Southeast NC Archives - Page 51 of 117

A heavy casting spoon like a Stingsilver will draw strikes from mackerel, especially Spanish, as long as you can retrieve it at a fast speed.

Heave heavy metal for harder hits

If angler Russ Luhm spots Spanish mackerel schooling at the surface or sees them on his depthfinder as he works a school with deep-diving lures, he’ll fling a Stingsilver or other heavy metal spoon at them. […]

Squid can be trolled on a rig similar to a live-bait king rig to take mackerel.

Speed-rig a squid

Mike Marsh

Any angler who can twist-together a wire live-bait rig for fishing with menhaden can make a rig for trolling squid. […]

Hard-plastic diving plugs like Yo-Zuri’s Crystal Minnow are an alternative to live-baiting or trolling spoons for mackerel.

Shimmer and shine incite shock strikes

Mike Marsh

King mackerel are suckers for hard-plastic lures like Yo-Zuri’s Crystal Minnow, and several big advantages exist for trolling lures instead of live baits. […]

Live-bait rigs with smaller baits are great ways to catch Spanish mackerel on light tackle in the fall outside a handful of inlets along North Carolina’s southeastern coast.

Live-bait Spanish are fall favorites outside SENC inlets

Jerry Dilsaver

It is a bit of an oxymoron along the North Carolina’s southeastern coast, that as fall approaches, the water cools and the fishing heats up. […]

Don’t forget fast-trolling with lures and squid for summer Spanish mackerel.

Speed kings – Keep SE NC mackerel on the run

Mike Marsh

Sure, most anglers who land king mackerel big enough to win tournaments use live menhaden or mullet as bait, but the typical weekend warriors can make fishing more fun by concentrating on efficiency and, who knows, still might catch a citation king or Spanish mackerel. All that is necessary is switching to lures and frozen squid. […]

A triangle of three dark, eye-like spots identifies this flatfish as a Gulf flounder.

Count to three to ID gulf flounder

Mike Marsh

Of the three flounder species that inhabit waters off the North Carolina coast — summer southern and Gulf — the Gulf flounder is the least plentiful. […]

Oyster toadfish: ugly, but a tasty summer reef dweller

Mike Marsh

The oyster toadfish is a common catch for anglers who fish the nearshore ledges and reefs for flounder, gray trout and other species. They will hit spoons and jigs but are more likely to strike live and cut baits. […]

Fishing with David Register, Jamie Renn (right) caught this tarpon, estimated at 100 pounds, in the Cape Fear River.

Tarpon invade Cape Fear for a midsummer run

Jerry Dilsaver

North Carolina’s Cape Fear is unique in several ways, among them, it’s the only place in the Tarheel State where a large river, the Cape Fear, flows directly to the ocean. Second, it features several species that are incidental catches at most other places, including tarpon, which arrive each summer and have a devoted local following. […]

Alex Ng poses with his 63-pound gag grouper.

Brothers bag huge gag groupers out of Morehead City

Jerry Dilsaver

A pair of brothers, Anthony and Alex Ng have been grouper fishing for more than 30 years, but scored their largest gag groupers ever this year. Alex Ng, of Morehead City, scored first on June 12 with a 63 pounder while fishing with his friend Bradley Brown. Several weeks later, he was fishing with his brother, Anthony, when Anthony wrestled a 68 pounder to the boat. […]

Target gray trout and flounder around Cape Fear’s nearshore reefs.

A flat, gray bite

Mike Marsh

Rennie Clark piloted his boat out of North Carolina’s Masonboro Inlet, nosing the bow through the rolling waves. Clouds in the overcast sky threatened rain, but the wind was calmly whispering out of the southwest, which made the seas nearly flat. […]