On Febuary 20th I had Capt. Jeff Cronk and Darryl Marsh from Carolina Fishing TV on board filming for their most recent episode. We fished the backwaters of the lower Cape Fear for redfish and had a decent day. We saw lots of fish and caught a dozen or so, not bad for late Feb. You can check it out at www.carolinafishingtv.com or on Fox this Sunday morning at 8:30 in eastern NC.

The next couple of weeks should provide some good fishing opportunities with warmer weather predicted starting next week. Black Drum and whiting should start showing up towards the end of March. Check out the pics from the past couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
NC Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

  

March is right around the corner and the spring fishing season is fast approaching. Hopefully the temps will get back to normal and I will have a good weather fishing report for the 1st of March. Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
NC Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

Chris with a nice upper slot red on 2/3/10. Chris and me caught 50 to 60 mid to upper slot reds on one of the nicer days we have had lately.

Chris with one of the many double hookups we had on 2/3/10

One of the nice reds I caught on 2/3/10

Small muddy bottom holes like this one are holding good numbers of reds in the lower Cape Fear

Mike with a over slot red he caught on 2/7/10

Jack with a mid slot red he caught on 2/12/10

A over slot red I caught on 2/12/10. We caught over thirty reds and left the fish biting on a cold, overcast day before the snow set in.

Christian dropping in on 2/13/10

The view from my back deck on 2/13/10

  

January 28th turned out to be one of my best redfishing days ever. I had Capt. Jot on the Banshee Extreme on a decent day searching for reds in the lower Cape Fear. We found some reds on the flats and along a creek bank and had caught about fifteen after three hours of fishing. We then searched some creeks and found a school of 25? to 31? reds in a small hole about three feet deep and caught around 70 fish out of that one small hole!!! We ended the day with around 85 redfish!!!

January 29th was cold and windy day and we ended up catching around thirty reds in a protected creek out of the wind. Two other days that I have fished over the past couple of weeks produced seven reds on one day and fifteen on the other.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will have another good report for the next couple of weeks. Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
North Carolina Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

1/22/10 Mike with a nice red he caught on a shell point.

1/28/10 Capt. Jot with a over slot red that fell for a Saltwater Assassin paddle tail jig.

Jot hooked up

Upper slot red I caught on 1/28/10

Mike with a nice red he caught on 1/29/10

1/29/10 Buddy and Mike doubled up on reds

One of the many double hookups we had on 1/28/10 and 1/29/10

2/1/10 Jerry with a red he caught after making a perfect cast into a school on the flats

  

My son Christian and his friend Brian fished on 1/16/10 and caught around 30 reds in the creeks and on the flats. There are also some large schools of reds in the surf along Masonboro and Lea Islands and there are some sightfishing opportunities to these fish when the winds cooperate.

The striped bass fishing is starting to pick back up in the upper Cape Fear river with the warmer weather starting to bring the water temps back up where the fish will get a little more active.

There should be some good fishing opportunities over the next couple of weeks for redfish, stripers and possibly some speckled trout. Hopefully the long periods of cold weather are gone and we will have some normal weather conditions for the rest of the winter. I should have a good fishing report for the next couple of weeks. Check out the photos from 1/16/10 and 1/18/10.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
North Carolina Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

1/16/10 Dave with a nice striper that fell for a bucktail in the upper Cape Fear river

1/18/10 Christian with a nice trout he caught on a soft plastic jig

1/18/10 A rare mid Jan. flounder I caught on a redfish magic glass minnow

1/18/10 Christian and Luke doubled up on reds

1/18/09 Luke with a nice red he caught after making a perfect cast into a nice school on the flats

1/18/10 Christian and Luke with two out of a triple hookup we had sightfishing on the flats

1/18/10 Christian and me with two out of a triple hookup we had sightcasting on the flats

1/18/10 Luke with a nice spec he caught on a DOA paddle tail jig

1/16/10 Brian with a nice red he caught along a creek bank in the lower Cape Fear

  

The redfish are schooled up on the flats in large numbers. These fish are spooked easily in the cold, clear, shallow water. We have had more success fishing the schools as the tide starts to rise and the fish move up along the grass line. The reds are also schooled up in small pods along mud flats in the creeks. These fish are easier to catch because we can keep the boat in deeper water and cast to the fish without spooking them. The reds are falling for scented and unscented soft plastics on light jig heads.

