Fall Report

Admittedly I am bad about keeping up with fishing reports so I will try to play catch up with whats going on along the Cape Fear Coast. If you want to view daily reports and photos, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SightfishNC?ref=hl.

Fall fishing is in full swing and the bait is stacked up in the creeks, inlets, and along the beaches. Speckled trout have started to show up in good numbers from the New River to the Cape Fear. We are catching them in the Rivers, Inlets, and tidal creeks around structure. Oyster points, grass islands, rock piles, and bridges with current are all good hiding places for trout waiting on an easy meal. Most fish we have been catching have fallen for DOA soft plastic lures on jig heads and Billy Bay Halo Shrimp fished under popping corks. Good color choices are chartreuse, pink, white, or any combination of those colors. We have also been catching the trout on fly. When fly fishing for trout I like to use an intermediate line with a baitfish pattern such as a clouser or deciever. Trout fishing should continue to get better over the next 2 months. Flounder fishing has continued to be good and with the abundance of bait the fish are very fat. Most of our flounder have been caught while fishing Berkely Gulp soft plastic lures on jig heads. While live bait works very well for the flounder I find that the jigs allow us to cover more water and locate more fish. Redfishing had its ups and downs over the last few weeks with the windy and rainy weather but has began to improve with the cooling water temps. We have been catching redfish from Topsail Island and Wrightsville Beach down to Oak Island. Redfish have been falling for a variety of artificial lures and fly patterns while fishing the flats and tidal creeks.  Sightfishing for flood tide tailing redfish has been good but with the cooling temperatures the fiddler crabs will soon go into hibernation causing the flood tide fishing to end. If you want to catch a tailing redfish now is the time as there are only a few good tides left. Low tide redfishing should get better as we get into late fall and winter as the fish will start forming large schools. These schools can range from 50 to over 400 fish. This combined with the clear wintertime water makes for excellent sightfishing. False Albacore have also been making a good showing along the beaches and make great fly rods targets. These are very fast fish and will take you into your backing everytime. They feed on baitfish schools and we find these fish by looking for groups of fish busting on the surface. Casting a small baitfish pattern with the fly rod or a small metal spoon with a spinning rod into busting fish will usually result in a hook up. The albacore should be around our beaches until mid November.

I still have a few good dates left for Cast and Blast trips for clapper rails (marsh hens) and redfish. The clapper rails flush from the spartina grass as we pole the boat through the marsh looking for redfish. Bag limits for the rails are 15 birds per person and the season last until November 9th. We usually start the Cast & Blast trips fishing for tailing redfish and then finish the trip shooting rails. This is a tide dependent trip and there are only a few good tides left for this so dont hesitate to call and book your trip.

Now is the time to get out and experience the fall fishing along the Cape Fear Coast. 

Fishing on the Cape Fear Coast

Redfishing along the Cape Fear Coast continues to be great for fly and spin anglers when conditions allow. With two tropical storms over the recent weeks, we have had some very windy days.

Good news is that even with the rainfall and dirty water the fish are still feeding good. The redfish are scattered everywhere from Topsail Island to Oak Island and are very aggressive. The wind has made it tough on some days for fly anglers but with a little hard work we have managed to hook and land multiple fish in tough condtions. Anglers throwing topwater plugs on spin rod have had some great days no matter the conditions. There's just something about watching a 6 pound redfish explode on a surface plug in shallow water that keeps you coming back for more. Other lures such as redfish magic spinnerbaits, gold spoons, and DOA soft plactics have been working well. We have also managed to pick up a few speckled trout and flounder while blind casting for redfish. One flounder was just under 5 pounds. Fishing live mullet or menhaden around structure or area inlets has also been very productive for flounder. Most flounder are still just under or at the legal size limit but there are some larger fish mixed in. With the recent tailing tides the redfish have been on the hunt for fiddler crabs. We have had a few great days chasing tailers on the fly rod. If you want to catch a redfish on fly this is one of the most exciting ways to do it.

