Best Spring Baits

My name is Ozzy and I am a full-time fishing guide on the coast of NC. As discussed in my last blog post Spring time can be a very volatile time of year chasing Redfish and Speckled Trout, however there are a few baits I keep in my box that can help locate fish and capitalize on the fish you find. First of which being a top water, I choose to throw a full sized pink skitter walk. The reason this lure is so effective is because how fast you can cover water, as the lure clicks through the water, fish cane be attracted to it from a surprisingly long distance away allowing you to cover a big area in less cast. As a rule of thumb I usually make ten cast on a hundred yard bank. The reason I choose the pink is because I can see it from a far distance away, I believe there many colors that work well, but that is what I like to use day in and day out. Another great bait I utilize heavily in the spring is a spinner bait, this bait originated in the bass fishing community and quickly caught for redfish and speckled trout. With a combination of a soft plastic as well as a small gold blade above the plastic this bait can be a great choice for a fish that may not be feeding at the moment but will get you what is called a reaction bite. and just like the top water this bait can be utilized to search areas quickly with out making unnecessary cast. As those two baits are great for searching areas and getting reaction bites, my next two baits are for the picky fish. The first thing I do when fish start to present as picky or unwilling to eat is, to change my lure presentation to something smaller, lighter, or less threating. One of which being a weightless, weedless, jerk shad (also known as a fluke). I really like zoom jerk shads and DOA jerk shads because they are dense baits. Even with out any weight on the hook those more dense soft plastics still cast well. If the fish is still being picky or you are having trouble getting a group of fish to eat, I will next throw a TRD crawl bait of some sort, preferably in 2.5-3 inch range. I like to pair these small baits with a ned rig, this allows me to put the bait in front of the fish with little to no disturbance on the water or to the fish. If all else fails and the group of fish is still being stubborn then it may be time to move locations and start from the top again. I appreciate everyone tuning and i hope this helps you put a few fish over the rail.

Fishing Report

Things are starting to change here on the coast of North Carolina, the water temps are on the rise and the fish are on the move. The northern parts of our coast, around the Roanoke river, are in full blown shad season, shad travel from the Atlantic ocean, all the way up to Weldon NC, in order to spawn. This provides excellent angling opportunities for both fly fisherman and spin fishing. Once the shad run dissipates the river will be full of striped bass, swimming up river for the same reason as the shad, another great chance for exceptional fishing. A little further south, around the Topsail Island area, the redfish are starting to break up from their winter time patterns and we are seeing more doubles and small groups, when polling the flats. These fish are cruising and hungry after a long winter, whether fly fishing or spin, this is a great time of year to go sight fishing. In a little bit deeper water, the trout fishing around Topsail Island has been on fire, especially top water. Often targeted early in the morning using top water plugs, these big trout have been a blast on light tackle! All in all spring is in full tilt, whether its jigging for striped bass or polling the shallow flats this not a fishery you want to miss out on!

5 Tips For Fly Anglers

Welcome back to another blog post presented by Marker23 Guide Service, my name is Captain Ozzy and I am a full time fishing guide on topsail island. In the years I’ve spent polling anglers around the flats, in pursuit of these NC game fish, I have come up with 5 things that I tell each angler that can really bring your angling abilities to the next level. As simple as it may seem the first tip I always start out with, is be quick. In the world of salt water fly fishing, time is of the essence. From the moment you see that fish, recognize direction and speed, decide where the fly needs to be, make a cast, and begin your presentation, only 3-5 seconds have gone by. With that being said, being a quick draw type angler can be very beneficial, how ever, as quick as you may be it is equally as important to stay quiet, which brings me to my second tip: stealth. Stealth on the flats paired with fast reaction times could quite possibly be some the biggest pieces of advice I could give, but that can be difficult because (at least for me) the faster you go typically the louder you will be. What I mean by that is, the harder I try to get line out quickly, i.e. double hauls and quick rod movement, the more likely I am to rock the boat, or pick one of my feet up set it back down not so quietly. If you can remember to stay stealthy on the flats you are sure to see an increase in your fishing. Tip number three line management, every salt water fly angler knows that your fly line will get stuck on everything and anything, and there is nothing worse than finally getting the shot you have been dreaming of and you come up five feet shy because your fly line was stuck on something or knotted up. A good habit to prevent some of this is looking down at your fly line every so often, whether your the angler or poling because two eyes are better than one, which brings me to tip number four: communication. Now if you are a solo fly angler than this may not apply to you, but I truly believe that fly fishing is a sport best enjoyed in the company of loved ones. With that being said its imperative that who ever is on the poling platform communicate clearly what he or she sees because the height advantage, it can be difficult to communicate something in only a few seconds and even more so when the situation is ever changing, but short and clear instructions to the angler will definitely result in more fish. Like wise the angler has to listen and follow those instructions, this requires a little bit of trust on the anglers side, but if you listen to what the instructions are and know that he or she has the sight advantage then things typically go much smoother. The fifth and final tip applies to all four of the other ones, and that is to practice. If you practice making quick and accurate cast, while managing your line, and not making any noise, then you will be unstoppable on the flats. A few things I like to practice are casting at moving targets like mullet or blue crabs as we are poling onto the flat, I also practice in my head what I would say if a fish popped up and did “xyz” eventually the way you call a shot will be second nature. I really hope this article helps put a few more fish over the rails for you, like always I appreciate you tuning in and we will catch you next time

