecting routes are NC 130 to Shallotte and NC 179 and NC 904 to Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach and Calabash. Popular public boat ramps are on the mainland side of the ICW near Shallotte Point, beside the Ocean Isle Bridge ont he beach side of the ICW, beside the Sunset Beach Bridge on the mainland side of the ICW at Sunset Bridge, and on both sides of the US 17 high-rise bridge between Little River, S.C., and North Myrtle Beach, S.C., but a South Carolina license is required to land fish at this ramp.

WHEN TO GO — Flounder are one of the most-targeted inshore species from late April into December. July and August are a summer peak for numbers, but there may be a few more larger fish in the fall.

TACKLE/BAITS — Medium-light spinning equipment is the ticket for flounder. Rods should be 7-footers, with 2500 class reels spooled with braided line. Live finger mullet, small menhaden or mud minnows are preferred baits, fished primarily on Carolina rigs. Slowly dragging live baits across the bottom on jigheads will also work. Scented soft plastics will catch plenty of flounder threaded onto 1/8- and 1/4-ounce jigheads.

FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Capt. Mark Dickson, Shallow Minded Inshore Charters, 843-458-3055, www.fishmyrtlebeach.com; Anglers Marine, www.anglersmarinenc.com, 910-755-7900; Jimmy’s Marine, www.jimmysmarine.com, 910-575-3600; Sportsman’s Choice Marine, www.sportsmanschoicemarine.com, 843-399-9283. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.

ACCOMMODATIONS —Ocean Isle Inn, Ocean Isle, 910-579-0750, www.oceanisleinn.com, Winds Resort Beach Club, Ocean Isle, 910-579-6275, www.thewinds.com; Comfort Inn, Shallotte, 910-754-3044; Days Inn, Shallotte, 910-754-3300; Econo Lodge, Shallotte, 910-755-6444; Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce, 800-426-6644, www.brunswickcountychamber.org.

MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; Sealake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; GMCO Waterproof Chartbook of North Carolina, 1-888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.

About Jerry Dilsaver 1168 Articles
Jerry Dilsaver of Oak Island, N.C., a full-time freelance writer, is a columnist for Carolina Sportsman. He is a former SKA National Champion and USAA Angler of the Year.

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