Fishing – Page 3 – Carolina Fish and Hunt

NC saltwater fishing report: early July

North Carolina’s saltwater fishing report is a hot one.

Anglers along the North Carolina coastline have been catching a variety of species of fish for the past few weeks. The fishing forecast looks to be just as good for the immediate future.

Manteo

This past Saturday, the fishing fleet out of Pirate’s Cove Marina in Manteo dodged the tropical storm, and their anglers brought back yellowfin tuna, dolphinfish, wahoo, sea bass, and a pile of tilefish. They also released two billfish — a blue marlin from COUNTRY GIRL and a sailfish from OBSESSION. The day before, it was much of the same on the meatfish, and a white marlin was released from HAPHAZARD. Nearshore anglers out of Manteo caught lots of Spanish mackerel and ribbonfish.

Williamston

In the Williamston area, anglers fishing with Capt. Scooter Lilley of CWW Inshore Charters have been slaying the speckled trout in the past week to 10 days. With breaks for stripers, catfish and largemouth bass in the freshwater, Lilley’s saltwater trips have put limits of specks in the boat numerous times. They’ve released a lot of trout (40 in one trip for two anglers) and kept some for the fryer. They’ve also caught some redfish, and an occasional catch-and-release flounder.

Capt. Scooter Lilley’s clients have been catching tons of trout with CWW Charters.

Atlantic Beach

In the Atlantic Beach area, anglers are catching everything from cobia, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, red drum, sheepshead and speckled trout. Many reports of catch-and-release flounder, including a 28-incher caught by youth angler Tucker Kane, have also been coming in to the folks at Chasin’ Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle.

Hatteras

Anglers in Hatteras are having a field day with a variety of fish. Red drum on the beaches have made up many reports coming into the Red Drum Tackle Shop. Madison Thume caught a 33-inch cobia from the beach. Other reports include speckled trout, blues, sea mullet and Spanish. One angler also recently caught a 3-pound, 7-ounce pompano that he weighed in at Red Drum. Sand fleas and shrimp have been the bait of choice for many anglers here.

The fishing is good, so get out there and enjoy it!

Get the Go Outdoors South Carolina app

South Carolina anglers and hunters will love this new app from SCDNR!

Anglers and hunters in the Palmetto State need to have the appropriate licenses for whatever fishing or hunting they’re doing. Purchasing them used to be a hassle. You had to find a store that sold them, then fill out the paperwork (by hand, like cavemen!), then haul that little folded up scrap of paper in your wallet, just hoping to never lose or ruin it.

Then came online purchasing. That was much easier, but you still had to wait on the license to come in the mail. After a while, they allowed you to print the license from your home printer, as long as you had one.

But now, it’s even easier. SCDNR now has the Go Outdoors South Carolina App, which you can download to your phone. The app allows you to view your current hunting and fishing license, apply for lottery hunts, register and renew your watercraft, report turkey harvests through SC Game Check, upgrade to a hard license (sort of like a credit card), and purchase SCDNR gear.

But that’s not all. The app also has a “Digital Backpack” that has loads of information, like tide charts, sunrise/sunset times, feeding times, and the Hunter’s Toolbox, which shows real-time harvest data for the state. You can also find all the regulations, boat ramps, and a whole host of other information.

Whether you’re an Apple or Android user, hit up your play store and download the Go Outdoors South Carolina app today.

Lumber River panfishing from one-man boats

Chris Douglas from Carolina ALL OUT TV joined up with Capt. Brandon “Gator” Freeman of Gators Outdoor Adventure and Guide Service (843-409-9162) for a day of fishing for redbreast and bluegill on the Lumber River.

And after catching their share of these hard-fighting fish, they pulled over to the banks for a good old-fashioned shore lunch. Fried fish doesn’t get any fresher than this!

Enjoy the video, and check out Carolina ALL OUT for even more outdoor adventure videos.

