# Topsail Island 8/5-8/11



## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

I just got down to topsail today. I havent done in any fihsing yet but I plan to chase some pomps tomorrow morning depending what the weather is like. I hope to catch some blues and whiting that are eating size for dinner one night. Wed-Fri night Im going to be on the Jolly Roger chasing sheepshead and black drum, which means Wed afternoon Ill be at the north end chasing fidler crabs. Ill report back every day as to how I do. Im staying about 2 miles north of the Joly Roger and I plan to do a lot of fishing right in front of the house but Ill be moving around a lot too. If anyone is on the island this week, keep an eye out for a lifted Nissan frontier with rods in the bed. 


A pic to start my thread.


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## smacks fanatic (Oct 16, 2010)

Good luck man. I certainly can tell you, after seeing that picture, I definitly want to be up there right now...But school is about to start up...Oh well good luck.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

2.5 hours before high tide the pomp bite was on! No real size to them with the biggest being about half a pound. I caught one blue inside the sandbar and my old man caught an under slot red on fresh shrimp


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

There is no better way to start a week long beach trip than this:


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## N topsail fisher (Feb 13, 2005)

Those feet will be feeling good with a little sand rubbing around. Congrats on the first day of catching.


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## Shellback2 (Jan 7, 2006)

A pair of white socks and some shoes to wade in will help those feet. Put some bait on that rod with the hanging rig and fish in close. Looks like a good spot.


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## westernny (Feb 18, 2006)

I spent most of the day looking at rentals on topsail for next spring, usually go to Myrtle beach but would like to try N.C. if i can get a place with a heated pool . Going for last week of March til first week in April. Seeing your pics of the fishing might help in my choice. Keep posting !!


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

closer to get the crabs at the south end past the dredge dock...walk down at low tide. water's looking a little too stirred up there...hope it's green by next week...


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## Tigerhoo (Jul 4, 2012)

smacks fanatic said:


> Good luck man. I certainly can tell you, after seeing that picture, I definitly want to be up there right now...But school is about to start up...Oh well good luck.


Down at topsail as well this week. Staying about two miles south of high bridge in north topsail. Went to to high rise bridge in hopes of some flat fish after drifting the channel in the ICW with no luck in my Yak. Fished gulps on bucktails and flounder rigs and nothing but pinfish biting the tails off. Almost got hit buy a boat, and manage to turtle my yak and put a 4/0 all the way through the skin a top my pinky nuckle. I did manage to cut the shank and pull it through, so continued to fish, but that was the only success of the day. Did see pleanty on bait and slot reds chasing them, but I was specifically targeting flounder and my tackle to stout to get any consideration. Likely will head south and lighten up and catch whatever on lighter jigs tomorrow. Keep me posted on your success or lack there of. Wouldn't be above getting an inshore guide for a day for reds and flounder as I have two willing to go. Let me know if your interested.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks but I'm not a big fan of fishing on boats. It can be fun but I really prefer surf fishing. 
I'm taking it a little easier today, it's 10:20am and I still haven't gone to buy more shrimp.

Last night about 45 minutes after dark I had a taker on my diawa sealine 40 SHA and a whiting head. The fish ran up the beach and pulled about 100 yds of line in about 2 minutes before he spit the circle hook. I'm going to go after him again tonight. 
My dad swore he saw a couple Spanish jumping on the sand bar yesterday afternoon. That gave me a little hope for the trip.
I threw a flounder rig with whiting strips in the surf for a bit yesterday with no takers, just pin fish nipping at it. 
The crabs are terrible too.


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## gshivar (Aug 29, 2006)

nissan11 Thanks for the report. Have a great vacation! Best - glenn


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

The bite has been slow today. No pomps or whiting to report. The surf is calm but still a bit murky.

The only good of the day so far has been the schools of mullet running 10' off the beach. Easy cast net range. I only had to make one cast.













Today has been frustrating. There are lots of swimmers up and down the beach as far as I can see and they have no problem drifting right in front of me. They have forced me to stop fishing for the moment.


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

Thanks for the reports, nissan. Did you hit the person closest to your spikes and rods in the last picture with a cast?


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Yes, it was an off the ground cast that went horribly wrong....she eventually got up and stumbled back to her house, though.


