Wilmington’s four rivers offer great fall fishing for largemouth bass, if you can learn to ride the tide.
The beaches of New Hanover County are known for their good saltwater fishing, but fewer anglers are aware of the good freshwater fishing from Wilmington upriver. Four rivers meet close to the port city, where the water transforms from saltwater to freshwater.
Mike Lanier, a pro bass fisherman from nearby Winnabow, has fished the rivers around Wilmington his entire life and is extremely knowledgeable about the bass that live there. He has learned to work with the unique geography and water in the area and said laughs when he says not to be surprised with what might hit your lure, listing a variety of fish he has caught in the same areas — and occasionally on successive casts.
One rare weekend when he wasn’t fishing a tournament, Lanier launched at Dram Tree Park, beside the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington and headed up the Cape Fear to the Black River, one of his favorite spots. Passing the waterfront on his right and the U.S.S. North Carolina on his left, he said people would be surprised how many fish, especially striped bass, are caught in this section of the river — just downstream of where the Northeast Cape Fear dumps into the Cape Fear.
The first few miles of the Cape Fear River above Wilmington are bounded by mostly marsh banks. Creeks feed into the river on both sides, and Lanier said most of them hold fish on some stage of the tide.
“Understanding the tide is a big part of fishing here,” Lanier said. “I won’t say you can’t catch bass at any stage of the tide, but they are easier to locate and are usually feeding more aggressively on the falling tide. The falling tide pushes baitfish out of the smaller creeks to where larger predators can reach them, and we’re going to work that up the river.”
The tops of several buildings were still visible across the tall marsh grass when Lanier turned out of the channel and entered a small creek that is fed by several smaller creeks and usually holds a few fish around those creek mouths. It’s in the zone where saltwater turns to freshwater, and at times he catches puppy drum, flounder and speckled trout in addition to bass.
Lanier worked into a pocket where three smaller creeks entered and began casting a topwater bait. After a few casts, a small bass hit and was quickly reeled in and released. Lanier switched to a spinnerbait and got an immediate strike from a 1 1/2-pound bass that was also quickly released.
Heading back up the river, Lanier pointed to the future site of the I-140/US 17 By-Pass bridge and predicted the pilings would attract bream, catfish and bass.
“October is a month of change on the rivers around Wilmington, but is a good month for fishing,” he said. “Unless there is a storm or a significant weather system, the water cools as the month progresses, and the likelihood of catching larger bass improves. Typically, the water is in the upper 60s to begin October and cools to the low 60s by the end. The cooling water triggers bass to begin feeding seriously in preparation for winter.”
October is a good time to fish topwater lures, spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits, Lanier said, but don’t forget Senkos, jigs and other soft plastics. He said bass are feeding aggressively, so you can fish faster and cover more water.
“The water won’t have cooled enough yet to move bass into the creeks and out of the current,” Lanier said. “They’ll be in places where the current is carrying baitfish, and we’ll target those areas, too. Unless there is a long rainy period or a storm system dumps a load of rain, the river level will be normal to a little low, and this concentrates the fish. The fish will be competing for food, and that makes them easier to catch.”
A bend above the intake structure for the Sutton Electric Generating Plant and Sutton Lake, the woods thickened and closed in to the river bank. Except for seeing occasional floating debris, the river was as natural as it was hundreds of years ago when first found and explored. A big but unseen difference is the barge channel cut through the middle of the river. It isn’t used much, but when paired with three dams and sets of locks, it allowed barge trade upriver to Fayetteville. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the three locks between Wilmington and Fayetteville in operational condition.
In the space of a few miles, the bank vegetation changed from marsh grass to trees with lily pads and other floating vegetation. Lanier eased up to a large area of mixed floating vegetation on the inside of a bend out of the main flow of the current and began casting a frog bait. It didn’t take long to get a reaction as he bumped it along between, over and through the floating leaves.
The frog suddenly disappeared in a hole in the water, and Lanier to set the hook. The bass wasn’t interested in leaving the protection of the vegetation, but Lanier won the tug-of-war and said it was a good example of a situation when the strength and durability of braided line is appreciated.
