Summer Cape Fear Flounder

Anyone who has fished for flounder along North Carolina’s coast in May and June knows they are two of the best months to find flatfish in inshore waters.

However, air and water temperatures usually climb during the summer, making these prized fish more difficult to find in bays, marsh creeks and brackish-water rivers. Flounder-fishing success is basically restricted to tide changes around inlets or deep holes with cooler water.

Happily, an answer to the problem exists in 30 to 40 feet of water around nearshore artificial reefs, wrecks and ledges in the Atlantic Ocean. The water is cooler, and bottom structure attracts baitfish that flounders love to eat.

Kevin Sneed of Holden Beach, N.C., who has been guiding saltwater anglers for a decade, knows where to find doormats in deeper water. The owner of Rigged & Ready Charters explained that flounder don’t move into the ocean following bait.

Finger mullet 4 to 6 inches long are favorite live baits for reef flounder anglers, but doormats will hit pinfish, little spots, croakers and mud minnows.

“I asked a biologist why flounders go to the ocean (in summer), and he gave me a sensible explanation,” Sneed said. “When water temperatures get so hot — into the 80s and even 90s — bacteria grows rapidly and overtakes oxygen in the water. Flounder just move to deeper, cooler water.”

Conversely, Sneed said flounder come from the ocean to inside waters in April, May and June when water temperatures are more to their liking, to rid their bodies of tiny skin lice.

“A fishing friend once taught me how to troll for flounder up the Shallotte River in early spring,” he said. “I couldn’t believe we’d catch anything, but we did. He said flounder came into brackish water to get little mites off them that get on them in the ocean. When you caught a flounder, you could see ’em; you could scrape ’em off their skin.”
But when temperatures rise in July and August, flatfish retreat to the ocean because the water is cooler and baitfish also are plentiful around structure.

“All the artificial reefs hold flounder,” Sneed said. “In a half-day, it’s not hard to land a limit (four 15-inch fish), if you find structure.

“Generally, ocean fish are bigger than flounder you catch inside,” said Sneed, whose heftiest reef flounder weighed 7 pounds.

Favorite spots include the Yaupon (AR-425), Tom Mcglammery (AR-420) and Jim Knight (AR-430) reefs, which are off Oak Island in 30 to 35 feet of water. The Brunswick County Fishing Club Reef (AR-440), a little farther offshore, has an average depth of 42 feet.

“Two ways to fish artificial reefs and bottom structure for flounder (are): use a trolling motor on a bay boat to troll around, mark structure, then fish it; or anchor a big boat over good structure and fan-cast live baits on Carolina rigs,” Sneed said. “I’d rather jig a 1½- to 2-ounce white Gulp! shrimp. When a flounder hits that rig, you know it’s a good fish most of the time; you don’t have to wait for him to eat a bait.”

Ocean flounder may weigh up to 7 pounds and generally are larger than inside fish during summer’s hottest days.

Sneed’s flounder tackle around reefs is a spinning outfit with a 4000 series reel loaded with 30- to 40-pound braid and 12 to 18 inches of 30-pound fluorocarbon for a leader. A 1- to 1½-ounce egg sinker slides on above a swivel tied to the leader, with a 1/0 to 3/0 wide-bend or Kahle hook on the business end, depending on the size of the baitfish used.

“I mostly use finger mullet or (small menhaden),” Sneed said, “but flounder eat pinfish, little spots, croakers and even mud minnows. If you put a live bait in front of a flounder, he’s not picky; he’ll eat it.”

Sneed uses a cast net to catch finger mullet — “at least a hundred or maybe more” — before heading to a reef.

“You’re gonna lose some rigs, and you can use up a lot of baitfish,” said Sneed who teaches clients a familiar hookset for live-bait flounder fishing.

