Swansboro Fishing has been good!!

The fishing in Swansboro has been pretty consistent. The key has been getting some pretty weather and the fishing will be good. The hottest bite has been the kings. We have easily been limiting out on every trip with kings in the 10#-15# range. We have also had some bigger fish in the 20#-40# range mixed in with teenagers. One trip we were able to land 3 fish that were NC citations (over 30 lbs.). We have been landing most of the kings with 4"-5" peanut pogeys. The bigger kings have be smoking 1lb-2lb blue fish. For the smaller baits I have been using double #4 treble hooks with #5 Malin hardwire. For the blue fish I have been using (4)-#4 treble hooks with #7 Malin hardwire. We have not had to venture more than 3-5 miles out to find success. The Red Drum have also been biting well. All though I am not finding the inshore schools we were in the warmer months there have still been good numbers of fish scattered throughout the marsh. Most of these fish are still hitting topwaters but we are having the best luck with Catch 2000's, Strike King's Redfish Magic and Shadalicous, and gulp baits. The flounder bite has been reliable with big numbers of keeper size fish. I have been finding most of these fish along structure in the inshore waters. These fish have been attacking live mullets, pogeys, shrimp, pinfish. Gulp baits and other soft plastics have also been producing good numbers of flatfish. Most deeper channels with drop offs and oysterbars are holding good numbers of flounder. We had a 6.9 lb hammer a live pinfish on a creek mouth with an out going tide late last week. I have still been waiting on a consistent speckled trout bite to arrive here in our area. I have some good days and then a couple of bad days. I have been picking a few specks off in the marshes behind all the barrier islands but I have yet to have big number days. Most of the fish being caught have been good size fish ranging 2-4 lbs. The best baits so far have been the 52TTHP (Pink Mirrolure), Gulp jerkshads (smelt), and Strike King's Glass minnow. The best bet for early fall specks is floating live shrimp,finger mullet, or pinfish. My bigger fish have come on finger mullets and pinfish.

Fishing is Good and I have some open dates!!!

The fishing has been absolutely phenomenal. Everything seems to be biting. We have been landing monster Spanish within 1 mile of the inlet. Along with the Spanish some teenager sized kings have been crashing the party. The good news is the flounder bite has picked up. We are landing good numbers of fish in the internal waters with some citation class fish mixed in there. As always the Redfish bite has been steady. We are still finding schools of fish but also have been blind casting with good numbers of fish. It gets no better than a topwater explosion from a hungry upper slot red. The month of September will mark the start of our Speckled Trout season. I have some open dates left in Sept. with a couple of weekends book you Swansboro, Emerald Isle fishing charter by calling me at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Little people Big Smiles

This week is why I love being a guide. I have had kids onboard with me just about everyday this week. They really let you know if you are doing a good job or not (even if you miss thier 7lb flounder with the net and it pulls the hooks oops!!). With that aside the fishing has been great. The Big spanish bite has been on fire. We have been landing fish from 2-7lbs close to the inlet!. Also mixed in with spanish have been some nice kings. The reds have cooled down a little but we are still able to land 5-10 every trip. The big news is the flounder bite has heated up. One morning we land 13 with 9 being keeps.

Big Spanish and Kings on Light Tackle

The big spanish have been on absolute fire. We have been landing spanish in the 2-6lb range on light spinning gear. Along with the spanish we have been boating kings ranging from 5-15lbs. I had a charter to day land a 15lb king on a Quantum Boca 20 on a 7' medium rod (trout rod). This type of fishing is some of the most exciting light tackle action the Crystal Coast has to offer during the late summer. If you would like to get on some of this action book your charter now by calling (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Inshore fishing is on fire!!!