We have some good striper fishing days the past couple of weeks. The stripers are being caught on a number of different artificials. Swimbaits such as the Yum Money Minnow and the Strike King Shadolicious have worked well rigged weedless on a weighted swimbait hook. Shallow and deep diving stickbaits, lipless crankbaits, and bucktails are aslo working well. Topwaters are working when the fish are busting bait on the surface. We have had a few double hookups as a result of seeing the fish busting on the top.

This fishing pattern should continue over the winter months. We will be fishing for redfish on the warmer days with light winds and the striper fishing should be good in almost any conditions. Hopefully this cold, windy weather will get out of here and the fishing will be a little more consistent. Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
NC Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

12/17/09 A beautiful bronze upper Cape Fear redfish that fell for a X-Rap diving plug

12/19/09 Christian with a nice striper he caught on a swimbait rigged weedless on a weighted swimbait hook

12/20/09 Christian and Wright doubled up on stripers after seeing the fish busting bait on the surface

12/20/09 C.Wolfe and me also doubled up out of a small school of stripers after seeing them busting on the surface

12/24/09 Christian with a nice 12 lb striper he caught on lipless crankbait. He is either really lucky or really good for a fifteen year old.

12/23/09 Coburn with a nice striper. Coburn can also flat out fish as you will see in the last four photos

12/31/09 Coburn with a nice red he caught after making a perfect cast in front of a small school pushing along a mud flat

12/31/09 Coburn and Christian doubled up after I bumped the fish with a cast into the middle of the school. Your welcome guys.

12/31/09 Coburn and me doubled up out of a large school along the marsh as the tide was rising. Notice how Coburn lucked up with the larger fish out of the schools.

  

There have been some good inshore fishing opportunities out there lately for redfish, speckled trout, and striped bass. The weather has impacted the fishing with a lot of hard winds recently, but I have managed to get a few good fishing days in.

The redfish are schooled up in good numbers on the flats and there are some good sightfishing opportunities when the wind and tides cooperate. There are also some smaller schools in the creeks of the lower Cape Fear river that we can fish for on the days that we have some wind. The reds are falling for scented and unscented soft plastics.

The speckled trout are biting around Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and the lower Cape Fear river. The specs are hitting soft plastic jigs, mirrolures and of course live shrimp. The spec bite is off in the upper Cape Fear river due to the recent heavy rainfall. Hopefully, the water will clear up in the river and the specs will move to their normal winter hideouts, where live shrimp and artificial shrimp will put good numbers of specs in the boat.

The striped bass are starting to show up in the upper Cape Fear river and their numbers should increase
as we get into late Dec. and Jan. This is a catch and release fishery and catching these fish on light tackle is a blast. There are some thirty plus pound fish lurking in those brown waters, but most of the fish we have caught lately have been four to seven pounders. The stripers are hitting swim baits, lipless crankbaits, shallow and deep diving stickbaits.

The fishing is going to be good over the Christmas holidays and hopefully the weather will cooperate. Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

Merry Christmas,
Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
NC Inshore Fishing Blog
910-619-9580

A nice redfish I caught sightcasting to a small school along a creek bank.

A spec that fell for a soft plastic jig.

C Wolfe with a nice red caught sightcasting to a school along the marsh edge.

Mason with a striper he caught on a swimbait.

A nice red that I caught out of a large school on the flats.

Christian with a striper he caught on a lipless crankbait.

A striper I caught on a swimbait rigged weedless.

