Although the weather is more benign during spring, summer and fall, February offers the best chances to catch ‘gator specks at North Carolina’s Crystal Coast (Morehead City-Atlantic Beach-Cape Lookout) area, said guide David Dietzler of Cape Lookout Charters (252-240-2850, www.capelookoutcharters.com, ddietzler@ec.rr.com).
“We were fishing last night (Jan. 30) for speckled trout,” he said. “This is the time you have a chance to catch the biggest (spotted seatrout) at Carteret County.”
Dietzler noted speck sizes may vary from 4 to 8 pounds during January and February.
“A buddy of mine caught two 10-pounders in the last three weeks,” he said.
Dietzler said he positions his boat just outside the pool of illumination cast on the water by lights, primarily near bridges or docks. Then he casts toward those lighted structures.
“(This water) is easy to access, and you don’t have to worry much about the weather,” he said.
Although some anglers cast lures and baits from the shoreline, this type of inshore fishing most often is done from boats. Another good bridge — mostly used by boaters –is the Causeway that connects Atlantic Beach to Morehead City. The U.S. 70 bridge that joins Morehead City and Beaufort also offers some shoreline angling, but especially at Atlantic Beach, hundreds of lighted docks offer speck retreats and angler treats.
Best times to fish inshore structure are the first and last two hours of rising tides.
“But that (bite) can change,” Dietzler said. “(Trout) might bite one day or several days in a row during rising tides, then everything may change the next day.”
“We just look for birds pecking the water,” Dietzler said.
The birds feed on bait being chopped up by the specks. The fish are feeding on small mud minnows, and there’s a dearth of other baitfish species because they moved offshore during October and November.
“You put a tiny split shot on your line to get it down, cast (the mud minnow) and let it drift with the tide,” he said.
In fact, mud minnows are the only live baits to be found this time of year. Dietzler, as do most guides, prefers to fish with artificial lures.
“We mainly use 3-inch Fin-S lures (that mimic mud minnows) on a single hook with one split shot,” he said. “You work (lures) really slow; you cast, let a lure suspend, then let the tide take it to the back of the boat.”
“Specks also may be in the surf, but we only fish when there’s a west wind because it knocks down the surf,” Dietzler said. “We go to East Beach and fish the sloughs (north) toward Drum Inlet.”
Hard-bait preferences include MirrOlures and red-and-white bucktails.
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