[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ctober has to be on your list as one of your favorite months to fish. I know it is one of mine here in Southport/Oak Island, NC!! Cooler temperatures, cooler water, and lower humidity is a recipe for more active fish and more creature comforts for us all to endure. The biggest draw back, if there is one, is now trying to figure out what you want to fish for in October as all the fish will be on feeding spree, most of the time, getting fattened up for the cold winter months that are just ahead now.
Starting on the back water scene will be the biggest flounder of the year feeding now. Areas like the creeks and rivers, ICW, and structures on the Southport water front, just to name a few, will be good places to look now. One staple for Southport fishermen for years now has been the carolina rig for flounder. I like to rig up with an egg weight just big enough to hold in the current, usually around 2 ounces, a Berkley barrel swivel along with a short, 10 to 14 inch 20 pound fluorocarbon leader and a #4 wide bend hook rigged with a live mullet minnow. I will have this on a PENN Fierce 3000 reel spooled with Berkley 20 or 30 pound professional grade braid line on a medium/fast 7′ Fenwick rod. Mud minnows, which can be purchased from local tackle shops is easier than catching live bait and work too, but, I personally prefer the mullet minnows although they can be harder to obtain. Another option that works really well and doesn’t require a bait tank and getting soaked catching bait is the Betts Flounder Fanatic Bucktail rigged with a Berkley Gulp! or your favorite plastic bait with a good coating of Pro-Cure Bait Scents Mullet or Inshore Saltwater Super Gel. Just work it slow along the bottom and unlike the live bait, when you get a “thump” set the hook and net your flounder 99.9% of the time!! Don’t be surprised when that Red Drum or Speckled Trout also takes this offering as they bite these rigs as well.
If you are more after the Spec’s, and you can’t get live shrimp, try the Betts perfect sinker shrimp, with Pro-Cure Super Gel in Shrimp scent under a popping cork. Betts and VuDu make some really good popping corks that draw attention to your baits. And, October is a great month for top water bites from the Speckled Trout and Red Drum. Mirrolure, Rapala, Bomber, Yo-Zuri, Heddon, are just a few of the suppliers that make good top water lures.
Out on the beach now Whiting should be biting well here and in the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Rig up with a bank sinker around 3 oz. tie a couple drop loops in your line and tie on a couple #6 long shank hooks, bait up with small pieces of fresh shrimp and if you are where they are they will bite!! Grey Trout should be schooling up on the near shore reefs, I like to jig a 11/2 oz. diamond jig for the trout, don’t rig too light here as the big Red Drum will hit the jigs as well. Big Bull Red Drum will be around the same areas and around bait.
King Mackerel should be closer to the beach now that will be following our fall run of big mullet. Spanish Mackerel will still be around a few more weeks until the water cools more and sends them to warmer waters south. Farther offshore, the bottom fishing will be great as always. Only now, it will be lots cooler and more comfortable for you the fisherman. I have fished offshore for years now and have refined my tackle to what works best for me and my charters. Bottom rigs consist of PENN 4/0 (114H2) and PENN Senator 50lb. class rod. This rig is available in a combo and will save you some cash if purchased that way. I spool up with Berkley 100 lb. test Big game line with three loops tied right in the line by double surgeons knots with a “swivel stop” between the rig and rod tip. Bottom loop gets a 16 oz. bank sinker, and the remaining loops get a Mustad 39960-D circle hook in 10/0, (don’t put your circle hooks on backwards). I use this rig because it’s light weight and it has the power, durability, and muscle for nearly everything that bites offshore.
Gulf stream now is good to great in October. Rig up some Ballyhoos on some Laceration Lure trolling heads and get ready!!
When you get your catch be sure to go to our sponsor page on our website and order some House-Autry Breader to fry them up in, you will not be disappointed!!! I have run out of space here and as you can see there is a reason someone coined the phrase, “SO MANY FISH, SO LITTLE TIME” just use your time wisely and go fishing in October!!!! Thanks for stopping by and God Bless You All!!
Fish On!!!
Capt Butch Foster
www.yeahrightcharters.com
Call: (910)845-2004
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