Brunswick County Forecast: July 2011

The month of July is action-packed fishing from the backwater to the offshore. This month generally brings beautiful weather, which means opportunity for many fishing trips.

The great thing about July is the variety of species to target. In the backwaters, we will be catching large numbers of reds, trout and flounder. Trout and reds will be in more open water. Any structure like docks, bridges, marsh point or shoreline with moving water will be holding fish so don’t be afraid to try some new spots. Also look for troughs and slight drop-offs near the oyster beds or grass flats.

For catching reds, mud minnows fished either on Carolina rigs with small (1-ounce or less) egg sinkers or impaled on jig heads and worked through the strike zone are good baits, as are scented soft baits like Gulp lures, worked slowly off the bottom. Don’t fish your lure too quickly. Cast it toward structure or even under it and work the lure slowly. Times when the tide is moving well will be the best for redfish near pilings, and in deep holes. Soft-bait crab imitation lures work well on low tide when retrieved very slowly or not at all.

Mullet minnows are the best bait, but flounders will hit the scented soft baits as well, if they are hopped slowly right at the bottom. If you can find pogies or small pinfish these are great flounder baits right now for the bigger doormat flounder. July is a great month to find the doormat flounder around docks and shrimp boats. Most flounder are in the 15″–18″ range in July. Flounder will also be around the inshore artificial reefs, holding close to reef balls, APC’s and wrecks.

Trout will hit soft bait lures like Gulp with 1/8 oz. to 1/4 oz. jig heads, especially if you can find them schooled up off of points, docks or a bridge. The mornings seem to offer the best bite for trout.

The Spanish mackerel and bluefish bite has heated up just off the beach in 10’–30’ depths. If you find a school of them you can cast Gotcha-style pencil plugs. This is a fun way to fish for them. The best colors for the Gotcha plugs change daily although red heads with white or gold bodies are hard to beat most days. For trolling for spanish and blue fish use 0 or 00 Clark spoons with a 25-foot leader of 20-pound mono on a number 1 or 2 planer, trolled at a speed of seven knots.

The nearshore wrecks and ledges will be holding cobia on them. King mackerel and mahi will be showing up in areas of 65’ depths. Live pogies are your best bet if you can find them. If not, the old back of cigar minnows pulled behind Pirate Plugs or Barefoot Chin Weights at 3.5 knots works too.

The mahi bite is hot in the 75’–85’ depth range. If you can find live cigars and pogies, they are your best bet. If not, then cigar minnows or small ballyhoo pulled behind Pirate Plugs or Barefoot Chin Weights at 3.5 knots works too.

You will also find a larger number of sailfish around the 65’–85’ water depths, too. Troll live pogies for your best bet for catching a sailfish.

With the season for black sea bass reopened, the bite in 85’–100’ feet of water is on fire, with black sea bass are in 14″–16″ range. The B-Liners are biting well about 10 feet off the bottom on cut bait. The grouper bite is going strong with gags in the 10- to 15- pound range. The scamp bite is unreal right now. We are limiting out on scamp in just two hours. The red grouper are also biting well at 100’–130’.