It’s July, summer is in full swing and just about every kind of summer fish is biting in July. The great thing about July around Wrightsville Beach is warm days and light winds, with only a chance of late afternoon storms to cool things off some days. Wrightsville Beach is a great place for a summer vacation and lots of fishing shots all month long!
I really start to keep my eye out for the silver king (tarpon) by early July; these big silver fish are making their way up form Florida. The long trip has made them hungry, and hungry fish are easier to catch, ‘most’ of the time!
I look for tarpon around local inlets, shoals and hard bottoms close to shore. Live or fresh dead baits like menhaden or mullet on the bottom are the best bet for getting a bite out of these beasts. I prefer circle hooks in sizes 7/0 to 10/0 and my leader material is always Berkley Big Game 60 or 80-pound fluorocarbon; tarpon have great eyesight! Tarpon are around from early July to late September around Wrightsville Beach. If you hook in to one of these tarpon, don’t forget to bow to the king when he jumps!
The flounder fishing should be good just about everywhere by July and, hey, everybody loves flounder, right? In July, you can find flounder around most inlets, in creeks, main channels (ICW) and just off the beach. Using smaller live baits like mud minnows, finger mullets and little menhaden should do the trick to put dinner in the boat for you. I rig these live baits on Carolina rigs, with #1 and 1/0 L42 Eagle Claw hooks; a 40-pound mono leader will work fine for flounder fishing. Casting and slowly retrieving this rig, drafting or anchoring with this rig are all good ways to catch flounder with a Carolina rig. Remember, it is always a good idea to have a good landing net for flounder fishing, try an EGO floating net; never worry about losing your net again!
As for redfish in July, well you can catch them but with the water really warming up you need to change the way you fish a little. If you want to target reds in shallow waters, you really need to go early in the morning or late afternoon when the water is a bit cooler. During the mid parts of the day try to fish a little deeper with jigs and grubs, the reds like a little deeper water when the sun gets high in the sky. I really like Berkley Gulp baits, hey, you can’t beat their great scent and redfish love’em! Berkley has come out with another great bait; it is a three-inch firetail shrimp, yes, a proven color choice, now in Gulp! Keep your eyed peeled for these great Gulp’s at your favorite tackle store very soon! I rig my Gulp baits on 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jig heads in colors red, gray and brown with 30 or 40-pound Stren tinted fluorocarbon leader material.
Now for the tackle rundown: For reels, Penn Battle Spinning reels 3000 & 4000 sizes for the redfish and flounder. Go heavier for tarpon: Penn Battle 6000 & 7000 and 320LD Penn casting reels. For the rods, Fenwick HMG & HMX 6’6” & 7’ medium and med/heavy for the redfish and flounder. Rods for tarpon: Ugly Stik Tiger Lite Jigging series. Line for the flounder and reds, Spiderwire Ultra-cast in 10 and 15-pound and Berkley Big Game mono in 30 and 40-pound for the tarpon.
I hope you have a good Fourth of July and thanks for reading Coastal Angler Magazine!
[easy-social-share]