Saltwater Series: Belhaven

This sleepy river town is the center of an inland fishing oasis.

Belhaven is the perfect example of a sleepy little river town at the junction of the Pungo River, Pungo Creek and Pantego Creek. The Intracoastal Waterway follows the Pungo River past Belhaven as it works its way north to the canal that connects it to the Alligator River and points farther north.

Belhaven’s waterfront is on Pantego Creek. A recently refurbished breakwater stretches across most of the mouth of Pantego Creek on the southeast end of town to protect the Belhaven waterfront and several marinas from the effects of the ever-present chop rolling in from the Pungo River.  On the northwest end of Belhaven, Pantego Creek runs under the NC 99 bridge currently being rebuilt.

Fishing regulations and license requirements change at the breakwater and inside the mouths of many of the area’s creeks. Some areas require a freshwater license and some a saltwater license. Despite spending most of their lives in schools, fish can’t read and don’t always take this into consideration. It is not unusual to catch freshwater and saltwater fish on the same day from the same hole with the same bait.  Stripers, puppy drum, flounder and speckled trout are the area’s primary fish, but bass, pickerel, bowfin and sometimes crash the party.

There can be a world of difference fishing the waters of Pantego Creek, inside the Belhaven breakwater and the waters outside the breakwater.  Pantego Creek is sheltered and remains fishable in wind and weather conditions that preclude fishing in the open water outside the breakwater or crossing it to get to smaller creeks off the Pungo River.

Belhaven is only really reached by one highway, which adds to its charm. It is about 35 miles east of Washington on US 264, which begins east of Raleigh and crosses I-95, US 13 and US 17 on its way to the coast. The primary ramp for this area is an N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission access area adjacent to US 264 in downtown Belhaven.  A fee ramp is  at Cee Bee Marina on Pungo Creek.

Ricky Radcliffe, the owner of Radcliffe Marine, has hunted and fished these waters all his life. His father, Gilbert Radcliffe, manufactures Privateer boats.

Ricky Radcliffe keeps a boat in a neighbor’s boathouse and is ready to go whenever his time allows. Here are some spots around Belhaven that Radcliffe targets when he has a few hours to enjoy some fishing.

1 — Cove in Lower Dowry Creek
35 32 63N/76 35 21W

Radcliffe said Lower Dowry Creek is one of his favorite spots to go because of the variety of fish he might catch. He usually looks for trout, but often catches red drum, flounder and stripers — along with bass and bowfin when rain is abundant.

Radcliffe said this particular cove holds fish — for what reason, he doesn’t know. He said he sees this often in places where the taller grass extends well into the water. These spots just seem to hold a few more fish than places where the trees or bare bank meets the water.

“I usually fish pretty simple,” Radcliffe said.  “I fish a lot of curlytail grubs, and chartreuse is my favorite color. The water is shallow, and there is rarely any current, so I can use an eighth-ounce jighead and reach the bottom easily. I fish mainly braided line, and that combined with the lighter jighead allows me to finesse the jighead and keep it in a fish’s face longer. I believe that some of my strikes are reaction strikes from aggravating the fish into biting.”

2 — Point in Lower Dowry Creek
35 32 78N/76 35 19W

“This point is a good spot for several reasons,” Radcliffe said. “It has the same type of grass as the cove a little ways from it, and there is room and depth for minnows and shrimp to get in the grass. It also sticks out in the creek, and any baitfish swimming up or down the bank have to swing out to get around it. That makes it a focal point for predator fish.

“There are several little pockets and snags where predators hide to ambush bait as it moves around here,” Radcliffe said. “This is a half-mile or so inside the freshwater-license boundary, and I am never surprised at what I might catch here.”

Radcliffe said because baitfish have to swing out to get around the point, he finds it a good place to use topwater lures. He uses smaller versions of Zara Spooks and MirrOLures. Like with his soft plastics, he prefers a lure with a hint of chartreuse, light green or yellow.