  

The inshore fishing for redfish and speckled trout has been good and should continue for the next couple of weeks. It is going to be a good time to get out on the water and do some fishing over the Christmas Holidays.

The redfishing has been great!! We are finding some nice schools on the flats and some smaller schools in the creeks in the lower Cape Fear. Most of the reds have been caught by blindcasting and sightcasting scented artificials. We have been doing some intense sightcasting to reds in small narrow creek barely wide enough to get the Ranger Banshee in. Check out the new Ranger Banshee Extreme Redfishing video. This fishing has been an absolute blast.

The speckled trout bite has been good also. We are catching most of the specs on Billy Bay Halo shrimp imitations and soft plastic jigs.

Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Fish Carolina Beach Blog
910-619-9580

11/17/09 Loretta with a nice red she caught with a live shrimp on a carolina jig.

11/21/09 Christian and Timmy teammates on the Ashley JV Basketball team with a few of the trout they caught on Billy Bay Halo Shrimp. They put about 25 in the boat on that day.

11/28/09 Chris with one of the reds he caught on a redfish magic glass minnow.

11/29/09 Timmy with a red he caught out of a nice school along the marsh edge.

11/29/09 A nice red I caught sightcasting to a small school in a narrow creek.

11/29/09 Christian with a red he caught sightcasting in a narrow creek.

12/1/09 Rick with his first red on fly. He caught several reds and a spec all on the fly rod.

  

The redfish bite has been really good in the lower Cape Fear using both artificial and live baits. We have been doing some very exciting sightfishing way back up some narrow creeks so shallow I can barely get my Ranger Banshee to the fish. These fish are running in small pods and lots of times we are casting to fish with their backs out of the water. For those that are not comfortable throwing artificials we are catching the reds using the simple methods of bottom fishing and float fishing live minnows and shrimp. We are also picking up a few flounder and speckled trout while fishing for the reds.

The speckled trout bite is good and should be getting better after the water clears some from the recent hard rains we have had recently. We are catching the specs on Billy Bay Halo Shrimp imitations, jigs, and live shrimp on float rigs. Double digit days have been common. Most of the trout are nice fish with our largest weghing in at just over four pounds.

The whiting and gray trout are on the edges of the ship channel in the lower Cape Fear.. Two hook drop rigs baited with fresh shrimp have put these tasty fish in the boat. There are also a few black drum, and sheephead being caught around structure and the bluefish are around the inlets.

Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks. These are just a few of the good catches we have had lately.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Fish Carolina Beach Blog
910-619-9580

11/6/09 Chloe with a double on nice spots. We caught 81 spots along with some redfish, virginia mullet, and gray trout on this trip.

11/7/09 Jeff with a nice red caught on artificial in a narrow creek. Jeff has been a regular over the past couple of months and loves catching reds on artificials and is getting good at it.

11/7/09 Jeff and Ed had two back to back hookups of reds out of a small school in a creek about twenty-five feet wide

11/7/09 Ed with a sightcasted red that was chasing bait with his back out of the water. Check out the width of the creek in the background. The Ranger Banshee was sitting in about five inches of water.

11/8/09 Joe, Spencer, and Grant had a good father and sons fishing day catching reds on live mud minnows

11/9/09 Zach with a sightcasted red on artificial

11/9/09 Zach with a spec that hit a jig

11/11/09 Christian with a four plus pound spec that fell for a Billy Bay Halo shrimp

11/14/09 Leslie with a nice flounder that hit a live mud minnow on a carolina rig

11/15/09 AJ with over slot red caught with a live mud minnow on a float rig

11/15/09 AJ and Sarah with a couple of their first redfish

Noah with his first redfish at five years old. Great job Noah!!!

11/11/09 Kenny with nice black drum that hit redfish magic glass minnow

  

The redfish bite has been good using artificials and live baits. Double digit days have been common. There are some schools of upper and over slot reds on the flats and the sightfishing should be good on the days with light winds.. We have also done well lately sightcasting and blindcasting artificials and using live baits back in the creeks on the windy days. We have also picked up a few speckled trout and flounder while fishing for the reds.

