Wrightsville Beach area anglers catching lots of speckled trout

Surf, Cape Fear River, ICW all producing nice-sized trout

Tex Grissom at Tex’s Tackle and Bait in Wilmington said this time of year, fishing for speckled trout is really good around Wrightsville Beach. Typically, fishermen catch a lot of specks pushing 5 pounds or better in late fall.

“Anglers catch a lot of nice fish around here this time of year,” said Grissom (910-791-1763), who said fishing has been good around inlets, in the Cape Fear River and in the surf. He weighs in lots of citation fish during a typical fall season. These routinely include fish that weigh up to — and sometimes even heavier than — 7 pounds.

According to Grissom, trout haven’t been picky at all, hitting live bait, cut shrimp, crankbaits and soft-plastic baits, especially Vudu and LIVETARGET shrimp. Some fishermen are reporting that trout are still active enough to hit topwaters.

“Red drum are biting really well, too,” Grissom said. “Our red drum action is really good this time of year. And I believe it might be as good as I have seen it in a while. Red drum are really widespread right now. They are everywhere there are specks. Plus, they are also in the shallows well back in the creeks off the Intracoastal Waterway and the Cape Fear River. They have been jumping on any of the baits trout are eating, plus spinnerbaits, grubs with paddletails or curyltails and chunks of cut bait.”