The inshore bite has been absolutely awesome. The flounder are finally showing up and we are landing good numbers of keeper size fish. There are some big ones being caught like the citation fish (5.7lbs) in the photo. We are finding these fish around the docks and bridges along with the deeper channels around the inlets. The best bait for the flatfish has been finger mullets rigged on a carolina rig. Always drift a big corn cob mullet for that bigger fish. Flounder are not the only gamefish that have been chewing, Red Drum have been biting really well. Some days have been almost epic. I had a trip thursday where we landed over 30 reds. I am still finding a few schools of fish with 100-500 fish in each school. I have also been doing really well blind casting into flooded bays all through out the marsh. The bait of choice has been the Top Dawg by mirrolure in the 808 or 27 color. The mullet are everywhere here so the strikes on topwater have been explosive. These fish have been taking gulp baits by Berkley and Swim shads by Calcutta. We also have been using live mullet under rattle corks. The suprise for us here have been the trout bite. We have been landing a few nice specks each trip. We are finding these fish primaraly around bridge pilings, I have also picked a few along the oyster beds just inside the local rivers and creeks. The specks have been hammering live finger mullets on carolina rigs. There are also some big spanish mackerel along the nearshore reefs and live bottoms. The fishing is good so give me a call and book your charter (910)-330-6999 or email: hallemincharters @yahoo.com

Finally a fishing Report

Sorry for not Reporting in awhile. I have been so busy fishing and battling wisdom teeth. The fishing has been pretty good. There still are good numbers of Red Drum in the Backwaters. I am finding these fish in all the marshes behind the barrier islands. We have been landing most of our fish on Topwater baits but also landing fish on spinner baits, gulp and live baits. The big news has been the arrival of the flounder. We have seen a good push of flounder on the internal waters. These fish have been falling for finger mullets rigged on carolina rigs. We have been findng these fish at the inlets and around structure on the ICW. The king and spanish mackerel bite has been a bit slow but we should start to see the bite pick up with the increase in bait around. The fishing is good so if you are in the Emrald Isle or Swansboro NC area book your fishing charter now call Capt. Robert Hall at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Red Alert

Now the tides have started to come around the Reds have been on absolute fire. We have been sightcasting to schools of 10-500 with topwaters and spinnerbaits. I had Dale (tater) onboard thursday so he could see one of these huge schools of reds. Most fish are ranging from 25"-28" but we have had the occasional 32"-35" fish. Get on some of this action by calling (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Fishing in Hot!!!!!!! In Swansboro

The temps have been hot lately but so has the fishing. Everything has been biting from the flats to the ocean. The kings have been on fire. We are finding these fish everywhere from live bottoms to the AR's. We have been landing these fish on jigged cigar minnows and pogies. Along with the kings we are catching some nice dolphins and the occasional cobia. The fish that has made a great showing so far this late spring early summer is the Amber Jacks. They are everywhere and are super aggressive. Live baits are also the way to go on the AJ's we have been using heavy circle hooks with 80-100 # leaders. There are big schools of Reds in the marshes. We have been landing fish in the 22"-32" range with one fish at 35" last week. Just about all our Reds have been caught on Topwaters. The Top Dog by Mirrolure in the 808 color has been the go to bait. I was able to get my lovely bride on the water this afternoon to get in on some of this topwater action. The flounder have been hit or miss this year so far. We have had some good days but we are finding it hard to fill the cooler with the new size limits. Book your charter now the fishing has been hot. Give us a call (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Sat Puppy Drum and Speckled trout

It was a beautiful day on the water Saturday morning. I had a half a morning inshore trip so we set out looking for a school of Reds with the high tide. Well it did not take long before we found a school milling around in a nice calm bay. After a couple of drum we filled the livewell with some live mullets, spots and whatever else the Calusa would wrap up and we set out to an area where we usually catch a few Speckled trout this time of year. Well they were there along with the puppy drum. The inshore fishing has been great with all the bait here now and water temps soaring. So book your charter by calling (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Friday 13th Red Drum!!!

