Get in and get out of shallow water at the right time, and you can do battle with plenty of late-winter reds.
Rick Patterson quickly checked the tide level on the bulkhead as he eased his bay boat away from the dock. He decided it would be wise give the tide an hour or two to rise and bring more water to flats where he’d found redfish, leaving him fishing several nearby creeks and deeper channels.
Patterson, who operates Cape Crusader Charters in Cape Carteret, said he expected to catch some redfish, black drum and trout in the deeper water before moving up on the flats to look for bigger schools. He already had a couple of rods rigged with Gulp! shrimp — pearl with chartreuse tails — on flutter hooks, planning to pin the points into the shrimps’ backs to make them weedless.
“These are light flutter hooks, and they won’t sink these baits quickly, so fish them very slowly and deliberately,” Patterson said. “The Gulp! shrimp have scent, and moving them slowly is important to let the scent reach the fish and convince them to bite. We’ve had some sunny days, but the water is still cold, the fish are moving slowly and aren’t aggressive, so we’ll have to convince them to bite.”
A few casts in, Patterson landed his bait beside an exposed oyster rock next to the channel drop. His rod tip twitched once, and he stiffened in preparation to set the hook, but the fish was gone. After a few seconds, Patterson’s rod dipped again, and this time he was ready. He set the hook, and his line raced down the oyster rock while his small reel whined, reluctantly gave up line.
Patterson turned the surging fish away from the wall of oysters, slowed the run and brought it to the boat, scooping it deftly with a swipe of his landing net.
“He didn’t commit on the first hit,” Patterson said. “I believe he was tasting it, and when it tasted good, he came back to get it. That’s the beauty of fishing with Gulp!: it tastes good, and they’ll usually come back again as long as you don’t hurt them with the hook.”
His next cast resulted in another hookup, and after a few more fish, Patterson decided the tide had risen enough that he could get on the flat he wanted to fish that was off a large bay behind Bogue Inlet.
“Keep your eyes peeled in here,” he said after throttling down his outboard and dropping his trolling motor. “I’m headed back to that pocket on the far right, but we could run up on a school out here in the middle of the bay. You may see fish or nervous water or muds, but let me know as soon as you see anything.”
After a few minutes, Patterson spotted the muds of a pair of redfish that had been near an oyster rock that was barely covered. They were a little spooked but where headed toward the corner of the bay that Patterson wanted to fish.
While still well out of casting range, Patterson slowed to a bare crawl, fearing that they’d been spooked since he’d fished for them several days earlier. Approaching the pocket, the water became muddier and trails could be seen across it.
“Try not to move around on the boat or make any noise; be ready to cast,” Patterson half-whispered. “The fish are in here, and it looks like they are active and feeding. That’s why the water is so stirred up.”
Seconds later, Patterson spotted a section of nervous water at the far edge of casting range, pointed it out and crept another 20 feet closer to make sure the boat was in casting range. Baits hit the water almost in unison, and a redfish immediately grabbed one and began surging away. Another fish found a second bait, and things got busy in the shallow pocket in a hurry.
Patterson set the Power Pole and grabbed his net, and in a few minutes, a pair of nice mid-slot redfish were led to the boat.
“We’ll stay right here and let this school re-form,” Patterson said. “They moved fast and muddied things up, so I didn’t see many fish, but from the way they acted, I’d guess there were several hundred in that school. If we didn’t spook them too badly, they’ll come back in a few minutes.”
Sure enough, another patch of nervous water appeared within casting range pretty quickly. This time, there was just a single hookup on the initial casts, but another followed about the time Patterson lifted that fish over the side, and the action was still going a dozen fish later.
A second school was holed up in a similar bay about a mile away, with fish that were pickier but still bit.
“I’m glad y’all got to see this today,” Patterson said. “Even in the coldest winters, the shallow flats around Swansboro begin seeing some life and fishy action once the days get a little longer and the sun is shining longer. There have been fish on the beaches, and they have moved back and forth through the inlets a few times, but now with the water warming, they’ll stay inside most of the time.”
Patterson knows Daylight Savings Time, which begins March 8 this year, doesn’t actually make the days any longer, but he believes the extra hour of daylight in the afternoons helps fishermen by giving them enough time to make a quick trip after work. It’s also the time of day when the sun has shone all day and the water is warmest. Patterson said late-winter and spring fish are typically most active in mid- and late afternoons in the warmer water.
“There is something special about late-winter and early spring fishing around Swansboro,” Patterson said. “We are fortunate to have fish all winter during most winters. If the inshore water gets cold, the fish, especially the redfish, move through Bogue, Bear and Browns inlets into the surf and hold there until the water warms again. This can also be extremely good fishing on days it is calm enough to ease into the surf zone and cast at huge schools of redfish.”
Patterson said he enjoys fishing the schools of redfish in the surf, but there isn’t anything better than when the water warms and they move to the flats in the expansive marshes. There are potentially good fishing spots in the marshes and along the spoil islands up Emerald Isle to Archer Point and south of Swansboro to Camp Lejeune. Patterson said the water is typically clear and it isn’t unusual to see schools of redfish that number from a hundred to several hundred and the occasional school larger than a thousand fish isn’t unexpected.
Even better, they’re usually hungry and ready to eat.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — Swansboro is almost midway between Jacksonville and Morehead City on NC 24, which can be reached from I-40 and US 17. Cape Carteret is a few miles east of Swansboro and the intersection of NC 24 and US 58. Public boat ramps are at Cedar Point east of Swansboro on NC 24, at Shell Rock Landing off Queens Creek Road, Willis Landing off Willis Landing Road and Emerald Isle on US 58 in Emerald Isle. See http://ncpaws.org/wrcmapbook/baa.aspx for a complete list and directions.
WHEN TO GO — Red drum inhabit the waters around Swansboro all year, in singles and small pods during the warm months, then in larger schools in the marsh in the fall and in the marsh and nearshore ocean in the winter.
BEST TECHNIQUES — Light- to medium-action spinning tackle is perfect for reds. Rods should be 6 1/2- to 7-foot mated with 3000 class reels. Baitcasting outfits will work for anglers who are proficient with them. Spool reels with 15- to 20-pound braid, but 14- to 20-pound monofilament is also acceptable. Scented soft-plastic baits — the 3-inch Gulp! shrimp is a local favorite — produce plenty of reds in winter and spring rigged weedless on a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce flutter hooks. A piece of cut mullet will attract drum when artificials won’t; fish it on a Carolina rig or split-shot rig with a 2-foot leader of 20-pound fluorocarbon.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Rick Patterson, Cape Crusader Charters, 910-342-1513, www.capecrusadercharters.com; Dudley’s Marina, 252-393-2204, www.dudleysmarina.net; Nancy Lee Fishing Center, 252-354-3474, www.nancyleefishingcharters.com; The Reel Outdoors, 252-354-6692, www.thereeloutdoors.com. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Hampton Inn & Suites, Swansboro, 910-325-9000, www.hamptoninn.hilton.com; Waterway Inn, Cedar Point, 252-393-8027, www.waterwayinn.net; Best Western Plus Silver Creek, Cedar Point, 252-393-9015, www.book.bestwestern.com; Parkerton Inn, Cape Carteret, 252-393-9000, www.parkertoninn.com; Swansboro Chamber of Commerce, 910-326-1174, www.swansborochamber.org.
MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; Sea Lake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots; GMCO’s Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.
