Is it the first day of winter? It sure feels like spring to me! Let’s not rush things now! The weather has been so up and down lately warm and wet then cold and dry; welcome to North Carolina! I hope everyone has a Marry Christmas and a good fishing new year! To the fishing report we go>>>
Those Cape Fear River stripers are still biting. Most of the stripers have been in the 18” to 25” range with a few bigger stripers mixed in too. We got another very nice cape fear striper yesterday (12-20) the striper was just over 29” and around fourteen pounds. She hit an X-rap in the color blue back, while drifting on a drop-off. The numbers were not as high as other trips but the fish are nice in size.
There has been a few stripers hitting top water in the mornings, I don’t think this will last much longer with more cold air coming our way. We’ve caught a fair amount of stripers on jerk shad soft baits; Saltwater Assassin’s (Blurp) in colors pearl and Elec-chicken have done the trick. We are rigging the shad lures Texas style.
The speckled trout have been hit and miss lately, some days we catching some days we don’t. When we do get them; live shrimp has worked, as well as grubs have. The water has been little dirty from the rains and wind we’ve had. This has changed my color pattern some with the grubs. The colors I like to use when the water is stained; pearl, chicken on a chain and space guppy.
We’ve caught a good amount of black drum and small sheephead around the Masonboro jetties lately. Some of the drum are over ten pounds. They are hitting live and fresh shrimp; using Carolina rigs with EC L42 #1 size hooks and thirty pound mono leaders. We fish for them up and down the jetties; dropping the rigs along the rocks on the bottom.
The Fishing gear we use:
Drum Trout and Stripers: Reels Pflueger Medalist spinning in sizes 6035 and 6040. Rods: Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. 12 & 20 pound Ugly Braid. Bait cast rod and reel combo Pflueger Supreme low profile with an All Star Platinum P845MC 7’ rod. Great striper set up!
In Other Fishing News: There are some great boat and fishing expos coming this winter to North Carolina. If you like fishing and boats you don’t want to miss these shows and fishing seminars! Here are the one’s that myself as well as other Ranger boats pro staff members will be at this winter.
January 9-11, 2009 - Raleigh Bass & Saltwater Fishing Expo NC State Fairgrounds - Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This is a GREAT show, with over 160 booths offering everything from the latest lures, plastics, jigs, custom rods, apparel, knives, product sample booths, hard-tops, saltwater charters, fresh water guides, cast nets, gaffs.....by far one of the best shows of its kind in the Carolina's and Virginia. I will be there along with other Ranger pro staff members who include; Jeff Cronk of Fish’n 4 Life charters and Capt. Mike Taylor of Taylor-Made charters, as well as many others fresh and salt water pros! I will have tarpon and cobia fishing seminars all three days of this show.
January 23-25, 2009 - Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show - Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ One of our top Ranger pro staff members will be at this show; C.A. Richardson of Flats Class TV and team Evinrude. This show will have lots of boats for you to take a look at, get in and get a feel for; “maybe you will find your next boat there!
January 31, 2009 - Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series – Wilmington, NC. www.nationalseminarseries.com Location: Hilton Riverside Wilmington- Grand Ballroom. This is a great day of seminars from local, regional and national fishing captains and guides! You can learn a lot at this great day of seminars.
February 20-22, 2009 - Carolina Power & Sailboat Show NC State Fairgrounds - Raleigh, NC. www.ncboatshows.com This show will have lots of nice boats to see!
March 21, 2009 Saltwater Fishing School Saturday, 2615 Jefferson Davis Hwy (US 1 South) - Sanford, NC. www.northcarolinasportsman.com
This all-day event will feature successful tournament anglers, prominent charter captains, top notch guides, knowledgeable pro team members, experienced local fishermen, and well-informed industry professionals giving tips, plus explaining lures and techniques used to catch everyone's favorite fish.
If you get a chance you should really take the time to visit some of these shows and seminars. You will learn lots of great info from the fishing seminars and see some great new boats! For more info on these shows and seminars just go to the links on this page.
Thanks for reading this report; I’ll see ya on the water!
Good Luck Fishing,
Captain Jot Owens
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
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