Redfish action warming up in lower Brunswick County marshes

Puppy drum are still in schools, hitting best on low end of tide

Capt. Mark Stacy of Ocean Isle Fishing Charters in Ocean Isle said redfish in his area have been biting pretty regularly and trout fishing is beginning to improve as the weather begins to moderate.

“The reds have been very reliable,” Stacy said. “They might move a little, but from about mid-tide down to low and for a couple of hours on the rising tide, they have been in one of several places almost every day. I’ve always heard that drum segregate in schools according to size, but these are mixed. I’m catching fish from underslot to barely overslot.”

Stacy said he’s been keeping up with several schools of redfish in the marshes between Ocean isle, Sunset Beach and the ICW that have been biting all winter; they’re starting to roam a little bit, and he thinks it won’t be long before they begin to break up and spread out.

Reds had been gathering in pools in the marsh that remain at low tide. Stacy (910-279-0119) said if you approach them slowly and don’t spook them, they won’t spook while you’re fishing. He’s been catching them on mud minnows on light jigheads and 3 ¼-inch Vudu Shrimp Once you find them, he said, it’s simply a matter of casting the shrimp in and twitching it lightly a couple of times.

“Trout have been a little pickier, but they have started feeding more aggressively in the past week or two,” Stacy said. “They will pick a Vudu Shrimp up off the bottom, but prefer their mud minnows suspended under a float. Whichever you use for trout, be subtle. Don’t twitch it hard or move it very far.”

Stacy said trout have been holding in deeper water, but they sometimes move to the shallows to feed.

“The water has been in the low- to mid-50s for a while, but it has already risen a couple of degrees this week,” Stacy said. “It seems like for every degree the water warms, the fish bite a little better. I don’t know if it will make it, but I hope (it) reaches 60 this weekend. When it does and stays there a few days, our fishing will move to a new level.”