Fishing

It seems this spring we’ve been writing about the slow start to the season and how the unstable weather has kept frustrated fishermen stuck on the dock waiting for our three favorite words: light and variable.

The backwaters surrounding the Ocean Isle Beach area have not been producing the kind of action expected for this time of year.
The flounder bite has been on and off with only a few good fish biting a hook. Red drum and black drum have gotten picky in their feeding habits. Trout seem to be spread all over the place, making them hard to target. I can only speculate that the back-and-forth weather patterns have continued to play a role in making our resident fish sluggish and slowing down the flow of migrating fishing into our waters.

All right, guys. See that little patch of grass sticking out a little farther than the rest? See the little rip on the down current side? There should be some trout where the smooth water meets the faster-moving water. Josh Benton, from Raleigh, tosses a chicken-bone colored Paul Brown lure into the smooth water and immediately hooks a trout. We throw everything we had at them for about 30 minutes without another bite.

I can’t say I am excited about the way this past week ended. The speckled trout were busting it earlier last week but died off by the weekend. Small flounder were being caught all through the backwaters from Dunn Sound to Lockwood Folly River, but I can’t say the weekend provided great results.