Getting ready for the Fall Bite

Greetngs from the Cape Fear Coast,

It has been a while. Well, just have not been out much lately. Surfing has taken over with a few passing Hurricanes and some nice waves. There has been a significant increase in the amount of bait on the beach (glass minnows and mullet). The pogies have not been as prevalent where I have been but the mullet are really starting to run. There are small finger mullet up to big popeye mullet cruising the beachs in some very large schools. I have seen large spanish and schooley kings skying in the surf zone on these baits and even had a few blacktips skying through these schools in the surf zone ( I try not to think about this while sitting in the line up).

The ICW from Wrightsville to Carolina Beach is also loaded with bait right now and the drum and flounder fishing has been good as reported to me by a few friends. I have not spent much time out there lately. I have spent most of my fishing time in the Cape Fear River. This place is loaded with bait. Tons and tons of pogies and some very large schools of finger mullet are cruising everywhere. With all that bait the top predators are really starting to fire up as Fall has arrived. The topwater trout bite has been great over the past few weeks and floating some DOA and BillyBay shrimp has been getting them as well. Floating and dragging some bait has produced the majority of drum and even the occasional striper.

The flounder bite has also been good in Carolina Beach and the Cape Fear River. The last two weeks there have been a few tourneys and some nice 10+ lb flounder have been brought the scales. There have been lots of small flounder which is mostly what I have caught. It is hard to get psyched about flatties when the topwater bite is cranking. But if flounder fishing is your thing there are some nice fish to be had right now.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more post (more regularly).
Call and Book your Fall and Winter fishing now and Save $50 on all two person half day trips.

Capt. Danny Wrenn
96Charter Co.
Wilmington, N.C.
910-619-2224

mahi and kings

Greetings from the Cape Fear Coast

Wrightsville Beach nearshore fishing has been solid over the last couple of weeks. Kings and Mahi have been mixed togther from 7-18 miles out. Then a two good days of rain mucked the water and the Mahi seemed to have disappeared. The Kings have stuck it out in the same areas but the live bait bite slowed a bit. Before the rains came Capt. Travis Dant (Flatout Flying) and Max Gaspeny (Fishermans Post Editor) and myself got out Wednesday and has a decent day with 3 Mahi (one spit the hooks) and 4 Kings (one lost at the gaff) and a nice Cobia. We had several strikes on the downrigger that went straight through #4 wire.

Wrightsville beach inshore has also been good trolling for Spanish and lots of small blues keep the clarkspoons and diamond jigs busy. There have been some nice schools of Menhaden and finger mullet inshore so bait is not a problem. There are also some nice schools of popeye mullet inshore crusing the banks near deep water if you like them offshore. The drum and flounder are hitting jigs and livebait around area docks and other inshore structure. I have seen some nice catches of Sheepheads from Wrightsville beach to Southport in the last couple of days. The guys who have this fishery dialed in are doing well. If you want to give this a try you had better step the gear. Imagine catching and 9# bream on steriods. Most people are using mud crabs and fiddler crabs.

The Cape Fear River is producing some nice Speckled Trout, Red Drum and Flounder. Topwater and subsurface plugs are working on the trout and swimbaits and jigs for the flounder and drum that are laying in shallow water. There are tons of small shrimp and mullet in the river flats and the menhaden are everywhere.

Keep Chasing Trophies,

Capt. Danny Wrenn

96Charter Company

910.619.2224

Summers here Early

Greetings from the Cape Fear Coast,

April and May I took sometime off from fishing to finish up my Ultimate coaching duties which included a trip to Columbus, Ohio where the team finished 11th in the College Championships. I put the boat in the shop during this down time and got some forward storage boxes built by Seamark Boat Co. for the new Motorguide 75# thrust remote trolling motor. I also added a 5wt Orvis SLT to the arsenal and was terrorizing many bass and bream in some local ponds and creeks.

The bonito run has passed and they pretty much pass by Wrightsville Beach again this and were caught well off of Sneads Ferry and Topsail Island. A nice run of large Spanish did hit Wrightsville Beach this year and there are still some nice schools from Carolina Beach to Topsail.

I hit the Cape Fear River and played with some Gars one day and the steering control box died on the MotorGuide. Third trip out and I was dead in the water. Got it fixed at Coastline Service Center in Goldboro. Hooked a few stripers on topwater and had random blowups but no hookups fun fishing the river.

Wrightsville Beach Report: there are many large schools of menhaden (pogies) running the beach right now and the Masonboro sound area has some the best schools of pogies I have seen, especially this early in the season, in a while. Last week Allen and I hit the last nights of the full moon and caught several sharpnose sharks and skates. We also got one 4' blacktip already. Went off the beach Sunday the 14th and got into the Kings and Mahi pretty well. I had a trip some guys from Sanford and we landed 4 Mahi and 2 nice Kings. We were pulling some live pogies. We saw three other boats with Kings and Mahi as well. There have even been some report of Sailfish out at the 23mile Rock area and one was landed at the Schoolhouse (AR386) last week.

Keep Chasing Trophies,

Capt Danny Wrenn

96Charter Company

Wilmington, N.C.

910.619.2224

Get Ready

Greetings from the Cape Fear Coast,

It's been a while since my last post. Sick child, sick wife and sick me, my coaching gig and making my first surfboard have all kept me off the water for a while. Allen and I did manage to get out on the river one Saturday (blowing 20kts SW) and score one Striper and One Largemouth. Fishing is definitely on the upswing. Allen and I made a late night run Sunday night and managed to catch a Seabass and croacker. Over the last few weeks the drum bite has improved at Wrightsville Beach and some Bluefish have been caught off the pier as well as some Virginia mullet. A friend of mine landed some nice blackdrum @ CB inlet over Easter and i have heard of some trout being caught in the lower Cape Fear.

