[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he arrival of summer brings many fishing opportunities around the Inner Banks. June is an excellent month for fishing due to the extensive variety of options for Inner Banks anglers. Here are just a few of my favorites: topwater striper fishing in the upper Pamlico and lower Tar near Washington, topwater speckled trout fishing, puppy drum fishing using cut or live bait, flounder fishing using scented soft plastics, and, of course, tarpon fishing using fresh cut bait or live bait. With five main species of sportfish to pursue (I’m not even counting white perch, speckled perch or crappie, largemouth bass, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, or sheepshead) and so many different ways to fish for each, countless options await open-minded anglers.
Speckled trout keeper season is closed until June 15, but after that, anglers can keep their four fish/day/person over 14-inch limit. The speckled trout bite will be best this month during the first few hours of the day. As the month progresses and water temps rise, the trout bite will slow, especially during the middle of the day. Anglers need to get out of bed early and hit the bite at first light. Topwater baits such as Storm Chug Bugs and Heddon Zara Spooks or Rapala Skidderwalks will draw some vicious strikes from larger trout in the early morning hours.
Cloudy, cooler, overcast days might also extend your topwater window. Look for trout around schools of active baitfish such as mullets and menhaden. You will notice nervous activity from the baitfish such as tightly balled schools or numerous short nervous jumps from the mullets. The absolute best situ- ation is to find baitfish showering or fleeing across the surface. That means you have found the right place to fish and you need to stay there until you get some bites out of the fired-up, aggressively feeding trout. During the day, artificials such as soft plastics and popping corks with Gulp or some other type of plastic shrimp such as the Z-Man ShrimpZ will be effective. Make sure to rub some Pro-Cure scented gel on your shrimp. It will help immensely. Also don’t overlook the effectiveness of live bait during the summer. Live mud minnows or finger mullet, as well as live croaker, spot, or pinfish, can produce some nice trout. Becoming tuned in on how to effectively and consistently catch live bait is an important tool for any angler and can greatly diversify your fishing arsenal, especially during the heat of the summer or when targeting trophy speckled trout. Judging from the trout that we’ve seen so far this spring, this will be a great year for citation-sized fish. We are very fortunate to have plenty of upper-slot drum in the Pamlico this year. We will see plenty of keeper drum beginning in June. The fish usually stick around well into the late fall with the best fishing typically corresponding with the shrimp hatch in the late summer and early fall. I almost exclusively use light and med-light rods coupled with 2500-3000 class spinning reels spooled with 10-pound braid. These are the perfect match for the puppy and lower slot fish. They can be caught so many different ways, but my favorite is using a popping cork with a shrimp underneath.
I just like to see the popping cork go under. It’s the next best thing to topwater fishing in my opinion and it’s super easy to fish in shallow water where you might find algae, grass, or some other debris along the bottom. If you adjust your leader to the correct length, you can keep the shrimp just off the bottom and trash-free so that you are fishing more efficiently with every cast. Although the reds and the specs can often be found together, fishing the type of habitat that holds the reds in the Pamlico will often take you out of the game for targeting trout. Typically I fish along the banks like I am flounder fishing. Grassy shorelines holding active bait, the mouths of small tributary creeks, just about any sandy point or shoal extending from the bank, stump fields, and older pilings and docks could all be good candidates for holding a few drum. On a lucky day, you might encounter a large school and if you don’t spook them too badly, you might really be able to post some big numbers. Typically in the summer you encounter scattered fish and you will have to cover some area to put together the numbers. Live mud minnows work great, too. Anglers can keep one fish/day/person between 18 and 27 inches. If the fish is too close to the 18 or 27 inch mark, then release them. I usually allow myself at least an eighth of an inch leeway on the measurement.
If you are interested in catching some citation-sized speckled trout, slot drum, flounder, or even some giant red drum under popping corks a little earlier in the season than we typically target them, then give us a call about a charter. During June, Tar-Pam Guide Service fishes the Inner and Outer Banks and works closely with knowledgable, professional, local guides to deliver the product that you are paying for. For charter inquiries, dial 252-945-9715 to speak to Capt. Richard Andrews or email us at richard@tarpamguide.com or look us up on the web at www.tarpamguide.com.