I picked up Jackson and Morris up a Caspers early Friday morning. Morris let me know right off the bat the he had never caught a Red Drum before. So we slid off in search for some Reds. Well things started off a little slow but things picked up as we got into the end of the falling these little guys were wearing them out. One of the best days on the water in a while. If you would like to book your charter while you are in the Swansboro, Emerald Isle, or Atlantic Beach area give me a call (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com.

Team Hall'em In Charters-6th Place finish in IFA Surf City Redfish Event

Me and my cousin David Towler figured we would try our hands at fishing with the Pros Saturday at the IFA Redfish event in Surf City. They had a pretty good event with over 50 boats in the field. Well after prefishing every day the week of the tourney I felt pretty good about our chances. So we blasted off towards Swansboro around 5:30 am and arrived at our first spot around 6:10 only to find the tide was so low and fish that had been there all week had dropped out of the area. So we fished a few areas that we know fish will be on low tides with no luck. So around 10:00 am we were finally able to get into our second spot. Well the fish gods were looking down on use because we had a school of 75-100 Reds in front of us from 10:30 am - 1:30 pm. We left for Surf City to the weigh in with a couple of 26.5" and 26.75" Redfish. After it was said and done we ended up with 6th place and taking home around a $1000 dollars. It was a great event and we will definatley be fishing more IFA events. We would like to thank Quantum, Sufix, Strike King, Pathfinder boats, and Mirrolure. With out any of these guys we would not have been able to fish this event. The Reds are on fire so if you would like to get in on some of this action book your charter. Give me a call at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Cobia are here!!!!

I had a charter cancel today and boy did they miss out. We had a pretty impresive chum slick going all morning with Amberjacks, mackerel, and COBIA! all around us. We saw a total of 3 cobias in a couple of hours. We had a 60+ lb fish take a 15" bluefish twice only to have the hook pull both times. After a few moments of frustration this 38lb fish came around and we were able to get him to take a live spot. You got to love Pathfinder boats!!! By far the most versitle boats on the market. I can have clients catching reds in 8" of water in the morning and chumming cobias 10 miles off the beach in the afternoon.The fishing is awesome right now so book your charter. If you are in the Swansboro, Emerald Isle, or Atlantic Beach area give Capt. Robert Hall a call at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Swanboro/Emerald Isle Spanish

Well folks the spanish are here and are hungry. My grandmother gave me a call Sat. morning and asked if I had any fish for a fish fry. Well I couldnt let my grandma down so well worked them over pretty good. We probobly caught over 50 but only kept the 15"-18" fish. All fish were caught on Youzuri Deep divers and clarkspoons. The spanish are here so if you want to get in on some of this hot action give me a call. Capt. Robert Hall (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Swansboro Redfish

Well the Redfish bite has slowed down some here in the Swansboro area but is still pretty consistent. We are still landing good numbers of fish on Fishbites and Gulp baits rigged with weightless hooks. I expect the Redfish bite to pick back up when some more consistent weather patterns arrive. The flounder have started to show up in the backwaters. We have been landing the flounder on striped minnows, new Fishbites, and Gulp baits. We have also started to pick up some good numbers of Spanish just outside the inlets. Summer is here and the fishing is heating up book your charter today! Call (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Open Dates (May)

I still have some open dates left for May. The fishing has been great. The flounder are showing up big time along the AR's and live bottoms and the spanish should be here anyday now. We are landing some nice Kings and big hatteras blues. The reds have been killing topwater baits in the backwaters. So give me a call and get in on some of this action. Here are the days I have open for May:

Full days: 24, 31

1/2 and 3/4 days: 16, 30, 21, 23, 26, 27, 30.