3 — River point Lower Dowry Creek
35 32 97N/76 34 71W

The river point at Lower Dowry Creek is not protected, and southwest winds pushing up the Pungo River blow into it. Radcliffe those winds also blow any baitfish in the river into the mouth of the creek. There are days, he said, when sea gulls are feasting on pods of mullet minnows and small menhaden blown onto this point. When that happens, something underneath is usually eating them, too.

“This point has good water flow,” Radcliffe said. “There isn’t a lot of tide, but the predominant winds blow either into or out of it and anything else crosses it at a shallow angle.  Sometimes, it is a little rough to fish comfortably, but there is usually bait moving through it, and the fish know that.”

Radcliffe fishes weedless baits because of the number of snags. Laydown trees are great targets for casting as they provide fish places to hide out of the wind or tide and feed where they can feed on what is swept past.

4 — Durant’s Point
35 30 57N/76 35 18W

Durant’s Point is an inside-bend point in the Pungo River, where it makes an approximately 90-degree turn. It is slightly more than two miles across the river from the breakwater, and offers protection from south and southwest winds.

Radcliffe said the shoal at Durant’s Point extends out from the point roughly a half-mile, almost to Marker 10 in the ICW. The water on the shoal varies from about three to five feet deep and often holds flounder and red drum. A stump field running out from the bank sometimes holds stripers and smaller drum. Trout and larger stripers tend to work along the edges and will move depending on the presence of bait and angle of the wind.

“Once we get into fall (when) the mullet are moving and there are lots of days with northeast winds, the west side of Durant’s Point can be a great place to fish,” Radcliffe said. “A sand bottom runs offshore a ways, but it rolls over to deeper than 10 feet before it reaches the (ICW) channel. Larger drum, trout and stripers will work along that drop and occasionally run up on it to feed. There may be some flounder mixed with them too.”

Radcliffe usually fishes with artificials, but this is a spot where having live bait can be an advantage. He said mullet minnows seem to outlast most other baits, but mud minnows, small menhaden and shrimp all work well. As with many places, live shrimp work very well, but everything — including all the bait thieves and less-desired species — eats them, too.

5 — River point, Fishing Creek
35 30 07N/76 34 78W

The river point at Fishing Creek has a sandbar that reaches almost all the way across the mouth of the creek. This creates a mud line when any current is running or the wind is blowing and that makes an edge for baitfish to run down and predators to watch. Radcliffe said the edge of the deeper water is just beyond the hard edge of the mud line. The current backs up, and a slight rip that holds the bait will develop just outside the mud line.

A second place to concentrate on is just inside the point in the cove. This is calmer, clearer water, allowing predators to hold their position and wait to see what is washed past.

“Some days the river is calm, and I fish all across and along the point,” Radcliffe said.  “There is enough pronounced bar there the fish use it as cover even when the water is clear. I like to cast up onto the bar and work my lure back towards deeper water. This works also when the water isn’t clear, as your retrieve starts in muddy water and works toward the deeper water, which is clearer. The fish will feed along the edge of the bar and the edge of the muddy water.”

Radcliffe said this is an excellent place to catch red drum, flounder and trout. Typically, the red drum feed on top of the bar and out to its edges, while the flounder may also move up on the bar but usually prefer the edges and trout generally like the deeper water adjacent to it.

6 — Point in Fishing Creek
35 30 16N/76 34 66W

Radcliffe said this small point inside Fishing Creek is much like the one inside Lower Dowry Creek. It sticks out into the creek far enough it makes a place where bait had to venture out to get around it, and that makes it a good attack point for predators.

A slick often forms on the upwind side of the point as the oil from baitfish being crushed disperses. Being upwind gives the slick away as a fish slick and not something else.

“This bank doesn’t have the tall grass of some productive banks, but there is a short shallow flat section next to the grass and then a little drop about 10 feet off the grass,” Radcliffe said. “Flounder and drum will move up on the flat, but trout usually work along the edge of the deeper water and only dart into the shallow water to grab something to eat.

“When I see a sign as good as this, I usually switch immediately to a topwater bait,” Radcliffe said. “This is a good sign the fish are actively feeding and will most likely chase a topwater lure … especially in the fall when the baitfish are streaming out of the creek.”