Here is a short flyfishing video a friend of mine filmed and put together a few weeks ago. We first chased low tide fish and then tailers. It was a really windy day but we managed to land two fish on film.

http://vimeo.com/42900458

Capt. Allen Cain

www.sightfishnc.com

Jon with his first redfish

speckled trout caught on spinnerbait

Tailer, 11 o'clock at 40 feet

Fly Tying step by step tutorial

Ive been sick for the last few days with strep throat along with a fever and other cold symptoms and after sitting around taking medicine and watching TV for 3 days,  I decided to do something productive and catch up on some fly tying since I wasnt able to get out on the water. I have meaning to do a few fly tying step by step tutorials for my blog and figured this would be a good time to start. To me fly tying adds an extra element to the sport of fly fishing because you can take a hook, some feathers, hair(real or synthetic), and thread and combine them to create something that mimics a bait or prey species and use it to deceive a predator fish into thinking its food. Also it allows you to use your imagination and the hundreds of natural and synthetic tying materials and create something new that the fish havn't seen.

This first pattern is one that I've been using with success this winter along the Cape Fear Coast for redfish. Its black and purple and shows up really well in dark or stained water. It is basically a modified version of a seaducer and is a great shallow water fly as it lands softly and has alot of action underwater. It can be tied in many different sizes for any salt or freshwater fish that feeds on shrimp or minnows.

This particular one I have been using is tied on a size 1 Gamakatsu SC15 hook and is about 3 inches long.

Materials:
Gamakatsu SC 15 size 1
UTC Ultra Thread 210 in black and optional fl. fire orange
Bead Chain Eyes - size large in gold color
Craft Fur - purple
Schalppen feathers - black
Flashabou Accent - gold color
Tying tools- scissors, bobbin, hackle pliers, needle nose pliers with wire cutter, and whip finisher

Start your thread and create a base from the eye of the hook to just past the hook point

Cut a patch of purple craft fur and pull off any underfur that is attached and place to the side. At the same time cut about 8-10 strands of the gold flash accent the same length of the craft fur. From here you can combine the craft fur and flash together like I did in the picture or you can attach the flash on top of the craft fur after its tied in.

Next tie the craft fur to the hook

Once the craft fur and flash is secured cut off a pair of eyes from the bead chain with wire cutters. Tie the eyes in just in front of the craft fur.

The next step is to pick a wide schlappen feather and attach the top of the feather just in front of the eyes and then work your thread back to the eye of the hook.

Attach your hackle pliers to the schlappen feather and begin palmering the feather around the hook shank, keeping the wraps close together to build a thick body. Use your fingers to keep the fibers from getting wrapped under each other.

Continue wrapping to the eye of the hook. Tie off the schlappen feather and trim excess.

From here you can continue using the black thread or switch to the fl. fire orange color. Using the bright color is simply to help track the fly in the water and is not neccessary to catch fish. From here use one hand to fold the feather fibers back over the fly and work your thread about 1/8 of an inch towards bend of the hook. This forces the feathers fibers to lay back over the fly. Finally whip finish and trim your thread and coat with a drop of head cement.

This is a simple to tie but effective fly and one that I have used with good success over the last few months...just look in the mouths of these 2 fish.

I will try to get a few more tutorials done on other patterns soon.

The weather is still mild along coastal NC and fishing has remained very good so tie up a few flies and bring them down to test on a few Cape Fear Coast redfish.

Capt. Allen Cain

http://www.sightfishnc.com/

Wintertime Sightfishing

The wintertime sightfishing along the Cape Fear Coast has been exceptional this year with the mild winter we have had so far.  The redfish are schooled up in the creeks and on shallow mud flats and the water is crystal clear.

