Carolina whiting bite is red hot in March

The whiting are biting along Carolina coast

With cold winter days ending anglers are itching to go fishing. A great way to begin the season is hitting a red-hot whiting bite. 

Head to these areas and you’ll be catching a limit in no time.

Pier anglers who fish for whiting in March may find the companionship sparse. While a March whiting run doesn’t draw anglers like an October spot run, whiting can still fill a cooler.

Morehead City

Most folks know Richard Ehrenkaufer as “Dr. Bogus.” He is a multimedia personality focused on fishing in the Emerald Isle area. His Morehead City-based Doctor Bogus radio program has aired for 22 seasons.  

 “It’s tongue-in-cheek because I cover Bogue Banks, Bogue Pier and Bogue Sound,” Ehrenkaufer said. “I fish from the surf and the piers mostly. When Bogue and Oceanna piers open in mid-March, whiting are biting. The best bite is at night, when the lights are on and it’s so much fun to catch them.”

The author shows off a whiting he caught near Bald Head Island.

For boaters, the whiting bite fires up as well. Anglers anchor up, dropping two-hook bottom rigs baited with shrimp or Fish Bites. Another local favorite rig is a Sam’s Gitters, a modified speck rig that has two jigs plus a sinker on a bottom dropper.

“Nearly everybody uses a standard two-hook bottom rig baited with shrimp or Fish Bites,” he said. “But, by tying your own rigs you can spread the hooks apart for better results. Another trick is digging sand fleas in the fall and parboiling and freezing them. They cook up like lobsters or crabs and turn orange. They are also firmer, so they stay on the hook better. Bottom fish like sand fleas that are egg-bearing, which is why the orange color gets their attention. Anglers often use a bright orange bead right above the hook that attracts fish for the same reason. I usually use a No. 2 or No. 4 long shank hook. The long shank makes it easier to remove the hook from the fish.”

At the piers, the best bite begins at the ends where king mackerel anglers take over during summer. The fish gradually move to the surf, then back into the inlets and ICW.

“A great place to catch them is off the jetty near the lighthouse at Barden’s Inlet,” he said. “Outside the inlet on East Shackleford Banks, the Dead Tree Hole is a whiting hotspot. The tree for which the area is named is long gone, but the fish are still there.”

In Beaufort Inlet, the fish bite from Marker 18 all the way inside to the beach and turning basin area at the State Port. The best time to fish there is two hours either side of slack tide.

“The tide can really get ripping in that area,” Ehrenkaufer said. “If you time your trip to coincide with two hours either side of high tide or two hours either side of low tide, you are going to catch some nice fish.”

When the whiting run is in full swing, swinging them over the side of the boat two-at-a-time is a common occurrence.

Southport

Capt. Butch Foster of Yeah Right Charters whips up a batch of whiting near Southport from his 22-foot Riddick Bay Boat. The Cape Fear River mouth holds plenty of fish.

“I usually fish the area from Striking Island to Battery Island and southward to the Bald Head Island entrance channel,” Foster said. “I use my depthfinder to locate the drop-offs such as the mouth of Cape Creek, which falls to about 18 feet. The fish are usually at the bottom of the drop-offs. But, if the fish aren’t biting deep, you should try fishing the shallow side.”

Foster drops two-hook bottom rigs baited with shrimp, Fish Bites or cut pieces of Berkley Gulp lures. He anchors and fishes, moving when the fish stop biting. The slack tide periods and the rising tide are not the best times to fish, so he times his trips for falling tide.

“Sometimes they are harder to find,” he said. “That’s when I start power drifting until I locate a feeding school. The best tide to fish is the falling tide. When the water is going out it helps me cover more territory while I steer the boat with the engine to orient it. That helps spread out the baits across the bottom.”

If the fish aren’t biting in the river, Foster moves to Caswell Beach. He fishes from the point of the river mouth westward along the beach to the Oak Island Lighthouse.

“If you don’t have luck there, you can try the ICW,” he said. “If you see anglers in anchored boats between the river and the N.C. 133 Bridge, you have found the fish.” 

Bloodworms were once the go-to baits for catching whiting on piers. They still are, if you can find them. Most anglers use shrimp and Fish Bites artificial baits.

Murrells Inlet

Lucas Unger grew up at Nags Head, N.C., where he fished for whiting at Outer Banks Pier. He found his dream job when he became the first Pier Master of Springmaid Pier when it reopened in 2020. He said piers have some of the hottest whiting action in South Carolina. 

“When I moved to South Carolina, I heard fishermen talking about ‘bull whiting,’ which are fish 12 inches or longer,” Unger said. “After a winter layoff, those bigger fish start biting in late February. At Springmaid Pier, there were 40 or 50 guys fishing for whiting a couple of days each week, especially Saturdays. Whiting action is also good at Apache, Myrtle Beach State Park and Cherry Grove piers.”

About 3.5 miles south of Murrells Inlet, where Surfside Pier is being rebuilt, Unger fishes just offshore. When he launches his 22-foot Bayliner Trophy center console at Murrells Inlet public boat landing it also opens other options.

“I fish the humps and natural bottoms about 400 yards offshore of Surfside Pier with a high-low rig baited with shrimp or Fish Bites. The small sea robins will steal your bait so you need a lot. The north and south inlet jetties also hold plenty of whiting. The outsides of the jetties provide excellent fishing for anglers in small skiffs and johnboats because they break the force of wind and waves. The best bite happens when the tide is running. Whiting hide in the rocks during the slack water of high and low tides.”

Just south of the south jetty, Unger fishes at Huntington Beach State Park, drifting baits along the flats just offshore. Whiting concentrate in shallow holes.

“Another good spot is located 1.5 miles north of the inlet, where Marlin Quay Marina marks good fishing,” he said. “When you can see the boats in the marina, start fishing 200 to 400 yards off the beach. The bottom is broken and you can find structure with your depthfinder. It’s a great place to catch a cooler full of bulls.”

This whiting is a Gulf kingfish, a common catch in the Carolinas.

Tepid temps jump-start the hot bite

“I have been taking water temperatures since 1995 and they show that the whiting bite from 48 to 86 degrees, which essentially means all year long,” said Richard Ehrenkaufer (aka Dr. Bogus).

The water temperature starts out the year in the low 50s. As the weather warms, so does the water. By late March or April, it’s right in the middle of the active range for whiting at 65 degrees. Ehrenkaufer said this is the “Goldilocks” temperature, which of course means it’s just right.

For more information, visit ncoifc.com, which has temperature information showing preferences of various species of fish or send an email to drbogus@drbogus.com. 

What is a whiting? 

 “Whiting” is only one name for the Carolinas’ three kingfish species. Runs of these fish typically consist of one species but sometimes catches include a number of the other species. Other names for the whiting include sea mullet, Virginia mullet and tiger mullet. The name whiting is a reference to their white meat, which rivals flounder in flavor and texture.

The southern kingfish (Menticirrhus americanus) has a lighter back and sides than the northern kingfish and has brown or bronze markings. The northern kingfish (M. saxatilis) has a darker back and sides, with darker markings that can be almost black and the first spine of the dorsal fin is elongated. The Gulf kingfish (M. littoralis) is silvery gray with no distinct markings.

About Mike Marsh 358 Articles
Mike Marsh is a freelance outdoor writer in Wilmington, N.C. His latest book, Fishing North Carolina, and other titles, are available at www.mikemarshoutdoors.com.

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