THE CRYSTAL COAST'S INSHORE/NEARSHORE FISHING FORECAST- APRIL / MAY

Well, we are sitting on mid April and the fishing is picking up!  Here's what's going on as of April 15th and what to expect throughout the rest of April and May along the Crystal Coast.

Currently, there are good numbers of Sea-mullet, bluefish, small grey trout, and other bottom fish moving in the inlets.  The bite is on around the Morehead City Port as well as the Swansboro Waterfront.  For the best results on the sea-mullet try jigging 1/16oz spec rigs tipped with Berkley Gulp Cut Bait or shrimp flavored FishBites.  Both Dudley's Marina and the Reel Outdoors has everything in stock!  You'll need to make a modification to the 1/16oz spec rig.  Try attaching a 1/2oz to 1oz bell weight to the leader midway between the two spec jigs on the rig.  You can do this by simply pushing the leader material through the eye of the weight, looping it over the weight, pull it tight, and then tie an overhand knot in the leader to prevent the weight from slipping.  It's important to use the 1/16oz spec rigs as the Seamullet often turn down the larger jigs.  Try jigging the rig with a continuous, gentle 1ft lift followed by a 1 to 2 second pause when it touches bottom.  If the wind and current aren't too strong just set your boat up to drift.  If the current or wind is too strong, try power drifting.  Basically, just drift with your bow pointed down wind while bumping your motor in reverse occassionally for several seconds to slow the drift and keep the boat moving at the same speed as your lines.  Good luck! 

Other than these pan-fry sized bottom fish, there are some larger bluefish in the 1 to 5lb range feeding around the inlets and near-by creeks and channels.  To locate these blues try slow trolling shallow and deep diving lures such as those by Yozuri, Mirrolure, and Rapala.  This is also a good time to get rid of all those soft plastics that have been occupying good space in your tackle box.  Rig them on a 1/4oz to 3/8oz jighead and slow troll them.  Either way, try to use a bait that suspends from midway in the water column to the surface.  Oh, and be sure to keep your drags light as hatteras sized bluefish of 5 to 10+lbs are present as well.  Bluefish of several pounds or less are very good eating, especially if you slit their throat and bleed them out in the livewell before placing them in the cooler on ice. 

The Speckled Trout bite is on both in the New River as well as the Neuse River.  The fish are still bunched up and slowly moving toward the creek mouths.  Thanks to another warm Winter, this Spring has been producing a lot of Trout over 4lbs.  In talking with Capt. Ricky Kellum, Capt. Mike Taylor, as well as our catch aboard FISH'N4LIFE... we've all been putting fish from 4 to 7lbs in the boat on almost every charter.  The bite should continue through April and May.  We've been having excellent success using Berkley's 4in Shrimp and Pogies as well as a variety of suspending baits by Mirrolure, Rapala, and Tseunami.

There are plenty of Redfish along the surf and moving into the backwaters.  These fish will still be bunched up in decent schools of 25 to 100 or more fish.  Both Capt. Mike Taylor, Robbie Hall, and myself have found some decent schools of fish ranging from 18 to 30in. this past week.  They are beginning to take topwater baits now that the water temps have gotten in the mid- 60's.  Other effective baits will include spinner baits, lightly weighted soft jerkbaits, jigheads tipped with Berkley Gulp Alive baits, as well as live bait.  Try hiking the beach over Bear Island to get into the bite along the surf.

There are plenty of Seabass (keepers) in 50 to 60ft of water right now and one of the most effective ways to target them is to jig a 1.5 to 2oz bucktail tipped with a 4in Berkley Gulp Shrimp or Pogie.  Using this method naturally selects larger seabass than using cutbait or jigging a stingsilver.  Last week, aboard FISH'N4LIFE, we spent Thursday jigging off the beach on some live bottom using the bucktail w/Berkley Shrimp and landed nearly 400 Seabass with our limit of 12+in fish.  We also managed to put up 5 flounder with the largest just under 5lbs along with four Grouper and a variet of other bottom fish.  If using the Stingsilvers, try tipping them with a small piece of Berkley Gulp Cut Bait or FishBites... It definately helps!  and it eliminates the need for all that messy squid or natural cutbait!

Both Albacore and Bonito have moved nearshore and can be found over the Artificial Reefs and live bottoms within 5miles of the beach.  As we move into late April and early May you can expect to find a lot of small king mackerel, spanish mackerel, and big bluefish mixing in the same areas.  The most effective method for these early season fish will be to fast troll deep diving lures by Yozuri and Tseunami.  Be sure to add a short 6 to 12in. piece of steel leader to the front of these baits to avoid cut-offs.

  -CAPT. JEFF CRONK