Tips for Schooled up Redfish

We as fly anglers, are usually chomping at the bit for winter time fishing. The clean water, the big schools, the lack of boat traffic this time of year. There can be a lot to look forward to fishing in the winter, and rightfully so, but with all this excitement comes a handful of challenges. The first of which being the clean water, help us as it may, it can also make our job a little tougher. This is because they can see us just as good if not better as we can see them. To combat this challenge, stealth becomes a top priority on the flats, longer and lighter leaders, slow quite pushes, and soft landing flies. Another hurdle to overcome with winter time fishing is dead water. Its been said that in the winter, 80% of our fish live in 20% of our water, although we cant confirm those exact numbers, it certainly feels that way through out most of the winter. So when it comes to scouting in the winter there are a few things to keep in mind, starting with covering water its important to cover large portions of water because so much of it is dead. Also its important to check areas extensively because depending on how tight the school is all the fish in that area could be held up right around the next bend, even though the rest of the creek has been seemingly dead. Once you have found the school and approached them with stealth, its time to seal the deal! i am typically throwing smaller flies this time of year such as small kwans and small clousers , thats because I want to have a small non-threating approach and allow the fish to find my fly as if it was his idea. Lastly, one thing winter time fishing demands from us as anglers and stewards, is that we be mindful of over fishing one or two groups of fish. After finding a group of schooled up reds, you have the ability to harass that group of fish day in and day out but not only would you ruin everyone else winter fishing by doing so but eventually you will ruin your own. What will inevitably happen is you will show up to that spot and you’ll see the school of fish but the wont anything you have to throw at them, its a frustrating event that all costal fly anglers have either done or experienced. But with good etiquette and a little bit of thoughtfulness it can be avoided. My rule of thumb is 2-3 fish from a school no mater the size of the school, after the fish are safely released I’m on to the next school, if I don’t have a “next school” in mind the rest of m y day will be spent on searching for more spots and schools, ultimately this is what’s makes you a better angler or better guide, not going to where you already know there are fish. Hopefully this helps you put a few extra fish over the rail this winter, thanks for tuning in, and we will catch ya next time.

Fall Fishing Is Here

Welcome back to another blog post presented by Marker23 Guide Service. My name is Captain Ozzy and today I'm excited to report that fall fishing is here! As far as the Topsail Island area goes, fall can be an amazing time to get on the water, for many reasons. The water temps are dropping, speckled trout are migrating into our inshore waters, and the redfish are schooling up, on my recent charters we have seen very fall-like behavior from our fish inshore. Such as starting to see redfish groups instead of singles scattered throughout the flat. Along side these redfish groups, we have been seeing a good push of speckled trout, flooding into our inlets, as they make their way to deep creeks for the winter. Fishing the Topsail area from October-December can be a special time of year and a great opportunity to catch a mixed bag and even set some personal records! Marker23 Guide Service has availability through the fall and winter months so give us a shout if you want to get in on the action.

