Greetings from the Cape Fear Coast:
Fishing over the past few weeks has been pretty good. Over twenty Striped Bass caught and several other species as well. Last week I was fishing with longtime fishing friend Capt. Travis Dant and we landed 8 nice fish, two were over 30". Although I did manage to knock Travis' off at the boat with his "small" landing net. I say it was small he said it was fine. Anyway we had a good day throwing an assortment of plugs and grubs. We did get a picture of this nice 25" fish.
Sunday Allen and I got a late start and landed one fish over 20"and I lost a fish of course it was a nice fish. It hit the Crankbait I was throwing and immediately began pulling drag. I did not give it the bassmaster hook set and and as it went by the boat the hooks pulled. That has happened a couple time in my Striped Bass career and I can only assume they were nice ones, right. Then I saw the water moving along the bank. Something was hitting the surface and I threw a topwater and nothing. I picked the crankbait back up and bam a 23" gar slammed the plug. They always seem to get it in the side, but I am counting it as a catch.
I went today for a couple of hours solo. I pushed up on this ledge and marked what I thought was bait on the sounder. I threw a couple of baits and had not a hit. So I drifted back over the spot and continued to show some nice bait marks. I scrambled to get my cast net and threw several times with nothing. The next three casts got a 5" flounder, a 3" catfish and a 4" spot. The spot went into the bait tank for later use. I talked to a guy Sunday fishing bait and he had 14 Stripers and one was over 30#. I rolled up river a bit to soak the spot. I put it on a float rig and shortly a nice blue catfish was coming to the boat.
I was done with live bait and went back to casting and trolling. After what seemed like a hundred casts I managed this nice Striped Bass and had to call it a day.
Speckled trout are still being caught in the river and out in the sound from Carolina Beach to Topsail. Most are throwing grubs and live shrimp. Reports of Red Drum are good in the sound around Wrightsville Beach and in the surf from Topsail to Masonboro. Riding the beach at low tide when the water clears up can be a good way to find fish. Fish the sloughs from the beach at high tide with fresh shrimp has been the ticket for reds and blacks. I have been focused on the Striped Bass so I am relaying this as second hand info from reliable sources.
Still booking trips for Striped Bass in the Cape Fear.
Keep Chasing Trophies,
Capt. Danny Wrenn
96 Charter Company
910.619.2224
