The Reds of Spring

Moving from the ocean to the Cape Fear River, redfish give Wilmington-area fishermen plenty of opportunities in April.

Capt. Stu Caulder discussed the day’s gameplan with his fishing party while idling through a No Wake zone in the Intracoastal Waterway at Wrightsville Beach.

The target was redfish, and Caulder figured that on a nice, April day, a two-pronged attack might be the ticket. The surf and the marsh might both be productive.

“The water is warming, and the reds are moving inside, but there are still some reds holding in the surf off Lea Island,” said Caulder, who runs Gold Leader Guide Service. “We’ve got cooler conditions this morning, and we’re a little early on the tide, so why don’t we pop out there and play with them for a while? Once the day warms a little, we can come back inside and chase more of them in the marsh.”

After a short ride put them outside, cruising down the front of Lea Island, Caulder said it was time to find reds.

“Keep a lookout on the swells, and you should see some drum swimming along through them,” Caulder said. “They were just up in front of us off that odd dune earlier in the week, but they could be anywhere along here.”

Once the drum were located, Caulder passed out spinning outfits rigged with 3/8ths-ounce jigheads and soft-plastic lures — some 4-inch paddletails, some 5-inch jerkbaits. His instructions were to cast as far to the beach as possible and retrieve the lures at a medium speed, not too fast to prevent occasionally feeling the bottom.

The drum were feeding, and the action opened with a double hookup. The hooked redfish struggled to stay in the slough along the beach, but they tired after a few minutes and allowed themselves to be led outside the sandbar to Caulder’s waiting net for some quick photos and a release back to their school.

“These drum are in here to stay away from porpoises,” Caulder said. “They also feed in this slough, but the porpoises feed on them. While the tide is low, they can’t get across the bar to get to the drum. We’ve only got a little while before the tide rises to where they aren’t as safe and they’ll be moving. Let’s get these lures back out and make the best of it.”

The hot drum bite continued for about an hour, then trickled a bit and went away, and Caulder decided it was time to move back inside and check some pockets in the marsh and river.

Caulder snaked the boat through several small creeks between Figure Eight Island and the ICW to several pockets that held a few drum, but he didn’t find a school. The fishing wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t what he had anticipated.

“Make one more cast, and then we’re making a big move,” Caulder said. “There are some larger pods of drum around, and we’re going to find them. It will be a bit of a ride, but we’re going down to the (Cape Fear) River. The tide should be just about right when we get there, and we’ll finish out the day there.”

Caulder had selected a spot known as “The Rocks,” a long, rock wall that separates the Basin and Second Bay from the river.

“See those places where the water is running through cracks and across the rocks?” Caulder asked, pointed to a gap in the rocks. “The fish know baitfish are swept through them, and they gather around them. We are on the upcurrent side, so I’m going to switch out these heavy jigheads we were using to some lighter setups that will help us fish here.

“Once everything is ready, I’ll use the trolling motor to ease us down the edge, and when we find a concentration of fish, I’ll Power-Pole down so we can fish them for a while,” Caulder said. “We should catch reds, there may be some speckled trout and black drum and you shouldn’t be surprised if we catch a flounder.

The plastics were the same, but the new rigs consisted of a wide-gap worm hook with an eighth-ounce pinch-on weight placed as far back as the bend of the hook would allow. Caulder said the rig would help keep the nose of the bait up so it would move like a minnow trapped in the current without allowing it to fall into the rocks and get hung up.

Caulder instructed his party to cast the lure to the rocks at water level and slowly retrieve it back towards the boat. He said the current would decrease as the lure moved away from the rocks, allowing the lure sink to the bottom at their bases, where trout or any flounder would be hold up.

This action wasn’t as fast as it was in the ocean, but after 15 minutes, several hundred yards down the rock wall, a rod bowed over. The fish surged down the rocks and away from the boat, the little spinning reel whining as it gave up line.

“Oh yeah, that’s what we’re looking for,” Caulder said, dropping his Power-Pole to maintain position. “The way that took off down the rocks, it’s acting like a nice drum. Take your time and work it back here and we’ll see.”

Before Caulder was able to net the first red drum, another reel was singing the happy song, and the fisherman holding it was smiling as he battled another red.

Caulder positioned the boat between two small breaks in the wall and gave instructions to cast beyond the breaks and let the current sweep the baits back to them. Keeping the rod tip up and reeling slowly swam the lures through the holes like minnows caught in the current. The fish were there, and minnows caught in the current were obviously high on their list of preferences for lunch. It was a winning combination.

The action was consistent through the remainder of the rising tide, slowed as the tide slackened and changed, then spiked again for a while after the tide began to fall. Most of the fish were red drum, but there were also a few trout and even a pair of black drum that couldn’t resist the paddletail grubs.

Caulder said as the water warms in the spring, red drum become more active and begin to feed heavily. He feels the action inside the inlets is easier to predict and less likely to be disturbed by a pack of feeding porpoises. However, he knows there are still some schools of red drum feeding along the ocean beaches, and to find one in full on feeding mode can be a fish-every-cast experience. Whatever your preference, there are several options for spring red drum fishing along the Cape Fear Coast and all are good.

DESTINATION INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE — I-40 crosses North Carolina from west to east and ends in WIlmington. US 74, US 76, US 421, US 17 and NC 117 also pass through or end in the Wilmington area. US 74/76 will carry fishermen to Wrightsville Beach, where the primary ramp is on the north side of US 74/76 at the Intracoastal Waterway. For the location of additional ramps, visit the Boating section at http://www.ncwildlife.org/.

WHEN TO GO — Red drum are found in the waters around Wrightsville Beach to some degree all year. More fish may be available in the fall, but with a little bit of scouting, fishermen usually find plenty of hungry spring redfish to keep them busy.

TACKLE/LURES — Medium-light to medium action spinning, baitcasting or 8- to 10-weight fly tackle will readily handle red drum. Spool up with 10- to 15-pound braid, tipped with a 15- to 18-inch section of fluorocarbon leader. Fish a variety of soft-plastic paddletail, shad bodies and shrimp imitations, fished on light jigheads. Plastics can be fished on swimbait hooks with pinch-on weights. Heavier rigs may be needed when fishing off the surf, due to the need for better casting distance.

ACCOMMODATIONS — Cape Fear Convention and Visitors Bureau, 877-406-2356, http://www.wilmingtonandbeaches.com/.

GUIDES/ FISHING INFO — Capt. Stu Caulder, Gold Leader Guide Service, 910-686-9768, http://www.goldleaderfishing.com/; Capt. Rick Bennett, Rod Man Charters, 910-520-7661, http://www.rodmancharters.com/; Tex’s Tackle and Bait, 910-791-1763, http://www.texstackle.com/; Intracoastal Angler, 1-888-Dbl-Haul, http://www.intracoastalangler.com/; Island Tackle and Hardware, 910-458-3049, http://www.islandtacklehardware.com/. See also GUIDES & CHARTERS in Classifieds.

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