7 — Belhaven breakwater
35 31 66N/76 37 00W

The Belhaven breakwater is almost an icon for area fishermen. The wooden structure spans most of the mouth of Pantego Creek at the southeast end of Belhaven. Its primary purpose is to block waves moving up the Pungo River from rocking boats and eroding the shoreline along the Belhaven waterfront.

The breakwater is also a fish magnet that disrupts any waves or current coming from the Pungo River into Pantego Creek; in doing so, it creates a haven for fish. The breakwater is not solid, allowing some water to wash through, which dissipates the energy of the waves. This also gives predator fish a place to hide out of the current and watch as shrimp and small baitfish fall out of the disrupted current.

“We catch some flounder and trout and even an occasional drum along the breakwater, but the real draw there is stripers,” Radcliffe said.  “I feel like any day the weather allows, I can go out there and get a few stripers to bite. While some can approach double-digit weight at times, they don’t always quite make the 18-inch minimum size. However, they are usually feeding and pull back, and I release most of them anyway. It beats working late and is close enough to make a quick trip just to relax a little in the afternoons.”

Radcliffe said the way to find stripers is to troll along the breakwater until you have strikes. He said there are sections of deeper water and a drop or rise or two. He trolls a pair of larger Rat-L-Traps to locate fish and casts to them with soft plastics. This is usually when he catches the other species of fish, but occasionally one will latch onto the trolled lures.

8 — Log Pound
35 32 59N/76 38 03W

While there aren’t any logs there any longer, the “Log Pound” is a spot where logs used to be stored on the side of Pantego Creek before the trip to the sawmill. Radcliffe said there is some structure on the bottom about a cast off the bank, and it tends to hold speckled trout, especially during the cooler, fall weather. He is not surprised when he pulls up and finds a couple of people fishing from the bank.

“This can be a really good spot,” Radcliffe said. “I can remember days the fishing was good enough several of us ran down during lunch and fished. I’m not exactly sure what holds the fish here, but you can feel something on the bottom with your lure. This is primarily a cooler-weather spot for trout, but there are some striper and occasionally a puppy drum or flounder caught here. It has produced consistently enough over the years it is hard to pass by without giving it a few casts.”

9 — NC 99 bridge
35 32 53N/76 38 20W

“This is a spot to catch stripers,” Radcliffe said. “There isn’t much current, but if you look closely, you can see which way the water is moving, and fishing your lures by the pilings with the current is the way to get strikes.

“Occasionally, there will be enough fish they are competing for food and push out farther between the pilings, but so close you occasionally bump them is typically more productive.”

Radcliffe uses some hard lures in addition to soft plastics. He trolls Rat-L-Traps to locate stripers in much the same way he does at the breakwater. He will also shut off his outboard to work between the pilings using his trolling motor under the bridge.

A new bridge is being built next to the old one. Radcliffe is concerned about the noise and activity running the fish off, but that hasn’t been the case. He sometimes finds a school of trout under the bridge, usually during late fall as the water is cooling.

10 — Small Broad Creek island
35 33 08N/76 41 41W

This island is well up in Broad Creek, which splits off from Pantego Creek above Belhaven.  It is far enough from the main river that it is brackish water, at best, and the salinity content varies with the rainfall. The salinity of the water is a determining factor in which fish are present. The catch can vary from bass to speckled trout.

“There is a broad mud flat that keeps the shallower section upriver of the island warm in winter, and it may hold some puppy drum throughout the winter,” Radcliffe said. “They definitely stay active later in the fall and get active earlier in the spring. Hopefully, if we have extreme cold snaps like last winter, they move to deeper water before it stuns or kills them. The water is a little deeper in front of the island, and there will usually be some stripers there. I sometimes also find a few trout. I’m not surprised to catch an occasional flounder either, but most are not quite keeper size.

“When fishing back here, I usually throw either a topwater lure or a curlytail grub,” Radcliffe said. “The topwater will draw reaction strikes from whatever is around if they are active. The nice thing about the curlytail is I can speed up or slow down and retrieve straight back or hop and jig the bait. With this variety, I can usually get something to bite.”