Although a  constant string of cold fronts and cut - off lows have locked us out of our traditional Spring pattern of sight fishing our shallow open water flats for big schools of complacent fish, with blustery Northeast winds and plenty of grey days, the forecast hasn't spelled doom and gloom.  Deep within the protected shallow recesses of the marsh, Redfish have been carrying on with their daily routine. And just what is on the to do list for a Redfish that has spent most of the winter huddled over a warm flat attempting to retain enough metabolic energy to remain off the menu for the pods of bullying Dolphins , and even bigger bullies inundating the sanctuary of our shallow water nursery sreas with destructive Gill Nets? The list is actually rather short... EAT!

Sight fishing has been tremendous the last month, as unusually numerous broken pods of over wintering fish have  set up on almost every mid creek delta and are still feeding heavily on grass shrimp. Lots of 3 - 4 year class Redfish are mixing in with the smaller fish, offering some of the best chances at 30" plus fish in the 10-15lb. range that we've seen in quite a while on both fly and spin gear. Sighting these brutes isn't rocket science in the tight confines of the marsh, as the mayhem that insues as they crash  scurrying pods of tiny shrimp, is kind of hard to miss. Simple grass shrimp patterns tied with mylar tubing, a maribou tail, and a hackle collar are get tons of attention and offer a subtle touch down for fish that are sometimes within 20 feet of the boat. On the spin side, small unweighted jerk baits and crab immitations work nicely, especially as the flood starts to give fish access to the Spartina.

 Your next Cape Fear adventure awaits!                                                                          

Cool weather, cool anglers, and the Cape Fear make for some hot fishing

To some, Fall marks the end of the "glory days" of Summer. To those of us who know better, it marks the beginning of some out of sight angling, as fresh weather patterns team with bait migrations, less fishing pressure, boat traffic, and changing air masses, to usher in an awesome new season of sight fishing and Trout catching!

On a recent trip with Jared from Chapel Hill, who happens to be new to the saltwater fishing scene, but is nontheless utterly obsessed by it already, we were faced with a conundrum... stick with the original plan of getting a later start to take advantage of an advancing tide to put him on a good Trout bite or ditch the Trout plans altogether in favor of some early am low tide sight fishing to get him his first ever Redfish. It was just too hard to pass up with the slick conditions we had, so off to the flats! With the Quarter Moon tide ebbing quick-

ly, we eased onto a Shoal Grass covered mud flat that I was certain would be holding broken pods of soon to be backing and finning Redfish, quickly being warmed by the increasing light. Within minutes of poling down Sun on the gin clear flat, it became apparrent that with the total slick calm conditions and optimal Sun angle we were going to have our work cut out for us to avoid spooking the happily cruising fish that were littering the flat all around us. Well planned presentations, and being careful not to cast off any pressure wakes from unnecessary movement paid off as Jared watched in amazement as a short but spunky yearling fish turned and sipped the unweighted jerkbait, and was soon all smiles as he came tight to his first ever Redfish in 10 inches of crystal clear water. The same scenario was repeated throughout the morning on 2 seperate, but equally fish filled flats. With the nerves settled from multiple successes, we decided to leave the fish and hit a new flat as the tide was just beginning to rise, and I knew these fish would soon be pushing to the perimeter of the flat to slip out of sight in deeper water. Change of scenery on the new flat would have put us fishing in the vicinity of friend and fellow Guide Seth Vernon of Double Haul Guide Service, who no doubt was showing his customer some prime sight fishing, so being blessed with a seemingly endless supply of fish holding water, and having no need to crowd anyone, we eased out of the creek and headed to an oyster strewn cut that was flowing current in hopes of nabbing Jared a few Trout. On his first cast to an eddy in the little funnel of current, Jared detected a subtle Trout bite that turned into a nice surprise, a 20" Flounder that had been holding in the seam inhaled his jig and after a couple head shaking runs, came boatside. With afternoon upon us, and many firsts for Jared in the bag, lunch was calling angler and guide off the water. As we past only the second boat we had seen all day, I promised him we would actually go Trout fishing when he returned to the coast again this season!

 

"The Cape Fear is Calling!"

 

 

Capt. Todd Streeter (910)338-6711

www.chasintailfishing.com

Fall has found the Cape Fear at last! Cooler temps along with waning daylight and the first "Mullett Blow" of the season, have put the bait migration into overdrive. Mullett, Menhaden, Silversides, and White Shrimp are funneling through the Cape Fear Marshes, putting all of our inshore species on the move and feeding aggressively before Winter arrives and the buffett closes. Redfish are cruising in smaller "wolf pack" pods on the flood tides as they slurp Shrimp on the surface and run huge Mullett schools. The Reds are easily spotted even from a distance as they break on top (something we normally don't see during the warm weather months) Our Fly anglers have been having a blast with surface feeding Reds on Gurglers and Poppers. With most of these 3-4 year class fish refusing to be subdued on 7 and 8 wgt. outfits due to cooler water temps and the accompanying higher oxygen saturation, fights have been much more challenging. Low water periods have offered excellent sight fishing for both fly and spin on large concentrated schools of 25 - 200+ fish. The water clarity has been a little more turbid than usual making sighting slightly more difficult, but has also allowed us a little more "wiggle room" when approaching and setting up on these big schools. Topwaters and Copper spoons have definitely been the preffered baits on spin. Tailing Redfish activity has been outstanding with the higher moon tides this Fall, and just about anything appearing to contain digestible protein, when properly presented to a head standing fish will seal the deal back in the dense Spartina Grass. Basically... the Redfishing has been as good as it gets the last 3 weeks, and typical to this time of year we should start to see some of the adult itinerant fish move in in waves as they pop inside on their migration down the beach. Flounder have lost their usual inhibitions and are also popping up on the flats to feed in the upper water column, making them sight fishable. Most of our fly anglers have been successful in sighting and landing a couple fish on each trip, while stripping Clouser deeps or Spoon flies past a recent flatfish boil. Speckled Trout are stacking in eddies and deeper sloughs with flowing current, but our Redfish missions have taken priority over the yellow mouths so far. That will change as November typically offers the best Trout action of the season. It looks as though we might be in for a Northeast blow with the passage of tropical storm Sandy Early next week, hopefully pushing a lot of Shrimp and fin bait downriver, setting us up for some outstanding sight fishing for Reds as well as moving some Trout out of deeper holes to the surface to sip on Shrimp! Cape Fear in the Fall, if you haven’t experienced it, you need to!