# Tubbs Inlet 7.6



## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

I'm making my annual trip to Sunset Beach this weekend and I'm wondering where the best areas to fish are around the Tubbs Inlet area.










Last year I fished at the black circle and caught a ton of pinfish as well as one sea mullet using cut shrimp on a two hook bottom rig. I set up a big rod for flounder using mud minnows but I only got one bite.

Two years ago I fished at the red circle and caught three sea mullet, one skate and one ladyfish using the same cut shrimp rig.

I will DEFINITELY be using the river rigs. I was always of the philosophy that two hook bottom rigs are good as long as it's not wire, but it sounds like this river rig is the bee's knees.

Currently my strategy will be to try the red circle again with cut and live shrimp on river rigs targeting sea mullet. I also want to try the canal to the left portion of the image which I am thinking should hold flounder drum and trout. Fresh shrimp should do the trick back here as well, but mud minnows or a cut piece of pinfish sounds pretty good as well.

What do I need to change in terms of tackle/bait/location? Thanks and this is an awesome forum!!


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## Phaedrus (Mar 25, 2011)

Try walking the inlet at low tide to find the holes. I like fishing a little but more to the north of the black circle (right at the bend). We caught a couple of puppies, trout, flounder and pinfish there last summer. Leave the river rig in a sand spike and try a jig on flouro carbon with gulp to slow drag across the bottom for flounder. You could also try the same under a popping cork.

I know that everyone says that there isnt ever any structure on the beaches there, but there was a litttle rip right in front of where we stayed last year (saw a big bull red in it that wouldn't take my bait). Also, we rode our bikes on the beach to the jetty last year and saw three or four other rips. Didn't fish them, but I may try this year if there isnt one near us. Also may try the jetty last hour of incoming and first two of outgoing this year.

Good luck and please post when you get back!


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

Gonna move this over to the NC forum, where you might get more replies, childress. Welcome to P&S.


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

Thanks for the input Phaedrus. North of the black circle where the creek feeds in looks like a great spot. River rig in a sand spike (cut bait) and popping cork in hand (shrimp) sounds like a pretty good setup. Shrimp are a great bait but they are gone in a second and they can't be trusted in a sand spike. On slack tide I'll switch the popping cork out for a sabiki rig (cut shrimp or fishbites) for some guaranteed action. I've fished Sunset several times and I always hook into a lot of small fish but hopefully I can hook into something with some size this time around.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Welcome to the family


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## Supersign (Jul 26, 2012)

Hopefully this wind and rain will subside soon down here. I have been down here since last Friday and the surf has been tore up. I have caught a few small spots and small whiting and that's it. The sand blasting is getting old.Anyway, I am going to try it again in the morning up at the inlet.


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## Supersign (Jul 26, 2012)

I fished the area near the red circle this morning. The skies have finally cleared and the wind much calmer.I caught tons of pinfish,a few whiting, a few spot, some decent blues (off of cut up pinfish), and a small flounder. All on river rigs and shrimp. I noticed most of the smaller boats stayed inside the inlet and hit the docks. Unless you are entering a pinfish tournament, I would stay closer to the black circle on the photo. Make sure you get there early to get one of the few parking spots near the inet, they fill up fast.Good luck!


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## SpeedRacer (Sep 5, 2010)

Fished the ocean side and after getting beat up by the wind for about 45 min, moved towards the black circle. Caught a 14 inch flounder and had something bite the tail off my gulp. Then nothing for the next 3 hours. Will try again tomorrow. 

Saw tons of baitfish swim right by me so maybe I should try minnows or go get a cast net? Also saw a few rays swim right in front of me which scared me to death.


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

From my experience the entire Tubbs area is pinfish city. Sabiki rig w/ Fishbites should provide nonstop action. This year I'll try using less shrimp and replacing with cut bait and sand fleas (if I can dig up any near clams), which should hopefully avoid the interest of pinfish, unless the pinfish suddenly have cannibalistic urges. 

I was dumb enough to think the river rig would be sold at one of the Sunset or OI tackle shops. Called them up and they were all confused, and then I read the bible thread showing they were only sold in the Hatteras area. Briefly considered driving up to Hatteras today to get my hands on some, but then Google Maps informed me of the 13hr round trip. I'll stick with the standard double hook line (no wire) bottom rig and hope for the best. I'm not confident enough in my knot-tying abilities to try and recreate the river rig.


