Seahawk Winter Inshore Fishing Charters
SPECIAL WINTER REDFISH, SPECKLED TROUT,
STRIPED BASS, AND BLACK DRUM TRIP RATES
January 1st thru February 28th
Winter 4 hour and 6 hour trip rates on the 2015 22′ Bay Rider, 2019 20′ Bayrider Skiff, and the 2018 Kencraft Bayrider Bay Boat.
$50 extra fee for an additional 4th angler
A 3% processing fee will be included in all credit card charges
Southeastern North Carolina is blessed with some awesome winter fishing for Redfish, Speckled Trout, Black Drum, and Striped Bass. Some of the best fishing of the year for these species can occur. Redfish and Black Drum fishing can be incredible in December and January and good thru February. Speckled Trout fishing is good thru December with spurts thru January and February depending on water temps. Striped Bass fishing can be good all winter long in the upper Cape Fear River.
Check out the new North Carolina Sportsman article written by Jeff Burleson
Follow the ‘Wolfe pack’ to Cape Fear winter reds
Father-son guide team looks for deep holes in otherwise shallow backwaters for schooling puppy drum.
Seahawk Inshore Fishing Charters This video of my son Christian and a his friend Todd was shot in December 2013. They had a good day of redfishing in creeks and backwaters of the Lower Cape Fear.
This video was shot on 12/31/2008 with a one person charter. We caught over ninety reds on New Years Eve day. About forty were upper and middle slot fish and the other sixty were lower and under slot fish.
This video was shot in December of 2009. We caught good numbers of upper slot reds fishing the muddy bottom creeks of the lower Cape Fear river.
Protected Bald Head Island creeks offer great winter fishing.
“It was a little colder crossing the river than I thought, but these fish have been biting even in this cold, and I expect we’ll warm up pretty quickly once we get there,” he said. “I did some exploring last week, and this cold spell has them huddled up. Once we find them, we should find a lot of them.”
Local anglers currently have a couple of fishing choices — red drum and striped bass.
“We’ve had some really good days recently for redfish and stripers,” said Jeff Wolfe, a Carolina Beach-based guide (Seahawk Inshore Charters, 910-619-9580). “But you have to get the right weather conditions (for reds). If it works out that the last three hours of the falling tide start around 10 a.m. on a light-wind, sunny day, and you fish through to the first two hours of the rising tide, that’s ideal.
We’re catching reds down in the bay, and there’s a few fish along the docks and waterways, along with a few (speckled) trout, said Wilmington guide Jeff Wolfe.
Winter Redfishing
Our winter red drum fishing is one of North Carolina’s best shallow-water fishery because the waters are the warmest in the state. In the winter months redfish school up on dark, muddy flats and creeks seeking warmer waters that these areas create from the afternoon sun. Schools range from 10 to 15 fish to schools of 100 to 200 fish on the flats. Some of my best redfishing days have been in the winter months, especially December and January. Scented artificials and live mud minnows are the baits of choice for winter redfish. Large schools of redfish also roam the surf zone in the winter months and can be caught surf fishing or fishing from my Kenner Bay Boat when the wind and tides cooperate.
Winter Speckled Trout Fishing
December is typically one of the best months to catch speckled trout in the Cape Fear area. Depending on water temps, specks can be caught throughout the winter months. Unlike redfish, specks will move to deeper water and shut down when the water temps get to cold. Soft plastics on 1/4 ounce jigheads and hardbaits such as mirrolures are top producers. Live shrimp, when available is the number one choice of bait to put good numbers of these tasty fish in the boat. Specks also move to the ocean in the winter and can be caught walking the beach and casting lures into the surf zone.
Winter Striped Bass Fishing
Striped Bass can be caught throughout the winter months in the upper Cape Fear River. This is a catch and release fishery and these fish are a blast to catch on light tackle. The sizes range from 4 to 20lbs with an occasional larger fish caught. Sometimes we also catch redfish and speckled trout in the same areas that we are catching stripers. Trolling shallow and deep diving plugs or casting swimbaits, jigs, and hardbaits are the baits of choice for winter striped bass.
Winter Black Drum Fishing
We have a awesome winter Black Drum fishery here in the Lower Cape Fear area. Black Drum will often school with redfish in some of the same holes on the lower stages of the tides. Black Drum are a blast to catch on light tackle and fight similar to redfish with more direction changes. These along with redfish make for some incredible action in the winter months. They also make great table fare and there is a limit of 10 per person, so we can fill up a cooler with some great eating fish.
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