Call Capt. Robert Hall of Hall'em In Charters at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

What to expect for the Month of May

May

CRYSTAL COAST INSHORE FISHING REPORT

May is by far one of my favorite months for fishing. It signals the start of summer with the warm evenings, mornings and warming water temps. You are out of the window for those spring frosts and the spring winds start to die down. Anglers are not the only species awakened by the warming trend. It also motivates fish to start their northern migrations. The bait will also start to show in numbers like your finger mullets, menhaden, shrimp, and stripped minnows.The target fish for the month of May will be the Cobia. They are hands down one of my favorite fish to catch. Getting one of these fish to strike your bait is half the battle. Once hooked these fish will create a boatload of excitement. I typically start my day off by searching for these fish around all the buoys that I come across. I idle up to the buoys looking for their shadows underneath because these fish stage on floating objects. I also look for any floating debris, sea turtles, big rays, or just about anything you may come across. Once I have spotted a fish, I have numerous teqniques to try and hook one of these beasts. Believe it or not these fish can be picky at times. The tackle I typically use is spinning gear. I use a Quantum Cabo 60 reel on a medium heavy boat rod. I spool this reel with 80lb. Sufix performance braid. I will first pitch one of these fish a white 2oz. bucktail jig tipped with a large curly tail grub. If the fish will not take this offering, I will float a hand size menhaden or bluefish rigged on a large heavy gauge circle hook. If all else fails, I will pitch him a live blue crab (cobia candy). I have never seen a cobia turn down a fresh live blue crab. I float the crab on the same circle hook. Once you have the cobia hooked you must be careful not to gaff the fish green. I have a rule not to gaff a cobia unless I have fought him at least 15 minutes. These fish are extremely strong and have been known to knock holes in rod lockers and consoles. Cobias are not the only fish on tap for May. Flounder will start to show up in a big way. They will not only show up on all the artificial reefs and live bottoms but also all their internal haunts. I find good numbers of flounders on all of the marked artificial reefs out of Bogue Inlet. A good color depth finder is a handy tool when doing this style of fishing. I hold my boat over the structure while dropping 1.5-2.5 oz. bucktail jigs tipped with Strike King, Gulp, or any other soft plastic bait. I will also use live mullets and mud minnows on Carolina rigs. Be sure to use a minimum of 1.5 oz egg sinker on your Carolina rig to guarantee contact with the bottom. I use short snaps of the rod bringing the bait off the bottom. You will feel the fish strike and you must instantly set hook. For the internal flounder I use the Carolina rig as well but down size the weight.Every since I was a little fella it seems as if the Spanish Mackerel always show up on Memorial day weekend. It always seems these fish are starving once they arrive. There are a few ways to limit out on these fast moving fish. The most exciting way is to cast sting silvers, Maria jigs, cast masters, or gotcha plugs to surface busting fish. These fish will be feeding furiously on small glass minnows so it will be necessary to match the hatch. Another way locals fill the cooler is by trolling Clark spoons on planers and on top. The number one spoon in my book for Spanish would have to be the 00 gold Clark spoon. Redfish will be biting exceptionally well in the marsh. You will be able to find these fish just about everywhere during the month of May. These fish will fall for top waters, Strike King Redfish Magic’s, Gulps, live mullet and just about anything that will move. The Speckled trout bite will start to slow down but you will still have some success in the backwaters. With a little patience you will find some good numbers in the rivers and creeks.Anglers will also be able to pick off some early summer King Mackerel at the same artificial reefs and live bottoms where the flounder are. My favorite early season King bait is the deep diving Yozuri Minnow.

5-3-08 Redfish on fire

The day started off slow but ended with a bang. We found a couple of schools of about 50-100 fish and were able to land a few before noon. These fish were smashing topwaters and spinnerbaits. We were also able to land quite a few on fly. There were also 4-6 lb bluefish mixed in with the reds. It is pretty amazing to see big hatteras blues fighting Puppy drum for your topwater plug in a foot or less of water.

4-29-08 Flounders are showing up

Well the forecast was all wrong but we made the best of the situation. We were looking for bonito but flounder were the fish of the day. Also had some kings, false albies, and Hatteras blues. The fish bit well today. It is going to be hard to fill a cooler with flounder this summer with the new limits. We would have easily had two limits but hey who likes to clean that many fish. We did not cach a flounder all day that was under 15" and we ended up with 2 around 4lbs. Flounder were all caught on 2.5 oz. bucktail jigs tipped with gulps and fishbites. And the kings, bonitos,albies, and blues were caught on Yozuri deep divers. All fish were caught in the 7-14 mile range.

