Inshore and Near Shore Fishing

Inshore and near shore fishing consists of a great variety of fish and water. It ranges from sight casting for red drum in 2 feet of water to trolling 50 feet of water around near shore reefs and wrecks for big king mackerel.

Red Drum

Red drum usually reside in shallow creeks and near structures like docks and oyster beds. They can be caught all year long. Red drum are the powerhouses of inshore fishing. Even a medium sized “ red” can burn of drag and make you wonder if it will ever stop. They will fall for a variety of baits – top water, spinner baits, and grubs. They rarely turn away from live bait.

Speckled Trout

Speckled trout is in high demand for many anglers. They also live in creeks, but they school up very thick in deep channels and near jetties in the fall and early winter when the crowd is gone and the weather cools. Speckled trout will hit top water, but can’t resist soft plastic artificial baits.

Flounder

If table fare is a priority, flounder ranks at the top of the list. Flounder are creek and dock dwellers, but with the guidance of a good captain and some top-secret GPS coordinates you can land some prize-sized fish. Flounder bite almost all year, but slow their feeding mid-winter. Buck tail jigs, artificial fish and shrimp are proven to catch flounder.

Spanish mackerel

Spanish mackerel fishing is a favorite for all. We usually start out trolling in the ocean. As the sun comes up higher, the small bait fish gang up in massive schools. Armies of Spanish will start sky rocketing out of the water as they attack the baitfish. That’s when we break out the light tackle rods, sight cast small artificial baits to them, and listen to the reels start screaming. It is not uncommon to have 60 fish days, and Spanish mackerel are a fish fry pleaser.

King mackerel

King mackerel is one of the largest and most exciting fish near shore fishing can offer. From spring to late fall, “kings” can usually be found easily from right in the surf to about 5 miles off the beach around structure, rock, and live bottom. Most are in the 15-20 lb. size range in the late summer, and 40-pounders in the fall will get on and give you a 20-minute fight that seems like an hour. Kings are caught trolling either live or dead baits. I always troll with very light line to get more bites and fool that old wise one. While we are Spanish and king mackerel fishing near shore, it’s not uncommon to hook up to sailfish, mahi-mahi and the occasional tarpon.

Striped bass

When winter starts to set in and a lot of people start to forget about fishing, the Cape Fear River striped bass bit fires up. “Striper” fishing is popular throughout the country, but few people know the CFR can offer some great striper fishing. Stripers like a variety of habitats depending on water level, water color, tide, and time of season. Sometimes they like shallow calmer water, and other times they will be in extremely fast moving turbulent water, which makes for a variety of tactics to hook them. Bucktails, soft plastics, top water and even scented baits are all part of the arsenal.