Winter on the Cape Fear is an angler’s paradise
Stuart “Stu” Caulder of Gold Leader Guide Service, a native of Wilmington, N.C., fishes the Cape Fear River from above his hometown all the way to the ocean, year-round.
He pays special attention to where bait is holding on various stages of the tide and how runoff from inland rains affects the river’s coloration and clarity. That’s important, especially when the water’s cold and fish are holding tight and moving slowly.
Winter fishing in the lower section of the river holds good opportunities for red drum and fair opportunities for speckled trout, plus, there are black drum, generally below, and striped bass, generally above, the power line that crosses the river near Town Creek.
Caulder said a few generalities that are constant for winter fishing just about anywhere hold true in the Cape Fear. First, give the sun time to get up and warm the water. Fish will begin moving to places they feed as they warm, typically late mornings, around 11. On higher tides, they are typically shallower and around creek mouths, points in the marsh, along grass edges, and redfish will move onto shallow flats that warmed while the tide was lower. As the tide begins to drop, they fall back with it to the first edges of deeper water.
The tide is about 3 hours earlier at Southport than at Wilmington, 24 miles upstream, which gives anglers a lot of opportunities to fish a preferred stage of the tide for several hours just by moving. Also, the tide moves more slowly in the last hour before and first hour after a tide change. Moving water is a key for most fish to feed, and fishing when the tide is moving more slowly allows a slower and more-precise presentation of the bait.
“I try to fish an area with banks that face southeast early in the day,” Caulder said. “These areas catch the first sunlight of the day and warm more quickly. A degree of warmer water temperature in February is significant and can make a big difference in how fish bite.”
Let’s get small
Caulder said many things many turn a winter bite on or off. One thing he keys on is changes in bait size. He said bait and lure size, jighead weight, current, tide stage and even the wind will make differences and can affect the intensity of a bite — and sometimes getting fish to bite at all.
Caulder fishes light, super-braid line with an 18- to 24-inch fluorocarbon leader, and he uses a loop to attach the lure for more natural lure action. When the current and wind are light, he may fish a soft plastic on a bare swimbait hook to get the most action. However, as the current or wind increase, he switches to a weighted swimbait hook or 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jighead to keep the lure from moving too fast.
Caulder said most folks realize stronger current pushes the lure faster, but they don’t always notice that a stronger wind does the same. Current usually moves parallel to the bank, but the wind may be from a direction that pushes the lure out of the strike zone.
“I typically fish regular-size baits until the water drops into the upper 50s, but fish them slower as the water cools,” Caulder said. “However, once the water drops to the lower 50s and into the upper 40s, smaller baits typically bring a stronger reaction from everything but stripers. Drum tolerate the cooler water better than trout and sometimes mix with stripers in the Wilmington area and feed on larger baits. Trout really slow down and hit regular-size baits lightly, if at all. Switching to baits just a little smaller often makes a big difference.”
Caulder downsizes both soft plastics and hard lures. He likes the D.O.A. CAL series of soft plastics and the D.O.A. shrimp, especially the new 2 3/4-inch version, which is small enough that cold, lethargic fish will attack it, while being big enough to be a tempting snack for a fish feeding more actively. It can be fished on its own or under a cork, suspended off the bottom.
“A lot of fishermen like rattling and popping corks to help draw attention to their baits,” Caulder said. “That certainly works, but I like inserting rattles in my soft plastics, especially shrimp, which make a click if they move quickly. D.O.A. makes two sizes of rattles in glass tubes. The larger one is louder and fits their larger baits, but the small one makes a high frequency click and is just right to slip into the tail of their shrimp.”
Hard baits fished slowly
Caulder said hard lures can be very effective. Most of the time, he said, he will be fishing in the winter around a creek mouth, point or oyster rock, retrieving towards a drop in fairly shallow water. He uses two suspending lures, the MirrOdine MR 17 and the Catch 2000 Jr., which fish similarly but have different profiles. Occasionally he uses a MirrOdine MR 14, which is even smaller, an MR 18 sinking lure for deeper water or a MR 27 or Catch 2000 when he feels a larger lure may be a better choice.
“These lures sink a little and then suspend,” he said. “You can cast them to a creek mouth, point, oyster rock or sand bar and let the current push them to and through the strike zone, while you twitch them occasionally.
“If you need them to suspend a little shallower, switch to lighter hooks, and they move up a few inches. To get them to sink slightly deeper, add a SuspenDot or SuspenStrip, which are small stick-on weights, and they sink a few inches deeper.”