A little bird told me there were some shad up at Lock and Dam#1. There have also been some nice catfish caught downtown and if the Shad are at L&D#1 then there should be some cats up that way as well.

Offshore: There have been reports of Bonito and False Albacore out around Schoolhouse and WR4 and I feel sure the Seabass are still there as well.

Its all about to go wild here in the Cape Fear Region so stay tuned and I will keep you more up to date in the Future.

Booking Trips for Spring Fishing and Gator Watching now.

Keep Chasing Trophies,
Capt. Danny Wrenn

96 Charter Company

Wilmington, N.C.

910.619.2224

P.S. First surfboard built by you know who. A 6'6" spoon that was salvaged out of a 9'6" Wind an Sea.

Wrightsville Beach Fishing Report

2/23/09

Fish are still biting well in the Cape Fear Region. Good reports of solid Red and Black drum in the Wrightsville Beach area. There were some nice trout being caught at Carolina Beach until a local netter found out and wrapped up the school. There still should be some around it just might be harder to find. There have also been some small trout up near Topsail Island. The Black Sea Bass were thick out on ledges near WR4 a couple of weeks ago along with some nice schools of False Albacore. Oh yeah, the Striped Bass and Red Drum are still in the Cape Fear. There have been some nice 10-15 lb fish caught this month and lots of 2-5 lb fish.

I have spent most of my time in the river with the one trip offshore on the Sea Bass. I have fished the river with three friends mostly if not solo. Allen Riggan made a trip with me and my son where we explored some new areas for a couple of hours and my son landed his first Striped Bass, a nice 22" schoolie. This was the only bite we got all day and of course the little one got to reel it up.

I made a few quick day trips during the week landing several small fish. I decided to throw out some plugs while moving to a different area one day and good thing, there was a nice fat 28" fish lying on the bottom and decided to play.

We went last Sunday in the middle of the day when the wind was howling. Gary Hurley, editor/owner of the Fisherman's Post and fishing buddy Capt. Travis Dant. We hit the first creek, with the wind blowing 20 knots and his 5th cast Travis pulls out a nice 28" Striped Bass. Little did we know that would be the only one for the rest of the day. The wind was gusting up to 30kts and there was little relief in sight but we kept at it but could not put together to get another fish as the front push through with gusto.

2/24/09 Travis, Capt Jamie Rushing and myself were supposed to have a guide day chasing Reds in the surf but the wind said, "NO!" The morning breeze was up enough that it was going to make sight fishing the surf next to impossible but surely uncomfortable. We opted to, guess what, hit the river. 9:00a.m. and not much time since I had a commitment at 14:00 we had to bust out some good spots to find the fish quick. Jamie struck first with a nice 25" Striper and then Travis put one in my face directly after Jamie. I could not buy a bite. We wandered around for a while and it seemed that the bite was lost. I switched baits several times until finally the right pattern was found for me and a nice 22" came boat side with nice crankbait in its side. I had fowled hooked it as it slashed the little Bomber crankbait. Then after several more casts I found the right angle and another schoolie slammed it and I gave it the Bass Pro hook set. A few minutes later another hard fighting schoolie came boat side.

I LOVE FISHING IN THE WINTER , NICE FISH AND NO CROWDS!!

Booking trips now for late Winter and Spring. Get ready the warm stuff is not far away.

Keep Chasing Trophies,

Capt. Danny Wrenn

96 Charter Company

Wilmington, N.C.

910.619.2224

Cape Fear Surprises

Greetings from the Cape Fear Coast,


Fishing since Christmas has been sporadic for me. Busy playing with new toys (wetsuits and booties) has kept me in the water almost and much as on the water. Until the recent cold snap surfing was not so bad, but even 29deg. and "snowing" the 4/3 Ripcurl did its job. Although the walk back to the truck was a little chilly.

Fishing has been pretty good for the past couple of weeks despite the cold snap and lots of rain that has clouded the river up pretty good. Reports of drum and trout still biting along the ICW and down around Snows Cut. There have been good reports and some nice catches of Blue Fin Tuna down on Frying Pan Shoals, some over 85". Although the weather has kept most smaller boats at the docks of the last couple of weeks.

The few times on the Cape Fear River has produced lots of schoolie Stripers most in the 20-22" range. The bite has changed some and the fish seem to have scattered out some. Don't know if the high water temps (55 deg) and super muddy water after Christmas has changed the pattern but there have been some bigger fish caught (although not by me). Since the second week of January the water temp has dropped into the mid 40's but the water is still very muddy and the fish have harder to come by for me and most of the guys I know. Jay and I fished several days and landed many fish in this size range but there were not any bigger fish caught.


The catch of the month came after a slow day on the water. Fishing with a friend, Gerrit Boersma over on vacation from Holland we caught some schoolie Stripers while trolling the banks of the upper Cape Fear early in the morning and after four hours of fighting the wind and poor water conditions we trolled over an area that looked to be covered up in bait. We started fishing this patch of water digging deep into the Cape Fear bottom with some Bomber crankbaits. After several schoolies and some nice misses my rod got slammed. The fish headed for deeper water and the hard running tide. After several nice runs the fish gave in and this nice 33" Blue Catfish came to the surface. He had slammed the Bomber Crankbait and ended a long day of tired arms with a nice surprise from the bottom of the Cape Fear.

Keep Chasing Trophies, Capt. Danny Wrenn
96 Charter Company
Wimington, N.C.
910.619.2224