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.
