Captain Ray Massengill of Down East Guide Service plays a big gag grouper 10 miles offshore of Atlantic Beach. Photo by Mike Marsh

There is plenty of salt water along the North Carolina coastline and not just along the beaches and in the open Atlantic. It’s true that the many species of grouper guard the deep recesses of the rocky ledges and live bottom areas from 10 to 60 miles offshore, while other fish, like dolphin (which has been called the “perfect game fish,”) swim freely wherever the winds and currents take them.

But some of the state’s best saltwater action occurs up the coastal rivers and bays, away from the ocean. Here, fish such as spotted sea trout, red drum and southern flounder will make any angler’s day with a nibble, a hookset and a hard tug at the end of the line. Toss in the summer flounder that can be caught from inside the inlets on out to 10 miles offshore, and you’ve covered one of the broadest spectrums of the sport of fishing to be found anywhere in the world. These five fish exemplify the best fishing a Tar Heel fisherman can ever experience.

SPOTTED SEATROUT
The spotted seatrout, or “speckled trout,” is one of the most highly sought fish in saltwater. Specks, as many anglers call them, are one of the few game fish that can be caught more readily by using lures than by using live or natural baits.

Two good winters in a row (which for seatrout mean no prolonged intervals of subfreezing weather) helped create one of the best speckled trout bites in most anglers’ memories.

Pamlico Sound is the northernmost limit of the speckled trout spawning range because of temperature. While most anglers believe a speckled trout is a cold-water fish, exactly the opposite is true. Trout are relatively active feeders early in the season and again in the fall, but cold weather in the winter can severely reduce stocks of the fish in North Carolina.

For the time being, North Carolina anglers are making catches of super-sized specks with regularity. Where most of the state was once notorious for producing “hammer handles” of 10 to 12 inches, now big “gator” specks of 4 to 8 pounds are being landed everywhere there is a known speckled trout fishing hole.

To find specks, find structure. Speckled trout feed on small baitfish and shrimp. A big speck feeds on pinfish, pigfish and croakers as big as an angler’s hand. All of these baitfish are found along grassbeds, jetties, submerged pilings, piers, rock seawalls and channel edges -- so that is where anglers are going to find specks.

At times, a good run of baitfish, especially mullet, menhaden or shrimp, will attract specks no matter where it occurs. The bait will jump from the water, “showering” across the surface as speckled trout lunge through the massed bait in a feeding frenzy.

Wherever an angler spots such action at the surface, the obvious choice is using a topwater lure or popper fly. Specks attack a hard bait fished in a “walk the dog” fashion or a popper jerked once, then let sit still inside its own widening concentric circles. Specks will absolutely crush topwater lures, especially early and late in the day. But speck anglers fishing the bait concentrations should always have a topwater lure tied onto one rod ready for action.