Southern District Fishing Report —
Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick Counties
Contact: Dennis Trowell (Dennis.Trowell@ncdenr.gov)
For the week of Aug. 12-19
Ocean: Offshore fishing picked up with anglers landing wahoo and a few dolphin and releasing billfish. Bottom fishing remained very productive with boats bringing in limits of vermilion snapper along with some nice scamp, red grouper, and gag grouper. Closer to shore, in the 10- to 15-mile range, king mackerel fishing slowed, but anglers still caught some kings along with a few dolphin and cobia. Nearshore, the flounder fishing has been very good with lots of fish coming off reefs in the 2- to 5-mile range.
Inlets/Sounds/Bays: There was very little change from the previous few weeks. Anglers caught a mixed summertime bag of fish including red drum and black drum, flounder, and a few spotted seatrout. Fishing in the New River has produced some good catches of trout as of late, as has fishing at the Little River rock jetty. Most of the trout were caught with live shrimp fished under a float. Big, over-the-slot-size red drum started to show up at the ends of Masonboro Inlet and Little River Inlet rock jetties. Sheepshead and black drum were caught around area docks, bridges, and oyster rocks.
Piers/Shore: Anglers fishing on area piers saw a mixed bag of fish that included low numbers of spot, croaker, and sea mullet caught on bottom rigs. Founder catches really picked up over the past couple of weeks, and good numbers of keeper size flounder were caught on live minnows and shrimp. Anglers also caught some slot-size red drum and a few spotted seatrout. Surf fishermen reeled in much of the same with sea mullets making up the bulk of what they caught.
For the fishing year, all owners/operators of vessels recreationally fishing for and/or retaining regulated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (Atlantic tunas, sharks, swordfish and billfish) in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, must obtain an Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Angling permit. This permit has replaced the Atlantic tunas Angling category permit. In North Carolina, additional Highly Migratory Species harvest reporting requirements are also in place. To obtain a permit go to: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/compliance/permits_reporting/index.html
Report a tagged fish
Please note: Anglers sometimes confuse small king mackerel with Spanish mackerel. King mackerel and Spanish mackerel have different size and catch limits. Make sure you properly identify the mackerel you are catching. (Tips here)
A recreational fishing license went into effect Jan. 1, 2007 for all of the state's coastal and ocean waters.
Click here for the latest seasons, size and bag limits.
Please note: New reports are usually posted by early Monday afternoon.
