Spring is in the air!

Ah. Spring is in the air, can you feel it? I can. Warmer days, the southwest winds have started to blow and the Azaleas are about to bloom. All these point to spring fishing ahead.

I, like many resident anglers, fish the NC coast year round. I’ll admit I don’t get out as often in the winter. For one I dislike the cold but even on cold days I’ll head out if the weather and seas allow.

Winter fishing for me is mainly limited to speckled trout and drum on the inside and bottom fishing in the ocean for black sea bass, grouper and flounder. Bottom fishing is often referred to as “meat fishing” because rather than sport, it fills the freezer. Don’t get me wrong, I eat some of those specks and an occasional drum but most get released.

Earlier this week I went bottom fishing and caught some nice grouper and black sea bass. It makes my wife happy, she loves to eat fresh fish. It makes me happy, I love being on the water with the sun in my face and the tug on the fishing line. Even my dog is happy about my fishing trips as she enjoys eating those fish tails when I clean the fish.

However what really gets me excited is chasing a sport fish. On my way back to the inlet from this week’s trip, I noticed hundreds of birds working a patch of ocean. Diving, circling and diving again, it looked like something from a WWII war movie. That is usually a sign that some predator fish has the bait fish all “balled up” near the surface. When this happens birds feast on the opportunity. So do anglers.

With the water temperature in the mid 50’s it is too early for Bonito and Spanish mackerel. I headed over thinking maybe it was some nice bluefish chasing that bait. A decent size blue will tighten up your line and gets that adrenalin flowing.

I stopped a few hundred yards away from the birds. I still couldn’t see what they were chasing but they were still very active. I needed to change the lures on a couple of rods to ones more appropriate for that type fishing. As I tied the last knot and looked up, to my dismay all the birds were resting on the water’s surface.

Just sitting there they were. Oh there were a few “lookouts” flying in search patterns near the flock. But no diving, no flurried activity. My heart sunk. I was looking forward to the “battle”. I trolled around the edge of what seemed like acres of birds for about 15 minutes with no bites then headed home. Still a smile on my face, after all I had a cooler full of fresh fish and memories of a wonderful day on the water.

But it won’t be long now. Spring fishing is just around the corner.

Catching report

The speckled trout and red drum activity has picked up with the warmer days. Look for them at the mouths of creeks and on sand flats. There are a few being reported in the surf too. Some sea mullet are being caught along with toad puffers, skates and small sharks.

Offshore the grouper and black seas bass continue to bite well. Wahoo and yellowfin tuna are being caught out near the Gulf Stream.

Seaview Pier and the Jolly Roger pier are open and ready for the new season. Surf City Pier will open on March 30th and as in previous years will award a free season pass to the first person catching a sea mullet from their pier to start the new season.

Tight lines to all!