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## SpeedRacer (Sep 5, 2010)

childress said:


> I was dumb enough to think the river rig would be sold at one of the Sunset or OI tackle shops. Called them up and they were all confused, and then I read the bible thread showing they were only sold in the Hatteras area. Briefly considered driving up to Hatteras today to get my hands on some, but then Google Maps informed me of the 13hr round trip. I'll stick with the standard double hook line (no wire) bottom rig and hope for the best. I'm not confident enough in my knot-tying abilities to try and recreate the river rig.


Lol. I got the same reaction when I asked about the river rigs? May try again when the tide rolls in this evening.


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

Caught about 30 pinfish and a sea mullet fishing all over Tubbs today. Had a couple of doubleheaders and one tripleheader. Too bad I was not in a pinfish tournament. The sabiki rig is a pinfish killer but I was hoping it would have caught more sea mullet. Didn't see anyone else catching in the area. Part of me wants to aggressively target bigger fish in the area, but it is hard to justify when I see no one catching them and when I am having a good time reeling in 30 fish.

Does anyone know if there is a way to catch sea mullet while avoiding pinfish? I used shrimp and Fishbites most of the day. Cut pinfish bait was worthless as were mud minnows last year. I tried a few sand fleas to no avail.

Granted I am not a Tubbs expert since I fish it once a year, but I think Andrea made a big impact on the inlet. If you are looking at the image the lower half looks nothing like that; the inlet now cuts towards the Sunset side. I fished the 'new' cut briefly and it was pinfish bite within a minute of casting.

One of the pinfish I caught was an absolute monster, it dwarfed the sea mullet, I ate it tonight and it made for a decent meal but not nearly as good as the sea mullet.


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## buckeyenut10 (Apr 7, 2012)

childress said:


> Caught about 30 pinfish and a sea mullet fishing all over Tubbs today. Had a couple of doubleheaders and one tripleheader. Too bad I was not in a pinfish tournament. The sabiki rig is a pinfish killer but I was hoping it would have caught more sea mullet. Didn't see anyone else catching in the area. Part of me wants to aggressively target bigger fish in the area, but it is hard to justify when I see no one catching them and when I am having a good time reeling in 30 fish.
> 
> Does anyone know if there is a way to catch sea mullet while avoiding pinfish? I used shrimp and Fishbites most of the day. Cut pinfish bait was worthless as were mud minnows last year. I tried a few sand fleas to no avail.
> 
> ...



Hi Childress, now I'm no expert on the Tubbs inlet area either. But I want to try it out this week. Thanks for the report. Did you only fish the inlet side? Was it to windy on ocean side? Thanks, buckeyenut


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

I started the morning at the bend (surf fishing from Sunset side), then slowly moved bayside, then ended at the new inlet cut Oceanside. Overall the water was average clarity; better than I was expecting given all the rain. Wind was not an issue yesterday. 

There is also a sandbar (only at max low tide) at the bend that stretches all the way to just north of the black circle. I considered walking out there but there were a lot of boats concentrated in that small area.


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## Phaedrus (Mar 25, 2011)

Did you drag different colors of gulp across the bottom? I will be down (and hopefully shark fishing) Thursday night!


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

Phaedrus said:


> Did you drag different colors of gulp across the bottom? I will be down (and hopefully shark fishing) Thursday night!


Did not jig gulps. I told myself I would start jigging gulps if I saw other people catching flounder, but I didn't see anyone else catching.


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

Here's the monster pinfish


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## gshivar (Aug 29, 2006)

Hope you keep and eat those "pinfish". The fish in the picture with the whiting is a "spot". A very good fish to fry-up!! Best - glenn


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## KB Spot Chaser (Nov 19, 2009)

gshivar said:


> Hope you keep and eat those "pinfish". The fish in the picture with the whiting is a "spot". A very good fish to fry-up!! Best - glenn


poon bait


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## childress (Jul 1, 2013)

gshivar said:


> Hope you keep and eat those "pinfish". The fish in the picture with the whiting is a "spot". A very good fish to fry-up!! Best - glenn


ehhh pretty embarrassed i didn't recognize that as a spot :redface:


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## gshivar (Aug 29, 2006)

Hey, don't feel bad. I have thrown back hundreds or thousands of blow toads before I ate one. Now I can't catch enough!! Enjoyed your reports - best - glenn


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Toads are the best. Chicken O' The Sea! Easy to clean too.


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## cooper138 (Aug 8, 2012)

mmmm...toadies


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## fishinbob (May 27, 2011)

Please tell me you haven't been throwing back spot this whole time! When I saw 30 pinfish I thought to myself "pinfish aren't good eating, but at least he caught 30 of them which made his day fun". Now that those "pinfish" have been spot, that is an excellent day. Next time keep those spot and have a great fish fry!


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