Seminar Sat April 26

Hello folks, I would just like to give you guys a heads up I will be at the Reel Outdoors on Emerald Isle with a booth and hanging around the shop this Sat. April 26. I will be answering any questions you may have and helping customers around the shop. So come on out Sat. and check out the store and stock up for the summer. I will also have on hand some of the new Quantum Reel, Suffix line, and Strike king baits. If you have any questions give me a call at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Open Dates (April)

I still have open dates for April, these dates are:

1/2 and 3/4 days: 4/4, 4/8, 4/9, 4/10, 4/16, 4/18,

Full days: 4/5, 4/12, 4/19, 4/26

This inshore action has been pretty good so give me a call. (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

New Trips for summer of 2008

Hall'em In Charters will be offering a few new Night fishing charters for 2008. We will be running Evening shark fishing charters out of Bogue Inlet. We will fish for the common sharks sand, black tip, spinner, and bull sharks. So if you want to tackle the king of the sea book your evening shark trip. We also will be providing surf fishing charters to Hammocks Beach State Park. This area holds thousands of redfish in the Surf zone and Capt. Rob has been fishing them 20+ years. This is an exciting trip to see the state park at night and to get in on some of the best surf fishing on the Outer banks. The final trip we will be offering is night fishing around dock lights along the water fronts of the Crystal Coast. These trips typically provide fast, visual action. You can expect to land a variety on this trip. All of the evening trips we offer are a Max of 3 passengers and will only cost $300. So if you want to beat the heat this summer and still get in on some awesome fishing give me a call Capt. Robert Hall (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com

Trout and Redfish are Consistent

Well the last few charters have been pretty good. The Speckled trout are biting really well. We are landing these fish in the backwaters of Swansboro. The Neuse and New Rivers have also been producing some good numbers of fish. We are landing these fish on Strike King Jigheads tipped with soft plastics like Gulps and Strike Kings. These fish are also falling for the Mirrodine by Mirrolure this bait closley resembles a small pogy. The redfish have been of fire in the marshes behind the Islands. Just about all of the shallow bays are holding good numbers of Redfish. These fish are biting Strike Kings Redfish Magic along with the gulps and soft plastics. The fishing should bust wide open anyday now so book your Spring Inshore trip Call me at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters.com