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## Gregg Seaford (Feb 23, 2009)

LOL!!! Keep the reporst coming I will be on Topsail on Saturday for the week,staying surf city.....


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## N topsail fisher (Feb 13, 2005)

I'm interested in the sandspike. Is that Shurtape connecting the PVC?


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

That is PVC pipe duct taped to steel fence posts. They are heavy and kind of a hassle but I can use a 4 lb sledge to drive them into the sand and they wont budge even if they are under 2' of water. 


I just got in from doing some night fishing. I didnt have any luck with a fireball rig with cut mullet or a fish finder rig and a mullet head. Ill try again tomorrow. 



The moon was bright.


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## smacks fanatic (Oct 16, 2010)

Damn! That was the frickin moon?!


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Great report. Thanks for sharing.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Yes, that is the moon.

I drove up to the N end today and had NO luck catching fiddler crabs. What is the secret? They all just ran down their holes and I tried digging them up by hand with no luck.


It looks like a LOT of rain is about to set in so I'm going to take advantage of the low swimmer activity. I'll post back tonight.

BTW, my pops said he saw a sail fish jumping in the surf in front of the house while I was gone.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

For the crabs, walk slowly towards them/try to pin them against something and if they all retreat flip up rocks. Get up on the pier and freeline some live mulllet for spanish. I caught a 4lber last week on yaupon pier in oak island


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

Get a $5 small garden or potting hand held shovel, when they first go into their hole they will only be 2-3" below the surface...use the shovel to get under them...if you try to use your hand and dig from the top they will just retreat further down the hole...key is to get under them. You can use a long screwdriver or long pair of scissors as as well. Watch the beginning of this video for some tips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCC3QDPXLM8

At the south end by the dredge dock they will sometimes be out wandering around at dead low tide and you can grab a couple...i usually just bring some hand held shovels, a bucket, and my kids...30' later i have bait for the week. Keep them in a bucket with some moist sand at the bottom, feed them hot dogs...


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

Also I will warn you about sheepsheading the JR...went last month, could not keep a fiddler on the hook...tons of puffers around eating them...brought up a dozen half-pound puffers on fiddlers before i gave up....had never caught so many of them in the summer before...hopefully they are gone by now.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the warning. I'm going to give it a try on the JR tomorrow and see what happens.
I'll try to catch some fiddlers at the south end tomorrow morning. I think I've got a long screwdriver in my truck.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

Keep walking past the dredge dock until you see a little inlet on the left (100 yards or so)...they're usually back in there


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## smacks fanatic (Oct 16, 2010)

A sailfish? damn what have I been missing...


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## Shellback2 (Jan 7, 2006)

greg12345 said:


> Also I will warn you about sheepsheading the JR...went last month, could not keep a fiddler on the hook...tons of puffers around eating them...brought up a dozen half-pound puffers on fiddlers before i gave up....had never caught so many of them in the summer before...hopefully they are gone by now.


Don't you keep puffers, aka blow toads?? If you have never kept them you don't know what you are missing. There is a strip on each side of the back bone that's fine eating. Check on drum wagon to see how to clean them. I think I have seen this on utube also.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

I caught several small blues (about a pound or two) on fireball rigs using cut bluefish and mullet. They were the only fish of the day next to pin fish. Tomorrow morning Im going to go try to get some fidler crabs in preparation for fishing the JR tomorrow night.
The pier fishing is going to be weather permitting and it doesnt look very good at the moment.


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Here are a few storm pics I took with my 30D tonight. These were all long exposure shots.


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

Those shots could hang in any museum.


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## speckhunter80 (Oct 3, 2011)

greg12345 said:


> Also I will warn you about sheepsheading the JR...went last month, could not keep a fiddler on the hook...tons of puffers around eating them...brought up a dozen half-pound puffers on fiddlers before i gave up....had never caught so many of them in the summer before...hopefully they are gone by now.


Greg, you need to keep them puffers and eat them. Probably better tasting the sheeps.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

chicken of the sea i know...and cleaning them is kind of fun with a fork...but i wanted bigger chunks of meat...


