Heck of a trout bite today

nekkedducker

Ten Pointer
We fished Saturday around Southport and bald head without a bite, but the wind was pretty tough until late in the day. The marine fisheries biologist was doing surveys at Dutchmen Creek ramp, said he didnt measure a single trout all day.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
Fished yesterday and it was like rush hour traffic on 440. Never seen so many boats, except a Trump flotilla. Struggled to get on fish all afternoon, and part of that was even finding some water to fish. Managed 6 Trout, 2 White Perch, 1 Pup and a Jack Crevalle. Got me rethinking my weekend strategy for the foreseeable future.
aswcWo7.jpg
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
Bux, what was the water temp over there?
Ours is still in the mid mid to upper 50's depending on the time of day.
On my end we just need a little more cold weather. Hopefully this next front will kick it off.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
Bux, what was the water temp over there?
Ours is still in the mid mid to upper 50's depending on the time of day.
On my end we just need a little more cold weather. Hopefully this next front will kick it off.

Same thing for water temps. I'm hoping for the same thing, but if the crowds continue to be what they are, I'm not sure I'll mess with it. I get on the water to relax and enjoy myself. Not for the nascar version on the water.
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
Finally got the time and weather to do some backwater scouting yesterday for specks. Covered a lot of ground in the yaks before we found em. I think in total it was a 9 or 10 mile journey from start to finish. Should have taken the boat instead of yaks simply due to the distance that needed to be covered.
Water temp was in the mid to upper 40's mostly. The area that was holding fish was 50° and was deep by comparison to the spots we normally catch in this time of year. The bite wasn't real strong but enough action to keep you interested. Out of the dozen or so I caught all of the trout were hooked on the outside of the mouth, and hooks pulling even with the lightest drag settings was an issue. I probably pulled off 5 for every fish i landed. Lost one huge trout right at the yak that was knocking on 30". Slightly faded EC,and BNSBO were the most productive color 17 mrs.20201212_202652.jpg
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
Nice work darenative. Hate you lost that whopper. A lot of big fish around this year. Fished with a friend in a few creeks off the Neuse yesterday and found 53-55* water most everywhere. No whoppers, but wound up with 41. Probably half of those were 17-20” fish. Love trout fishing all year but this time of year is my favorite.
 

Dick

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Finally got the time and weather to do some backwater scouting yesterday for specks. Covered a lot of ground in the yaks before we found em. I think in total it was a 9 or 10 mile journey from start to finish. Should have taken the boat instead of yaks simply due to the distance that needed to be covered.
Water temp was in the mid to upper 40's mostly. The area that was holding fish was 50° and was deep by comparison to the spots we normally catch in this time of year. The bite wasn't real strong but enough action to keep you interested. Out of the dozen or so I caught all of the trout were hooked on the outside of the mouth, and hooks pulling even with the lightest drag settings was an issue. I probably pulled off 5 for every fish i landed. Lost one huge trout right at the yak that was knocking on 30". Slightly faded EC,and BNSBO were the most productive color 17 mrs.View attachment 56706
we call greys weakfish up north due to their weak mouths. hook sets had to be gental or they pulled easily.
not sure on their spotted cousins. maybe lighter rod and drag could help
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Finally got the time and weather to do some backwater scouting yesterday for specks. Covered a lot of ground in the yaks before we found em. I think in total it was a 9 or 10 mile journey from start to finish. Should have taken the boat instead of yaks simply due to the distance that needed to be covered.
Water temp was in the mid to upper 40's mostly. The area that was holding fish was 50° and was deep by comparison to the spots we normally catch in this time of year. The bite wasn't real strong but enough action to keep you interested. Out of the dozen or so I caught all of the trout were hooked on the outside of the mouth, and hooks pulling even with the lightest drag settings was an issue. I probably pulled off 5 for every fish i landed. Lost one huge trout right at the yak that was knocking on 30". Slightly faded EC,and BNSBO were the most productive color 17 mrs.View attachment 56706

Fresh and salt water specks!
 

PTman

Four Pointer
this year has been tough for me. i am still fairly new to inshore fishing but have been able to put together decent days in the past. we fished the lower neuse yesterday and only caught 1. was very tough to find any bait. we finally found bait and what looked like feeding fish but still couldnt get them to bite. im hoping things will improve the next couple trips. this has turned into my favorite time of year to be on the water. yesterday was probably the most beautiful day on the neuse i have seen
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
this year has been tough for me. i am still fairly new to inshore fishing but have been able to put together decent days in the past. we fished the lower neuse yesterday and only caught 1. was very tough to find any bait. we finally found bait and what looked like feeding fish but still couldnt get them to bite. im hoping things will improve the next couple trips. this has turned into my favorite time of year to be on the water. yesterday was probably the most beautiful day on the neuse i have seen

It was a mirror wasn’t it. Been a while since I’ve seen it like that in such open water.
 

PTman

Four Pointer
yes it was. all day long. i've never run across in the middle of the day and there be no chop at all. it was like glass. wish it hadnt been foggy at first light, would have been a great sunrise
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
We fished yesterday from lunchtime until about 5 and had 40 ish fish, maybe a few more or less. Dang nice class of fish overall. It was tough to put together our limits of eating size fish. Most were in the 2.5-4# class with a couple pushing 5#. Water was 43° most spots, and we found one little patch of 45-46° water that had active fish. Marked a ton of suspended fish in 10-12' of water but couldnt get em to bite. No real hot color today on MRs, they just wanted a SLOW straight retrieve and they'd hammer it. If you strayed off of the slow and straight retrieve they wouldn't touch it.
 

Sportsman

Old Mossy Horns
Glad you got 'em darenative. I took a buddy with me, and had he never fished with me before he'd probably never go with me again. LOL

We fished from 10:30 to 3:00 in various (would be) prime spots on the Bay River......caught 2, had 2 more bites.

I missed the "slow straight retrieve" memo. Dang it.
 

darenative

Twelve Pointer
Fished this afternoon until about dark. We caught 35 or so between us. It took an hour to find the patch of warm water we fished 2 days ago. Once we found it the bite was pretty consistent. Good class of eating size fish, most were between 17-21". We didn't land any over 24, but pulled off a couple that felt dang strong for 45° water.
 
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