Catch flounder, trout and redfish all on the same trip — thanks to presence of baitfish and gamefish feeding up for the winter.
One October, New Bern’s Fred Slann and Chris Walker of Sea Isle City, N.J., anchored within casting distance of a sand bar near a marsh island along the Crystal Coast.
The rising tide rolled across the bar as speckled trout attacked glass minnows caught in its backside eddy. Nearly every cast that Slann and Walker made drew a vicious strike, and in two hours, they and a third fisherman caught and released more than 100 specks on soft-plastic baits.
Then the tide went slack, and the bite shut down like a light switch turned off.
The experience taught the fishermen a valuable lesson — the notion that October was a top time for inshore fishing along the North Carolina coast was true. And it’s not only a period for speckled trout to chow down as they prepare for the coming winter, but the appetites of red drum and flounder also rival that of politicians hungry for cash donations.
Guide Rick Patterson, a 42-year-old resident of Cape Carteret, is always happy when the month of the “Hunting Moon” arrives, because he knows plenty of fishermen will reserve time aboard his 21-foot bay boat to target those three species.
“I think October through about the middle of November is the best time to be here,” said Patterson, who owns Cape Crusader Charters (252-342-1513). “It’s when you have a good chance for a slam (flounder, red drum and speckled trout on the same trip), king and Spanish mackerel, false albacore and bull reds also are off the beaches.”
What factors make October so special from a fishing standpoint?
“Well, the water is really starting to cool down — into the low 60s or even high 50s — and fish start feeding up for the winter,” Patterson said. “Most of all, the baitfish get concentrated. They start moving out of the backwaters, the shallow marshes and bays and head for the ocean. That concentrates them around inlets that lead to the ocean and along the shorelines.
“And that means gamefish such as specks, red drum and trout follow them. So the fall of the year also concentrates gamefish, and all you need in your tackle box are lures that look like finger mullet or shrimp — or the real deal in your bait well. And you’ll have a good chance to catch either a red, speck or flounder.”
Although he lives at Cape Carteret and the said fishing is good in the neighboring White Oak River, Patterson prefers fishing the Newport River, the Adams Creek canal and the southern shoreline of the lower Neuse River.
He particularly is fond of the Adams Creek canal north of Morehead City and Beaufort — the lower section of the canal is called Core Creek by locals). It’s a 12-mile, man-made, north-to-south ditch that’s part of the Intracoastal Waterway and connects the southern part of the Pamlico Sound to the Beaufort/Morehead City/Atlantic Beach area by way of the Newport River. The canal is home to red drum and magnum-sized specks most of the year, along with some flounder, but especially in October.
“I think what happens is, specks and reds follow salinity and current in the fall toward the ocean,” Patterson said. “They move (east) along the shoreline (of the lower Pamlico), then they sense the increased salinity of the incoming tide from the Newport River. So they follow that salinity south, and that’s when they get in the creek in big numbers. I don’t know if they can even feel the tide or salinity from Drum and Ocracoke (inlets) because they’re so far away.”
Flounder also begin to leave the marshes and other shallow areas and head toward Beaufort and Bogue inlets into the Atlantic Ocean. As they move, they stop, rest and feed around docks and other structures where baitfish hide.
“A good time to fish is after the first mullet blow,” Patterson said. “That’s when fall fishing really begins, because it puts everything on the move.”
A mullet blow can occur at any time in the fall, but in recent years, the first hard northeast wind accompanied by cloudy weather that cools the water usually happens in October.
All inside fish — particularly flounder, reds and specks — get ready to feast as silver mullet and striped mullet begin their migration toward the inlets, and then south down the beaches.
“In Core Creek, the trout hold on the ledges (of the channel) where the water depth drops off,” Patterson said. “Red drum will be around stumps and fallen trees in shallower water.”
Patterson sets up clients with 7-foot spinning outfits and terminal tackle that includes a popping cork with a monofilament leader and a circle hook.
“I really like to use live shrimp with popping corks,” he said. “Shrimp really draw strikes from reds and specks. The only problem is the pinfish. Once they find out you’re using live shrimp, you’ll go through a lot of them.”
If pinfish are too active, he tosses a popping-cork rig with a Gulp! shrimp in brown/chartreuse tail. Sometimes, he’ll use a 3-inch Z-Man paddletail grub under the cork, and he’ll sometimes fish the same soft-plastic bait on a jighead.
When fishing a cork-rig, he’ll cast at a shoreline target, then snap his wrists to make the cork “pop,” which imitates an alarmed shrimp trying to escape a gamefish.
