N.C. Fishing Report

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on July 30, 2006 2:17 AM

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Northern District: Dare, Hyde, Currituck, & Beaufort Counties

Charterboats: (Offshore) Fishing offshore continues to be good with catches of yellowfin tuna, dolphin, and very large bigeye tuna. Billfish catches have been good with white marlin, sailfish, and blue marlin. Wahoo and king mackerel have also been caught.

(Midrange) Midrange success has been fair to good with blueline tilefish, black seabass, tautog, triggerfish, and grouper being most prevalent.

(Inshore) Inshore activity has been slow with the exception of activity noted on private boat report.

Headboats: Fishing has been fair, with a mixed bag, including pigfish, croaker, sea trout, kingfish(sea mullet), bluefish, skate, shark, and a few nice flounder.

Private Boats: Catches similar to that of charter boats with the exception of inshore activity. Inshore activity has improved very much this past week with nice specimens of spotted seatrout being caught at Oregon Inlet. Flounder, bluefish, spanish mackerel, croaker, and spot have been caught in increasing amounts. Very large specimens of sheepshead and black drum are being caught near the bridge structure.

Piers: Fishing has been more consistent than previously with nice catches of bluefish and Spanish mackerel being caught. Sea trout, croaker, spot, dogfish shark, skate, and a host of others have also been caught.

Shore: Fishing has been slow to fair with the exception of nice specimens of pompano being caught with using molecrabs (sand fleas) in the nearby surf-zone. Bluefish have been caught by anglers casting spoons. Red drum have been caught in moderate amounts from Buxton southward.

General Overview: Warm water temperatures and favorable weather conditions have allowed anglers to get in a lot of fishing. Weather patterns for the upcoming week are favorable.

Central District: Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, & Onslow Counties

Headboats: Half-day trips are catching a ton of black sea bass. Full-day trips are catching snapper, grouper, grunts and porgies.

CharterBoats: Billfishing is hot. Every boat that fished, reported released white marlin, blue marlin and sailfish. The Frequent Flyer released 12 billfish after fishing 2 days in a tournament. Fishing for eating has been rather slim although a 57.5 pound dolphin was caught. Nice sized wahoo are still being caught, but no tuna.

Private Boats: Red Drum were reported in the Haystacks, and many undersized red drum were reported around Oriental and Belhaven. Fishers are out around Hobucken looking for tarpon. I saw a nice one-pound spotted seatout caught by the old Atlantic Beach Bridge. There are good reports of sheepshead caught around the State Port -- a group of 4 anglers had caught 72 after fishing 3 days there. Buoy 14 and the 90' Drop are still covered up with kings and dolphin. There are good catches of flounder around Beaufort Inlet.

Piers/Shore: A 3.5 pound flounder was one of many caught off the Sportsman Pier. We also are seeing many kingfish and small blues and tiny croakers.

Southern District: Pender, New Hanover, & Brunswick Counties

CharterBoats: Full-day trips are catching a little of everything. Grouper, king mackerel, dolphin, amberjack, african pompano, and more. Half-day trips are producing Spanish mackerel, and inshore charters are doing well on the flounder, spadefish, and sheepshead.

Private Boats: Offshore, in the 10 to 20 mile range, there are good catches of dolphin and king mackerel. There is also an increasing number of sailfish being reported in this area as well. Grouper fishing remains good in the 30 to 45 mile range. Inshore, fishing has improved the most. There are some big red drum being caught around the Little River rock jetty, spotted sea trout around Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle, Oak Island, and Southport area. Flounder fishing has improved over the last couple of weeks as well. The Cape Fear River and near-shore reefs are producing some nice catches of fish. There are good numbers of spadefish on these near-shore reefs as well. Sheepshead fishing is good right now -- good places to try would be jetties at Wrightsville beach, Snow's Cut, and ADM dock.

Piers: Oak Island piers report speckled sea trout, sheepshead, and some keeper flounder. There were a good many king mackerel reported as well. Pender and New Hanover counties reported flounder, sheepshead, and a few trout. There was a 43-pound king mackerel landed on one of the Topsail piers.

Shore: Summer time fishing. Pompano, sea mullets, and some drum are being reported.