Speckled trout are hitting jigs, artificial shrimp, mirrolures, and live shrimp. The trout bite should continue to get better and peak as we get into mid Nov. and early Dec
.
Black drum and sheephead are around structure and hitting fiddler crabs and live shrimp on carolina rigs. Gray trout are in the deeper holes in the creeks and on the shelly bottoms on the edge of the shipping channel along with seamullets. Using two hook drop rigs baited with shrimp will put these tasty fish in the boat.

This a great time of of the year to be on the water fishing for a good variety of great eating fish. Some of the methods to catching these fish are simple and a lots of fun, especially for kids. Whether you want to throw artificials for redfish or speckled trout or two hook drop rig for seamullet and gray trout, November is the month to do it.

Check out some of the photos from the past couple of weeks. These are just a few of the good catches we have had lately.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Fish Carolina Beach Blog
910-619-9580

10/20 Steve and Jeremy with a pair of the reds they caught on artificials. We really got on the reds back in a creek and they caught about 25 slot fish along with many smaller reds.

10/23 Headed across the mighty Cape Fear at daylight.

10/23 Eric with a redfish caught with a live mud minnow on a carolina rig

10/23 Jeff with a spec that hit a Berkely gulp shrimp

10/24 Kenny with a redfish that hit the new Bomber Ba donk a donk topwater plug

10/26 Bo and Brinson with a few of the reds and a flounder they caught on artificials

11/1 Wright a teamate of my son Christian on the Canes showcase baseball team with a redfish he caught on a gulp shrimp. He had a inshore slam on this day.

  

The redfish are biting well on live baits and artificials. Most of the reds have been caught by blindcasting and sightcasting soft plastics and scented baits in the creeks and bays of the lower Cape Fear. We are also picking up a few reds on topwater plugs. For those that are not comfortable throwing artificials we have been picking up some reds by float fishing and bottom fishing live baits along the grass lines, oyster points, and shelly bottom drop offs. We are also picking up a few speckled trout and flounder while fishing for the reds.

The speckled trout bite has been decent and should get better over the next couple of weeks. The specks have been hitting soft plastic grubs, artificial shrimp, topwater plugs, suspending mirrolures and of course live shrimp on a float rig. Nov. and Dec. are peak times to catch speckled trout in the Cape Fear area.

We are picking up a few flounder but it is mostly while we are fishing artificials and live baits for the specs and reds. The sheephead bite has been good, but they will be moving out as the water cools. There are a few black drum around and their numbers could very well increase as we get into Nov. The blues have been schooled around the inlets and the lower Cape Fear and we have had some fun sightcasting to them with topwater plugs and jigs.

Check out the photos from the past couple of weeks. These are just a few of the fish my customers have caught lately.

Thanks,
Jeff Wolfe
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters
Fish Carolina Beach Blog
910-619-9580<

10/4 Joe with a speck that hit a artificial shrimp under a popping float

10/5 Hunter with a red that hit a live mullet minnow on a carolina rig

10/5 Hana with a blue that she caught out of one of the large schools we saw on this day

10/6 John with his first redfish that was caught on a redfish magic glass minnow

10/6 Marvin with a spec that busted a Zara Spook topwater plug

10/9 Bob with a nice red that hit a soft plastic jig

10/10 Mr Rice with a black drum that hit a live shrimp fished on the bottom

10/10 Douglas and his dad with a pair of the reds they caught on live baits

10/11 C. Wolfe with a flounder and red he caught on artificial back in a creek on a windy day

10/17 Chloe with a red that she caught on a live mud minnow

Click on the link to read the recent Guide Times article in the Fisherman’s Post about fishing for tripletail and redfish in the Cape Fear river with Jeff Wolfe.