Speckled Trout around the Local Marshes and Bridges
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith December already here it just doesn’t seem right. October and part of November was really warm and thus the water temps bumped between the mid 60’s and mid 70’s depending on the weather. Needless to say so far it was a really warm winter thru mid. Nov. Leading into Thanksgiving. As December gets closer the water temps have fallen to the mid to low 60’s on the inside waters around Harker’s Island and Beaufort. In the outside waters around Cape Lookout and along Shackleford Island there have been some left over Flounder and False Albacore on the nicer days.
For those fishing inside there have been lots of Speckled Trout in the local Marshes and around the Bridges. The best baits for catching Specs have been small soft baits such as the Salty Bay Glass minnow, the MirrOlure soft bait Lil Jon as well as the Halo shrimp and the new Sea Striker shrimp used when the current slows down. Want to use the hard baits? the MirrOdine line from MirrOlure has been doing very well for me, the heavy Dine (sinking version) 808 color has been my go to hard bait color I haven’t been using the soft Dines due to lots of small Blue Fish still around. For the Specs up in shallow water 6ft and less in the ocean we’ve used the old 80852mr as well as the Red/White TT. For the large schools of Reds I’ve been throwing the Salty Bay Red Devil in Roast Beef color and Gold, and also throwing the Cajun Thunder gold and copper spoons and the Cajun Sleigh. For the Grays I’ve been fishing in about 15-20ft of water near the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty and using the MirrOlure marsh Minnow or the Salty Bay shrimp in the Methiolate Silver or Opening night rigged on a 3/8oz lead head to get down to the bottom as quickly to avoid being cut off by Blue Fish. For fisherman looking to catch the proverbial gator Trout you’ve really have to be on it to catch the big ones. This means having very good local knowledge of the tides, exact places to anchor, what tackle to use which goes into knowing what the fish are feeding on.
Catching some of the bigger ones has really been tricky but I’ve found that if you worked the incoming and change of tide just right around areas of Grass Flats where an eddy forms up or knowing what structure there are staging up on seems to be the trick. There has been tons of fish to catch but the really nice ones have been a little scarce, but lots of undersized fish which really looks good for the rest of the season as they’re very close and will grow some more before it gets to cold and winter takes over.
Looking for Reds on the inside? I’ve been working the areas of North River marsh as well as the haystacks, Calico Creek as well as Harlowe Creek up near Mill Creek. These are a little off the beaten path but they all have several things in common that Reds love, Shallow water, lots of Oyster beds and plenty of food. Fishing for these shallow water studs requires either top water baits by MirrOlure, Rapala and the Zara spooks the Cajun Sleigh and gold spoons by Cajun Thunder or go to live bait with a Cajun thunder popping cork with a really short leader so as not to get hung up in the oysters. The best live bait this time of year is going to be Mud Minnows. The winter fishing is not over with by far and the Trout and Reds may feed most of the winter depending on the weather and water temps. So hope and pray for a mild winter. Here’s hoping that everyone has a very Merry Christmas as well as a safe one, take all precautions when fishing the cold waters of winter. Hope to see everyone on the water and at the upcoming fishing shows, Capt. Noah Lynk.