Heck of a trout bite today

bigdrumnc

Ten Pointer
Any one try the sinking mirrodine on these winter trout in the creeks? I use z mans all summer on the grass flats here on the obx. They beat a gulp any day of the week. They out last all the pickers, pinfish and bluefish. Z mans are the Herters decoy or soft plastics!
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
Any one try the sinking mirrodine on these winter trout in the creeks? I use z mans all summer on the grass flats here on the obx. They beat a gulp any day of the week. They out last all the pickers, pinfish and bluefish. Z mans are the Herters decoy or soft plastics!
I carry a few 18's with me all the time. If it's real deep and a lot of current and the 17's are not producing, I'll throw em. For me, the 18's dont produce like the 17s do in the dead of winter. More often than not the 18s have to be fished to fast to keep em from getting snagged on the bottom.
If im trying to locate fish trolling i'll pull 18's if im going against the current. Usually once i find fish trolling 18s, I'll switch to 17's and cast for em.. just my opinion
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
If you are looking at it from a purely financial perspective, won't 1 mirrolure or spoon outlast hundreds of grubs?
It is not all financial but that is a part. Main reason is I like grubs better and rarely get outfished with ML.....I do lose one ML this year to an Albacore or something. 6 lb line and it was lights out. almost spooled me .
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
I finally got a break and was able to drive down to Little Washington Monday morning....Had a great bite both Monday and Tuesday afternoon, slow morning Tuesday although we did catch a few...

On the grub vs MirroLure thing, this is how it went for me... :)
Monday afternoon my brother in law and I both started in an area that he had been catching fish...We both were throwing a MR-17, both in EC...We went about 20 minutes without a bite...I switched to a DOA plastic jerk bait in EC (similar to a Zoom Fluke) on a 1/8 ounce head...Well, I caught 2 keepers....One tore my bait so I tried a chartreuse with silver flecks in it...Ended up catching 3 stripers and 6 more trout, 5 keepers total in about 3 hours fishing...The soft plastic jerk bait out fished the MR-17 on that trip...

Tuesday afternoon it turned out a bit differently....Three of us went, same area, they were both fishing 17s, I started with the chartreuse jerk bait...Well, I got behind by 5 fish in about 20 minutes....I switched to a 17 but different color....Red head, white body, which has been a traditional color for years....We didn't keep count but that red head definitely caught more that the EC, seemed it brought in more keepers as well....We kept 10 between 17-20 inches...I'm guessing the 3 of us caught 28 fish from 3:30-6, all specks...

Fun trip!!! Came back Wednesday, as I had offers that were verbally accepted on 2 tracts of land and needed to complete the paperwork on them....

Here are a few pictures...

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Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
I went a while back and caught 8 solo, 4 keepers, then took a buddy and we caught 15, no keepers. The same day, my brother fished the same area a couple hours earlier and caught 42, no keepers. Been hit or miss, but at least we are catching something. Some days the 17's are top, some days its grubs and sometimes they will hit everything. lol...
 

mattperry

Spike
Contributor
I carry a few 18's with me all the time. If it's real deep and a lot of current and the 17's are not producing, I'll throw em. For me, the 18's dont produce like the 17s do in the dead of winter. More often than not the 18s have to be fished to fast to keep em from getting snagged on the bottom.
If im trying to locate fish trolling i'll pull 18's if im going against the current. Usually once i find fish trolling 18s, I'll switch to 17's and cast for em.. just my opinion

When you troll the 18's, is there a particular method you use? we slow troll soft plastics under corks using the trolling motor sometimes with good success. I have always thought about trying some hard baits but never have. any helps/tips on doing so. would help my curiosity. thanks
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
^^ no corks trolling mrs. I like to keep the speed at about 1-1.25 mph. If ya have any amount of current 99% of the hits will come from trolling with the current. Against the current puts the bait to high in the water column most of the time in the areas i fish.
 

odie408

Ten Pointer
A buddy and myself each caught a limit on mr17s on Pungo yesterday. 17 to 20 inches. Biteing better on minor time than major, bout 3 to 4 o'clock.
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
Heard a few other favorable reports from the Pamlico this week. Tues and Weds were the days to go. Going to rain 2" today/tonight, blow 25 tonight/tomorrow. May be challenging fishing Saturday/Sunday.
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
in addition to all the rain and wind that will likely muddy the waters, WSW 20-35 mph will blow the water out of our rivers and drop water levels as much as 12-18".....making things a little more challenging. I'm a sucker for punishment, and plan on trying it tomorrow nevertheless. Anyone else going?
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
in addition to all the rain and wind that will likely muddy the waters, WSW 20-35 mph will blow the water out of our rivers and drop water levels as much as 12-18".....making things a little more challenging. I'm a sucker for punishment, and plan on trying it tomorrow nevertheless. Anyone else going?
water is on hatteras right now..... can’t be much left in that side lol
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
Yep, it's gusting into the mid 50's here in dare county. Water is up in the back yard and we're 3 hours away from low water.
 

