Live bait working best on trout, puppy drum in backs of creeks
Capt. Matt Lamb said there are good numbers of speckled trout and red drum in the waters around Morehead City, but they aren’t at the usual community spots.
“There are fish in the area, and some fishermen are catching a lot of them,” Lamb said. “However, the fish aren’t always in the places we usually find them this time of year. Whatever it is, and it may be something related to the odd weather this year, the fish are not in their usual spots, and it takes looking around to find them. The fishermen that put in the time looking are catching fish.”
Lamb, from Chasin’ Tails Outdoors (252-240-3474) said many fishermen coming are finding specks and reds much farther back in the creeks than usual, that the bite at the Cape Lookout rock jetty has not been consistent. Also, the drum that were congregated at Rough Point just outside Beaufort Inlet have moved on.
“One of the keys to catching the trout and drum when you find them has been having live bait,” Lamb said. “Some days they will hit lures, and when they do, the scented lures, like Gulp! usually produce better. Maybe it just has to smell good to convince the fish to bite.”
As far as live bait, Lamb said reds have been showing favoritism to mullet minnows and specks to shrimp, but he’s weighed in a speck of almost 10 pounds that hit a mullet minnow.
“My advice is that if you don’t find trout in your usual favorite spots to continue moving towards the back of the creek or marsh,” Lamb said. “They have been holding way back in the creeks for a couple of weeks.”