Q&A

Welcome back to another blog post presented by Marker23 Guide Service. My name is Captain Ozzy and I’m exciting to be back with you guys after taking last month off, this week I would like to go over some common questions I get as a full time fishing guide. Jumping right into it with the number one most common question is ‘where are the fish’. Although I could list in this blog some GPS cobordances, I believe the root question with in this is how can I find more fish? The short answer is spend more time on the water, but if you use your time on the water wisely then you can really make the most of that precious water time. When looking for fish, whether sight fishing, power fishing, or almost any other style fishing their are 3 major factors that motivate fish to behave how they do. First of which is food, predatory fish will not spend much time in places where the bait isn’t present. Now the tricky part of this is bait is constantly on the move, with tide, with the seasons, or with other weather conditions. Point being, step one is almost always going to be find the bait. The second major factor in why fish do what they do is safety. This could look like many different things, such as structure, shallow water, or swimming in schools. All of these behaviors are for safety, fish might feel unsafe due to fishing pressure, other predators, or significant weather systems. All of these factors can help you make a decision on where you will fish next. The Last major factor that can effect fish behavior is, spawning. and depending on the fish you are after, will determine what type of spawning behavior you can expect to encounter. Spawning fish can be very dependable and a lot of fun, or they can be unpredictable and frustrating, it just depends on what stage of spawning they are in. None the less if you keep these three things in mind ( Food, Safety, Spawn) next time you are on the water you are well on your way to finding more fish. Be sure to check out our next blog post as we deep dive into more questions like these.

Fishing Forecast

Welcome back to another blog post presented by Marker23 Guide Service. My name is Captain Ozzy, and I am very excited to bring, to you a fishing forecast! It is currently late august and we are starting to stare down the barrel of our summer time dog days. With that being said we are seeing cooler water temps in our inshore and backwater areas, resulting in fired up fish and consistent action. Looking forward, we should except these water temps to continue to plummet until stabilizing briefly in the fall. This will cause a few things to happen in the Topsail Island fishery, one of which being our migratory population of trout should start to move in. This is a very exciting time to be on the water due to the increase in population among the speckled trout the inshore fishing can be exceptional. Another thing to look forward to is NC Flounder season, we all know how delicious these fish are and are chomping at the bit to put some flat fish over the rail. Flounder fishing has been very consistent this year and I predict it will continue to be consistent through out the flounder season. Last but not least, something to look forward to as the summer comes to an end, is old drum fishing. Old drum, also known as Bull Drum, are Red Drum that migrated to NC to spawn, these old mature redfish can reach up to 50+ inches and be as old as 35 years old! If old drum fishing is something you have yet to experienced I highly recommend giving it a shot! Well as always Thank you for tuning in and we will catch ya next time.

Fishing Report

Welcome back to another blog post presented by Marker23 Guide Service. My name is Captain Ozzy and I am a full time fishing guide/ Charter captain in the greater Topsail Island area. Today I would like to give you guys a fishing report and let you in on how the fishing has been as well as, what to look forward to in the North Carolina costal fishery.

It is currently mid august and the fishery around topsail island has been very consistent. Redfish have been fired up and willing to eat in the shallow water, both on fly and top water, our Resident speckled trout fishing has also been unusually good. In the past few weeks there has been multiple citation trout brought into the boat along with upper/ over slot drum. Out side of the 2 main fish we target there has been some underrated fish that have also been on fire here lately. Thus being Black drum, Sheepshead, and Lady fish. These three fish provide a lot fun and constant action! To say the least The Topsail Island Fishery is doing quite well this month.

Looking forward into late summer and early fall, we have a lot of exciting things coming down the pipe. First of all we will have bull drum season kicking off in the next few weeks. This time of year is a great opportunity to catch your personal best red drum, as these fish migrate into the NC backwater to spawn it creates a target rich environment for both the avid angler and the beginner. Following Bull drum, the False albacore will show up here in NC. The False Albacore provide a fight like no other! This fish will put your tackle to the test and will also be the fish of a lifetime. After the false albacore migrate south we will be in full swing with our winter fishery. With plentiful trout and clean water in the shallows, we have a lot to look forward to. Like always I appreciate you tuning in and we will see you next time.