PTman

Four Pointer
im getting ready to head down that way now. i'm not expecting much today but you got to go when you get the chance.
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
My pal Buxndiverdux and I made plans a few days ago to go on a trout assault today. 6” of rain and the big WSW blow that East Carolina experienced made picking a spot to fish a little more challenging than usual. After some heavy pondering and some homework we settled on the spot.

We found water levels had returned to normal and water clarity wasn’t bad at all. Our day was much more productive than I would have ever imagined after such a weather event.

We fished from 11:30 to 5:00 to catch 52 trout.....and 3 bonus white perch. Kept a 2 man limit of 18-24” trout. Unfortunately the bigger fish inhaled a lure and didn’t fair well during the hook removal. We tried to revive her, but couldn’t.

Fun day on the water with a friend.

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PTman

Four Pointer
it was a tough day for us. the water in some creeks was muddy and some was pretty clear. we caught all our fish in the muddy water though. ended up with a few over 30 w/ only 3 keepers. i havent ever fished for trout into february so i dont guess that's too bad. i need to get together with someone that knows what they are doing this late in the year to try and figure things out a little more.
 

mattperry

Spike
Contributor
My pal Buxndiverdux and I made plans a few days ago to go on a trout assault today. 6” of rain and the big WSW blow that East Carolina experienced made picking a spot to fish a little more challenging than usual. After some heavy pondering and some homework we settled on the spot.

We found water levels had returned to normal and water clarity wasn’t bad at all. Our day was much more productive than I would have ever imagined after such a weather event.

We fished from 11:30 to 5:00 to catch 52 trout.....and 3 bonus white perch. Kept a 2 man limit of 18-24” trout. Unfortunately the bigger fish inhaled a lure and didn’t fair well during the hook removal. We tried to revive her, but couldn’t.

Fun day on the water with a friend.

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nice hat!!!
 

duckmauler

Eight Pointer
it was a tough day for us. the water in some creeks was muddy and some was pretty clear. we caught all our fish in the muddy water though. ended up with a few over 30 w/ only 3 keepers. i havent ever fished for trout into february so i dont guess that's too bad. i need to get together with someone that knows what they are doing this late in the year to try and figure things out a little more.

I first thought u meant a few over 30”. 😂Now I’m thinking it’s over 30 fish total.
 
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darenative

Twelve Pointer
We fished for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Lots of short hits and they wanted it fished about as slow as you could fish it. Caught 10 with 4 or 5 keepers and had 2 pull off beside the boat that were dang nice fish. All were caught on 17 mr. Bnsbo was the color of choice today, EC didnt produce for us today20200216_144908.jpg
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
Bux and I put together a last minute Sunday afternoon jaunt. Like darenative reported, they wanted it presented very slowly on this side of the Pamlico Sound also. Fortunately, we recognized that fairly early and wound up catching 48 between 2:00 and 5:00. Lots of bites came on nearly motionless suspending 17's in darker colors. We probably had 10-12 keepers with the biggest being maybe 21", and the rest were dinks. No big fish this trip, but fun catching nevertheless.

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nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
Same report from my brother in law as well, slow and easy, but, his were hitting plastics...DOA Texas Croaker... :)
 

ABolt

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I spent a couple days down at Blounts Creek with my neighbor and his new Carolina Skiff over the weekend. We caught limits each day and plenty more that were released. Nothing huge, but plenty of action. ZMan Diezel minnows in pearl white, and mirro-lures in hot pink broken glass were the top producers. The soft plastics were tapped on the fall when jigged, and the 909BPG was clobbered when paused...

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Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
I spent a couple days down at Blounts Creek with my neighbor and his new Carolina Skiff over the weekend. We caught limits each day and plenty more that were released. Nothing huge, but plenty of action. ZMan Diezel minnows in pearl white, and mirro-lures in hot pink broken glass were the top producers. The soft plastics were tapped on the fall when jigged, and the 909BPG was clobbered when paused...

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Nice way to break in a new boat! How was the boat traffic in Blounts Creek?
 
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