[dropcap]S[/dropcap]eptember marks the start of fall. one of the best times of the year to go fishing around Wrightsville Beach. When cold fronts start to make their way across southeast North Carolina, fishing really picks up. Most of the fish we catch around Wrightsville in the summer are still biting during September but they are biting better. Nice cool temps and light morning breezes make for some great fishing weather.
Spanish mackerel fishing can be great during September. During the fall, the Spanish run the biggest of all year. You can cast or troll for them and the fly fishing can be great as well. The Spanish will be around the inlets and near shore artificial reefs.
Look for jumping Spanish and diving birds…that is where you will find the Spanish mackerel. Casting small spoons or jigs on light spinning tackle will put some Spanish in the boat for you. If you would rather troll, give a Blue Water Candy Daisy Chain a try on top and a #1 planner down deep with a Clark spoon. If you would like to give fly fishing a try, use a five to eight weight set up with floating line with a small min- now pattern fly or epoxy minnow pattern…my favorite!
Flounder fishing has been good this season so far. With this said, it looks like September should be a great mouth for flounder. We look for flounder in the fall around the inlets, in the creeks and up and down the ICW. We also will find some very nice flounder just offshore of Wrightsville on live/hard bottom as well artificial reefs. Mud minnows and small finger mullet will be the best live baits for flounder in September. Rigging the live bait on Caro- lina rigs with EC 042 1/0 hooks is a good choice of rigs for flounder. If you prefer to use artificial baits, scented and non-scented grubs will do the job. Berkley Gulp Jerkshad in six-inch with colors chart pepper neon and pearl white seem to work the best. Rigging these on jig heads with longer hook shanks will help with a better hookup ratio.
When the water starts to cool down the redfishing will heat up. Look for the reds to be in the creeks and along the ICW docks and oyster rocks. Carolina rigs with live bait or fresh cut bait is a good bet to catch a redfish. If you want to go the artificial route, try Berkley Gulp three-inch in color sugar spice glow or molting, rigged on a 1/8-ounce jig head to get ‘em to bite. Early mornings or late afternoons the topwater bite should be good. Cast MirrOlure Top Dog Jr’s and She Pup’s for the best bite. Look for the topwater reds to be along marsh grass lines and shallow oyster rocks.
The bigger reds are starting to show up in the ocean on hard bottoms and around the inlets. You never know when you might hook one of these hard- fighting fish. When I fish for bigger reds, I use fresh cut or live menhaden and mullet. I use fishfinder rigs with 7/0 or 8/0 circle hooks and 80-pound Berkley Big game mono leaders. Don’t forget to keep your drag tight when using circle hook so they will do their job. One tip I can give you when fish- ing for bull reds…don’t use tackle that’s too light for these bigger reds. If you fight them too long, there is a chance you can tire them out too much and kill them. Try a medium/heavy rod and a reel with at least 30-pound mono or braid. This will help you get the fish in quicker, with a better chance of a good live release. Check to see if the red has a yellow tag in its back; there are a fair number of tagged big reds out there.
Shark fishing will be good until late September. We see lots of different kinds of sharks in September: blacktip, sandbar, hammerhead and tiger. Best baits for the nearshore sharks are fresh/live bluefish, mullet and menhaden. For shark fishing, we use spinning reels with 300+ yards of 30- to 50-pound Spiderwire Ultracast braid. Rig the baits with eight feet of 80-pound mono leader. Connected to the 80-pound mono is a 50-pound swivel, then two to three feet of #9 SS wire and an 8/0 or 9/0 offset J hook. If you prefer fly fishing, I like striped bass flies in menhaden patterns with 4/0 and 5/0 hook sizes. We use 10- to 12-weight set ups, so have lots of extra flies with you!
Good September fishing to you and thanks for reading Coastal Angler Magazine!