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## cyp (Jun 1, 2011)

Ill be in topsail well actually close to the surf city pier the week of 8/18. I cannot wait


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Pier fishing last night was slow. We caught a few puffers, a decent pomp, a few small whiting, some spadefish, a bass and a fish I couldn't identify.
No sheepshead. We used sand fleas, fiddlers, shrimp and cut bait.






































Unidentified fish


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

last one is a spottail pinfish. catch those rarely while fishing for sheepshead w/crabs, they seem to run bigger than the normal pinfish from what i have caught. i have never caught a sheepshead at night but black drum should be around


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## smacks fanatic (Oct 16, 2010)

greg12345 said:


> last one is a spottail pinfish. catch those rarely while fishing for sheepshead w/crabs, they seem to run bigger than the normal pinfish from what i have caught. i have never caught a sheepshead at night but black drum should be around


Isn't that a ringtail? It might be the same thing. Jus wondering....


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Not a spot tail pinfish, its a ring tail. Actually pretty good to eat. Ive caught some big ones off shore bottom fishing


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## DrumintheSuds (Nov 19, 2007)

Greg12345

I am looking to make a day trip to Topsail soon. If yer gonna be down anytime would like to meet up and wet a line for the day. Let me know if yer interested


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

We fished the surf all day today and only caught blues off the back side of the sand bar. The water was the most clear it's been in days but we didn't catch any pomps. We are going to try the pier again tonight.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

nissan11 said:


> We fished the surf all day today and only caught blues off the back side of the sand bar. The water was the most clear it's been in days but we didn't catch any pomps. We are going to try the pier again tonight.


To be honest youd probably be better off fishing for sheeps head in the day time


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

We might try the day time pier fishing tomorrow.


For now .....


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## Kingfish258 (Jun 30, 2010)

The ladyfish and specks are on fire under the bridge, been limiting out on trout about every time! Also some upper slot reds on the shoal at the north end, but sarks are bad to take them from ya!


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

The pier was a blast last night. Some early rain cleared the pier and we had it to ourselves. We went to the end and caught sharks until 6am. 
We also caught a few eating size whiting. This may be the end of my fishing for the trip. I'm not sure whether to nurse my sunburn inside or have another go in the surf.

Who can ID these sharks?


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## Kingfish258 (Jun 30, 2010)

Spiney tooth dog fish!


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Oh ok. Are they any good to eat? If I had known it was dogfish and not sharks we would have cleaned one. 
I hit the surf for a bit today. It was real rough and the only thing I could get to hold was a 6 and 8 oz spudnik sinker. I used cut bait and sand fleas but only caught pin fish. We are going to try again at dark.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Looks to me like small sandbar sharks, illegal to posses in all sizes


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## originalhooker (Nov 26, 2009)

1st fish Spottail Pinfish, Ringtail, "sea bream" for some head boats - Diplodus Holbrooki....
2nd is a Atlantic Sharpnose, grow to about 4'
A sandbar has a dorsal ridge between dorsal fins, this one no ridge, if it's a spiny where's the spines?


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Is the sharp nose a fish that is legal to harvest?


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## nissan11 (Jan 24, 2010)

Here are a couple pics I took tonight to wrap up my report.


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## originalhooker (Nov 26, 2009)

your photos made the trip,,,,, if you never got a bite!
I, so much enjoy our stormy summers & cloud filled skies!
Thanks for sharing


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Those might not be sandbars but there definately not sharpnose. No spots, no whiskers, and the waters a bit warm for them.


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## gshivar (Aug 29, 2006)

As far as the shark goes I do not think it is a sandbar tiger. Thanks for the reports. I have enjoyed reports and pics. Have a safe trip home! Best - glenn


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## KB Spot Chaser (Nov 19, 2009)

The shark is an atlantic sharpnose, common around here, you are allowed to keep one. Catch em in the river all the time tarpon fishing. The white spots are a dead give away.


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## drumchaser (Jan 14, 2003)

Those Popeyes will taste good smoked.


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## drumrun (Dec 5, 2007)

Spot chaser is right, that is a sharpnose.


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

KB Spot Chaser said:


> The shark is an atlantic sharpnose, common around here, you are allowed to keep one. Catch em in the river all the time tarpon fishing. The white spots are a dead give away.


Sorry about that, my bad your right the computer i first looked at the picture on has terrible quality


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