Crystal Coast Upcoming April Report

APRIL
CRYSTAL COAST INSHORE FISHING REPORT

April is the month that kicks off the fishing season. April is the month where cold nights give way to warm evenings and North winds switch to the South. As we get into the month of April, the water temps begin to rise out of the high 40’s and low 50’s to the high 50’s and low 60’s. The extreme spring low tides start to rise.
The fish of the month will be Speckled Trout. April is one of the best months of the year to land that trophy speck. The best areas to catch these fish will be in the extreme backwaters of the tidal rivers and creeks throughout the Crystal Coast. You will find these fish in the Neuse, New, and White Oak Rivers. Along with the rivers, specks can be found in the creeks off of Highway 24 like Broad, Gales, and Queens Creek. For the fish in the rivers and creeks, I start out by using a soft plastic bait and jig head combo. The jig head I typically use is a 1/8 oz. unpainted jig head by Strike King. As for the soft plastic bait, it is really hard not to go with Berkley Gulp. The jerk shad, pogy, swimming mullet, or shrimp will all work. The colors I use are the pearl, smelt, or smoke. Other good soft plastics to use are the Strike King Glass minnow or Zulu jerk bait. I typically use a slow retrieve with short snaps of the rod tip. Along with soft plastics, I use the Mirrodine by MirrOlure. This bait closely resembles a small pogey, which can be found this time of year in the backwaters. The Catch 2000, Strike King Wild Shiners, and any other suspending hard bait will work on spring time trophy Speckled Trout.
Another type of fish that you will be able to find in Bogue Sound and the marshes behind Emerald Isle, Bear, and Browns Island is the Schoolie Speckled Trout. I typically look for submerged oyster beds with drop-offs. I slowly work some of the many creeks winding through the marshes. All of these creeks will have deep holes in the bends. I quietly drift into the bends making long casts with gulps and MirrOlures. You can usually expect trout ranging from 1-4 lbs. A bonus fish you can expect to catch while fishing the tidal rivers and creeks are Striped Bass. Most of these fish will be on the smaller side ranging from 1-5 lbs. Striper will strike any of the baits you will be using for the Speckled Trout.
Speckled Trout are not the only fish getting active due to the warming water temps. Red drum will start to filter in from the inlets and inhabit their spring and early summer haunts. Unlike the winter months, you will find Redfish a little more scattered this time of year. Although it will not be uncommon to find a school of 50 or more fish, most schools will be around a dozen. You can start looking for these Reds in the marshes and flats behind Emerald Isle, Bear, and Browns Island. These fish will be a lot more aggressive than they were a month ago. I still use the soft plastic and jig head combo but my favorite bait for Redfish is the Redfish Magic by Strike King. This spinner bait is similar to the Beetle Spin. It allows you to cover a lot of water, which is the way to find these spring redfish. By the end of April, you can expect these fish to start exploding on topwater baits. My go to topwater bait is the TopDawg in the 808 color by MirrOlure.
Flounder will also start to show up in the month of April. You can pick up the occasional flounder while fishing for specks and reds. By the end of the month, you will start to catch a good number of fish on the near shore artificial reefs and live bottoms. You can usually pick these fish off by using 1.5 to 2.5 oz. buck tail jigs tipped will squid strips, soft plastics, and live mud minnows. Along with the flounder, you will catch the occasional keeper Sea Bass. April anglers can also expect to have some awesome catches of Bluefish as they come in on the southerly winds. The size range of these fish are typically 0-2 lbs. but they will attack your bait. These fish can be caught on just about anything such as Sting Silvers, Maria jigs, Gotcha plugs, etc.
All baits mentioned can be found at The Reel Outdoors located on Emerald Isle. You can find an online link to the Reel Outdoors by visiting Hall’em In Charters on the web at www.hallemincharters.com and clicking on supporters!


Captain Robert Hall
Hall’em In Charters, Inc.
Website: www.hallemincharters.com
Email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com
(910)330-6999

CCFA Redfish Series

This is the ad going in Aprils issue of NC Sportsmans. Our Series will consist of 3 tournaments. Each team will receive points for their finish in each tournament. The top 5 teams at the end of 3 tournaments will fish in a Championship the day of the Mullet Festival. All the participation will help our club (CCFA). For more info you can contact me at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com or you can visit out club website @ www.crystalcoastfishing.net

Feb 23 Mixed Bag (Tagged Red Drum)

Well the fishing has had its bright moments and slow moments lately. Today was a little slow but we had fun catching a number of species. We had a 6hr. Trip and ended up landing largemouth bass, Red Drum, Flounders, and Mudfish. The highlight of the day was a Tagged Red Drum. All fish were landed on Berkley gulp baits. If you like to book your mixed bag charter give me a call at (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com Thanks

Feb 11, 2008 Fishing Report

Fishing has been pretty good the last couple of weeks. When we have the warmer days the fishing will pic up. We are still catching Reds in the surf zone. We are also still catching Reds in the backwaters on Swansboro, Emerald Isle, and Havelock areas. The trout bite has been pretty slow in the Swansboro are but has been steady down in the Havelock areas. Mixed in with the specks there have been some nice Striped bass and flounder. So next time you see some warm days coming on the Weather Channel give me a call. Capt. Robert Hall (910)330-6999 or email: hallemincharters@yahoo.com