Fishing Report
Last month (Mid-October), we teamed up with Capt Pierre Agena from Rising Sun Fishing Charters to take the Atlas Boatworks 23F bay boat out for a day of fishing near Wrightsville Beach, NC. The goal was to target some seatrout, redfish, and if available, false albacore.
We were interested in testing the versatility of the Atlas Boatworks 23F by fishing in some very shallow water for trout and then heading out Masonboro Inlet into some bigger waters for redfish and false albacore.
Bait
The initial plan had us looking for bait early on. However, the tide hadn’t quite changed yet and bait was hard to get. We adjusted the plan a little and headed up a creek to target spotted seatrout in holes as the tide started to flow out.
This plan would let us fish for trout while waiting for the bait to flush out of the creeks and become easier to net.
When the time to castnet bait came, one well-placed throw by Captain Pierre Agena filled the baitwell with finger mullet.
False Albacore
After spending some time unsuccessfully fishing for trout with artificial lures, we shifted our focus to redfish at the jetty. With a livewell full of finger mullet, we used the trolling motor to spotlock in place near the jetty. We sent a couple of the finger mullet down with sinkers and waited.
With no action on the north side we were in the process of relocating to the south side when we saw a flock of diving birds and bait busting on the surface.
We hopped from school to school of busting false albacore for over an hour. Everyone had a chance to land a couple and we even got a bonus spanish mackerel to take home for dinner.
False albacore are known for their drag-searing runs like this one we had while fishing in the Atlas Boatworks 23F
Wrap Up
It was an amazing trip overall. Despite not being able to find the trout and redfish, the false albacore more than made up for it. Being able to sight cast into feeding fish and then the hearing the screaming drag was epic.
The Atlas Boatworks 23F bay boat was the perfect boat for a day like this. With a 10″ draft we had no problem getting shallow to catch bait and fish among the oyster bars. With high gunwales, there was no hesitation about running out of the jetty into some bigger waves.
We highly recommend Capt Pierre Agena. He is highly knowledgeable, courteous, and was great with the two 10-year-olds that came fishing with us. And he put us on the fish!