I had friend and Wyoming angler Mark Landerman join me on the boat last week for some shallow water sightfishing along the Cape Fear Coast. Mark is an avid fly angler pursuing trout thoughout WY and Montana. This is Marks second trip to NC. He came last fall and got to experience the NC albacore fishing so this trip he was after shallow water redfish. We started the day early looking for tailers around some oyster bars due to the low sunlight and visibility and our local redfish didnt disappoint us. Within the first few minutes we spotted a tail and Mark made the cast but the fish never tailed again and we lost him. After running to another little bay we started poling down the bank and bumped into a school of fish. After backing off and letting them calm down, they started tailing on a mud flat and crushing small shrimp on the surface. It was an awesome site seeing backs and tails out of the water as they crawled across the flat. Unforturnatly we didnt manage to get any of these fish as we lost them when they moved into a deeper depression. I decided to move us to another flat close by where I had been finding fish the week before. As we appoached the flat we noticed other friends of mine were already on the fish but they called us over to join in. I silently poled my Maverick hpx-t over and watched as a large hungry school of redfish came cruising by eating everything in their path in a foot of clear water. We set up as to allow Fred and John in the other boat to get first shots at them since they were there first. As the fish moved in our direction I spun the boat to give Mark a shot and he made a perfect cast to the lead fish. The first fish inhaled his fly but being a trout angler forgot to strip strike and the fish pulled off. There were so many fish that Mark simply made another cast and we watched as four fish fought over the fly until one inhaled it and Mark was tight to his first red drum on fly. After a few quick pictures and the release, I asked Mark if he wanted to get one on a topwater fly. So I quickly grabbed a gurgler out of my fly box and as Mark tied it on I poled the boat back up to the group of fish which were still feeding. As I pushed Mark in range, he made a quick cast to the fish and before he could strip the fly a fish exploded on it. Catching a red drum on topwater is one of the most exciting ways to target them. After a few more photos and the release we tried to get another but with the strong full moon spring tide flushing in we lost the group as they began spreading out along the marsh edge.
The next day friend Kary Via joined me on the boat for some afternoon flood tide tailers. We saw many fishing tailing happily in the spartina grass as they were feeding on fiddler crabs. We managed to land 4 tailing redfish on fly and pulled the hooks on 2 more.
The fishing in Topsail Island, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and the Cape Fear River is outstanding right now. Dont miss your oppotunity, now is the time to book your trip and experience it for yourself.
Captain Allen Cain
http://www.sightfishnc.com/
Captain Allen Cain
http://www.sightfishnc.com/