Only a few yards away, another bass whacked Lanier’s frog as it worked across a hole in the grass. This one was a little larger and fought harder but was solidly hooked, and Lanier muscled it in.
“Look towards the bank,” Lanier said. “If you aren’t paying close attention, the bank looks unbroken, but there is a small creek just left of that broken tree. You can often find bass under vegetation like this, but when you add that little creek with bait moving out as the tide falls, places like this can be double good.”
Continuing upriver, Lanier turned right into the Black River at the south end of Roan Island. The flow here was slower, and he stopped and fished several mats of vegetation, catching a bass or two at every one.
Several miles up the Black River, the shoreline changed again. The vegetation thinned, and gum and cypress trees began lining the banks sometimes even standing in the water. Many of the feeder creeks were smaller, and some more closely resembled ditches than creeks.
Lanier didn’t stop at every creek, but he definitely had a plan to check several. Five bass hit within 20 feet of the mouth of one surprisingly small creek. The bass that didn’t care for topwaters, frogs or spinnerbaits couldn’t resist jerkbaits, jigs and worms. Another glorified ditch produced three bass from the same stump. Lanier caught one on topwater on each side and dropped a jig down the front for the third.
In the Black River, Lanier was in his element, hopping from side to side and working up the river, catching fish at most of the places he targeted on topwater baits, shallow-diving crankbaits or jigs.
“I thought this had potential to be a good trip,” Lanier said. “We haven’t found a big boy that would be a tournament kicker, but I wouldn’t be embarrassed to head to weigh in with the five largest we’ve caught today.
“We’re about to run out of time working this falling tide, but it’s been fun, and I’m happy to see these fish,” Lanier said. “I thought it had gotten cool enough for them to be feeding good, and it appears it has. There are some houses a couple of bends up, and I want to check a few docks there before we head back down the river. We’ll check a few places heading back, and maybe they’ll be biting on the rising tide, too.”
The tide had switched and was rising on the trip downriver. The bite was slower, but Lanier picked off several bass from the same places he’d fished on the way up the river, and he caught a nice fish from a creek mouth that didn’t produce earlier.
The tidal difference was most obvious in the marshes at Wilmington. Here, several feet of bank that had been exposed on the trip upriver were under water on the return. Lanier emphasized again that understanding and learning to work with the tides is a key to successful fishing in the rivers around Wilmington.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — Getting to Wilmington is not difficult. Take I-40 or US 421 from points to the north and west, US 17 from north and south, and US 74 from the Charlotte area. Dram Tree Park in downtown Wilmington, next to the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, is an excellent public ramp. A public ramp at US 117 and NC 133 at Castle Hayne is available, as is a public ramp near the NC 11/53 bridge on the Black River near Atkinson. A public ramp at Brunswick River Park off NC 133 serves Brunswick County.
WHEN TO GO — Bass feed year-round in the rivers around Wilmington, but they are most aggressive when the water begins to cool in the fall.
BEST TECHNIQUES — Baitcasting outfits from 6- to 7-foot-6 are preferred in medium actions for most river fishing. Depending on the technique used, monofilament, fluorocarbon or braid can be spooled on. Most fish will be caught in water 8 feet deep and shallower, on a mixture of jerkbaits, stickbaits, spinnerbaits, buzz frogs, floating worms, crankbaits, jigs and Texas-rigged plastic worms.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Tex’s Tackle and Bait, Wilmington, 910-791-1763, www.texstackle.com; Island Tackle and Hardware, Carolina Beach 910-458-3049. www.islandtacklehardware.com; Cape Fear River Adventures, 910-620-0296, www.capefearriveradventures.com. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Best Western/Coastline Convention Center, Wilmington, 800-617-7732, www.coastlineinn.com; Sleep Inn/MainStay Suites, Wilmington, 910-313-6665, 910-392-1741, www.mainstaywilmingtonnc.com, www.sleepinwilmingtonnc.com. Cape Fear Convention and Visitors Bureau, 877-406-2356, www.cape-fear.nc.us.
MAPS — GMCO Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.
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