“They’ve got to wait with live bait,” he said. “When you first feel a bite, wait 15 to 30 seconds to let him eat it, then set the hook. If a flounder starts to move, he won’t go far, maybe 4 or 5 feet, before he settles back down. Just put your reel in free spool if he moves and let him eat (the baitfish). He should have it in his mouth long enough then to hook him.”

Sneed believes moon phases affect the ocean flounder bite.

“It can be really good during the first full moon in July,” he said. “All the artificial reefs hold flounder that time of the year.”

Sneed can get to the reefs out of Lockwood Folly Inlet in just minutes; they’re also easily accessed from the mouth of the Cape Fear River. The Yaupon Reef is about a mile offshore from Oak Island Pier. The McGlammery Reef is 4.6 nautical miles from the Oak Island lighthouse, the Jim Knight Reef is 6.7 miles from the lighthouse, and the Brunswick County Fishing Club Reef is 4.1 nautical miles from the sea buoy in Lockwood Folly Inlet.

Artificial reefs no longer feature buoys

To illustrate the DMF’s Artificial Reef Guide, AR-425, the Yaupon Reef, shows types of bottom debris, where it’s located and GPS coordinates for the reef.

The yellow buoys are no more.

In the early 1970s, North Carolina established an artificial reef program to enhance sport and commercial fishing and boost the state’s economy.

Early reefs were funded privately. Morehead City’s Fabulous Fishing Club created the state’s first nearshore artificial reef in 1964, two miles off Atlantic Beach. It later became AR-315.

For years, anglers with seaworthy boats and a rough idea of which magnetic heading to take found yellow buoys marking reefs that were teeming with king and Spanish mackerels, flounders, sea bass, red drum, sharks and many other species.

However, with the creation of GPS devices to aid navigation, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries began to remove buoys from artificial reefs because it no longer had equipment capable of servicing them, and contracting for the service would be cost-prohibitive.

A series of storms and hurricanes had moved or broken loose plenty of buoys, and by November 2016, all buoys marking 43 artificial reefs in the ocean had been removed.

With GPS coordinates and accurate mapping software available, artificial reefs are much easier to find. The NCDMF continues to maintain reefs, periodically adding material. NCDMF also publishes print and online versions of its Artificial Reef Guide. The guide (portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/recreational fishing contains GPS coordinates for all artificial reefs, information about reef sizes and materials and exact locations of reef structures.

Destination Information

HOW TO GET THERE — Kevin Sneed’s homebase of Holden Beach, N.C., is easily accessed east and west from US 17 via NC 130, and from the central part of the state via NC 87, NC 701, NC 211 and NC 130. US 74/76 is prime access from the Charlotte area to NC 130.

WHEN TO GO — June through August.

BEST TECHNIQUES — Around nearshore reefs and wrecks, fish 4- to 6-inch finger mullet on Carolina rigs or jig a 1- to 11/2-ounce bucktail. Any small panfish or baitfish — pinfish, spot, croaker or mud minnows — will work. Use 7-foot spinning rods with flexible tips and 4000 class reels spooled with 30- to 40-pound braid, with a 30-pound fluorocarbon leader from 12 to 18 inches long. Hooks should be 1/0 to 3/0 wide-gap or Kahle-style, depending on the size of the baitfish. It will take a 1- to 11/2-ounce weight to get baits down to the reefs.

FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Kevin Sneed, Rigged & Ready Charters, Holden Beach, N.C., 910-448-3474, www.holdenbeachcharter.com. See also Guides & Charters in Classifieds.

ACCOMMODATIONS — Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce, 800-426-6644, www.brunswickcountychamber.org.

MAPS — Sealake Fishing Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 800-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com. The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Artificial Reef Guide is available in print or at www.portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/recreationalfishing.

 

About Craig Holt 1382 Articles
Craig Holt of Snow Camp has been an outdoor writer for almost 40 years, working for several newspapers, then serving as managing editor for North Carolina Sportsman and South Carolina Sportsman before becoming a full-time free-lancer in 2009.