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 Wrenn96 Charter Company
Wimington, N.C.
910.619.2224