Controversy in recent Santee catfish tournament

Santee Lakes Catfish Club tournament winner accused of cheating by fellow angler

The Santee Lakes Catfish Club held its second tournament of the 2021 fall season on Saturday, Oct. 9 out of Blacks Camp in Cross, S.C. By all accounts, the fishing was tough, with many teams weighing in less than the three-fish limit at the end of the day.

To make things worse, the tournament was tainted by accusations of cheating, leveled at the winner by another club member who allegedly saw evidence of wrongdoing. Rob Unkle of All Slimed Up Guide Service took the win, weighing in a total of 76.38 pounds.

Dennis Glover and Mike Rivers with WTF weighed a total of 58.13 pounds, taking second place. Reigning club champs David Kingsmore and Bradley Tucker of Team SC CATS brought 51.47 pounds to the scale, good for third place. A weight of 51.25 pounds put Capt. Jason Wolfe of Wolfe’s Guide Service in fourth place.

But what was that about cheating? Well, to be fair, Rob Unkle passed a lie-detector test which was administered before naming the winners. But there was a matter that shined some doubt on his conduct.

Three catfish spotted in Unkle’s bait tank day before tournament

Aside from fishing, Unkle also sells bait to other anglers. The day before the tournament, one of the other anglers showed up to purchase some bait. And in the large bait tank, this angler saw three catfish, including a flathead he estimated at about 18 pounds. The angler alerted tournament director Ralph Willey of what he saw. Willey then made sure a certified polygraph examiner would be on site for the weigh in.

While the tournament was going on, a tournament official went to Unkle’s place. The three catfish which were observed in the bait tank the day before the tournament were no longer there. Unkle said he sold the fish. Then at the weigh in, Unkle weighed in three catfish, including a flathead that weighed about 18 pounds. He took a polygraph and passed, and was awarded first place.

On the Santee Lakes Catfish Club Facebook page, Willey stood by the tournament results.

Club president issues statement on the situation

“Friday evening I was contacted by a club member expressing concerns of potential cheating within our tournaments. These concerns were not taken lightly and I immediately started putting things in place to ensure a level playing field for all participants in yesterday’s tournament. We performed thorough live well checks and a polygrapher was retained. 1st and 2nd place winners were tested and both passed. Awards were made based on those results.

As SLCC club president, I am not judge and jury. I have to remain impartial and use the tools available to me to provide fair competition. Unfortunately, I can’t control the court of public opinion and I’m disappointed that this event has shed a negative light on our great club and its anglers. Cheating, if proven, will NOT be tolerated. Not only will the team be banned from our club, law enforcement will be brought in. In this case, solid proof is not available and I stand by the actions taken and the decisions made. I welcome anyone having concerns to reach out to me personally so I can address them,” said Willey.

The Santee Lakes Catfish Club gets back in action on Nov. 13. This tournament will be held out of Hill’s Landing and RV Park, with fishing taking place on the upper lake. Livewell checks and registration will be conducted 6 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. Scales will open at 3:30 p.m. Click here for more information about the Santee Lakes Catfish Club.

R.I.P. Jason Henderson

Catfish community lost a great one this month

The catfishing community in the Carolinas lost a popular member on Sept. 12, 2021. Jason Kevin Henderson was known by many as a great catfish angler, but most importantly as a great person.

Along with his brother Clay, Jason was a part of Drifting Stix, a company that makes products for catfish anglers. And he won numerous fishing tournaments and championships. He was passionate about angling, and about helping other anglers succeed.

I only met him once, on a fishing trip at Santee last year. At about 6 a.m., his first words to me were a light hearted joke, and before we ever left the dock, I felt like I’d known him my whole life. He was a laid back guy that just put others immediately at ease, and made them feel like life-long friends.

Aside from fishing, Jason was a loving son, husband, dad, brother, cousin, uncle, nephew and a friend to many people.

If you never fished with him, you missed out. If you never met him at all, you missed out even more.

