[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t can get pretty hot during the month of August around Wrightsville Beach. With these hot temps the water will heat up, too. The fishing is good during August, but you may need to change the way you fish with the hot weather. Go fishing during the earlier morning hours or go just before dark. With just a little cooler water temps, you can see a big difference in how much better the bite can be. Stay cool and catch more fish!
One fish that is always on my hot weather list is the sheephead. Sheephead are a good challenge to catch and they fight hard, but they are also good to eat! Another great thing about sheephead fishing when it’s hot outside is that you can hide under a bridge out of the sun to catch them. Just think, fishing somewhere out of the sun and you’re catching great-eating fish! All you need are some fiddler crabs or sand fleas for bait. A medium/heavy-action spinning or casting rod with Spiderwire 20- or 30-pound braid for line will help you bring in that big sheephead in. Tie on a short Carolina rig with 40- or 50-pound fluorocarbon leader and a small (sharp) live bait J-hook! Drop that fiddler crab on the Carolina rig down beside a piling and when you feel that little bump, set the hook and hold on!
Flounder are a great hot weather fish because it really does not seem to matter how hot it gets, they still bite! Live bait is the key for catching higher numbers of flounder, but if you want to catch bigger flounder try artificial bait. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for flounder in August. Rigging the live bait on Carolina rigs with Eagle Claw L42 1/0 or 2/0 hooks is a good choice of rigs for flounder. If you prefer to use artificial baits, scented and non-scented grubs, as well as spinner baits will do the job. Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in five- and six-inch and colors of New Penny, Pearl White and Chart Pepper Neon are all good choices. Also, try Berkley’s Havoc Grass Pig lure in colors of Chartreuse, Pearl White Silver and Swamp Gas. I rig these lures on jig heads in 1/4-ounce, 3/8- ounce and 1/2-ounce weights in red, gray or white heads.
North Carolina is not really known for tarpon fishing, but we do see a few push- ing just off Masonboro Inlet and in the lower Cape Fear River from time to time. If you want a good chal- lenge, give Carolina tarpon fishing a try this August. The best times are very early morning or late afternoon and into the night. We fish for tar- pon on the bottom or free-lining, using live and fresh dead baits like spots, mullet and menhaden. I rig these baits on fishfinder rigs, with three-to-five feet of 80- to 100- pound fluorocarbon leaders. The best bet for good hook-ups and landings for tarpon are circle hooks sizes 7/0 to 9/0, depending which hook series you like. It’s not easy to catch a NC tarpon, but I promise if you do or even just jump one off, you will try it again and again!
Last, but certainly not least, are bull redfish (big red drum.) The bull reds will start
showing up in good numbers in early August around inlets and hard/live bottoms from just off the beach to about ten miles out. Live or fresh dead bait is the key to catching these brutes. Most fish will exceed 28 inches to over 40 inches in length, very fun to catch size! It’s not hard to rig for the bull reds: short Carolina rigs with a 9/0 to 12/0 circle hook will do the trick. Remember, if you’re catching larger drum, please use heavier tackle…these drum will work so hard when the water is hot and it is easy to kill them using tackle too light (fighting them too long.)
I also enjoy shark fishing later in the summer (late July to early September). Sharks on light tackle are always a good pull and boy, the kids love to catch ’em! I drift live and fresh dead bluefish, Spanish mackerel, mullet or menhaden in thirty to forty five feet of water offshore. I rig these baits with a 7/0 circle hook with one foot of ninety pound wire and six to eight feet of eighty pound mono leader. You can free line the bait and /or put a small egg sinker on to keep the bait close to the bottom. You’ll know when you get a bite! Most sharks are in the ten to one hundred pound range.
Have a good August, stay cool and thanks for reading Coastal Angler Magazine!