by Aaron Kelly
We are getting through the winter! It has been a mild one so far and I am thankful for that. No big freezes to kill off the speckled trout. This should keep everyone excited for the months to come and should be some nice trout around this year. Puppy drum have been in the surf and are being landed by on and off all winter on the jigs. 16-24 inch fish seem to be the size of these reds. Back bays and tidal creeks are going to produce small reds, the occasional nice speckled trout, and scrappy stripers. I like little crank baits and jigs. Shad have already been landed as of this writing around the Pirate’s Cove bridge area. Ole Captain Sneaky Pete is one step ahead on these light tackle guys. Little jigs, spoons and shad darts will get ‘em. They are heading up the estuary for the spring migration that coincides with the anadromous striped bass. Pushing up to the river mouths and fishing bait, rattletraps, and stick baits around the submerged stump fields gets the bite on some “keeper bass.” There have been signs this of big bluefish wintering about twenty miles off the beach so we may get an inshore shot at them on a nice southwester wind day bringing them closer to the beach for a March run! Good luck!
Captain Aaron Kelly
Rock Solid Fishing
www.rocksolidfishing.com
252-441-6575