On Friday I had anglers Brian and Jeremy on board for their first ever redfish trip. Brian and Jeremy are both accomplished anglers and have fished everywhere from their homestate of NY for trout and steelhead to Alaska, Belize, and the Bahamas. The goal for the day was to get each of the guys their first redfish, Brian with fly and Jeremy with spin rod. I knew it was going to be a good day when Brian told me has caught bonefish, tarpon, and permit on fly, as I knew his casting abilities would allow him many shots at fish and be able to deal with the wind. The day started out calm without a breath of wind and quickly warming temps. After arriving at our first spot, I gave Brian a fly rod rigged with Millers Mighty Minnow fly and Jeremy a rod with a Berkley Gulp shrimp. The fish in this location have been fished to quite a bit by other fisherman and very spooky so I wanted a fly that landed softly and a plastic lure with some scent in case they refused the fly. Within 40 yards of where we started we ran into the first group of around 30 fish laying on top of an oyster bar warming up in the morning sunlight. Unforturnatly they saw us first and spooked. We worked these fish for about an hour allowing them to calm down and then slowly approaching them again but they would never allow us in range with out spooking. We had been watching a small group of dolphins working the outside edge of the flat and assumed they were chasing redfish as well. I figured those dolphin were the reason these fish were spooked and decided it was time to find a fresh group of fish but told the guys keep their rods ready until we were off the flat. As I poled the boat towards where the dolphin had been splashing around earlier my boat accidently hit an oyster bar I tried to slide over. With that sound the water 50 ft. to our right errupted with about 60-70 redfish hiding in a small pocket of water behind the next oyster bar over. They were just laying there hiding from the dolphins until we spooked them. I instructed Jeremy to make a quick cast with the gulp while I spun the boat to give Brian a fly shot. Jeremy immediatly hooked up and with a quick flycast and a few strips a fish inhaled Brians fly. A Double hookup and each guys first ever redfish.  After a few pictures and a little celebration we began to look for the fish again. We ended up finding them but between us catching 2 of their buddies and pushing them out of their hiding spot from the dolphins patroling the edge of the flat  they were extremely spooky.  With the wind beginning to pick up I took the guys to another flat that has been holding a huge school of fish but when we arrived the SW wind had the water very choppy and dirty and made spotting the fish almost impossible. With the wind picking up and time running out we called it a successful trip and great way to start the 2012 fishing season.

The last week of 2011 I spent some time on the water friends Jimmy, Kary, and Kary's son Jake.

Kary, Jake, and I spent the 29th on the water duck hunting and fishing. Kary and Jake had never been duck hunting so I invited them down to hunt the saltmarsh in an area I had been seeing a few black ducks, gadwall, and buffleheads. Unfortunatly there wasnt much flying that morning but we did get to watch a small group of redfish swim in and around our decoys. To bad we didnt have a rod or camera, they were in the boat about 200 yards away. At one point I pulled the jerk string on the decoys and fish scattered in all directions in the decoys, it was a very cool sight. We decided to call the hunt and go chase some fish. We explored some new areas and found fish laid up warming in the sun and spooky so we left to find others. On the next group Kary made a cast to a fish cruising down the shoreline and the fish aggressively attacked the fly. On our way back we learned why the first school of fish were so spooky, they were being fished hard by other groups of fisherman. This brings up an important point, this time of year you shouldnt fish the same school to hard or they will become very spooky and move. You should catch a few and then move to the next school of fish.

On the last day of 2011 I joined friend Jimmy Wright for a short fishing trip on my old boat. Jimmy bought my previous skiff from me and it was nice to get out and fish on it again. With the wind blowing 15mph and forcasted to increase we knew we would be spending the day fishing protected creeks. We located a couple groups of fish and managed to get 4 redfish and a small speckled trout to finish up the year before having to get back and prepare for the new years celebrations.

Winter is the time to come fish the Cape Fear Coast if you want to sightfish large schools of fish in very clear water. Whether you're a fly or light tackle angler, don't hesitate to book your adventure.

Capt. Allen Cain

http://www.sightfishnc.com/