# Where are the spots?



## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

You guys have told me shoulder to shoulder on the pier, chaos, spot mania? There is not a single post on the Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, or this forum about it. The forum is supposed to light up with info when they come. Where are they? Just wondering?


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## Danman (Dec 13, 2007)

No more spot runs due to global warming.  JMHO: Global commercial overfishing has reached our shores. One can buy lobsters for 7.00 at bi-lo now. Whats that telling you??? Size limits need to be increased! creel limits need to be decreased! Stop protecting sharks. (they eat too many little fishies). I have always thought that if they would ban fishing for a year it would make a huge difference. People are not starving and to not fish for a year wouldn't hurt anybody's waistline. Simple solutions for big problems. Then again, I would ban football for a year to give everybody's life back for that year. (Whew!) too much brain usage on this one. Think I'll take a year off


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

Check out the Virginia forum - Hop Around Weekend.


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

rabbitdog2 said:


> Check out the Virginia forum - Hop Around Weekend.


Thanks for that link! Is spot fishing really that on and off? One day you slay them and the next day nothing? I have never caught a spot so I am clueless although I will be at the beach this month! I have all my stuff packed and ready thanks to you guys including river rigs and fishbites and the knowledge hopefully to be successful.


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

About 25 years ago me and 3 other men and 2 10 year boys went to Topsail Beach in November to fish. We stayed at the old Scotch Bonnet Pier. WE arrived about 10PM when we had checked in I told my buddy that I was going to walk out on the pier to see if the fish were biting. The lady at the motel told me that we didn't need to go out on the pier, she told us that the fish were biting.
We got our rod and reels and started fishing at about 10:30 PM. WE fished all night until about 8:00 am and went and ate breakfast. WE came back and fished all day. About 7:00 a man, his wife and 2 kids came up and started to talk to us. WE knew they wanted to fish but they didn't have any equipment. WE let them fish in our spot while we went to dinner. We came back and started fishing again and about 10:00 I had to go get some sleep. My buddy came and woke me up at midnight and I went back out. At 2:00 2 of the other guys went in.
My buddy and myself tried to fish until we ran out of bait, but we quit at 3:00 and gave an old black the rest of our bait. When we started to carry the fish off the pier we had 9 Styrofoam coolers and 3 lard cans.
We caught over 1200 spots. The next morning we decided not to fish. We were setting in the restaurant eating breakfast and we could look down the side of the pier and it looked like a curtain of fish being rolled up.
We were standing on the pier about an hour after breakfast and a commercial trawler show up 75 yrds off the end of the pier, he made 2 passes and the spot run was over. I have never seen so many pissed off people.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

The first week of October has rarely been the spot run. It'll be later on, but fish don't use a calender.


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

That's quite a story! Is is likely the whole month of October will be good in the surf for all fish?


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

October is normally good for most fish, It depends on the cold fronts, the wind and when the tide changes occur. I only surf fish and I do best on a rising tide with a NE wind this time of the year. In the summer I like a SW wind. The best spot runs I've seen have been in November. It can really cold on the pier with a NE wind b lowing.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Gary Carrier said:


> That's quite a story! Is is likely the whole month of October will be good in the surf for all fish?


In a short answer, yes.


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

SmoothLures said:


> In a short answer, yes.


Thanks, guys? Is October possibly the best month of the year or is it better in the spring?


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## aardvarkgraphix (Sep 30, 2005)

October is probably the BEST time down, the spots have been hit and miss the last few years. I drove down for a day trip one day, sat on the pier all day. Well, we had not had a bite all day literally, then all of a sudden the spots were so thick they were running into the lines so hard that even if they did not bite, your rod would bend. We filled two five gallon buckets in less than an hour. It was over. We cleaned fish and headed home. GREAT DAY was had after all. Two years ago we I sat on the pier from 6am until about 3ish in the afternoon. The guy I was fishing with beside me said he was heading in, did not look like they were going to show today. I asked if he could stay until my Mother and brother made it out, he obliged. He could not have been off the pier not even 5 minutes and it started. We filled 3 buckets full and I finally told everyone fishing with me to just STOP! We had to CLEAN ALL THESE FISH, they were all a good sport, had an assembly line going and cleaned them all in about two hours. You have to be there when they decide to show, OR it will be" YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE YESTERDAY" kind of story.
GOOD LUCK, I believe you are the person coming down the 26th of October. Come on out to Apache one day and say HI, I'll be the one with the blue aluminum cart with racing slicks on all corners, can't miss it. Usually wearing a "KENALLI OUTDOORS" t-shirt.
See you then,
Ken


