# Wilmington Area?



## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Good news! My son just moved to Wilmington, so it looks like I'm going to have to make the 11 hour trip from Kentucky to visit him 4 or 5 times a year. And I love surf fishing, but know nothing about that area.
Question 1 -best bait/tackle spots near Carolina Beach? 
Question 2 - should I surf fish in that area or travel a few miles in either direction?
Question 3 - I'll be there this Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, what should I target this time of the year if anything is in the water(never been to the beach in early April)?
I doubt if there is any place to castnet for finger mullet, they're probably not even around yet,,I'll stick with shrimp and maybe cut bait on the bigger rod.
Thanks for your help!


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## weekdayfisher (Apr 25, 2009)

Not sure about question 1 and 2 dont fish down that far. Question 3 you might find a few whitting, or maybe a drum in the surf. But this cold weather dropped the water temp real quick. It was around 59-60 last week now its 56-57. But good luck if you make it up to wrightsville give me a yell I am on the pier just about everyday when that water hits and stays above 64.


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## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

When you go into Carolina Beach, you cross a a tall "humpy" bridge (Snow's Cut) and about .5 to 1 mile on right is Island Hardware and they are a great tackle store.

If I were going to surf fish on Pleasure island (Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, fort Fisher) I would go down to Fort Fisher and drive out on the beach if you have 4x4. If not, go to Kure Beach and fish just south of the pier.

I would also walk out on the pier and see what is going on there as to what is biting.


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## Rastabluegrass37 (Mar 21, 2007)

Kure Beach, south of the pier is pretty good. Don't overlook Wrightsville Beach though; there is some good fishing to be found on the south end and near the piers. If you can find the deeper holes in the surf around the piers, you can really clean up. This time of year, there are more whiting around the piers than at the north or south end; however the red drum fishing on the south end remains ok through winter and should be pretty good as the water warms a little.


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## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Thanks guys! I don't know about Wrightsville on this short trip next week, but I'll definitely check it out on the next trip in mid-June (nine days planned). Thanks for the Island Hardware tip, and I've heard of Kure beach from this forum, I will check it out.
Best place for fresh shrimp around Carolina Beach? (bait, not lunch!)


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## Bocefus (Apr 19, 2010)

Bait=Island Hardware & Tackle.


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## 1SHOT1KILL (Jul 31, 2010)

In Kure Beach, there was a nice hole about 200yds north of the pier and about 300-400yds south of the pier. At Ft. Fisher, you can drive out on the beach ($50 for a yearly permit is what it cost in 2010) if you have 4x4 (air down your tires to about 20#) and go down about 1 mile to Crosssover #3 and start there and if you don't catch fish, then move back up the beach. Also at the end of the rocks there at Ft. Fisher Battlefield (at the statute and gazebo) is a nice hole. 

This time of year you can catch whiting (virgina mullett/sea mullett), corakers, and blues. Try fresh shrimp, fresh cut bait, and Fishbite Bloodworms on 1/0 circle hooks and you should catch fish, if they are out there.


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## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Again thanks!
Didn't know Island hardware had bait,,thanks for the tip. And 1shot1kill, thanks for the tips, but don't tell me exact locations! That is being too nice! Just general knowledge, I'll figure it out.
I've been searching through the thread history on Wilmington and found good stuff about inland tips if surf isn't producing, next is a search of the pier histories,,see if I see any patterns..What a great source of info! Don't want to bore you all with the same questions over and over..
I know this is fairly early season, I'll report back what I can.


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## 1SHOT1KILL (Jul 31, 2010)

If you want to check on history of fish patterns, try the daily fishing reports at Blue Marlin. They break it down by months (Mar to Nov) and goes back to 2001 or 2002.

http://www.blue-marlin.com/


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## yerbyray (May 18, 2010)

Don't forget about Tex's Tackle in Wilmington. It is on the southside of town close to Wrightsville Beach. They were very nice, had a good amount of gear and help sponsor the Johnny Mercer Dogfish Tournament this year. Well worth stopping by.


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## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Quick fishing report:
Monday 4/4-In the surf at Carolina Beach, right at the first public access at the boardwalk area. 6:00 AM, windy, blowing north, caught nice black drum (3 or 4 pounds), puffer, and skate in about 2 hours using shrimp. 3:00 PM same place, wind was way strong, my medium level equipment and 3 ounces no match for the wind and current, everything blew north.
Tuesday 4/5- Kure beach pier-5-7 AM before the storm rolled through, had to fish north side because of the high wind, nothing at all. 3-4:30 PM, wind died down, caught half a dozen small whiting at end of pier southward, again just shrimp. More bites than I could handle, the 1-0 circle hooks were probably too big. Made a mistake and fed a couple of the whiting to the pelicans, they nearly attacked me every time after that!
Short trip, be back in early June for a longer visit, but always a good time.