“I use a bobber stopper with the popping-cork rig and usually set the stopper at five feet,” he said. “I like a No. 1 or No. 2 circle hook. They’re kind of small, but that size keeps the shrimp alive longer.”
Patterson also crimps either a 1/4- or 1/2-ounce split shot a foot above the circle hooks on his popping-cork rigs.
“It keeps the shrimp down in the strike zone,” he said. “I use a 1/2-ounce split shot when the current’s running stronger.”
He employs 15- to 20-pound braided line as his main backing on Penn 2000 or 3000 Battle spinning reels mated to 7-foot medium-action rods.
“These rods are perfect for specks and most of the reds,” he said. “Every once in a while, we’ll hook a bull red that’ll take everything we got. We rarely can hold ’em.”
Patterson’s normal way of fishing Adams Creek Canal is to drift with the tide, using his trolling motor to stay around 40 to 50 feet from the shoreline. He tries to cast his shrimp or artificial lure five feet from the bank. He mostly allows live shrimp to float with the tide and the boat as he casts from the bow at an angle toward the shoreline.
“I’ll also pop the cork some with live shrimp,” he said. “That gets their attention.”
His favorite targets are trees that have fallen into the water. The shoreline, because of natural erosion and large boat wakes, has many downed, half-submerged trees as well as huge cypress stumps. Those spots hold baitfish that attract red drum, flounder and seatrout.
When Patterson hooks up with a redfish at such a place, he’ll drop anchor and fish the spot for a while.
“Roland Martin (a pro bass angler and TV show host) came to shoot a segment for his television show and filmed for three days off just one tree,” Patterson said.
That same year, Patterson figures he and his father caught and released 1,000 red drum in the creek.
“Sometimes the blowdowns hold redfish, and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “What I find a lot of the time is that places you wouldn’t expect to find fish will hold them.”
For flounder, he likes to fish the southern shoreline of the lower Neuse.
“I like to cast more parallel to the shore then,” he said. “Flounder like to hang tight along the bank, I think, because that’s where finger mullet and mud minnow schools cruise.”
To fish the lower Neuse, he uses the same popping cork with a live shrimp or soft-plastic grub.
“I also sometimes use a Carolina rig, but the pinfish are really thick, so finger mullet work better than shrimp if you want to use live bait,” he said.
On calm, early mornings, he may throw TopDog or TopPup lures to take advantage of the red drum topwater bite. Specks will hit MirrOlures in 52M, MR 17 or MR 18 models.
“You’ll catch red drum with the same live-bait rigs you use for flounder,” Patterson said. “Bass Assassin swim-tail grubs also will catch flounder, and sometimes you’ll get a drum bite.”
The best place to try for a doormat flounder is the wall next to the state port inside Beaufort Inlet, but Patterson said he usually avoids that area because it’s heavily fished. The strong current flowing through the bottleneck below the Newport River Bridge also reduces fishing time.
“If a person wants to really experience the best this region can offer — red drum, speckled trout and flounder — it’s hard to beat October,” Patterson said.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE/WHEN TO GO — US 70 and US 17 are the easiest routes to take to the Crystal Coast area. US 70 crosses North Carolina from west to east, while US 17 runs north-south through New Bern, where it crosses US 70. NC 24 is the best way to Swansboro and Morehead City from the south. October through mid-November are peak fishing times.
LURES/TECHNIQUES — Popping cork rigs with No. 1 or No. 2 circle hooks and a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce split shot a foot or so above the hook. Use live shrimp hooked behind the horn, finger mullet hooked underneath the jaw with hook point coming out between nostrils or soft-plastic grubs such as 3-inch Z-Man paddletails or 3- and 4-inch Gulp! shrimp. Seven-foot, medium-action spinning rods will work with reels spooled with 20-pound braided line.
GUIDES/FISHING INFO — Rick Patterson (Cape Crusader Charters, 252-342-1513, www.capecrusadercharters.com; Ron McPherson, Highlander Charters, 252-723-8616, www.highlandercharters.com; Noah Lynk, Noah’s Ark Fishing Charters, 252-342-6911, www.noahsarkfishingcharters.com; Dudley’s Marina, Swansboro, 252-393-2204; Capt. Joe’s Bait & Tackle, Atlantic Beach, 252-222-0670; Chasin’ Tails Outdoors, Atlantic Beach, 252-240-3474. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Crystal Coast-Southern Outer Banks, North Carolina Tourist, Visitor and Convention Center, Morehead City, 800-786-6962 or www.sunnync.com.
MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; Sea Lake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185; www.sealakeusa.com; Grease Chart, 800-326-3567, www.greasechart.com. For a free NCDOT highway/shoreline map, 919-733-2522 or www.NCwaterways.com.
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