# Wrightsville Beach Surf Fishing



## bigdaddy7075 (Feb 14, 2008)

Hello Everyone,

I have been living in Wilmington for about two years. I do a good bit of surf fishing at Wrightsville Beach and Topsail, with the majority being at Wrightsville. I have noticed that there are not a lot of other people fishing when I have been out there. I have had success fishing in the surf there and I was just curious if anyone else does any fishing there. I know I have fished closer to Masonboro inlet and seen several other fisherman, but not so many along the main portion of Wrightsville beach. Has anyone else had any success surf fishing Wrightsville?


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## Sandbar (Oct 16, 2013)

My wife and I visit Wrightsville on a fairly regular basis, at least once or twice a year for each of the past 7-8 years. We usually stay at Shell Island on the north end and have a great time from a relaxing/sunbathing standpoint. The fishing however has always been hit or miss for me. I've caught flounder in the northern inlet (Mason) on bottom rigs with dead shrimp before, but it's quite a hike from the hotel if you're lugging a bunch of gear and even farther from one of the public parking lots. I usually travel light and just bring my soft-sided tackle bag and a small cooler for drinks and bait. We were actually there just last week from Sunday through Wednesday. I fished (or tried to anyway) all day Monday and the first half of Tuesday, but the winds were blowing really fast out of the south at a steady 15mph on Monday and 20mph+ on Tuesday. My gear was totally sandblasted on Tuesday and my wife was pretty mad too. You couldn't even keep an umbrella anchored on Tuesday it was blowing so hard. Tuesday afternoon saw LOTS of heavy thunderstorms too. It was nice to get away for a few days, but the weather could have been a little kinder to us.

As I'm sure you know, Wrightsville is REALLY touristy between Memorial and Labor Day weekends and is usually jam-packed with sunbathers and swimmers, making fishing from the surf next to impossible in most places. If I go by myself or with a buddy of mine, we'll hit Masonboro Inlet, but the last time we were there, they were dredging it and pumping the sand up the coast for the beach restoration project. We were there for like 10 hours and only manged two damned pinfish and a single small bluefish. HORRIBLE fishing day, but still better than being at work!

Since you mentioned Topsail, I was at North Topsail last October for a four day long solo trip. I fished New River Inlet using frozen shrimp (I know, I know), Gulp! baits and other artificials with no success. Even the people around me who had live bait they caught with cast nets weren't doing much better. In typical "you just missed it!" fashion, someone told me that the day before I arrived, there was a crazy red drum bite and two guys in particular caught something like 25 fish between the two of them. Of course, the reds had moved on by the time I got there.

Whereabouts do you fish on Topsail? I've got another four-day trip planned out there the middle of this October and am always open to advice.


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