Look for current breaks
Finding productive spots to fish just requires a little looking around, according to Caulder, who looks for things that break the flow of the current and create eddies: creek mouths, points, docks, submerged structure, islands, sand bars and oyster rocks. It’s simple to see something disrupting the current enough to create eddies. These eddies have a fast-moving side and a slower-moving side, and fish can suspend in the slower side without expending much energy, while being positioned to quickly dart out into the faster moving water to grab things they think will be tasty.
On a falling tide, creek mouths are the most-obvious places to find bait and hungry fish. The current running out of the creek creates a merging tide line, complete with eddies, just a few feet off the bank. The bait washing out of the creek reaches the larger creek or river and turns downstream with it. A couple of inches away, the water is barely moving, and hungry fish can easily hold while waiting for food to be swept past. This is the same principle, with points, pilings, jetties, bars and anything else that disrupts the current.
“Many fishermen look for big, pronounced points and bars and such, but it doesn’t have to be big,” Caulder said. “It just has to break the current. Many times, that 6-inch or 1-foot spot where the bank sticks out a little is all the fish need, so don’t overlook them. There are many places like this along the banks and around the marsh and spoil islands all the way down the river.
“I like fishing the whole river, but especially around many of the smaller islands below Snow’s Cut,” Caulder said. You just find that eddy, cast into it, twitch it just a little and get ready to set the hook. There may only be one or two fish in a small spot, and then you move to the next one. You can fill a morning, an afternoon or a whole day working these spots.”
Know the Cape Fear’s features
The lower Cape Fear River begins roughly at Wilmington, N.C., and runs more than 20 miles downriver to the ocean between Bald Head Island and Oak Island. The saltwater/brackish line varies according to rainfall, but the legal dividing line between Coastal and Joint/Inland waters is the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and the mouth of the Brunswick River. Most of the creeks upriver from Snow’s Cut are classified as Inland waters. The river and all water accessed from it or Intracoastal Waterway below Snow’s Cut is Coastal waters.
Creel limits and size restrictions are the same for all, but different locations may require different licenses. Inland waters require a freshwater license, and Coastal waters require a saltwater license. Either is accepted in Joint waters.
The Cape Fear begins changing as it passes Wilmington. It widens substantially and the flow slows a bit. However, the river is tidal to Lock and Dam No 1, about 20 miles upriver from Wilmington, and the 4- to 6-foot tide change creates its own current. A unique feature of the river below Wilmington are dredge dump or spoil islands that line the edge of the ship channel.
The wider river has natural islands and bays. Many bays and tributary creeks are shallow, with dark, muddy bottoms exposed to the sun for long periods each day. The shallow, dark bottoms absorb sunlight and warm the water, which helps keep the fish active and feeding. The bays and creeks have many points, oyster rocks and sand bars that give fish places to hide out of the current and save their energy for chasing food.
Tidal currents move bait and push it past points, oyster rocks and sand bars where fish hide out of the current waiting to feed. Bait tends to be pushed past the same spots on the same tidal stage each day and fish know this. Their feeding habits allow them to be patterned unless they are overfished or otherwise spooked from the area.
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — The saltwater section of the Cape Fear River begins at the ocean between Oak Island and Bald Head Island and extends upriver to Wilmington. Main access is from I-40, US 421 and US 17. Popular ramps are at Dram Tree Park next to the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington, the NCWRC ramp at Snow’s Cut on US 421, the NCWRC ramp on Fish Factory Road in Southport, the Federal Point NCWRC ramp on Fort Fisher and Brunswick Riverwalk Park ramp in Belville. The last two are great for kayak launches.
WHEN TO GO — Red drum and speckled trout are found in the Cape Fear River year-round. Stripers join them for the winter and spring and are catch-and-release only. Black drum and flounder are possibilities most of the year; flounder are also catch-and-release only at this time.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — Stu Caulder, Gold Leader Guide Service, 910-264-2674; Tex’s Tackle, Wilmington, 910-791-1763, www.texstackle.com; Island Tackle and Hardware, Carolina Beach, 910-458-3049, www.islandtacklehardware.com; Intracoastal Angler, Wilmington, 910-392-3500, www.intracoastalangler.com; The Tackle Box in Southport, 910-363-4725, www.marineserviceprosinc.com/tackle-shop. See also Guides & Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Best Western Inn, Coastline Convention Center, Wilmington, 800-617-7732, www.coastlineinn.com; Riverside Motel, 910-457-6701, www.riversidemotel.net, Southport; River Hotel, 910-294-6070, www.riverhotelsouthport.com; dockage. For camping, Carolina Beach State Park, 910-458-8206, www.ncparks.gov/carolina-beach-state-park/home; Cape Fear Convention and Visitors Bureau, 877-406-2356, www.cape-fear.nc.us; Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce, 910-457-6964, www.southport-OakIsland.com.
MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com, GMCO Chartbook of North Carolina, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com.
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