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

nice report. thanks


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## Mangus (Mar 22, 2007)

Fishdrummer: Recommend "North Carolina's Ocean Fishing Piers", by Al Baird. Met him several weeks ago, and he has fished every pier in the state. This is a 2011 publication and may not be easily found yet. It did a lot to update "Coastal Fishing in the Carolinas", by Robert J. Goldstein, which is another excellent source for researching the Carolina piers. Good Luck!


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## don brinson (Apr 8, 2011)

*al's book*

I was able to get Al's book from the facebook page SALT WATER FISHING PIERS OF NORTH CAROLINA about a month ago, very nice book


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## don brinson (Apr 8, 2011)

sorry wrong info, correct info is NORTH CAROLINA FISHING PIER SOCIETY facebook page


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## zztopsail (Jul 23, 2009)

PSSST,,Yo Buddy;

Ya didn't hear dis from me, but there is some good fishing to be had, just out behind the,,,,nope,nope not gonna say it

Ok, lets do dis another way...

Say u was down around the Carolina Beach area,,,maybe even Kure and you got real hungry , u know for sumthin emmmm floundery and you look up and u see this half washed away pier and yo, there are people on it,,but there aint no water under the pier, so u say,,,,hmmm wtf,,,they aint fishing,,so they must be drinking and eating. So you decide to join the party.

Now, whilst your downing some suds, you look out and there are pelicians sitting on some posts out in the middle of the water. Not that grabs ur attention so you scan to the left and lo and behold there is some serious surf fishing holes with draws and eddies washing in and out to,,,hmmm say Spain.

Now I believe, that if I was a fishing man, I might just drop that flounder sandwich and that beer on the boards of that ole brokebn down pier and grab me some sand spikes and do me some hook wetting

But hey,,,psst,,,you did not hear that from me


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## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Hey zztopsail! I've still got a smile on my face from that post! Hope you don't mind, but I copied and pasted it in an email to my son who's living at Kure beach now. I gave him the assignment of figuring where the hell you are talking about..Now if you are pulling my leg with just some fancy writing, shame on you for sending my kid on a wild goose chase!
I left him all my surf fishing gear, don't use it here in Kentucky, secretly hoping that sometime when he's bored he'll catch the bug and try it out. I'll be going to visit him again in about a month, I'll see if he found where you are hinting about. Thanks!


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## zztopsail (Jul 23, 2009)

Trust me it exists and some good whiting and blues are to be had or a regular basis

Now if you are a fan of Ole Brother Where art Thou,,you might not see a cow on a roof,,, or hear Beautify Sirens luring you to your death but you will see a couple fake hoot owls looking down from a roof into an indoor swimming pool that somebody forgot to put the roof on and you can bet those plastic owls ain't scaring narry a sea gull away or keeping them from bombing your parked car with reconstituted herring.


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## LEADDRAFT (Oct 9, 2001)

Ole ZZ, i know where abouts your talking about....
The THING IS THIS thar ole pier was put on Live bottom... years & years ago, Down from the OLD Steel pier, (the one that had a carosail typeSki lift , thing on it..)
Anyways alot of people wondered why, does "CENTER PIER", catch so much fish?...(from way back then)..

Answer: that area of the Barrier island has a "Live Bottom'...In other words... MARL/Coral bottom type stuff..
just like "John's creek" outside of masonbororo inlet/Carolina beach Inlets..


Thus, you've got some GREAT fishing holes where those Pelicans land on those old Pilings sticking outta the water...
On either side...
A FLOUNDER HOLE From , great boogy woogie..
If anyone decided to get the OLD pier map.... (IT was HUGE) back in the day...
Get a boat parked close, rack up on Sheephead & Flounder..... Just My own opion...


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## zztopsail (Jul 23, 2009)

LEADDRAFT said:


> Ole ZZ, i know where abouts your talking about....
> The THING IS THIS thar ole pier was put on Live bottom... years & years ago, Down from the OLD Steel pier, (the one that had a carosail typeSki lift , thing on it..)
> Anyways alot of people wondered why, does "CENTER PIER", catch so much fish?...(from way back then)..
> 
> ...


Well it sounds like you know where it is for sure and another thing for sure is that me and the wife will be there Wed-Saturday the week of Easter soaking up the rays, sucking down some suds:beer: wetting some hooks and reeling in the whiting, blues and hopefully some surf flounder.::fishing:

And can tell you, I ain't never been skunked there. And i aint ever been there where there wasn't at least one Pelican sitting those posts and you can bet they ain't just siitting for the sun and salt spray


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## fishdrummer (Jul 16, 2006)

Son says he found it. Not only that, but he has moved to Kure Beach and the spot is less than a 5 minute walk from his condo. Now if I can just convince him to try out one of my rods..I'll be visiting for a few days in another month anyway.


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## zztopsail (Jul 23, 2009)

fishdrummer said:


> Son says he found it. Not only that, but he has moved to Kure Beach and the spot is less than a 5 minute walk from his condo. Now if I can just convince him to try out one of my rods..I'll be visiting for a few days in another month anyway.


Yep sounds he is on target cause you can throw a rock and hit the Kure Beach town limit sign from the public access walk way. Good luck to you both


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