[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he days of August are considered to be the “dog days” of pier fishing in North Carolina. Water temps will be in the 80’s at the beginning of the month and will stay that way the entire month. Few fish will be on the move, but the angler who is willing to work for his catch can have some success. It is rare that the wind is out of the north or northeast this time of the year, but if that occurs, that will be the best time to soak your bait. The fishing so far has been better than normal for summer and that should continue to be true for August.
The tarpon bite will continue to be strong and there will be quite a few hook-ups, but only a few of these pow- erful fish will be landed by the king fishermen at the end of the pier. Live baits like mullet, shad and bluefish will be used for bait. King mackerel catches will be fewer than in previous months, as the fish will tend to stay further off shore. Anglers will be looking forward to the productive fall season for kings, but few are bound to be decked this month.
Most of the plugging action will be in the early morning and late in the evening. Anglers will be looking for Spanish and bluefish. Got-Cha plugs and diamond jigs will be the most-used lures. Some anglers will light line finger mullet to attract a big Spanish to strike.
above: Rhett “Squirrel Dog” estep of ohio with his seven-pound, seven-ounce bluefish caught on the Rodanthe Pier. Picture courtesy of Rodanthe Pier.
Bottom fishermen will also find the action slower than previous months. Spots have been showing up in good numbers all summer and that trend is likely to continue into fall. Most of the bottom catches will be small croaker, whiting and spot. The wide body Atlantic spadefish will provide the best fight for these anglers and they can be caught all along the pier within 10 yards of the planks. The less popular pinfish, hog-fish and small jacks will also be caught.
The one fish that will in better abundance than previous months will be pompano. These fish prefer sand to rock or shell-covered beaches and days when the water is clear will be the best. Shrimp, sand fleas or fiddler crabs will work the best. Fishbites Bloodworm Alternative also will work well on them. Larger pompano will also strike a Got-Cha plug when they are aggravated by one. Pompano seem to be at their high- est activity during a full moon and for August that falls on the tenth with it being a supermoon, passing only 221,765 miles from Earth.
Flounder fishermen again will be patrolling the planks, Carolina rigging live minnows or shrimp. Some will also work a Gulp bait on a jig head. The best flounder action can be found in the range from the surf to right behind the breakers.