Yesterday my Dad and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and struck out on an early season flounder scouting mission. We chose to concentrate our efforts on the Ocean Isle Beach, as it is usually one of the first areas to see a good flounder bite each year. The water temperature was around 60 degrees when we started fishing shortly after high tide, but as the sun rose and the tide fell, the water began to warm, and I saw it as high as 67 in the early afternoon. This warming trend was just what we needed, and while the bite wasn't red hot, we picked away at the flounder throughout the day. Also characteristic of early season, there were quite a few undersized fish at Sunset Beach, but there were some keepers mixed in as well. It seemed like most of the other boats in the area had similar results, as we saw several of them catch fish during the course of the day. We also managed to get onto a small school of redfish, which provided a good time as they always do. It was certainly encouraging to see the signs of life that we did, because you can be assured that things are only going to get better in the coming days! In addition to the flounder and redfish action, the trout have begun to make a showing in a few areas in the past couple of days as well, so it seems that the backwaters are coming to life with the warming weather. So it is finally upon us, time to hit the water!
-Capt. Kyle