The Southeastern Catfish Club and the rest of the catfish community came together to launch a money-raising effort to help Jason’s family with funeral and other expenses. If you’d like to donate, visit https://app.easytithe.com/app/giving/afo

Stripers are red hot at Wateree River

The striper bite is as hot as it gets in the Wateree River just below the Wateree Dam in Lugoff. Cant. Jason Wolfe of Wolfe’s Guide Service said the fishing is simple. But navigating to the best fishing grounds is a little more challenging.

“The stripers are up here in big numbers. The females are full of eggs and look like they’re about to pop. And they’re all hungry,” said Wolfe.

His favorite lure for fishing here right now is a Cotton Cordell Red Fin wake bait. He suggests casting into areas where current meets slack water, like behind boulders in the river. Any type of break in the current is a likely area to get a bite.

“These fish love to sit in those areas to get a break from the current, and also to ambush baitfish. If you get one of those lures in those areas, you better hold on. They are crushing it. These fish are strong, and you’ll be in for a fight when one hits,” said Wolfe (803-487-3690).

A steady retrieve is all you need

Current breaks like Wolfe mentions are present all throughout this section of the river. Downed trees, the rocks, and areas where deeper water meets shallow water all offer the types of changes stripers like to focus on. Wolfe said all it takes is a steady retrieve of those Red Fins.

“You don’t want to reel it too fast. Just a steady retrieve makes that lure wobble and wiggle just right. The stripers will absolutely destroy it,” he said.

Wolfe uses a jet drive outboard on an aluminum boat here. He said using anything else is a big mistake.

“Even on days when it looks safe for a fiberglass boat or a regular outboard, all it takes is them closing off a wheel at the dam to lower the water level so much that you can’t get through here without banging against the rocks. You will tear up a propeller in here real quick. And you can put a hole in a fiberglass boat right quick too,” he said.

Stripers will stick around throughout spring

The stripers in this section of the river come out of the Santee Cooper lakes. They run upriver every spring and stick around until early to mid-summer. Wolfe is one of the few charter captains who guides for this type of fishing on the Wateree River.

Wolfe prefers to launch from the Hwy. 1 bridge landing very early in the morning. He travels upriver, stopping just below the big section of shoals to try his luck out there as the sun comes up.

“Fishing here below all the rocks, you’ll catch stripers in any juts in the banks, behind downed trees…anything that creates a break in the current. Even when you’ve anchored your boat, you want to cast behind you in the break created by the boat. They’ll find it real quick, and they’ll set up to take a rest and to ambush prey,” he said.

Once the sun gets up and he can see the shoals clearly, then he moves up into the thick of them. After fishing there a while, he’ll often make another stop on the way back to Hwy. 1, anchor down, and fish for catfish with cut bait.

“You can make a whole day of it on this section of the river any day of the year for catfish. But for these stripers, the springtime is unbeatable,” he said. “Right now is a great time to go because you can catch both species without any trouble.”

Rainy days can make great catfish days

The cold, dreary days of February can be great for catching catfish.

The rain in the Carolinas has been completely dreary lately. Rain, cold, wind…even some snow has fallen on waterways in both states in recent days. And while it’s easy to stay home and let the fishing wait for sunnier days, it’s not at all necessary.

Staying home right now is actually a horrible way to spend these bleak days. The catfish are biting like made all across the Carolinas. They either don’t mind the cold, or the cold makes them especially hungry. Either way, days like these can be some of the best fishing days of the year for anglers willing to brave the elements.

Capt. Jason Wolfe of Wolfe’s Guide Service recently had a stellar day at Santee. He and his clients caught big numbers of Arkansas blue catfish that ranged from 5 to 25 pounds. The bite was non-stop.

“We caught them steady throughout the day. The majority of them were from 15 to 25 pounds, with a few smaller ones that would make great nuggets. We were just fishing for fun, so we released them all. We didn’t get into any truly trophy-sized fish, but that is always a possibility this time of year,” said Wolfe.