At the bottom of the tide, jigs and live baits fished on the bottom rigs produce redfish. The fish can become concentrated until a tidal pool is teeming with them. When redfish are trapped, anything the angler tosses will draw a strike. Anglers who know these hotspots let the tide fall until their boats are trapped with the fish, waiting until the tide rises to make their way back out of the marsh.

Adult red drum are caught in Pamlico Sound in summer when they spawn. Anglers use chum to attract big redfish, which top 30 pounds and can reach two or three times that weight. Fishing big chunks of croaker, spot or menhaden on the bottom attracts the channel bass. Big spinning and baitcasting rigs work well for these huge brutes and good anglers can under the right circumstances catch and release a dozen or more in a single evening.

Big red drum also congregate at the nearshore ledges and the in the fall. Cape Hatteras is legendary for its red drum run in October. In November, the fish can be caught on the ledges and artificial reefs near Southport.

FLOUNDER
Flounder can live anywhere there’s enough water to cover their backs. In general, the smaller fish move into the shallower water. To catch a big trophy flounder that weighs 5 pounds, or even 10 pounds or more, usually requires that the angler fishes deep water with structure nearby.

Large catches of flounder are common in the inshore waters of the sounds and coastal rivers as well as the inlets. Fishermen cast jigs tipped with cut bait strips, scented artificial teasers or live mullet minnows along the edges of grassbeds, oyster beds or beneath boat docks to catch plenty of flounder.

When fishing the inshore natural structure, a trolling motor comes in handy. Cruising along a grassbed interspersed with oyster beds, sandbars, tidal creeks and small indentations is much like bass fishing. The angler casts to any likely looking spot, hoping for a strike. Flounder are extremely territorial. They will move to a certain spot, creating a form. When the tide falls, they leave, only to return to the same spot as the tide comes back up. Any shallow-water angler catching a big flounder from a specific spot should remember it, because another flounder will take up position at the same place within a day or two.

Another productive method for catching flounder is called “drifting.” This method requires current flow or wind. The boat is allowed to drift with the bait dragging on a Carolina rig across the bottom. Sinker sizes and styles vary, from the small Carolina rigs used by bass fishermen to rigs with trolling sinkers that can weigh 3 ounces. The amount of weight necessary to reach bottom is determined, of course, by water depth, boat velocity and current flow conditions.

The sinker taps the bottom, with a live minnow trailing on the leader. When the rhythmic tapping of the sinker striking shells and sand is interrupted by a flounder bite, it’s sometimes very subtle. The rod tip goes down, then up and stops bouncing. The fish is following along while it swallows the bait. Some anglers trip the bail on their reels or put it into free spool for a few seconds before setting the hook. The rule of thumb is you can’t wait too long to set the hook into a flounder.