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

Very neighborly of you, Ken! Last time I fished from the pier, it was at Apache. Are you there every day? I might just come by one day. I was planning on maybe just fishing the surf but your invitation is pretty neat. Since I'm just in this reply to you, maybe this won't be so upsetting to the forum. I just watched this video today saying that ocean acidification was at its highest point in 300 million years and mass extinctions are already beginning to occur starting with coral. Don't really know why so many people poo poo stuff like this but it is quite alarming to me. http://www.stateoftheocean.org/


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Gary Carrier said:


> Thanks, guys? Is October possibly the best month of the year or is it better in the spring?


Other than maybe the Spanish bite, I'd prefer October over spring.


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

SmoothLures said:


> Other than maybe the Spanish bite, I'd prefer October over spring.


Thanks, good info. We used to always come in September but it began to be too hot for my wife. She hates heat. So for the last 3 or 4 years we have come in October. 75 is great!


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## sc_shark (Dec 2, 2012)

reds/spots have been in the last 4 weeks with no shortage. water temps are 74-76 we are sitting at a lower water temp this year than last year at this time(last year was 79-81 this time).


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

sc_shark said:


> reds/spots have been in the last 4 weeks with no shortage. water temps are 74-76 we are sitting at a lower water temp this year than last year at this time(last year was 79-81 this time).


I'm not talking about the red drums (spotted bass) but the little spots and their annual run. Are those water temperatures good for surf and pier fishing?


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

aardvarkgraphix, sent PM. Thanks!


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## surfisherinMB (May 18, 2009)

Not a spot run by any means, but did catch a few last night in the surf so they are moving. It looks like some cooler temps and NE winds towards the end of next week, may be the recipe for a spot run. Guess we'll wait and see. On another note, also got a few nice whiting and a 10lb ray last night. Caught everything on sand fleas.


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

Are the sand fleas still plentiful? And did you catch the spots on sand fleas?


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## abass105 (Jun 13, 2006)

Thanks for the report. Coming down on Wednesday for 6 days. Were the sand fleas plentiful?


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## Loner (Sep 9, 2009)

...RUNNING use to denote EASY FISHING....now there really arn't ANY RUNS of ANYTHING....U just have to go and HOPE A SCHOOL comes thru where-ever U are...
There are SO MANY people hanging on computers WAITING for someone else to REPORT THE HOT RUN and sadly folks just AIN'T POSTING HOT RUNS no more....2-3 days of good fishing is worth so much more than being SWARMED by NET WATCHERS....even the piers PROMISE NOTHING on their reports.....
We are past saturation...too many people fishing and the fish just arn't being allowed to recover.....


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## surfisherinMB (May 18, 2009)

Yes rabbit got the spots on sand fleas. Found one big pod of fleas and filled the bottom of a five gallon bucket in 5 minutes. An hour later, none to be found. Fished the last 2 hours of the incoming tide, right in the suds. And Loner, Stop Yelling! :fishing:


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

.Thanks surfisherin I've never caught spots with fleas but everything else will eat them. So why not spots.


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## lds (Oct 9, 2012)

A friend of mine was still catching huge numbers last weekend up in Delaware...this weekend not so many; so it looks like they're moving south..I haven't heard from anywhere else yet, but the OCEARCH site showed two of their Great Whites (Lydia and Mary Ann) have turned southward around the VA/NC border... They're following something, that's for sure.


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## Gary Carrier (Oct 11, 2012)

lds said:


> A friend of mine was still catching huge numbers last weekend up in Delaware...this weekend not so many; so it looks like they're moving south..I haven't heard from anywhere else yet, but the OCEARCH site showed two of their Great Whites (Lydia and Mary Ann) have turned southward around the VA/NC border... They're following something, that's for sure.


Found this on a Delaware post: "- Jumbo spot on incoming tide, like every cast; BW Fish Bites"


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## SpringmaidKeith (Jun 30, 2013)

Last year we had a Spot run in July, this year, the same. A question, because of these runs when the water is hot, do they not migrate N to S? I've talked to a few & possibly do they come in from the deep? The fall run wasnt like 3 yrs ago when they ran like H. & didn't run in july. Just wondering, any thoughts or theories are welcome, K


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